[Bitsir]

  The NH with Classic pads does what the HD800 wishes it could do...

Wow, this leads me to believe the NH has the world's best imaging (in a headphone) by a relatively huge margin.

 

[Venture Guy]

  Wow, this leads me to believe the NH has the world's best imaging (in a headphone) by a relatively huge margin.

I think the contenders for that title would be the AKG1000, Stax Sigma and the TakeT H2+...

 

[Bitsir]

  Tweak Of The Week: The Cardas Clarifier App. George Cardas is a gifted physicist who figured out how to make amazing cables. Along the way he realized that speakers accumulate residual magnetism as they get played. So, in typical George Cardas fashion, he figured out a solution: A series of sweep tones that demagnetize the speaker. I've been using it for a while and it makes a noticeable improvement. If you listen to it, it sounds like a sweep tone, and it doesn't make any sense that it could make as much of a difference as it does. It is 99¢ app. I would love to hear the experience of anybody who is daring enough to give it a whirl.

Bought the app and did 5 sweeps for good measure. Not sure if I can hear noticeable improvements yet. If there are any, they are minute... or maybe I don't know what to listen for. More listening is required.
 
By the way, any idea of how frequent the sweep should be done?

 

[nwavesailor]

   
What is this Madness on top of your Vali 2? I am Curious , intrigued and a little scared.

That is a pair of Visseaux 6J5G. I believe the folks at either the Garage 1217 or Elise forums came up with this. The 6J5 is a single plate tube so you need one for each channel.

 

[Bitsir]

  I think the contenders for that title would be the AKG1000, Stax Sigma and the TakeT H2+...

Oh.. right. I'm a tard.

 

[Venture Guy]

  Bought the app and did 5 sweeps for good measure. Not sure if I can hear noticeable improvements yet. If there are any, they are minute... or maybe I don't know what to listen for. More listening is required.
 
By the way, any idea of how frequent the sweep should be done?

To my ears bass gets tighter and treble gets more detailed. It is a small, but noticeable effect... Like a cable upgrade.

 

[kman1211]

  At least 150 hours mechanical burn in, and then you have to learn them ontop of mental burn in. Its imaging behaves much like a speaker in the front but much more like a headphone in the very far right and left of the soundstage. Generally just focus on the vocalist and everything else will take care of itself You'll become adjusted to its natural treble and after having spent a week with the Nighthawks, the DT 1990 will come off as filthy sharp and bright to a perverse degree (It is already that, compared to most other headphones).

I've owned the Hawks for well over a year and the DT 1990 for a while now. The DT 1990 are not even close to filthy sharp by any means even after I spend a multiple days or over a week exclusively with the Hawks. If we are talking the DT 990 without a doubt, but not the DT 1990.

 

[Venture Guy]

@Amrit-R Thanks again for the pointer to Radio Paradise. In the "It's A Small World" department, it was started by a guy who was a DJ at radio station KLRB in Carmel, CA where I was a junior engineer during my high school years. The playlist is beyond awesome... similar to KLRB

 

[fon55]

It looks like you transformed the Classic pads into Boost pads... neat mod! The Classics were designed to maximize bass and reduce upper mids, and it seems like that jibes with your experience...

Hello. I order new pads as they will be available in Poland.Mam question whether the new cable is a better sound

 

[Venture Guy]

Hello. I order new pads as they will be available in Poland.Mam question whether the new cable is a better sound

I haven't used the new cable. What I know about it is from the AQ website. It is 1.3m long, built more robustly than the original cable and has a discrete microphone with smartphone controls. It is made of the same wire as the original, longer cable so the sound quality should be the same. I hope that helps...

 

[knowhatimean]

 

   
(The HD800 is absolutely 'mechanically manipulating' the sound: You may not hear it unless you're using 'better equipment'; I'm using better equipment so I'm using my NH; my 'Slightly Lacking Humanity' HD800 is collecting dust)

 I'm not sure what you mean by "mechanically manipulating". But you're saying that in your opinion, the HD800 is lacking compared to NH?
 
 I've always heard the HD800 get loads of praise for its soundstage and imaging so I'm curious about the differences between it and the NH.

Don't ever be overly impressed by the amount of praise heaped upon any HP (Pay attention to the reasons it's being praised & then ask yourself what you can relate to for their reasoning)
 
I had an on going like/dislike thing for the HD800 from when I'd first gotten them. I still keep them around as they are capable of displaying some very good instrumental tonality correctness,but this tonal always appears slightly 'tipped' up when it comes to being able to grab the complete basic 'Fundamental' of notes played by many Acoustic instruments (particularly those played in Orchestral Music'. (I don't actually listen to any non- acoustical instruments based Music;so you can bear with me or cut out on this posting at this point)
 
Basically there's a design feature on the outer edges of the drivers being used by the HD800 that adds more presence to each note as it's being played. For Music that doesn't contain much musical harmonics information it's not that big a deal, Orchestral Music is a competely different situation. Orchestral 'Soundstages' are through normal placement of where the players are sitting decently wide from right to left . Now the width of the sound that you'll actually hear isn't as noticeably wide when you are hearing all the musical activity that's  going on within the entire Orchestra as much as you will if you're not hearing the delays in the sound & hearing the inner Orchestration of the music as it occurs. The Composer's didn't Orchestrate the music to have all the players sitting in a straight line or some players on the left & some on the right. Sennheiser decided it was more important to notice the Width perpective  than it was to notice the more dimensional (but not as wide perspective) of hearing all the harmonic developement that's happening naturally as the Composition is progressing
 
I may have said more than you were interested in hearing,( & I know I'm in the minority of people who don't think the HD800 is the next greatest thing to 'sliced bread') but I just don't see it
(& on the other hand I'm continually amazed there are people who swear by the HD800 as being 'the' best headphone to go to for Classical Music to which my response is ..... ????????)

 

[ninetylol]

After about 8 hours of burn in they already sound better. If this continues im a happy man
 
Also I did use the wrong cable at first (the small one instead of the thicker one). Couldnt hear a difference on the fly though.

 

[Venture Guy]

  After about 8 hours of burn in they already sound better. If this continues im a happy man
 
Also I did use the wrong cable at first (the small one instead of the thicker one). Couldnt hear a difference on the fly though.

Whew!

 

[Madmollusk]

  The Nighthawk with the Classic pads is unique in my experience. Skylar is perhaps the first designer to embrace the Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) in a substantial way. You can read all about his approach here: http://personal.audioquest.com/measurements
 
I haven't heard any cans in my 40 years as an audiophile that do the same thing. Everything sounds flat/compressed in comparison... 

I wholeheartedly agree: the classic pads strongly contribute to the Nighthawk's magic. I've been using the boost pads for a few days now and they affect the Nighthawk dramatically; they sort of straighten out the Nighthawk's mid-bass bump and strip it of its sumptuously rich and dark character, which is sort of like taking the Night out of the Nighthawk. I still like the Nighthawk with the boost pads, but thus equipped, they sound much closer to traditionally tuned headphones, which may make some folks here very happy. This is undoubtedly a premature assessment, but I'm pretty damn sure nonetheless: I'm a classic pad guy! The strange part is this: the boost pads gave me exactly what I claimed I wanted--more presence in the upper mid-range and less mid bass. But there's something addictive about the classic Nighthawk's sound signature. The longer I own these bad boys the more I appreciate them.  Skylar really hit a home-run with Nighthawk, but because of its unique tuning, I'm afraid that many head-fi enthusiasts (inured to brighter sound signatures) may not give them a fair shake. Heck, I had to deprive myself of the stock pads for two days before fully grasping how much I loved the Nighthawk in its classic configuration. Going forward, I sure hope that AudioQuest will continue to offer buyers the stock pad option. 

 

[Venture Guy]

  The strange part is this: the boost pads gave me exactly what I claimed I wanted--more presence in the upper mid-range and less mid bass. But there's something addictive about the classic Nighthawk's sound signature. 

My process exactly, except with the US pads. Wow, now the NHs sound like a TOTL planar, except with better bass. Wait a minute, now they sound like a boiled crawdad (or a wet noodle?). None of that magical dimensionality. Give me back my Classics!