[Bern2]

I have owned these headphones for almost 2 years now, and they are still the most puzzling pair I own. Every damn time I put these on I think, "what the Hell? Who put mud in my ear cups???" But after about 2 or 3 songs, I start thinking, "Why don't I just sell everything else?! These are AMAZING!" What is this strange voodoo?
Also, after almost 2 years, my pair is still stinky, lol.

I am currently in the NH mode...I usually rotate between the HD800....Z1R..and the NH....but lately it's been all NH. Over a month now.

Bern

 

[guerph]

Hey, just got my mom a pair of Nighthawk Carbons. Any recommendation for relatively inexpensive 15ft cable?

 

[Soundizer]

I am currently in the NH mode...I usually rotate between the HD800....Z1R..and the NH....but lately it's been all NH. Over a month now.

Bern

I am in a similar mind set.

They are so different and smooth vs my other HP’s:
1. New HD660S
2. HIFIMAN 400i

They are strangely hypnotic and can pur me in a trance. I don’t know why I like them so much, difficult to articulate.

Anyone know why the price has been reduced so much? Seems unnecessary based on the what they competitively can deliver

 

[groucho69]

I am in a similar mind set.

They are so different and smooth vs my other HP’s:
1. New HD660S
2. HIFIMAN 400i

They are strangely hypnotic and can pur me in a trance. I don’t know why I like them so much, difficult to articulate.

Anyone know why the price has been reduced so much? Seems unnecessary based on the what they competitively can deliver

Clear out of discontinued items.

 

[BigDave]

I was very skeptical about getting usbaudUSB player pro on my phone. All I can say is wow. Even just using my old fiio e7 amp/dac , the difference is very noticeable. I was just using poweramp straight out of the usb-c but now my hawks are singing! Very tempted now to improve my amp/dac. Just need something portable. Sigh. The grass is not always as greener as we think, however.
I am also currently mesmerized by their sound sig, too. Effortless.

 

[waynes world]

I was very skeptical about getting usbaudUSB player pro on my phone. All I can say is wow. Even just using my old fiio e7 amp/dac , the difference is very noticeable. I was just using poweramp straight out of the usb-c but now my hawks are singing! Very tempted now to improve my amp/dac. Just need something portable. Sigh. The grass is not always as greener as we think, however.
I am also currently mesmerized by their sound sig, too. Effortless.

I haven't tried the combo yet, mainly because I don't use the hawks on the go, but the Radsone Earstudio ES100 bluetooth receiver/dac/amp is actually very good (and soon to be better with LDAC support), and there's a good chance the NH's will sound great off of it. I will report back!

P.s. I used to use UAPP on my phone with a separate dac, and that sounded great. But the convenience and SQ of the ES100 has made that a thing if the past for me.

 

[sageamagoo]

Amp comparison time!

I have now owned the Audioquest Nighthawks for around 8 months. For the first 4 months I drove it with an Audioquest Dragonfly (v1.0), and for the next 4 months I drove it with a Grace Design m9xx.

I can confidently say that I love both amps. At first, when I switched to the m9xx, I expected a complete upgrade; all aspects of sound to be better in every way. I realize now how that expectation was unreasonable. Every album is different, with a different production style that highlights certain aspects of certain amps. The following is a comparison between the two amps, with thoughts on various aspects of sound quality for these different recordings.

Grace m9xx:
This is a fantastic amp that sounds good with the Nighthawk on almost every recording. The highs are very natural and detailed compared to the Dragonfly 1.0. Some recordings that are unlistenable on the Dragonfly because of high treble presence and importance in the music (ex. Jordan: The Comeback by Prefab Sprout) sound quite pleasant on the m9xx. The best way I can describe it is, when you hear a high-pitched sound on the Dragonfly, you don't know what it is. It hits your ear with a crackle and your brain has to work to recognize the instrument. With the m9xx, it enters your ear and you know, "Oh, that's a synth playing a sawtooth wave."

The single best-sounding album I've heard through the m9xx-Nighthawk combo is On Land And In The Sea by Cardiacs. The album's EQ matches perfectly, and the m9xx can really handle the energy put out by Cardiacs' flavour of prog-punk, keeping you engaged with each and every emotional outburst. By the time it's over I feel equally exhausted and happy.

In many ways, switching to the m9xx was a great relief. I grew tired of the Dragonfly's flaws—the detail retrieval was lacking, especially in the treble region, and it had a bad handle on energetic music. The m9xx performs these tasks quite well. However…

AQ Dragonfly v1.0:
The Dragonfly wipes the floor with the m9xx at three things: bass, macrodynamics, and soundstage. Any recording that masters one of these elements of music reproduction will sound great on the Dragonfly, so long as it doesn't also highlight any of the Dragonfly's glaring flaws. Let's look at a few examples:

For bass: Irresistible Bliss by Soul Coughing.
What a funky record. This album really highlights the beautiful bass on the Dragonfly, rocking the house and making the Nighthawks come alive. Sebastian Steinberg's bass playing captures my imagination with its neverending genius, and I start to feel things I never before imagined were possible from the sheer unstoppable power of those notes. Not to mention how the frequent keyboard interjections highlight the Dragonfly-Nighthawk's excellent soundstage properties, creating sheets of fragile beauty for textural/emotional contrast. And the drums are played with great dynamic prowess, coming in and changing things up at all the right times to drive the songs forward. The mastering on this album is a perfect match.

For atmosphere: I Don't Like crap, I Don't Go Outside: An Album By Earl Sweatshirt.
I didn't get this album until I heard it on the Dragonfly-Nighthawk. The dark, sparse production transports you to an entirely new world with incredible emotional potency. Every texture is placed just so, and the Dragonfly makes you care—the exhaustion and darkness overwhelms. On the m9xx, it doesn't feel special—I'm not emotionally involved like I should be. Unfortunately for the Dragonfly, there's one particularly grating high pitched sound in the song Grief that hits the amp where it hurts. God, that sound is so painful on this setup. But it doesn't matter because the atmosphere on the rest of the album sounds so good.

For macrodynamics, and everything else: Plastic Beach by Gorillaz.
Listening to this album on the m9xx is the saddest thing, because I KNOW what Plastic Beach is capable of, but the m9xx just ruins it. Plastic Beach-Dragonfly-Nighthawk is the single best album-gear-headphone match I've ever heard.

First, the bass—in just the second track, you get multiple layers of pungent synth bass that extends REALLY deep. Bass quality is consistently mesmerizing throughout.

Second—the soundstage. Every little synth extends into infinity all around you in a beautiful dance of perfection. It's like standing on a rock in the middle of a foggy lake with sound coming from every direction as far out as your ears can perceive it.

Third, the macrodynamics. That swell in Empire Ants is one of the most euphoric moments in music history. It starts to get louder, and you think, "Woah, this is getting intense," and then it starts to transition and you think, "No way is it going to get as loud as I think it will," and then the bass comes in and it's even louder than THAT. It just captures my complete, devoted attention in a way most albums can only dream of.

One more moment: in Some Kind Of Nature, a sad choir reveals itself out of a gigantic wall of synths and piano and the gravity of the realization feels nothing short of religious. Okay, I'm done now.

In short, the Dragonfly is a fun piece of hardware that has bursts of brilliance despite significant limitations which make many albums hard to listen to, while the m9xx is a consistently well-performing device with middle-of-the-road bass quality and soundstage, but incredibly pleasing treble detail. I like the m9xx a lot more overall, so I need a really compelling reason to go back to the Dragonfly now that I'm used to decent microdetail. But sometimes I feel like being blown away and it's hard for an all-rounder amp to do that.

I hope this helps Nighthawk owners considering one of these amps in the future.

 

[Flater]

I have the Nighthawk for one and half years now. Paired it with Mojo in the beginning. Nice but sometimes a bit too much warmth/bass in my experience. Got the RME ADI-2 DAC like a month ago. Wow! Great synergy! The nighthawk seems like a completely different creature. Tighter bass, more detail, bigger sound stage, less veiled, slightly faster transients. I am impressed. The ADI-2 DAC is very neutral, transparent and it serves the Nighthawk well.

Also the Nighthawk responds really well to the parametric EQ on the ADI-2 (a few db <800 hz and around 7000hz). Interestingly, the different digital filters on the ADI-2 DAC – which are usually very subtle – clearly change the sound on the nighthawk. It shows how well this headphone is able to reveal details – at least that’s my interpretation.

The Nighthawk remains my favourite headphone for late night listening when I am tired and/or when recordings are poorly mastered (thin, too bright). For more analytical extravaganza, I pull out the Focal Clear - which in a way seems the opposite of the Nighthawk (going from one to the other is always a bit of shock, but when one’s ears adjust both phones sound truly great).

 

[Vaiet]

Well... I've decided to become an ornitologist and accuired all of them birds. And here's a tricky one. Do you know any reliable leather care products? My Wood NightHawks were bought used and the headband is a little bit wornd down and dry. I'd like to extend it's longetivity and make it look better while also make sure that my NOC's and NHC's won't age too quickly.

 

[.Sup]

You can also buy a new one off AudioQuest' site. Not sure about the pricing though. Regarding leather care products; you can get good ones in a store that sells leather shoes.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Well... I've decided to become an ornitologist and accuired all of them birds. And here's a tricky one. Do you know any reliable leather care products? My Wood NightHawks were bought used and the headband is a little bit wornd down and dry. I'd like to extend it's longetivity and make it look better while also make sure that my NOC's and NHC's won't age too quickly.

Since you have w all three, do you feel that the original Nighthawk wood seems to have a deeper, more present bass signature than the Nightowl, even with the same earpads? I'm curious to see if I'm the only person who feels this way

 

[Vaiet]

Since you have w all three, do you feel that the original Nighthawk wood seems to have a deeper, more present bass signature than the Nightowl, even with the same earpads? I'm curious to see if I'm the only person who feels this way

NHC will arrive tomorrow and NH came today, so I haven't had time to listen to them just yet. Maybe in 4 hours I will

 

[MementoMori99]

Since you have w all three, do you feel that the original Nighthawk wood seems to have a deeper, more present bass signature than the Nightowl, even with the same earpads? I'm curious to see if I'm the only person who feels this way

Yes, comparing the NH wood's with the NO's, I do find that the former is bit warmer than the latter when using the same hybrid earpads.

 

[BubbaJay]

I have to know if anyone else has done this.

The NH is a very efficient headphone and it doesn't take a lot of power to push them nicely, I don't even go to quarter volume with my Magni 3/Mimby setup. When I've been listening to a different less efficient headphone and switch to the NH I forget to turn the volume down and a track starts from say the middle and almost blows out my hearing. I've only done this a few times but man does it startle the crap out of me.

 

[Devodonaldson]

Yes, comparing the NH wood's with the NO's, I do find that the former is bit warmer than the latter when using the same hybrid earpads.

Exactly! ThTs why I feel the need to get my hands on some Nighthawk woods to own, along with my current Nightowls. That extra low-end rumble just tickles my sould in all the best ways. I want them!