[jaco61]

After lots of experiments the brainwanvz hm5 hybrid pads plus some aditional dampening is my favorite...a double layered teafilter brings back a good amount of bass.
This package lets the hawk sound the most neutral balanced with still a nice bass fundament.
PT1 pads sound a bit more v-shaped .. very nice signatue too and no need for further damping.
The hawk is really easy to tune for almost everyones tastes

 

[what?]

Whelp I received a used pair of ANHs today and have spent about 5 hours with them using various hardware including a $15 bluetooth dongle, macbook pro, fiio x3 and I have an old Ibasso cobra .... I have been a fan of audio for over 40 years ... I cant seem to take these HPs off ? superbly comfortable, very revealing without being remotely fatiguing, lol just for ghits and siggles I played some 'bass mechanic' *old car audio BASSS tracks, and I can confirm the ANH will play down to about 20hz without any distortion ..... careful with your volume midrange detail is about as good as anything I have ever heard (and I base that on finally intelligibly hearing and understanding lyrics and musicianship for the first time - and several other very subtle details, on recordings I have enjoyed for a long time) in only 5 hours, highs / treble are not recessed, and they do all that on very little power. amazing

 

[billbishere]

So I just added a Schitt Loki to my chain with my AQ Nighthawk Carbons.

A qtr tweak of the far right knobs bring them right where they should be imo. I have always felt they had a tiny veil to them on vocals but, the loki opens that right up. Its such a tiny change but a huge difference.

 

[what?]

After spending more time with the ANH - and continuing to be amazed by them, all the time trying to think WHY they sound so good ?

I just thought its partially the fact that the ear cups are suspended on rubber / silicone 'hangers' and are not connected to the headband rigidly, if it was a rigid connection to the headband any vibration in one ear would be transmitted across the headband into the other ear, and that is exactly the way almost every headphone i have ever seen is made !!!!!!!!!!!!

so when that FLAW is removed we are left with improved sound, the trouble is EVERYONE is familiar with the left and right channels being blended together somehow via the headband so ALMOST everyone believes there is something wrong with the sound ....


add to that the strange grill they designed and made to diffuse any 'back-waves' / pressure inside the cup and we have 2 unique drivers completely isolated from each other
and those drivers are in an excellent housing but not impacted negatively by any until now 'overlooked' internal cavity issues.

do i think all high end headphones will have suspended cups isolated from the headband in the future ? yes.

and acoustically designed 'ports' *instead of just a hole or 2 ? yes.

 

[billbishere]

Welcome to the dark side. It's funny tho because many of the snobby audiophiles will talk trash about these but... I always see many other audiophiles reviewers and just others I see online all seem to have a set in their collections.

The sound is so polarizeing. It's like the audiophiles dirty little secret. Hahah

It's too bad they discontinued them so early on.

 

[DarkZenith]

The sound is so polarizeing. It's like the audiophiles dirty little secret. Hahah

So true... I love mine so much.

 

[FiGuY1017]

My favorite cans, a tie with my Hekv2

 

[bogginhead]

Can you guys give me an unbiased opinion here? I have the opportunity to trade my mint condition HIFIMAN Sundara for a set of new Nighthawk Carbon w/ 2m cable. If you guys were me, which direction would you go? I am kinda looking for something a little different, and I already own the HE500 and the HE5se. Just wondering!

 

[mbwilson111]

Can you guys give me an unbiased opinion here? I have the opportunity to trade my mint condition HIFIMAN Sundara for a set of new Nighthawk Carbon w/ 2m cable. If you guys were me, which direction would you go? I am kinda looking for something a little different, and I already own the HE500 and the HE5se. Just wondering!

I have not heard the Sundara but my husband has. I have heard other Hifimans... 400i, 560. I would make the trade... and my husband who has heard my original NH tells me he would do the same. If you don't like the NH you would probably be able to find someone who wants it.

You already have said you are kinda looking for something different.

 

[what?]

4 AM ..... I have been waking up early recently and I enjoy the peace, on with the ANHs and plugged into the older macbook pro to find something i feel like listing to, after deciding on the music and listening for a while at low volumes **its early, I decided to try something i never do.. use the eq on the macbook ! I ended up with a 'lopsided' smiley face eq with the highs and mids reduced a bit compared to the lows that are boosted ....volume up. i typically never use an eq anywhere if i can avoid it, they always seem to add 'noise and / or distortion' and veil the music somehow ?

Maybe its because I'm in love with them but these ANHs seem to respond really well to eq *on my macbook.

Somebody give it a try and see if its my imagination.

I ended up with sound that is thick but still retains 95% of the detail / clarity I love about these HPs ...

and thats a fun sound at 4 AM !

**perhaps its something to do with that mesh they designed? I can crank the bass without creating any unwanted pressure/s inside the cups/rear of driver- regardless of volume or eq ?,

resulting in early morning fun fat bass ... but not less comfort ?

 

[billbishere]

I use a Schitt Loki as my EQ. I like to keep it Analog!

Here are where my knobs currently reside.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

I use a Schitt Loki as my EQ. I like to keep it Analog!

Here are where my knobs currently reside.

Makes sense, the position of those knobs. I also apply EQ on the RME ADI-2 and I must admit that I like the Hawks even better now. I go for the same effect largely, town down the sub-bass and bass, bring up the mids and the treble just a tiny bit.

 

[Josh Condie]

My brother-in-law liked the NightHawks with the DF Red and Tidal streams/downloads, but was not a fan when they were connected to his Bifrost/Lyr combo. Complained of undefined bottom-end and too much warmth - stuff he said was fine with DF, FWIW.

 

[EGO DEATH]

Nighthawks and Mojo pairing - excellent combination.

Check this article which realises the Nighthawks to be the best pairing for the Mojo against many other headphones. Although this article is a Mojo review here are the relevant highlights -quotes:

"3) On headphone pairings that play counterbalance to the Mojo’s caffeinated pep, the HiFiMAN HE-1000 come off better than the Sennheiser HD800. Similarly, the Master & Dynamic MH40 are preferred to the OPPO PM-3 and the Sennheiser HD650 over Beyerdynamic’s (1st Gen) T1. My cost no object preference returned an unexpected result: the Mojo sounded most balanced of all with a pair of AudioQuest NightHawk in tow.

4) The NightHawk nicely offset the the Mojo’s only real weakness: a slightly undernourished tonal body; it’s not the meatiest player in town, but only properly noticeable when stood off against the warmer, thicker, more congealed Multibit Bifrost from Schiit. And even more so when contrasted by the comparative cornflour of the Aqua La Voce S2. Mojo lays recordings bare, deformities and all. The Schiit and Aqua are more forgiving (veiled?), particularly the latter. Then again, no D/A converter other than the Mojo packs a headphone output."




Article link:
http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2016/02/chord-electronics-mojo-lost-found/

Wonder if this is still the case in 2019, I also wonder how the Monolith THX AAA Portable stacks up with the NH, and other newer AMP/DAC offerings.
More generally how much have DAPs in recent times closed in on AMP/DACS, making them entirely redundant, specifically in the lower price ranges, say up to $500? If that's realistic . Or how the pareto distribution looks with lower priced amp/dacs against the endearing Mojo. Of course then there's the question of the sound signature, which is somewhat unclear to a newbie like me me.

Speaking of the Monolith vs Mojo: From what I understand the THX gives better separation, more micro detail, and is more neutral/analytical whereas the Mojo gives smoothness/warmth, the reverberation of a piano key for example is longer / fuller?

I was browsing older and newer stuff like Topping NX5, Q5, upcoming Xduoo xd 05+ (https://www.xtenik.com/xduoo-xd05-plus/) and some daps like FiiO M11, as I'm leaning towards getting the NH. I was/am interested in Sundara amongst others, before I knew about the NH, but the QC issues and the bright default nature of the Sundaras, and supposedly too thin pads (moddable?) puts them on hold for me.

I think I'm treble senstive, hopefully it's not bass or mids as I understand it would make the NH a mistake, also just don't really like the "thin" sound. Looking to get Closed, Open/semi-Open and some Iems at some point. I'd welcome some perspective.

Thanks

 

[Qute Beats]

I remember folk here talking of replacement cables, but can't find what I'm looking for. I'm after a longer cable so I can sit in my comfy chair, at least 3m required, 4m may be better. Not after high cost custom jobs, just something fairly priced for good SQ - I don't want to sacrifice sound quality of the original which I like.

So hoping if anyone has experience with one they really liked they would be kind enough to share it? Thanks.