[xRaptorxPunisher]

Interesting views.

As for my own view, the Nighthawk probably gets 10% of my listening time, so I am certain that I am not adjusting to its sound. If anything, coming from the neutral HD-600 or MX-4, they should sound darker than they really are. I apply some EQ (nothing much, something that resulted from testing and my own preference) from the RME ADI-2 and I quite like what I hear. As noted above, the Nighthawk takes EQ very well. So this is why it stays in my collection and I do not share the view that it is a failed headphone and only used by those who have not heard better headphones.

The failed headphone comment isn't opinion, it's facts. It had a short life span, poor sales. They made a carbon varient to try increase popularity then added thd Nightowl to the mix then shortly discontinued them Skylar left the company.

Whether you, me or anyone else likes them, they're still a failed product.

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Well speaking for myself, I like them despite the obvious flaws in their frequency response. Just as I like the D5000s very much, despite their unnatural bright tonality. With both the D5000s and NightHawks I think the flaws enhance the strong points in their sound, if you know what I mean. I'd pick the NightHawks (and the D5000s) over the Denon D7200s any time, even if the D7200s are technically superior and better balanced. And I think there are more head-fi'er who just fall in love with a sound character knowing that it is flawed of colored but nevertheless very likeable.

I've not been a fan of Denon since they switched production from the D2000-D7000 to the D600 and current models personally. I feel the D5000 has a better FR than Nighthawk, fairly linear, good timbre. The brightness isn't too bad although I'd admit it was bothersome in soem tracks. The D7200 sound awful to me personally and I'd take a Nighthawk over them pretty comfortably.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

The failed headphone comment isn't opinion, it's facts. It had a short life span, poor sales. They made a carbon varient to try increase popularity then added thd Nightowl to the mix then shortly discontinued then Skylar left the company.

Whether you or anyone else likes them, they're still a failed product.

Failure in what terms? Do you believe there is only complete success and complete failure? Nothing in between? It can be that Audioquest had certain sales targets and those were not met. Maybe due to the high initial asking price. Maybe because it is indeed not a mainstream headphone with a particular sound. Maybe because it looks weird to some. Maybe Audioquest made money out of the project but not enough to justify continued research and involvement in the headphone line of business. Would not having met some internal financial targets mean that the headphone should firmly be categorized as a failure? And if Audioquest would say that it was a failure from a financial perspective (Are they publicly traded? Should we pull up their 10K on Edgar? Is there separate reporting for this line of business?), does that automatically mean that the unit is also a failure in terms of performance, in terms of what it delivers to those who bought it? Are all of these facts, known facts?

Do you have actual sales figures? Can in some cases other factors influence decisions to continue or not with a product. Do you have all of these facts and inside knowledge from Audioquest?

Please hit me with more facts. I want to be enlightened. I am finding your authoritative and know-it-all approach highly entertaining. Especially after my second cup of coffee for the day.

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Failure in what terms? Do you believe there is only complete success and complete failure? Nothing in between? It can be that Audioquest had certain sales targets and those were not met. Maybe due to the high initial asking price. Maybe because it is indeed not a mainstream headphone with a particular sound. Maybe because it looks weird to some. Maybe Audioquest made money out of the project but not enough to justify continued research and involvement in the headphone line of business. Would not having met some internal financial targets mean that the headphone should firmly be categorized as a failure? And if Audioquest would say that it was a failure from a financial perspective (Are they publicly traded? Should we pull up their 10K on Edgar? Is there separate reporting for this line of business?), does that automatically mean that the unit is also a failure in terms of performance, in terms of what it delivers to those who bought it? Are all of these facts, known facts?

Do you have actual sales figures? Can in some cases other factors influence decisions to continue or not with a product. Do you have all of these facts and inside knowledge from Audioquest?

Please hit me with more facts. I want to be enlightened. I am finding your authoritative and know-it-all approach highly entertaining. Especially after my second cup of coffee for the day.

Maybe drink less coffee because I've already explained.

 

[jaco61]

The failed headphone comment isn't opinion, it's facts. It had a short life span, poor sales. They made a carbon varient to try increase popularity then added thd Nightowl to the mix then shortly discontinued them Skylar left the company.

Whether you, me or anyone else likes them, they're still a failed product.

Cool vibes and dont lean out of the window too much The NH is dark and a completely different beast, unique in almost all aspects, dispension, materials, design, comfort.. I had it 3 times and sold it for E-MU teak, iBasso Sr1, Hifiman Sundara, and ...again missed them, just curious! Now I tweaked them to my favorised signature (with bw hybrid pads) and I never will sell them again. stock pads really don´t do it for me also .. for fun sometimes.

My favorites at the moment are Verum audio 1, much more neutral, more direkt and a different pleasure on an other level, "better" ? maybe yes, just different for sure.
They compliment each other very well and share more or less 50/50 of all my listening. Both are something really special for me.

Highs..uneven?.. maybe but exactly this curves I love with the hawks, this highs and upper mids have this right amount of bite...
Bass and upper bass (a bit reduced here) still is fostex typically gorgeous vibrant, a special one.

One more outstandig feature of the hawks is this marvellous absence of distortion, darkest background in a dark tuned headphone.. chapeau!.. far from failing love it or hate it like smoked whiskey

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Maybe drink less coffee because I've already explained.

Did you think about that edit for a few hours?

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Cool vibes and dont lean out of the window too much The NH is dark and a completely different beast, unique in almost all aspects, dipension, materials, design, comfort.. I had it 3 times and sold it for E-MU teak, iBasso Sr1, Hifiman Sundara, and ...again missed them, just curious! Now I tweaked them to my favorised signature (with bw hybrid pads) and I never will sell them again. stock pads really don´t do it for me also .. for fun sometimes.

My favorites at the moment are Verum audio 1, much more neutral, more direkt and a different pleasure on an other level, "better" ? maybe yes, just different for sure.
They compliment each other very well and share more or less 50/50 of all my listening. Both are something really special for me.

Highs..uneven?.. maybe but exactly this curves I love with the hawks, this highs and upper mids have this right amount of bite...
Bass and upper bass (a bit reduced here) still is fostex typically gorgeous vibrant, a special one.

One more outstandig feature of the hawks is this marvellous absence of distortion, darkest background in a dark tuned headphone.. chapeau!.. far from failing love it or hate it like smoked whiskey

Verum is a headphone I can't wrap my head around. I ended up prefering it to my old LCD-4 and Utopia. I've never heard a headphoe as musical, liquid, soulful as the Verum 1. Their depth perception and the way they show the emotion in a human voice is incredible. Verum has most of my head time now along with the Porta Pro. It's funny I've gone from the LCD-4, Aeolus, HD800 and Utopia to the Porta Pro and Verum 1. Goes to show these days price is just a marketing thing and not a gauge on how good a headphone is.

 

[kman1211]

Verum is a headphone I can't wrap my head around. I ended up prefering it to my old LCD-4 and Utopia. I've never heard a headphoe as musical, liquid, soulful as the Verum 1. Their depth perception and the way they show the emotion in a human voice is incredible. Verum has most of my head time now along with the Porta Pro. It's funny I've gone from the LCD-4, Aeolus, HD800 and Utopia to the Porta Pro and Verum 1. Goes to show these days price is just a marketing thing and not a gauge on how good a headphone is.

Haven’t heard the Verum 1, need to listen to it sometimes. Sometimes you find something truly special that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I’m personally still trying to find something better than or at least on par with my modded DT 480. Especially for anything near it’s price. The ancient thing outclasses my Nighthawk, HD 6XX, T1.2, etc. I can’t really say what they do better sonically than the DT 480; vocals, timbre, detail, depth, imaging, transparency, lack of fatigue, lack of distortion, speed, dynamics, emotional connection to the music, etc. it’s better in all those ways. The other headphones simply sound incomplete in comparison.

 

[funkle II]

One more outstandig feature of the hawks is this marvellous absence of distortion

Am I the only one hearing distortion around 165hz in both the Hawk & Owl (although lesser so). For example, listen to the track Kaleidoscope from Hiromi's Spectrum album. The graininess and overemphasis to the point of clipping makes this kind of music unlistenable on the NH for me. But this is not really an issue on other tracks with more content in the frequency extremes where I find them to be exceptionally clean & clear.

I think the NH is an absolute mess, mids drowned out, too much mid bass, treble is so uneven, huge peaks, dips trying to be smoothed over by the mid bass and cup reverb

I don't really see the point of criticizing the Hawks lack of perfection when it is the imperfection that makes them so perfect. To use a car analogy, maybe they're like an Alfa or Fiat. A Toyota is much more perfect, but I'll take the Italian.

 

[Mink]

Am I the only one hearing distortion around 165hz in both the Hawk & Owl (although lesser so). For example, listen to the track Kaleidoscope from Hiromi's Spectrum album. The graininess and overemphasis to the point of clipping makes this kind of music unlistenable on the NH for me. But this is not really an issue on other tracks with more content in the frequency extremes where I find them to be exceptionally clean & clear.

I don't really see the point of criticizing the Hawks lack of perfection when it is the imperfection that makes them so perfect. To use a car analogy, maybe they're like an Alfa or Fiat. A Toyota is much more perfect, but I'll take the Italian.

I listened to that track (Youtube) and honestly, I don't hear any grain or clipping. But that said, I never felt something to be unlistenable with any headphones and I have some poorly recorded albums in my collection.
The NightHawks and Owls are the first headphones I own that handle soprano crescendos without the occasional ringing. That's remarkable, I always thought the recordings were to blame.
And close miked baroque violins, playing high pitched straight legato lines never grate, not even recordings of the 80's and early 90s, which have this metalic sheen in the highs, No glare, no listening fatigue.

 

[kman1211]

Am I the only one hearing distortion around 165hz in both the Hawk & Owl (although lesser so). For example, listen to the track Kaleidoscope from Hiromi's Spectrum album. The graininess and overemphasis to the point of clipping makes this kind of music unlistenable on the NH for me. But this is not really an issue on other tracks with more content in the frequency extremes where I find them to be exceptionally clean & clear.


I don't really see the point of criticizing the Hawks lack of perfection when it is the imperfection that makes them so perfect. To use a car analogy, maybe they're like an Alfa or Fiat. A Toyota is much more perfect, but I'll take the Italian.

The reason I like the Hawk is because it's different and offers a different perspective. I personally like having different headphones to get different experiences with the music; even if I consider one of my headphones better than all my others, the others get their own time due to their distinct sound signatures.

 

[funkle II]

The reason I like the Hawk is because it's different and offers a different perspective. I personally like having different headphones to get different experiences with the music; even if I consider one of my headphones better than all my others, the others get their own time due to their distinct sound signatures.

100% agreed. That's the beauty of headphones. You can easily mix them up. And doing so keeps you from getting too used to the sonic signature of a particular headphone.

 

[jaco61]

messurements from here: https://i.imgur.com/xkJsWz0.png

 

[jaco61]

Listening to Kaleidoscope on Hiromi's Spectrum with my hawks without any questionable behaviour at 165 hz

The distortion graph above looks quite impressive too. Innerfidelity messurements may show some spike in that area ..

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Am I the only one hearing distortion around 165hz in both the Hawk & Owl (although lesser so). For example, listen to the track Kaleidoscope from Hiromi's Spectrum album. The graininess and overemphasis to the point of clipping makes this kind of music unlistenable on the NH for me. But this is not really an issue on other tracks with more content in the frequency extremes where I find them to be exceptionally clean & clear.


I don't really see the point of criticizing the Hawks lack of perfection when it is the imperfection that makes them so perfect. To use a car analogy, maybe they're like an Alfa or Fiat. A Toyota is much more perfect, but I'll take the Italian.

I've heard some people say they've heard distortion but the distortion levels are fairly low. What a lot of people seem to mistake for distortion is the internal cup reverb. They do sound a bit grainy but the actual distortion is low.