[vodkadebugger]

The HE1000se shares the same super wide sound as the HE-5XX, Ananda, Arya, massive sounding, ethereal. I disagree the HD600 is considerably wider, open sounding. The Nighthawk sounds like you can't breath, escape, create distance, some like that but it gets too much for me personally/ That said I don't find the HD600 open sounding in terms of distance from your ear, the 3-5k peaks make it forward. NH dips this area so technically should give you a stage perception, the mid bass and closed n housing makes the NH have it closed sound though. The Hifiman line rely on being incredibly open and large surface area.

Interesting! Maybe the pair I heard was defective because they sounded outright claustrophobic to me.

 

[kman1211]

Soundstage isn't really a technical term because these are headphones. It more correct to suggest things like open housings, more surface area lack of dampening. People find Audeze headphones closed in, why/ because it's semi open, it has completely sealed front volume, uses materials for the back opening. Lets take the HE-5XX as an example, the driver has on dampening, you are just listening to the driver no heavy materials, this is why many perceive a speaker, open like presentation, massive drivers = more surface area for sounds to not crash.

You do get many people confusing upper mid recessions for soundstage, i.e DT990, HD800, I can understand why, less surface area, smaller drivers, more dampening but then you lose out on vocal depth, presence.

True, it's never been a huge deal for me as long as it doesn't sound like it's all inside my head. Yeah it's basically the same for e-stats too. The perception of sound, etc. is very different on them. My RR 1 estat has the most wide-open presentation of all my headphones without question due to it's massive wide-open driver the sound comes from, it gives an almost speaker-like presentation instead of the more condensed soundscape most dynamics have, I think people when they first hear it don't understand what they are hearing. Upper-mid recession does give the impression of more soundstage and I personally don't mind this effect but it's not the same as a large surface area.

 

[jaco61]

Great ! That settles it once and for all.
Now we just have to hope for Oratory1990 to measure them, because so far he hasn't been able to get his hands on them (if anybody is willing to lend a pair for measuring purposes, he's in Austria).
That would presumably give us a better EQ than the existing ones.

I will meet oratory today and he will make mesurements of my nighthawk wood within the next 2 weeks. So professional calibrated eq presets will be soon available.

 

[albertmuc]

Today I put my ear to an Audioquest Nighthawk for the first time and I am surprised what is possible in terms of sound at the current price. The headphones are very comfortable, I can listen for hours. There is even a second set of ear pads, made of velor, I still have no idea where the tonal difference to the leather pad is. If the headphones improve during a break-in period, fine, in any case I will keep the Nighthawk. I prefer my T1.3, but the Nighhawk are nice to have.

Now I understand why this thread is so long...

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

True, it's never been a huge deal for me as long as it doesn't sound like it's all inside my head. Yeah it's basically the same for e-stats too. The perception of sound, etc. is very different on them. My RR 1 estat has the most wide-open presentation of all my headphones without question due to it's massive wide-open driver the sound comes from, it gives an almost speaker-like presentation instead of the more condensed soundscape most dynamics have, I think people when they first hear it don't understand what they are hearing. Upper-mid recession does give the impression of more soundstage and I personally don't mind this effect but it's not the same as a large surface area.

I've heard a couple of Estates and funny enough it's like a forgotten tech to me, I don't know why. I think Hifman headphones in there current state sound like Estats to me, fast, open, unreal sounding(in a good way) I like the way they're taking their sound.

I think the word condensed you used some's up dynamics well. The HD800 I owned for a long time and people talked about it's wide open stage but in reality it was just some recessed upper mids and clean treble response.


The Nighthawk I always felt had amazing driver design, the distortion makes them EQ friendly but their housing doesn't. You're stuck with closed in, reverb sound; people tried to mod it but no luck. The phone needs a different capsule. That said I enjoy it and I don't; they're fun, bass is fun sometimes; gives me that car stereo feel and I love the design, it's my fav headphone design and weirdly I love the smell(don't ask) It does make me wonder what type of music Skylar listens to it's non vocal stuff because for voices, they sound wrong but for EDM, liquid DNB they sound fantastic. I do wonder if Skylar used the TH900 drivers without the motor or went with the classic drivers like those found in the THX00.

 

[Tano]

I've heard a couple of Estates and funny enough it's like a forgotten tech to me, I don't know why. I think Hifman headphones in there current state sound like Estats to me, fast, open, unreal sounding(in a good way) I like the way they're taking their sound.

I think the word condensed you used some's up dynamics well. The HD800 I owned for a long time and people talked about it's wide open stage but in reality it was just some recessed upper mids and clean treble response.


The Nighthawk I always felt had amazing driver design, the distortion makes them EQ friendly but their housing doesn't. You're stuck with closed in, reverb sound; people tried to mod it but no luck. The phone needs a different capsule. That said I enjoy it and I don't; they're fun, bass is fun sometimes; gives me that car stereo feel and I love the design, it's my fav headphone design and weirdly I love the smell(don't ask) It does make me wonder what type of music Skylar listens to it's non vocal stuff because for voices, they sound wrong but for EDM, liquid DNB they sound fantastic. I do wonder if Skylar used the TH900 drivers without the motor or went with the classic drivers like those found in the THX00.

Haha funny enough I love that smell too, it's kinda addictive.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

I will meet oratory today and he will make mesurements of my nighthawk wood within the next 2 weeks. So professional calibrated eq presets will be soon available.

This is the best Nighthawk-related news that I've read in weeks. It's finally happening. Thank you @jaco61 ! I will stay tuned for sure.
Some info specific to your Nighthawks will need to be taken into account, such as :

• Earpads : new or used ? This can affect FR a lot.
• Earpads : leather or velour ? I hope he can measure both. Oh wait, I think the original Nighthawk only has one set of leather earpads. Am I right ?
• Break-in time (assuming it matters) : about how many hours ?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

This is the best Nighthawk-related news that I've read in weeks. It's finally happening. Thank you @jaco61 ! I will stay tuned for sure.
Some info specific to your Nighthawks will need to be taken into account, such as :

• Earpads : new or used ? This can affect FR a lot.
• Earpads : leather or tissue ? I hope he can measure both. Oh wait, I think the original Nighthawk only has one set of leather earpads. Am I right ?
• Break-in time (assuming it matters) : about how many hours ?

Original has hybrid pads. Leather outside, some type of velour inside.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Original has hybrid pads. Leather outside, some type of velour inside.

What ? Pads look identical to me, and I see only leather in both cases :

Nighthawk :

Nighthawk Carbon :

Pad close-ups :

• Nighthawk : http://www.audio-holic.pl/images/AudioQuest_NightHawk_Carbon_-_przetwornik_i_poduszka.jpg
• NHC/NOC : https://www.pickr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/audioquest-nightowl-carbon-review-2017-03.jpg

 

[kman1211]

What ? Pads look identical to me, and I see only leather in both cases :

Nighthawk :

Nighthawk Carbon :

Pad close-ups :

• Nighthawk : http://www.audio-holic.pl/images/AudioQuest_NightHawk_Carbon_-_przetwornik_i_poduszka.jpg
• NHC/NOC : https://www.pickr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/audioquest-nightowl-carbon-review-2017-03.jpg

They're not the same, I've owned both headphones. The pads are protein leather and not actual leather. The Carbons come with all pleather and a second pair of pads that are all microsuede. The original have pleather with microsuede on the inside (can't see from the angle of that picture).

 

[Devodonaldson]

What ? Pads look identical to me, and I see only leather in both cases :

Nighthawk :

Nighthawk Carbon :

Pad close-ups :

• Nighthawk : http://www.audio-holic.pl/images/AudioQuest_NightHawk_Carbon_-_przetwornik_i_poduszka.jpg
• NHC/NOC : https://www.pickr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/audioquest-nightowl-carbon-review-2017-03.jpg

Kman is correct i actually currently own both as well as the Night owl. I use hybrid pads on my hawks, and the protein (boost) pads on my owl.

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

Kman is correct i actually currently own both as well as the Night owl. I use hybrid pads on my hawks, and the protein (boost) pads on my owl.

Own both here as well. The Carbon are the sexy lookers, but the hybrid pads are the best sounding of the the pads to my ears. Best of both worlds. The hybrid are closer sounding to the pleather than the suede.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Well, in that case we're going to have a problem, if Oratory measures the regular Nighthawk only with the hybrid pads.
The results simply won't be applicable to the Nighthawk Carbon.
And we all know how much different pads can affect the FR.

The serious method would be to measure a headphone (Nighthawk or Nighthawk Carbon, doesn't matter as they are identical) with the three sets of pads : hybrid, all-leather and velour. Then we would have results that would work for everybody.

@jaco61 , I guess you have no way of providing alternate sets of pads to Oratory ?

 

[jaco61]

Well, in that case we're going to have a problem, if Oratory measures the regular Nighthawk only with the hybrid pads.
The results simply won't be applicable to the Nighthawk Carbon.
And we all know how much different pads can affect the FR.

The serious method would be to measure a headphone (Nighthawk or Nighthawk Carbon, doesn't matter as they are identical) with the three sets of pads : hybrid, all-leather and velour. Then we would have results that would work for everybody.

@jaco61 , I guess you have no way of providing alternate sets of pads to Oratory ?

I added the original hybrid pads, Brainwavz hybrid hm5 and Shure 1540 pads as they are used as alternative very often. This also because all original parts are not available anymore and users of the phone are forced to buy others as a replacement.
All pads are almost new, rarely used and there is no sign at all that they differ from new.
The 2 pads of the Carbon I do not have available.
As oratory told me that he actually has a lot of phones to measure he will find time in around 14 days to concentrate on the Nighthawk, there would still be time to send him the 2 other pads.

So we need someone to send him the two pads (microsuede and pleather) of the carbon version to achieve really complete measurements.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

I added the original hybrid pads, Brainwavz hybrid hm5 and Shure 1540 pads as they are used as alternative very often. This also because all original parts are not available anymore and users of the phone are forced to buy others as a replacement.
All pads are almost new, rarely used and there is no sign at all that they differ from new.
The 2 pads of the Carbon I do not have available.
As oratory told me that he actually has a lot of phones to measure he will find time in around 14 days to concentrate on the Nighthawk, there would still be time to send him the 2 other pads.

So we need someone to send him the two pads (microsuede and pleather) of the carbon version to achieve really complete measurements.

Wow, I really appreciate your efforts. I guess you did everythying you could. Thank you !
Let's hope somebody can help with this. Ideally people from Austria or close to Austria.