Thanks for letting us know. I think I speak for all long-term Nightowl owners here when I say that upon receipt of this additional information, we will bin these concert-hall fake headphones immediately. And here I was, on my frequent switches from the HD-600 to the Nightowl and back, thinking that these are fairly neutral and pleasant closed-backs.
...and I assume this applies to my Nighthawk also....oh well. I had kind of gotten attached to them over the three years that I have had them, but I will do what must be done.
for relaxing late night listening from a DAP in an easy chair the nightowls are perfect the pleather gets warm but in AC it works
Kelsey Grammer, surely... Guess we're all listening incorrectly, tone deaf or both. Even Herb Reichert, who, weirdly it now seems, rated the NO's rather highly. Indeed, he stated that if he were now forced to live with one set of headphones, they would be the AQ NO's.
I think your take is a bit extreme. I will just say that this headphone is very much colored, but in a way that makes music enjoyable, but not necessarily accurate. I think this is totally fine and will please a whole lot of people, especially for the price they going for now. If you seek accuracy these headphones are not for you. Most of the times I'm listening for pure enjoyment and could give two shits about accuracy. If you want accurate go for some studio headphones by the likes of Beyerdynamic or similar.
I also think the “weirdness” of the sound is more a Nighthawk characteristic than NightOwl trait. Even some of the ears I respect the most who have absolutely dumped on the NightHawks (metal571) say that the NightOwls are a lot more normal of a sound signature.
Which is why I never got the NO... I already have enough "normal." I have been tempted though. My NH will stay with me forever.
No doubt. On a side note, I've found that this headphone scales really well. Doesn't need a ton of power to run, but it sure does like it. Definitely wakes them up, and they become more full bodied with greater dynamics. People with their crazy burn in talk - but with these cans, the burn in is real.