I'm glad I looked at your profile. Just the person I need to speak with. I've asked this question a few times under different sub sections, so here goes again. Can I use my custom Nightowl balanced cable with the E-mu Teak? I know it uses the same size connector, but a review said something about stereo and mono plug differences. By the way, do you still have the Teaks, and how do you like them? Hopefully you have the removable cable model.
Yes, you should be able to. I use my Dyson Audio and Venus Audio cables on both the Teak and the NO interchangeably. No problems at all. I can't even remember which cable I originally ordered for which headphone. I would imagine that any mono 2.5mm ended cable would work for both, as long as it's thin enough to squeeze into the narrow port on the NO, but there is one issue... What's weird is that the Teak comes with a stereo 2.5mm ended balanced cable (which does not work with the NO) and works with cables of that ilk only sometimes. For example, Periapt cables work with the Teak, but stock HiFiMan cables do not. No idea what the difference would be, but that random counterexample I can't explain is why I don't want to say for certain the mono 2.5s will work. Oh, and I love the Teak! It's my favorite of all the Fostex dynamics I've heard, which is all but the 600/610/909. To my ears it's beautifully L-shaped, with some hefty low-bass without dipping the mids to get there. It sounds less warm than the NO by quite a bit because the bass is more controlled and geared towards the sub-bass. More treble presence too. It's also an easier headphone to slip into. I find the NO needs a few songs for my brain to adjust and the pads to warm up, even now. The Teak just sounds great to me immediately.
Using my NightOwl with my A&K SR15. Amazing sound. Nice and punchy. The background is also ultra dark. I believe the SR15 has a SNR of 122 dB and Crosstalk of 137 dB. Combined with the NightOwl’s low distortion produces a very clean and immersive sound
I just got a like new Nightowl down to the paper packaging around the case and supposedly has 4-50 hours use time. I was wondering about pad options and the hybrid pads if anyone has used them? I got two cables one 2.5mm mono and the other had a stereo connection. I was able to use a hifiman cable and wanted to know if a HD700 cable would work as well as the hifiman? I didn't want to run them out of phase.
That trade seems highly unlikely. I would suggest getting the hybrid pads while you can, as far as I know they are out of production and limited stock is available.
Yes the hd700 cables work fine although that factory cable is pretty tangle prone. The connectors on the hd700, nighthawk/owl, and the newer 400i are all the same except that the hd700 has a flat side cut into one side. So basically anything that will fit a hd700 will fit the other 2 but not vice versa 100% of the time. The good thing is that a lot of the connectors are either low profile or have one flat side so they work with anything.
I have a third party HD 700 cable that works fine on the NightHawk and the HD 700, and I’m pretty sure the NightHawk and NightOwl cables have the same connectors on the headphone end.
So I was presented with FR graphs that indicate this headphone has no treble, I was surprised as I find it fairly detailed. It's a polarizing headphone for sure.