[joeq70]

listen to much kings of leon and stereophonics? If so how do they sound through the NO? Is seperation good on these?

I don't really listen to those bands. I once had a girlfriend who was rabidly obsessed with Kings of Leon. Kinda wore me out on them haha. I did pull some tunes from both bands just now and they tend to send pretty good. The NO has a pretty intimate sound, at least with the Boost pads, but imaging and separation are rather nice.

 

[joeq70]

By the way, in case anyone likes to tinker, here are my EQ settings for the NO. They can be tweaked based on the kind of gear you have, but this works well for me on my setup when my GO2A is set to high gain. On low gain, I actually use slightly different settings.

 

[esm87]

I don't really listen to those bands. I once had a girlfriend who was rabidly obsessed with Kings of Leon. Kinda wore me out on them haha. I did pull some tunes from both bands just now and they tend to send pretty good. The NO has a pretty intimate sound, at least with the Boost pads, but imaging and separation are rather nice.

what stereophonics song did you demo? A song I particurlarly love from the phonics is a song called Traffic, damn I love that tune, like any band, they all have their hits, this a well loved one from them. Try it out, quite slow paced acoustic song with great vocals (Im a big fan of the lead singer)

 

[joeq70]

what stereophonics song did you demo? A song I particurlarly love from the phonics is a song called Traffic, damn I love that tune, like any band, they all have their hits, this a well loved one from them. Try it out, quite slow paced acoustic song with great vocals (Im a big fan of the lead singer)

I originally picked a random song on Tidal so I don't remember it. I just now checked Traffic out. It sounds really good on the NO. Stereophonics seem to have a slightly different vibe than I'm usually attracted to, but I still enjoyed it. A  song I've had on repeat lately is The Darcys - Horses Fell

 

[esm87]

I originally picked a random song on Tidal so I don't remember it. I just now checked Traffic out. It sounds really good on the NO. Stereophonics seem to have a slightly different vibe than I'm usually attracted to, but I still enjoyed it. A  song I've had on repeat lately is The Darcys - Horses Fell

ye they have alot of songs worthy of checking out, from slow chilled out to more lively, they are loved by the welsh rugby boys for their songs when they go on tour. I will check that tune out cheers!

 

[Jabba]

After reading about nightowl here and also about nighthawk I took the plunge and ordered then unheard.
From the graph Skylar provided in this thread and my listening impressions, I understand the consensus about bass.
When I put on the Ultrasuede my impression was more bass to.
Why? Because of less treble I had a bit more volume than with pleather, so the treble got around the same volume.
This gave impression of more bass than with the pleather (see Skylar's graph on page 16).
Pleather have a little more deep bass than Ultrasuede though.
Love the sound of NO so far, the most speakerlike soundsignature I've heard from a closed can and a non fatigue and engaging sound.
Are these as detailed and correct as my 2 sets of Stax or my HE-560? Surely not.
But the NO are more fun, forgiving, engaging, smooth and more relaxing without being boring.
I would not be surprised if these will be my most used cans in the future.
From my point of view and my taste of music, these have the right balance between details and enjoyable sound.

 

[EdwardPL]

After reading about nightowl here and also about nighthawk I took the plunge and ordered then unheard.
From the graph Skylar provided in this thread and my listening impressions, I understand the consensus about bass.
When I put on the Ultrasuede my impression was more bass to.
Why? Because of less treble I had a bit more volume than with pleather, so the treble got around the same volume.
This gave impression of more bass than with the pleather (see Skylar's graph on page 16).
Pleather have a little more deep bass than Ultrasuede though.
Love the sound of NO so far, the most speakerlike soundsignature I've heard from a closed can and a non fatigue and engaging sound.
Are these as detailed and correct as my 2 sets of Stax or my HE-560? Surely not.
But the NO are more fun, forgiving, engaging, smooth and more relaxing without being boring.
I would not be surprised if these will be my most used cans in the future.
From my point of view and my taste of music, these have the right balance between details and enjoyable sound.

Bass extension is the same on the Ultrasued and pleather pads it's the mid bass that has de rested on the Ultrasued.

 

[Jabba]

 


This is Skylar's post about frequency, this resembeles with what I hear (but i'm middelaged so younger ears may hear different)
When you raise the volume with the ultrasuede compared to pleather to get a treble volume match, you also raise the persived bass (and middle).
For me the pleather have a higher treble, as the graph also shows.
When mid and lower bass volume raise, it masks some deepbass also.
The graph also shows round of deep bass to begin with.
Compared to example Focal Classic, the classic have less overall bass (espesially mid bass), but more deepbass (percieved, 'cause less mid bass).

 

[EdwardPL]

Again this isn't a graph lol 
 
It's simply showing you what the pads do, think of it as a graph for dummies, it's just showing that the Boost pads boost the treble and the US have less bass, it's not showing where the reductions are it's simply showing what they do.
 
The US don't change anything apart from the perception of air and the mid bass, can be confirmed with tone sweeps, FR test and music, you are hearing less mid bass and impact but the sub bass isn't changed. 

 

[Venture Guy]

So, @EdwardPL which pads are your favorites?

 

[EdwardPL]

Boost by far, the US are too boring but I love their comfort. I love both carbon models with the boost it's such a fun headphone without being too fun if that makes sense. Sure it's not tonally accurate IMO but who cares it's fun. 

 

[Jabba]

Again this isn't a graph lol 

It's simply showing you what the pads do, think of it as a graph for dummies, it's just showing that the Boost pads boost the treble and the US have less bass, it's not showing where the reductions are it's simply showing what they do.

The US don't change anything apart from the perception of air and the mid bass, can be confirmed with tone sweeps, FR test and music, you are hearing less mid bass and impact but the sub bass isn't changed. 

Yes, it's how the pads change sound.
Wasn't it what was discussed?

 

[Venture Guy]

  Boost by far, the US are too boring but I love their comfort. I love both carbon models with the boost it's such a fun headphone without being too fun if that makes sense. Sure it's not tonally accurate IMO but who cares it's fun. 

That is sort of where I am at as well. Have you tried the Hybrid pads? Yes the FR is not normal, but to my ears they enhance the soundstage quite a bit over the Boosts...

 

[Andreeww]

I just got them yesterday. Sound quality is expected. Instrument position and soundstage is better than Audeze sine. But they can't be hung on my neck. So bad for portable use. Also, the cable is absolutely horrible. I think we should group up and demand AQ to make a new cable and give it to us for free. This is too unacceptable.

 

[Tribble]

But they can't be hung on my neck. So bad for portable use. Also, the cable is absolutely horrible. I think we should group up and demand AQ to make a new cable and give it to us for free. This is too unacceptable.

 
Hear hear!
 
I really cannot understand the supposed portable aspect to these. They are too big and clumsy (fine sitting at home though - no complaints about that), move too easily on the head (i.e. easy to dislodge if you are moving quickly or get knocked by another commuter) and the cable is just as much a pain, being so springy, for portable use. At least that's how I see it. It's not to say they can't be used portably, but I certainly would not.
 
So the short cable with a smartphone button just makes no sense whatsoever to me, except as a marketing thing. No offence meant to the designer(s); I obviously see things differently but clearly I'm not alone here. The cable still annoys me every time I use these otherwise-wonderful headphones; which is every day.
 
I'm trying to source some decent silver-plated 2.5mm plugs to make my own cable but the only ones I can find have very scant details on them, other than they are silver-plated. I do wonder if simple nickel-plated switchcraft plugs would do as well, at least as far as my middle-aged ears could tell. At least they are known-good quality (brass body etc). It does annoy me knowing that I can't make a cable that will be anywhere near the (I hope) quality of an AQ cable, even this irritating one.
 
I also wonder... how do we clean the inside of the 2.5mm sockets when they start to build up a layer of AgS? Going to be a bit tricky, that one... I wonder if I should try stuffing some deoxit up there as a preventative measure.