[JerseyD]

Anyone here owning both Meze 99 Classic and Nighthawk? Just curious if Audioquest headphones fit in the Meze case...

Just checked (as I sell both), and the AQ headphones do NOT fit in the Meze 99 case. Misses by about 1/2 inch.  But as you might expect, the Meze do fit in the giant AQ case.

 

[bugeyed]

Yup,
 
As you mentioned Deoxit is fine. Go to your neighborhood Pharmacy & get some "Interdental Brushes" & just give them a quick spray . Then give the sockets a light scrub inside of them The Deoxit will also leave a thin coating behind to fight against future buildup.
 
Just a quick 'spritz' & wipe the cable pins also , then plug & unplug the the cable pins into the sockets & rewipe the pins before re-inserting them. Then as they use to say on late night Infomercials "Set it  & Forget it"

 


I read that silver oxidizes slowly & that silver oxide is as conductive as silver.

kev

 

[sabloke]

Bummer... Took the case empty to work today for nothing then... Read the message a few minutes late

 

[bugeyed]

Here's a little "trick" that might help some of you who may have some issues with the new cable w/ the mic switch . This trick is only applicable if you currently still have your original NH.


 


So , I'd picked up my NO yesterday afternoon & 1 thing that I've been reading that appeared to be "A useless feature / potentially bad idea" (for myself) turned out to live up to it potential to be a PITA.. He,he,he .... I stand by my call about this new cable.


 


  As it turns out the problem is not originating from the switch on the cable, but the 1/4 " adaptor that connects to 3/8 " cable connector. Originally I said "the heck" with the cable & put the 8' cable from my NH on the NO & let it start burning & went to have something to eat. I gained a little bit more perspective while I was eating & decided to see if there might have been something on the "Bad Idea Cable" I'd overlooked, there was.


 


I hadn't noticed the amount of 'slop' in 1/4" NO adaptor to the HP cable connector. I found this out when I re- attached the "Bad Idea Cable" to the NO & then into the HP extension cable I'm using. If I picked up the HP cable slack I would notice that the Right channel of the HP would intermittently come in & out. It was at that point that I discovered the looseness of the Adaptor was allowing the 3/8" pin to move enough to lose it's ring contacts inside the connection.


 


I was pretty certain that the NH Adaptor was a tighter fit as it doesn't have the 3rd ring space inside of it. So that's what I changed , as I'll never need to use the mic switch !


 


Not being sure if the switch was completely out of the loop I just tried it & it's just that now. Other than being too friggin short it now graduated from being a "Bad Idea Cable" to a  "Usable, but still way too Short Cable"

 


I found the same problem using the new miked cable with the original NH 1/4" adapter. The new miked cable has an additional ring connection at the base of the plug & this is used for the mike. It takes the place of a bit of the gnd sleeve. Apparently the plug on the new cable looses the gnd if it is stressed in a certain direction.

kev

 

[HiFiDJ]

Sadly, I cannot.....Is the sound leakage bad enough for other people to hear your music when you're in the same room?

 

[Tribble]

Sadly, I cannot.....Is the sound leakage bad enough for other people to hear your music when you're in the same room?

 
Yes, if listened to loudly (comfortably loudly I mean, not silly). My wife sits about four to five feet away and occasionally sings along to what I'm listening to with the NightOwl, if it's loudish. That's using the protein leather pads. Not tried the others.

 

[Tribble]

 

  Yup,
 
As you mentioned Deoxit is fine. Go to your neighborhood Pharmacy & get some "Interdental Brushes" & just give them a quick spray . Then give the sockets a light scrub inside of them The Deoxit will also leave a thin coating behind to fight against future buildup.
 
Just a quick 'spritz' & wipe the cable pins also , then plug & unplug the the cable pins into the sockets & rewipe the pins before re-inserting them. Then as they use to say on late night Infomercials "Set it  & Forget it"

 


I read that silver oxidizes slowly & that silver oxide is as conductive as silver.

kev

 
It's not the oxide but the sulphide (Ag2S) that's the issue. That's mostly what silver 'tarnish' is. Ag2S is a semiconductor and not a good conductor, at least as far as I know. In thin film it might not be an issue, but we use gas for cooking which always has some sulphur in it, and we eat a lot of curries, so the silver will be exposed to moist, sulphurous gases encouraging tarnishing. At least we don't have a coal fire

 
There's a document here which shows significant increase in contact resistance with tarnished silver-plated contacts:
 
http://www.te.com/documentation/whitepapers/pdf/Performance_implications_Silver_Myers2009.pdf
 
Personally I would rather have gold plating as I don't think my ears can hear such differences any more (darn middle-age and SSHL

).
 
That said, my NightOwls are sounding incredible, even more than when I got them. I think they are loosening up nicely now. I've been listening to a SACD ISO rip of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms and it just blew me away!

 

[bugeyed]

 
It's not the oxide but the sulphide (Ag2S) that's the issue. That's mostly what silver 'tarnish' is. Ag2S is a semiconductor and not a good conductor, at least as far as I know. In thin film it might not be an issue, but we use gas for cooking which always has some sulphur in it, and we eat a lot of curries, so the silver will be exposed to moist, sulphurous gases encouraging tarnishing. At least we don't have a coal fire

 
There's a document here which shows significant increase in contact resistance with tarnished silver-plated contacts:
 
http://www.te.com/documentation/whitepapers/pdf/Performance_implications_Silver_Myers2009.pdf
 
Personally I would rather have gold plating as I don't think my ears can hear such differences any more (darn middle-age and SSHL

).
 
That said, my NightOwls are sounding incredible, even more than when I got them. I think they are loosening up nicely now. I've been listening to a SACD ISO rip of Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms and it just blew me away!

 


Thanks for clearing that up. Wouldn't inserting & twisting the plug in the adapter "clean" the contact surfaces sufficiently? We already have a polishing rag for the plug.

kev

 

[Tribble]

Thanks for clearing that up. Wouldn't inserting & twisting the plug in the adapter "clean" the contact surfaces sufficiently? We already have a polishing rag for the plug.

kev

 
Possibly. That document I linked (and others) talk about wiping force (that is, contact to contact wiping, not with a cloth) needing to be a little higher than normal to ensure the tarnish is removed. Perhaps a few repeated insertions in place of that would help. They also mention that silver plating tends to wear more quickly with repeated insertion/wiping though, and is more suited to low insertion cycles.
 
I think deoxit is the way to go. I'm probably a little paranoid and tend to see potential problems possibly for more than they really are.

 

[knowhatimean]

I found the same problem using the new miked cable with the original NH 1/4" adapter. The new miked cable has an additional ring connection at the base of the plug & this is used for the mike. It takes the place of a bit of the gnd sleeve. Apparently the plug on the new cable looses the gnd if it is stressed in a certain direction.

kev

He,he,he...... On further use (& thought) I decided to go with the entire original NH 8' cable & 1/4 Adaptor !
 
It was the only configuration that has given me zero problems 
 
(That 3 ring plug & the sleeve that it fits into on the 1/4" should have been machined to have much closer tolerances than they were; Shame on you AQ ! ; I don't care if it wasn't you who was making the cables)

 

[sabloke]

DP-X1, Mojo, Nightowl equals audio heaven. Right out of the box. Love the chunky cable, too.

 

[joeq70]

The NightOwls leak a lot of sound for closed headphones. See if you can audition them. 

Are you sure this is true with the pleather pads? Had a friend listen to them while sitting next to me, I was blown away how loud they were off his head vs on.

 

[bugeyed]

 
Possibly. That document I linked (and others) talk about wiping force (that is, contact to contact wiping, not with a cloth) needing to be a little higher than normal to ensure the tarnish is removed. Perhaps a few repeated insertions in place of that would help. They also mention that silver plating tends to wear more quickly with repeated insertion/wiping though, and is more suited to low insertion cycles.
 
I think deoxit is the way to go. I'm probably a little paranoid and tend to see potential problems possibly for more than they really are.

 


Thanks, DeoxiT G & D ordered.

kev

 

[sabloke]

I just hit the road with these beauties. RATM sound amazing! Got some 6 hours play day one. Mojo has enough power to blow them off my head, hahaha!

 

[Tribble]

Are you sure this is true with the pleather pads? Had a friend listen to them while sitting next to me, I was blown away how loud they were off his head vs on.

 
It's definitely true for me. The day I brought them home, I was sitting in the lounge listening (loud, but only comfortably so) and my wife sitting four feet away started singing along to the music. That was with the pleather. Maybe they don't seal very well to my head.