AudioQuest NightOwl - A closed-back NightHawk

I've been very impressed with the Nightowl. So much so that I just ordered the Nighthawk before they are all gone. Are the hybrid pads available anywhere?

 

Which color NH did you order. Hybrid pads come with the brown woodgrain one.

 

So I recently got the NightOwls in a trade (I’m an IEM guy) and here are my impressions of them:




Driven by my Cayin N5ii (medium gain) + stock cable.

There’s something about the tonality of this headphone that’s just perfect. It’s a closed back, yet it has excellent space (spherical). It’s coloured but in a good way that’s pleasing to the ears. The treble is rolled off, the sub-bass is prominent but not basshead level, the drums sit in the back in its own space where it should be and male vocals are clear as day. This is warm headphone done right. Listening to it feels luxurious, heck, looking at it makes you smile. The nice carbon fibre style face, the beautifully ergonomic headband and and just the overall shape, design and detail of it. Whoever designed this put a lot of thought into it and did a very good job.

I listened to these several months back and since then I’ve been bought and demo’d $1000-$3000 IEMs. I kept thinking about them and finally got them. I think the NightOwl hangs with the best of them Something about them just sounds so soothing and natural.

Next step is to find a balanced cable to unlock more power from my DAP.

 

I ordered the NH Carbon. I could not find the original one for sale anywhere.

 

Maybe someone will know where you can still get the hybrid pads. It is annoying that they are hard to find now because if something happens to mine I would want to be able to replace them. You can't just buy a lifetime supply at the beginning because foam deteriorates over time even if it is not used.

 

That thought makes me sad. I have 2 pairs of Hy rid pads, one for each pair of cans. Not looking forward to not being able to replace them.

 

If you can't find the hybrid pads anywhere else, you can order them from the Netherlands. I bought three pairs in June. IMO they are the best for the Nightowl.

https://artsexcellence.com/audioquest-hybrid-earpads.html?___store=ae_en&___from_store=ae_nl

They have an official price of 59 euros. If you keep logging in, a price of 49 euros should appear at some point. That was my experience anyway.

 

Hm...the NightOwls actually sound pretty good with the iPhone X + lightning dongle. Might be the low impedance.

It doesn’t not need a lot of power.

 

Skylar actually said that he liked his Nighthawk straight out of his iPhone (not sure which one). He wanted it to be something everyone could enjoy.

 

It like...almost designed for it. Feels very unmodified. Basically like it was almost meant for this purpose. Out of a smartphone.

Background is almost pitch dark. Uncoloured by DAPs or other amps. Stock pleather pads + stock cable + iPhone X.

I like the NightOwl so much I might go to my local retailer and demo the NightHawk >.>; Gotta grab these babies before they’re gone.

I think what I like most of these is you can listen to them on and on and on and not get tired. It’s not fatiguing.

 

Thx for that. Saved to my bookmarks

 

Definitely sounds good enough out of an iphoni. Also sounds even better with Bette gear though. Everything I've thrown at them just gets better and better as I've gotten better gear.

 

I’ve got a crack in my Owls, will post a picture when I can.

Nothing affected sonically.

 

Sorry to hear that, Jearly410.