[MidSmoothness]

Not your worst Saturday morning, I take it.

Agreed, happy to have them and put a few hours on them.

 

[clerkpalmer]

Christmas has been good for many reasons. Among these, my new headphones at work: the Nightowl and the Nighthawk, side by side. They replace the LCD-2CB (too heavy for long listening) and the HD-650 (too similar to the HD-600).

Interesting. I am a new owner of some Owls. I just picked up the LCD2C largely because the holiday pricing was tempting me and had planned on selling off the Owls. The LCD2C haven't arrived yet but I may decide to keep them both for a while. How did you like the sound of the 2C versus the Owls setting aside the weight issue?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Interesting. I am a new owner of some Owls. I just picked up the LCD2C largely because the holiday pricing was tempting me and had planned on selling off the Owls. The LCD2C haven't arrived yet but I may decide to keep them both for a while. How did you like the sound of the 2C versus the Owls setting aside the weight issue?

I didn't do any serious A/B testing. What I remember of the 2CB is that the sound quality was very enjoyable. It had that nice impact, punch to the bass. it was like a neutral sound with an exciting bass. Good instrument separation, an overall clarity. The Nightowl is different, warmer, but a lush sound I really like. The bass has an impact at the proper volume, but different than what the planar could do. I plan to start experimenting with EQ on the RME ADI-2 to see if I get something I prefer over the original sound. Also, i am not at the recommended 150 hour burn-in yet.

Aside from the weight, the 2CB also had this compression feeling, taking it off really felt like coming out of a void sometimes. It was really sound quality in a closed back over comfort. And in using the 2CB, I learned that for me, even though the physical neck discomfort kicked in after about an hour, the entire experience was lessened from the beginning knowing this was coming. Whereas with the Nightowl I have come to associate the listening session with relaxation, comfort, and also good sound.

The only small downside for me in switching is that the Nightowl leaks more.

 

[MidSmoothness]

I wanted to come back to the chipped away edges on your nightowls, but mine are completely fine, no problems at all, same as my original nighthawk.

 

[Goldvein]

I just reached around 140 hours and they just leveled up or something. This is amazing. My music just got another dimension

 

[393699]

Just wait, it gets even better. The Nightowl will continue to improve until it reaches its final sound at 350-400 hours.

 

[3rdworldhero]

I got the Nightowl's without the case, can anyone recommend a good case for this? I travel frequently and I want to be able to carry it around with me despite the size.

 

[Groundking]

These are beautiful to listen too, I've put about 50 hours in now, and I'm loving the way they're presenting anything and everything I'm chucking at them now, and it's really making me fall back in love with stuff that I used to listen too that I hadn't for a while, as well as some of the stuff I have been listening too recently. I also got one of those MavisMods cables, navy blue, 1.5m because I'm tall and I've got habits from the long cables on the QC25's that I've got (I've been using these for work, as I really don't want to take these out into the wild and wreck them or something, and they feel so cheap now ) with leaving my phone around on surfaces when I do stuff around the house. It's much improved the experience with them but I don't know if the cables changed the sound or not, as they seem to feel a bit different each day I put them on, I think I'll try the other cable again once they've stopped changing so much and see if it sounds different then.

 

[Colors]

Not sure if it’s just good gear in general but the NightOwl scales very well with good DAPs/files and also the artist/production. Basically the more “real” and “talented” the production/artist is, the better it sounds. I don’t usually listen to Adele but damn, the NightOwls really bring that song - Rolling in the Deep out. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin is good too on the NO. Compared to something like Uptown Funk which kind of sounds like ass on NO. Basically, it’s pretty revealing.

 

[x RELIC x]

I don’t usually listen to Adele but damn, the NightOwls really bring that song - Rolling in the Deep out

I can't stand her 21 album (2011 release, lossless) due to audible distortion in her voice and severely compressed dynamic range. Not sure why people use this Adele album as an example of a good recording (the 2013 unmasters release is much better though). Which source did you use for Rolling in the Deep?

Here is the dynamic range of the album I have (my wife has actually).

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/84804

That said, I agree with the spirit of what you are saying (at least with my Nighthawks)!

 

[zpierce]

I have to put in my big vote of approval for the MavisModz cables. I ordered a generic balanced cable from a different seller off of eBay last year for my NightOwls and it was very stiff and scratchy with subsequently terrible microphonics. I have no idea how it sounded because it drove me too crazy to listen to for any amount of time as you had to sit perfectly still if you didn't want to be part of the music in a bad way.

I was worried about that in looking to order another cable from another eBay seller but I decided to give a MavisModz cable a shot as someone mentioned them here and the pictures looked promising. I have to say it delivered exactly what I wanted. The cable is very soft, very flexible and, to the extent I'm able to discern these things, I think it sounds fabulous. Also he/she/they were very responsive to questions within minutes of dropping a note. I'm ordering another one for the LCD-3's I have coming this week. Seems like a great quality / value proposition.

 

[nicoial]

Hi everyone!

The left "ring/grill" on my Nightowl's are rattling, (coming loose?) is this something that anyone else has experienced?

 

[PinkyPowers]

I can't stand her 21 album (2011 release, lossless) due to audible distortion in her voice and severely compressed dynamic range. Not sure why people use this Adele album as an example of a good recording (the 2013 unmasters release is much better though). Which source did you use for Rolling in the Deep?

Here is the dynamic range of the album I have (my wife has actually).

http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/view/84804

That said, I agree with the spirit of what you are saying (at least with my Nighthawks)!

Yeah, her stuff is a pain to listen to. I used love that album until I got into high-end headphones and heard just how awful those recordings are. It's a real travesty.

 

[Jack-A]

In my opinion this is a type of music that was created to break sale-records again and does not offer anything interesting for an audio enthusiast. Just because the 50 Shades of Grey was a New York Time's bestseller(not sure about that but that crap was so popular) doesn't mean it's worth reading.

Is there a point of getting the Nightowls when I already own the 2C's? Are they different enough to own them both?

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Is there a point of getting the Nightowls when I already own the 2C's? Are they different enough to own them both?

I will let others comment on whether there is a sound experience to be gained from owning both. But since I own an Audeze unit that is similar in build and weight to the 2C, I would say that the Nighthawk will offer you the ability to enjoy music for hours with zero comfort issues. And I would add that if the Nighthawk doesn't make sense as a second open back, then consider the Nightowl as your closed back. Same incredible comfort, very enjoyable sound with a signature not too far from the Nighthawk in my listening experience.