I’ve had the Nighthawks and loved them for a time, but the mids on the Nighthawk are much more recessed than on these. The Nighhawks mids are actually quite good, that’s one part of their farm, warm and wet seduction - but the mids on the 5200 are just much more “normal”. I agree that they’re neither recessed or forward. It is probably just me but these cans are like that mildly attractive milquetoast athletic smart frie d you had. Solid B+ everywhere. No complaints. But compare them to the bohemian Nighthawk, which had a radical POV and a weird fashion sense.
The 5200 had a more successful career but the Nighthawk had more fun and adventure along the way.
l’ve given my 5200s to my wife, at least until I need a really good closed back for offices. Like tofu, they can be marinated easily - pad rolling made a big difference for me. The stocks (and the custom houses I had lying around) made them very bassy and almost bloomy. I used some Dekoni and Brainwavz perfs, and they significantly widened the soundstage but lost most of the bass. I ended up preferring them with the Lawton angle pads (there are no other Lawton mods on these) - it was the best combo of bass, soundstage and highs for me. I think the ZMF Auteur pads are supposed to be like that as well.
My subjective opinion is that these cans don’t have a strong, coloured personality, but are a Jack of all trades and does everything above average. I won’t reach for these with other better options around, but I would keep them at work or somewhere I needed closed backs.
Save for the Atticuses if you want magic. But for a specific use case, these’ll do wonderfully for you, with the right pads.