New Audioquest Nightowl / Nighthawk Carbon

Oh strange, they were different prices up here when I was talking with the rep.

 

Weird. Here in Canada the price for the NightHawk Carbon and the NightOwl is $900. ($450 for the original NightHawk.)

 

Hell, for $30 a pair, I'll grab a pair and try them on all my other cans.

 

Looking forward to hearing these, particularly the velour earpads.

 

I'm in Canada too. Last I saw (before the Nighthawk went on sale), it was something like 900 and the original Nighthawk at 850. Oh well, that's moot now with the originals on sale.

 

I'm having a lot of fun with the NightHawk and the Vali 2 (w/ Electro-Harmonix 6CG7 tube)

 

I really like my Nighthawk the issue I do have is the internal cup reverb it does get a bit too much and I do wish they had the vocal presence and emotion of the HD650.

I use the NH a lot more as they don't leak as much as my HD800 and 650. I think AQ need to keep the NH carbon price down as more people will just buy the 650 with overall is a better headphone.

 

I agree with you about the mids of the HD650 vs the NightHawk but at the end I still prefer the Hawks.

The NightHawk should not cost more than $500/$600 but we could say the same thing about the LCD-2...

 

Yeah that's true the current LCD-2 is inferior to the HD650 and Nighthawk IMO. I don't really like comparing my NH to 650 as they are both as resolving as each other but have their differences to be side grades. 650 mids and treble smoothness with NH bass would be the greatest headphone ever created for my taste if it was possible.

 

I don't know if this is even in the ballpark, but I wondered if you have seen this post:
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...ove-appreciation-thread.44/page-60#post-93830

 

No, NightHawk are perfect

 

@YtseJammer I just read your feedback on NH and now I am very tempt to try NH. I found that this headphone has very polarising review (more than any other headphone that I know of). Have you had a chance to hear JVC HA-SW01 Wood Dome Headphone? Some people say that it has similar sound to NH but better. Never head either of them so cannot comment but love to hear your thought if you have tried.

JVC HA-SW01 Over-Ear Wood Dome Headphones
JVC has developed a new design for Over-Ear Headphones. The HA-SW01 is a Wood Dome Driver Unit Headphone that delivers a high resolution sound. It has been designed with a High Energy Magnetic Circuit that produces over 1 Tesla Magnetic Flux Density which adds on the sound quality of the headphones.

 

No sorry I have never heard the JVC HA0SW01.

BTW The NH are still available for $350 at Crutchfield.

 

Yes, the price is very tempting.... The issue is that I am based in Australia and Amazon and Crutchfield do not ship to Australia.... I might look out local eBay to find one.

 

Still $348 shipped on Amazon.

 

So I've had my Nighthawk Carbons for a bit and I did write some impressions on Reddit from the first few days of owning them. My impressions have actually gone the other way. The NHC carries the Biocell sound just like the NH but there's a boost somewhere in the treble that gets a bit bothersome. The bass is less, bloomy, isn't as present in deep bass as the NH.

I know @Marvey was critical of the original NH but I loved it for it's unique tone. I'm not sure if it's the boost pads only, that are the reason for the treble presence but I honestly prefer the original NH presentation and others who were critical of it will certainly prefer the Carbon but there's just something different about the Carbons that make me feel, less at home with them if that makes sense. I'm going to return these and stick with the old hawks.


The velour pads are really nice feeling, I don't get a huge loss of deep bass like with the HM5 ear pads. My new Audioquest cable was faulty of of the box! had to use the old one.

 

^^ That's quite a disappointment to hear. And the cable was specifically re-engineered because of failure with the original. Ugh...

 

Well, I had what is likely my worst headphone fuckery ever. I use my old audio rack to hang my headphones on. It works perfectly as most of my headphones slide right on the front fascia and the cables even have a spot to hang on which keeps them off the floor. Last night I went to hang the Nighthawk on the end of the rack and it slipped off and hit the hardwood floor (no cable attached). It cracked both cups right where the connectors are. It sort of splintered like glass or peanut brittle sometimes does. Oh well...

 

Christ, that's.. not ideal. I'm just remembering all the times that my HD650s have gone flying, bless them. Of course, getting new capsules if they did get damaged, wouldn't be hard. Less confident about the unsmashability of my HE-560, mind.

 

Damn man that sucks. I love the look of the NH and my OCD would kick in!

Luckily Skylar said he has replacement cups a while back so it might be worth shooting him an email(If it bothers you that is)

I've sent the NH carbon's back I'm sticking to my original NH it just has a magic about it.