$700.00 AudioQuest Nighthawk Burn-In Update

AudioQuest Nighthawk First Impressions:
(COMING SOON)

AudioQuest Nighthawk Review:
(COMING SOON)

Audio-Technica ATH-M40x First Impressions:

Audio Technica ATH-M40x Review:
(COMING SOON)
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Sennheiser HD600 Review:

Sennheiser HD650 Review:

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(Tested Songs *various recording styles, sources and qualities*)

High's:
(Dream On by Morgan James - Postmodern Jukebox)
(Innocente - Romeo Santos)

Mid's:
(Game of Thrones Cover - Break of Reality)

No Low End:
(Evil Dub - Trent Moller)
(Limit To Your Love - James Blake)

Imaging:
(Innocente - Romeo Santos)

Intimacy:
(Little Bit of Rain - Natalia M. King)

Siblance:
(Caruso - Jacky Evancho "2:38")
(Hello - Adele)

Clarity:
(Crazy "cover" - Daniela Andrade)
(The Sound of Silence - Disturbed)

Presence:
(Fireflies - Owl City)

[boristrejos]

I am an audiophile and have Senns HD800s, Fostex TR-X00, Aeon flow closed, Hifiman Sundaras, HD 600 among others and I just keep going back to my Nighthawk Carbons when I just wanna enjoy my music since these are so musical and fun, dark but still detailed and clear, and man, that awesome extended bass!. They´re so unique and special they WILL never ever leave my cans collection for sure. ´Nuff said.

[tpacalypse]

Owned these and the nightowl. Ended up selling the nightowl and kept these. Remember to EQ them and they can sound fantastic. Using them with the Fiio Btr5 believe it or not and they sound really nice and powerful.

[theonetuby]

Got my nighthawk a few days ago and I’m around twenty hours of burn in. I think it gets better every time I listen. The rubber surrounding the drivers seems to need it.
I’ve been binging on your channel and it’s great. Presentation means a lot and separates you from the other tiny aspiring headphone channels. Your vids are well set, well lighted and well shot. Make them whatever length you want and I’ll be watching. 🍻

[falcon]

It's been a year, surely you have reached the 150 hrs.

BTW, I burned mine in using a combination of sinewave progression and white/pink noise. You leave them covered for days and you can shorten your burn in time and see a more realistic change in sound because the changes are more fresh in your mind.

[silasowen]

Hey just curious if there's an update on these and what's going on with them.

[Yosho]

Love the video and the outtake at the end. Thanks for leaving it in. Any updates? I’m considering these and the NightOwls. Both can be had in the $300-350ish range.

[markbrown]

I own the original NightHawks and the NightOwls. I honestly prefer the NightHawk OG over the NightOwls unless I want a closed can for listening around others. I haven't had the chance to listen to the NightHawk Carbon. Both the OG NightHawk and NightOwl Carbon are fantastic headphones with a great strap design with a beyond sucky cable that is easily replaced. The best way I can describe the original NightHawk is that it's like listening to speakers in a listening room except you are wearing headphones. That unique aspect is what keeps me going back to the NightHawks over other headphone designs with a more typical headphone listening experience that may be more accurate but can also sound more sterile and antiseptic. I've paired the Audioquest headphones with a Grace M9XX and they sound phenomenal to my ears.

[bradulovic]

Problem with these headphones is that there is so many other headphones for (and under) $700 that don't need to be burned-in for 150 hours.
You need to really love their sound to endure all that trouble just to get them to optimal level.
p.s. I totally agree that company should (at least) do the half of that burn-in time, they sell and give you 30 day return period to decide on a product that isn't "finished".

[PaulClaymasonWV]

They needed more than 150hrs and they got better with age. Amp was the key. A hybrid amp.. I still use the Music Hall PH 25.2

[theonetuby]

Did you get rid of your Nighthawks? What’s the story, dude?

[dmarcus]

Over the course of two weeks I burned mine in for 150 hours. I thought the sound signature only changed slightly if at all. Frustrated I decided to sell them.

[timothyfreeseha]

Yes! They can do the heavy lifting! This is an idea that could catch on...thank you.

[tpacalypse]

Which cable did you recommend for these again? Checked the description but couldn't find it.

[Tacet]

If you want them to sound good get a solid state amp that is "energetic", has a lot of power reserve, even when not used more power on stock usually opens the sound. They also need a Good DAC... In my system they sound best from CD Player when using quality records and better CD formats like SHM CD or Blue-Spec CDs.

[RightToBearArms]

Thank you Joshua, you and Z are my go to reviewers for audio/headphone advice. Your nighthawk observations is spot.

[MFillmore]

Tbh I love the nighthawks but they are a tad too dark sounding at times. You might want to try a planar magnetic like the LCD-2C because they accomplish even better bass without sacrificing details.

[tonydillinger]

So as far as burning goes sometimes I let my 400 eyes just play for about 4 hours straight while I'm doing other things, is it a good thing to let headphones in this case planar, to run up to 5 hours straight or is it better to let them rest for a while?

[TheWeaksoup]

I want this headphones but I couldn't find them anywhere else. Any suggestion for an HP that have similar sound signature? I like impactful bass and smooth treble. Mainly I will use it for non competitive gaming. Thanks!

[PaulClaymasonWV]

I hated them in the beginning. It's letting the brain adjust to what you’re hearing (let them break in) then a minimum of three songs played for your hearing to adjust, then listen. Yeah, I know 5yrs old

[ikaruga]

I am coming in two years later and these are selling in my country (the last couple of models left) around the 340€ mark. Are these better than something like the Senn HD650's who sell for the same price? I do have an amp/DAC but it's not powerful (IFI Zen DAC) and my current best headphones are the original Fidelio X2's but after nearly 7 years the pads are starting to tear up and mine are not replaceable. So now i am at a crossroads, there is the beyerdynamic Tygr 300 which sells at about 150€ that i have my eye on, the normal HD 600 which is around 290€, the HD 650 around 330€ and this Nighthawk model for about the same as the 650.

Now, i know this is a wide price difference between all of them but the question is whether these have so much difference between one another that it really does warrant going above the 150€ mark and especially for the Nighthawk model as it is a higher end speced headphone than any of these if older. Unfortunately no way to test them out myself so i am going blind.