So these are my first real upgrade. I moved from the ATH-M40x to the MDR-1A which I felt was more of a sidegrade. These are obviously in a whole other class. What Iām trying to figure out is where they stand in the current headphone landscape. Itās a little hard to tell because of their current price point which is drastically different from their original MSRP.
So I have a couple questions for those who have tried a lot of other headphones at this level and above. Assuming you like a headphone that leans toward a more warm and musical tuning:
What other headphones do you feel compete more directly with the NHC in terms of build and sound quality?
What is the upgrade path? What other headphones would you consider a real step up?
Iām not looking to upgrade anytime soon because these are freaking great! (Next upgrade is going to be moving from listening direct from Galaxy S9 to feeding them off a BTR5.) I just thought this would be an interesting conversation.
Itās pretty unique imo, perhaps the sony mdr z7 or ibasso sr1, but the nighthawk are just fairly unique so there really isnāt much direct competition. If there was a direct upgrade I would own it already lol
Lots of headphones could be a real step up, but none are really a direct upgrade to the nighthawk
Also the btr5 works very well with them, perhaps consider a balanced cable to use them with the btr5
Iām still waiting on stock to get a btr5. Out of stock or 20 bucks more. The nighthawks do work well off of them though? I noticed that I loved the nighthawks off of my jotunheim and my hiby r6.
However, when I tried them off of my es100 the bass got even stronger, kinda overwhelmingly so. Is the btr5 pretty neutral? I couldāve tweaked the es100 to bring down the bass a bit but Iām not a very big fan of eq-ing stuff. I guess Iām more of a neutral amp kinda guy. or maybe just slight coloring. I never noticed the warmth that the e100 added since most of my headphones arenāt too bassy but the instant I tried the nighthawks on it I was like ānoooopeā and plugged it back into my hiby, which also has a slight hint of warm.
In some ways, not exactly though. If I had to draw a comparison I think my sony mdr r10 bass heavy would be the closest comparison as they are both very unique
A balanced cable will probably be coming shortly after the BTR5. I talked to Periapt and they will swap their 3.5mm end for 2.5mm for no additional cost.
I think I have more to say, I just need to take the time and compile my thoughts. Iāll try to do that soon and give a more thorough impression as Iāve had more time to listen to them.
Drawing comparisons to a legendary headphone like the MDR-R10 makes me feel really good about my decision to get these while they are still available. Haha!
I get it. I dig the uniqueness. If given the choice to have something wholly different or incrementally better, I would choose different every time. It makes things way more fun.
So just got shipped notification now I got wait 2 days. Also on the incremental improvements: yea I largely agree. Sometimes an upgrade can be nice though for sure, no regrets getting the extra detail of the 95x over the dt1990 for example
I was just adding to the pool of somewhat, but not exact upgrades.
now I got wait 2 days. Also on the incremental improvements: yea I largely agree. Sometimes an upgrade can be nice though for sure, no regrets getting the extra detail of the 95x over the dt1990 for example 