šŸ”¶ Audioquest NightHawk

Itā€™s pretty true lol, the x2hr and x2 are kinda in the same boat too imo

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fun factā€¦ i had NO IDEA that review existedā€¦ i only assumed because audioquest is a big name in the audiophile scene (i know there are people who will take that snake oil of the cables) and they are aparently very bass heavy

(btw using the term ā€œdarkā€ just makes me think they would be overly muddy and muffled, when i just want a fun sound that has a lower mid to mid focus with still some highs so i can enjoy the cymbals on a song like reckoner by radiohead)

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I think they definitely do low mids very well, while retaining detail in the highs. I wouldnā€™t say these are bass ā€œheavyā€. It is just the right amount. These definitely are fun, the imaging and soundstage is truly unique.

Iā€™ve only had them for a couple days. They are warm, good quality bass, treble is not lacking at all. I find the leather pads actually accentuate the treble too much. Itā€™s an enjoyable all around good warm headphone. Not really lacking anything.

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mostly wondering because i am wanting a headphone to use as much as i can (from the LPs to the 320 ogg)ā€¦ i wont buy them until i have 500 bucks so i can also buy an audioquest dragonfly :tm: with it

and i had people suggesting stuff like 59Xā€™s and other stuff so i dunno what im doing

So I guess with the Nighthawk Carbon, you have that choice between the 2 different pad types, protein leather for more treble, and suede pads for more bass impact.

I wouldnā€™t recommend the Audioquest Dragonfly, as it is kind of overpriced. There are much better amplifiers you can get that also have bluetooth capabilities for way less.
Kind of is an understatement, I would say it is actually waaay overpriced.

i dont need bluetooth, and i just need good quality sound (96K support for one album i already have and one im buying on HD tracks) at a small form factor for my laptop

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How small do you need?

I havenā€™t listened to Radiohead on them yet, but Iā€™ll do that when I have the time and tell you what I think about that song imparticular. Iā€™ll be sure to focus on the cymbals.

as in portable enough for a 14" laptop i use in my bed, and hopefully not running on batteries

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you can use this to test it or whatever, its the very very beginning of the songā€¦ its a test song for me along with a couple other indie rock songs, plus some J Dilla and maybe some jon hopkins are also good tests

actually if you want i can DM you a playlist of test songs that fit my listening habits if you want

I would recommend the Fiio Q1 Mk2 if you are okay with something a little bigger and less portable with no charging needed.
If you want something smaller that still has really long battery life, more than 12 hours, the Fiio BTR5 is amazing. Even though it has bluetooth capabilities, it is a dedicated amp/dac, and the customizability with EQ and sound changes with graphs is amazing.
Fiio Q1 Mk2 is 99 USD, Fiio BTR5 is 109.99 USD. The added bonus with the BTR5 is that you can also use it with a phone if you want to, it is very small, yet very powerful.
Edit: I can link a review of the BTR5 if you want, also the Q1 Mk2.

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it seems like the fiio Q1 is battery powered and BTR5 is tooā€¦ my problem is i just dont want to have to replace batteries or have to recharge my battery and not be able to listen to any media for i dunno how longā€¦ thats what makes me nervous, that it cant just recharge off USB and let me listen to all the hours of time i very often am on my computer

OOPS TURNS OUT THE Q1 WILL RECHARGE THROUGH USB ON A COMPUTER LOOKS LIKE Iā€™LL BUY THAT

(i dont need it for my phoneā€¦ since thats for low fidelity mode for me)

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The Q1 Mk2 lasts really long, charges via micro USB port, pretty sure it can charge and be used at the same time. I think the BTR5 charges via USB C.
Something that is a little bigger is the Fiio K5 Pro. Pretty sure that isnā€™t battery powered.
Honestly I think it shouldnā€™t be too much of a hassle to plug the amplifiers I mentioned in at night to charge in an outlet or even straight from the computer.
Iā€™ll find some more suggestions tomorrow. :wink:

Well there ya go XD.

i just had to look on the FiiO website

For instance, if the Q1 Mark II is paired with an iPhone, it will automatically recognize that and turn off charging over USB so as to preserve the iPhoneā€™s battery. On the other hand, if the Q1 Mark II is paired with a computer, it will also automatically identify that and turn on charging over USB to make sure the Q1 is constantly powered.

iā€™m an idiotā€¦ though yeah the only thing i dunno if iā€™d need is the DSD supportā€¦ one reason i thought about the dragonfly was doing tidal hifi on a student discount and using the MQA, but i dunno if i need that either

since you already seem pretty helpfulā€¦ maybe you can help me figure out the headphones since i already made a spotify playlist for examples of what i hear (a LOT of guitars)

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Spotify is what I use for streaming, I think itā€™s pretty good since it has a lot of music. Not sure about Tidal, I think a lot of people prefer Amazon Music HD to it.
DSD is just a file type, thatā€™s supposed to be one of the highest quality lossy file formats available, although I could be wrong.
If you want to PM me the playlist or something, or just link it, I can give it a listen. Although I wonā€™t be able to test it on my Nighthawk Carbon until I get back home, as I am traveling right now. But I sort of know these headphones so much since they are what I usually use, I could make an educated guess about what how it will be with them.
And the Q1 Mk2 will be much better than the Dragonfly, it just takes whatever signal you feed to it, it doesnā€™t automatically put it into DSD as far as I know, some people just prefer DSD.
Personally for music I have downloaded I just use FLAC, or OGG for lossy format.

Reckoner sounds interesting. The cymbals and strings come through really clear and loud, vocals are relaxed in that song. Tbh, with my third day listening to them and getting used to them, I donā€™t think Iā€™d even consider them dark anymore.

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To me, they almost sound like they bring the sub bass up, then down in the high bass range, back up again in the lower midrange, then down in the higher midrange, then thereā€™s something interesting with the treble where it sounds inoffensive yet detailed.
These are so hard to describe lol.