After a week of listening to the Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon and Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohm I’ve finally made a decision.
For reference, I mostly listened to these albums, all in FLAC, or streamed HIFI or MASTER quality on Tidal.
Black Tiger Sex Machine - New Worlds
Com Truise - Persuasion System
Cosmic Gate - 20 Years
Illenium - Ascend
Kayzo - Unleashed
Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon ($210 USD) - eBay, Open box, look brand new
Comfort / Build Quality -
I haven’t tried on that many headphones before, but these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever experienced straight out the box. In terms of build quality, the materials used are very nice and very ‘premium’ looking. The only possible problem would be the durability of the black plastic around the ear cups. Feels somewhat fragile?
Sound - Where to begin? Unique? Dark? Warm? U-shaped? Relaxed? I could spend all day trying to describe the sound of these, but I’ll try to keep it brief.
I finally get why these are so polarizing. The sound signature definitely isn’t for everyone. Such a weird/unique experience. When I first tried these, I thought to myself ‘WTF?’
These come stock with protein leather pads on, and with these pads, the sound is distant? boxy? super dark? You definitely get the bass, great btw, but the mids and hi’s seem like they are wayyy back. The feeling is like you’re in a chamber with loudspeakers. Does that make sense? Sounds like there’s an echo/reverb but in reality there isn’t any. Super weird.
These also come with suede pads and imo the way to go. With the suede pads, everything opens up a little more. Turns these cans from dark to warmish. I say warmish because they still seem kinda dark to me. Bass isn’t as present, but still very much there.
These are not in your face type of headphones. Not exciting cans. Calling these ‘relaxed’ might be an understatement.
Pros - Bass! Comfort.
Cons - Unusual sound signature? Detachable cable. I feel like I have to handle these headphones with care.
Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohm ($150 USD) - Amazon.com, Brand new
Comfort / Build Quality -
Comfort for these is very good. The initial clamp force is a little strong, but an easy fix. Build quality is better than the Nighthawks in my opinion, feels very sturdy.
Sound - V-shaped sound. Bassy. Bright.
Listening to these compared to the Nighthawks is a completely different experience. These are more ‘exciting’ cans, more in your face, and more energetic.
Bass is very good, nice extension. Bass doesn’t seem as clear and textured as the Nighthawks though. Mids are nice, a touch recessed but there. Treble is where I have trouble with these. For me and my personal tastes, these are a little too sharp. To get the desired bass when I crank up the volume, the treble gets piercing on many songs and listening to these can at times be rough.
Pros - Nice and sturdy build. Bass! Very nice sound signature if you don’t mind bright headphones.
Cons - Treble. Can be fatiguing. Long Non-detachable cable.
So at the end of the day, which one do I prefer?
The Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon.
Although these lean darkish, I really like it. Super relaxing, easy listening, non-fatiguing. To remedy to darkish-ness I EQ to my liking and after EQ’ing, these sound awesome. I feel like these lack treble, and with a treble boost, these no longer sound dark.
I really wanted to like the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohm, but I guess I’m treble-sensitive. For most songs, the brightness is a little too much for me. I tried reducing the treble via EQ, but comparing both headphones EQ’d, the Nighthawks win.
Now I see the HE4XX’s on sale, and I wonder how they stack up against Nighthawks?