The original nighthawks used to be 700 when they came out
I didn’t love them, but I thought the Carbons were one of the first premium feeling headphones I heard off of a proper amp. I had heard Sennheisers, but the Carbons may have been the headphone that made me decide to look a little deeper into this hobby (so my wallet will always love/hate them). When did they come out? 2015? 2016? Before that, I thought hi-end audio was what I knew from the 80s and 90s-big components, big speakers, and headphones were the cheap things that came with your walkman and discman. My friend was all over the Carbons, and he had a desktop amp that would seem huge by today’s standards. I didn’t buy them, but it made me rethink my views on home audio. I never owned them, but I probably will pick them up one day
I figured that too, but I know they must punch well above its current $199 price point. In fact, the case alone has got to be worth 50 of it. Anyways, most people [that like them] seem to be more impressed with them than Sennheisers.
I’m down for chill vibes, so I can see myself using my 600s for serious-mode and nighthawks for chill-mode.
They punch above if you actually like the signature is the thing
Resolve Reviews compared the Westone W80 to the Audioquest Nighthawk in his latest iem shootout:
He says its very lower-mid forward. That’s the frequency range of most instruments, so I can see it working for jazz and classical, but you’d miss out on anything vocal which is how I kind of remember the Carbons
Are the Nighthawk Carbons like the Regular Nighthawks?
EDIT: ok i found the audio quest website and i found this explanation of how they are differnt from the regular Nighthawk:
“A more sophisticated, more mature version of the award-winning NightHawk, NightHawk Carbon boasts several acoustic, ergonomic, and cosmetic refinements, adds a second pair of earpads, and includes a more versatile, durable cable—all while retaining its predecessor’s exceedingly low distortion, unsurpassed comfort, and naturally beautiful sound.”
sounds pretty good!
ok i bought a pair. i keep hearing about these headphones being different from all other headphone and im very curious about their uniqueness. and i think if i dont like them i could sell them and got almost all my money back. not sure if music direct has a return policy. but at 200$ its not too bad
Well now you have a darker sound lol, I don’t think you will need to worry about piercing treble
Considering that I kept finding them on /AVExchange for $200 used, I am pretty confident you’d be able to flip them without an issue. I thought I read that MusicDirect has some guarantee return policy though.
Although, with the “required 150 hours” of burn in period, it’ll probably be after the policy runs out, lol
Honestly just listen to them constantly for like a couple days and they should be fine
Can 3-D printed parts modeled from butterfly wings and paint engineered by the same makers of Porsche only handle a mere couple of days of break in…? /sarcasm
Well a week after I got my Porsche the dashboard clock stopped working lol (they replaced it though)
rofl, yeah i read that. i wonder about audio quest sometimes. by my calculations if i listen to these headphone my customary 3 hrs a day they will finally finish burn in on my 50th day of ownership. hmm…
Simple, just never take them off lol
or let them sit on the desk playing even when you’re not wearing them.
That works too, but you really just gotta commit
commit? to leave them playing on your desk? que?
Well, because I mean, it’s still 5 hours a day for 30 days.
I was late in reading the news, but Audioquest is no longer making and producing headphones which is why they are at closeout prices. I still think it’s a superb deal, but I can see why they are now on the cheaper side.
FYI, some Audio-Technica headphones on sale on Amazon:
M40X: www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATHM40x-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00HVLUR54/
M50X: www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-M50x-Professional-Monitor-Headphones/dp/B00HVLUR86/
and a few others