what headphones do you own thread - i own dt150's :)

Look like they will do the job, good price too, though you won't know how stable they are until you get to hang your headphones on them.
 
@Ninja Pirate

After reading some comments on Hype-fi many people have been trying different pads on the Nighthawk. I bought the Brainwavz Velour pads and chucked em on.

Have to say it's quite a shocking change. The mids breathe now as when I was doing AB testing with open phones I found that boxiness would bother me a bit.

So the Brainwavz Velours thin the sound out. Mid bass is less boomy, more air seems to escape so it's not as warm. I'd say it sounds as warm as my 650 now maybe less where as before it would sound a little too warm at times.

Mids seem to have better clarity, they are still not as intimate as the 650 but they are about a similar position to the Philips X2 but with a slightly smoother tone to vocals. They sound more aggressive, the treble doesn't sound dark at all due to the big bass taking the attention from everything before. Bass extension seems to hold up, maybe slightly more rolled off but it's difficult to tell as I'm still adjusting.

So far I think it's a good change and I'm shocked they didn't use Velour to begin with as the driver of the Nighthawks is actually very good.

I do think a bit of treble roughness has come through but it's a more refined treble than many in the price range and under. reminds me of a smoother, slightly less aggressive D7000.
 
HE 400i have arrived and wow will give more input later when i've had more time to digest but people are strange by the doors sounds devine.

I will say one thing poorly mastered stuff really shows up.
 
TwsT said:
HE 400i have arrived and wow will give more input later when i've had more time to digest but people are strange by the doors sounds devine.

I will say one thing poorly mastered stuff really shows up.
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What was your previous pair of headphones, TwsT?
 
You know what, I'm tempted to buy a pair of 400i and to compare against the HD650. I simply must know what planar magnetics sound like as I'm just itching to know by my own ear's accord :o
 
I do miss the treble energy of the HE400i, sounded amazing with well mastered music.

What are you using to drive them? I found them harder to drive than my HD650. I think a warm sounding tube amp would match very nicely.

Have you also noticed just how loud they are when not wearing them? I could hear the bass notes from a few feet away, lol.
 
mrk said:
You know what, I'm tempted to buy a pair of 400i and to compare against the HD650. I simply must know what planar magnetics sound like as I'm just itching to know by my own ear's accord :o
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haha I have the exact problem but the other way around, I went for these to satisfy the planar thing and as titanium was selling them for £260 so i figured If I lose 10% shipping them to someone else I can still buy the 650's if i didn't like them.

But I do like them

So Now i want the 650's anyway to see what the fuss is about. RIP wallet.

titaniumx3 said:
I do miss the treble energy of the HE400i, sounded amazing with well mastered music.

What are you using to drive them? I found them harder to drive than my HD650. I think a warm sounding tube amp would match very nicely.

Have you also noticed just how loud they are when not wearing them? I could hear the bass notes from a few feet away, lol.
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AS for driving them I'm at work so they are on the X7 but when they come home i'll have the essence one muses edition to drive them I expect they will light up when i get them home :)
 
They are £350-£400 new so not exactly cheap tryouts haha.

Hmm, if only you were more local!
 
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Had a bit of time with them this evening the differences are stark I still love the X1's but there is an easy listening feel to the he-400i's can't quite think of the words atm still going to leave it a few days, but I'm happy hehe.
 
If you don't mind a trip to London one day Custom Cable in New Malden have so much to demo it's unreal. I'm always going on there having sessions. Great guys! Always get my gear from them.

They have all the new Hifiman range. Going to go there tomorrow to try some thangs!

As far as trying planars they have this deep bass that has so much texture and richness to it. The original HE-400 and LCD-2 probably have the best bass extension and impact I've heard in a headphone.

The 400i is pretty good here too but missus out down low compared to the other two. 400i has really good texture and also has good mids unlike the original HE-400 and is so much more comfortable.
 
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Tag teaming these two again!
 
Custom Cable are an hour away from my usual visiting spot around London. They seem to stock everything yeah so will take a trip down later this month if time permits thanks!
 
I would use the words Easy listening they are so comfortable and the sound is so light and subtle. It's not bright nor is it boomy.

What's impressed me is that despite being just 35 ohm with the volume at the same point on my amp on the x1's the bass from the x1's is almost fatiguing.

Speaking to pexon about a straight un-braided cable though this one is annoyingly stiff.
 
Ryanr1987 said:
@Ninja Pirate

After reading some comments on Hype-fi many people have been trying different pads on the Nighthawk. I bought the Brainwavz Velour pads and chucked em on.

Have to say it's quite a shocking change. The mids breathe now as when I was doing AB testing with open phones I found that boxiness would bother me a bit.

So the Brainwavz Velours thin the sound out. Mid bass is less boomy, more air seems to escape so it's not as warm. I'd say it sounds as warm as my 650 now maybe less where as before it would sound a little too warm at times.

Mids seem to have better clarity, they are still not as intimate as the 650 but they are about a similar position to the Philips X2 but with a slightly smoother tone to vocals. They sound more aggressive, the treble doesn't sound dark at all due to the big bass taking the attention from everything before. Bass extension seems to hold up, maybe slightly more rolled off but it's difficult to tell as I'm still adjusting.

So far I think it's a good change and I'm shocked they didn't use Velour to begin with as the driver of the Nighthawks is actually very good.

I do think a bit of treble roughness has come through but it's a more refined treble than many in the price range and under. reminds me of a smoother, slightly less aggressive D7000.
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I'm using the hybrid velours and both subjective listening and measurements from my crappy rig show that the mid bass is definitely toned down (with sub bass extension being more or less identical) and a peak in the lower treble, which might be why you're hearing the treble as being slightly rougher.

I would also recommend getting some acoustic fiber and stuffing that in the cups to further tone down the bass a little bit, as well as get rid of that reverby/cupped-hands sound.
 
I've listed them for sale so won't mod them. I was actually close to keeping em but since Audeze have tweaked their Fazor's so there's hardly, if any bass roll off at all so giving those a try.

I really enjoy the Nighthawk both ways but the longer I keep it, the more I see it's downsides! I'm curious if anyone has the balls to remove the rubber ring to see how they respond.

The Pads I have are the memory foam ones, there's a lot of leakage so the upper bass is closer to the mids. Every biocellulose driver I've heard has some treble roughness but also good extended bass,
 
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