CES 2015

My experience with the new AudioQuest Nighthawk headphones ($599) was one of highest points of my CES adventure. The launch party was crowded and noisy. There were people I wanted to talk to but I had a job to do—so I went over and gave AudioQuest's first headphone offering a listen. I played Paul Simon's Graceland and by the time I was listening to it all the way through—for the third (!!!) time—I realized: The reason I like headphones so much is they direct my attention to a song's lyrics way more than loudspeakers in a room ever did. I have always joked that I never listen to the lyrics—but these new Nighthawks put my focus right down onto the page Paul Simon wrote these enduring words on. I have played this song on countless hi-fis but none of them opened up the music and took me inside like these moderately-price headphones. The Nighthawks had me choking back tears of musical appreciation. This was the first time I fully grasped what a great lyricist Paul Simon really was. "The Mississippi Delta is shining like a National Guitar . . . "

After bouncing out of Graceland, I got to hang and get the full Nighthawk story from their designer/engineer, Skylar Gray. He told me about his life and the path that led him to; earcups made of environmentally friendly and sustainable, "liquid wood" and the Nighthawk's biocellulose diaphragm and split-gap motor. He told me that, tonight was one of the biggest nights of his life and I told him, "Bravo! As well it should be."

Editor's Note: Apologies for the manufacturer-supplied photograph. Our pix were too dark to be used.—Ed.