Raven Audio Nighthawk


So the scuttlbutt on the Raven integrated amps is pretty good. But just how good are they? Are they good when compared to other comparably priced tube integrateds? Or are they better than some heavy hitters?

I currently have a NOSvalves ST-45 amp paired with a Don Sachs Model 2 (latest version) preamp and I am extremely happy with this pairing. With that said, I guess there is nothing really that I'm looking to improve. But since we all know how this game goes, I just wonder how much better (or not) the Blackhawk III would be. Consolidating two pieces down to one chasis is an attractive idea too.

I would love to hear from you if you own a Nighthawk or Blackhawk or have auditioned one against something else. I know they offer a 45 day trial period, but from my calculations if I don't like it it will cost me close to 400.00 out of pocket once the dust settles. So I'd like to go into this with a warm fuzzy that it's pretty darn good.

Oz



128x128ozzy62

Ozzy, good luck  in your audio journey.  I was really looking forward to your review.  I really wish you could have at least demo'd the Raven and taken advantage of the return policy if needed.  But I understand your concerns. It is my strong opinion in the 3-4k price range no amp is world beater.  The Raven was just tremendous sound and value for the money.  
The guys at Raven should ship that amp to @millercarbon free of charge. 

I think it would be wonderful if Dave would ship me Ozzy62's amp for review. Would be such fun to write everything I am sure it will be, including trouble free. Provide a great opportunity to explore just how much damage some of the low-life complainers around here do to our economy and the audio community as a whole. Not that any of them will care. They will go right on fabricating stories about problems they never had (three different ones flat out made up stories while I was waiting for my Moabs, I am sure that is what is going on with at least one of them here) and exaggerating problems that often as not they themselves contributed to. 

Then at the end Dave sells the amp, I ship it to whoever. They are happy to get a tiny little discount on a beautiful amp fully burned in and vetted by one of the best, and Dave gets a full on review by one of the most credible and talented writers around. Plus I get to enjoy a Raven for a few weeks. Not that Dave needs the extra business, but it never hurts to burnish the ol' rep. 
Thanks everyone...  I really should come by more often.  I see some old friends on here that I really miss. 

Apologies for not being more active on the forums the last year.  I could talk at length on the supply chain problems we have had this year. Not as an excuse, but just to talk about what's been happening behind the overall scene.  We're not the only ones, many others are having problems too.

Not only is just trying to GET parts difficult, the quality dip we have seen during the last year has been very disheartening.  In fact we've had to change some parts out completely in our Avian Series amps lately due to poor quality. 

Heck...  even our power knob had to be changed to a push button lately because the shafts of the great old radial power switches were starting to break off in shipping.  Even though it was just one batch...   it was a LARGE batch.  We never had that before - and from a great old time-honored Japanese brand too.

Steel and aluminum have doubled in price since Thanksgiving too.  So just getting the raw materials to the chassis shop in Dallas has been a chore lately.  Heck, even powder coating has doubled~!

The manufacturing world is changing fast, we can only hope that the quality gets better again once the vaccines are distributed and old codgers like me can finally feel safe going out.  Maybe we can even go to a show again someday!?

As to getting an amp to millercarbon, I'd love to.  And I certainly would have once upon a time too.  But I don't even have a single MK3 or MK3.1 myself, and haven't for almost 8 months...   we are shipping them out as soon as they leave the 72 hour break-in table.  We just simply cannot seem to build them fast enough.

I think well over 90% of our customers never even write on any forums.  They get their amps and just listen to music and call me if they need some great old tubes to play with.

That may be a good thing in retrospect...   it was well over a decade before we ever saw anything negative written about us anywhere.  That was a great run.

Gnite all...  it's way too late.
It's always best to have someone impartial conduct the review versus someone that has already made up their mind. All the best going forward with your business
@facten,
Your comments reflect many participants on this forum.
Sincere best wishes and success to Raven Audio and all audio equipment manufacturers trying to make it through challenging times.
Charles