Raven Audio Nighthawk

I have owned a Blackhawk MK3 for a few months. It's very nice, refined, and responds well to tube rolling. But, personally, I feel that it does not rise up to the level of hype created around the Raven products, at least the Avian series. It competes favorably with Primaluna but is not better or worse than other tube amps in this price category.

I know that Raven likes to claim that the 20 watts produced by the Blackhawk can be compared to 100 solid state watts. Nope. The first 30 watts in pure class A that my Luxman produces run circles around the Blackhawk, not just in the bass department but also soundstage, imaging, and ... well, pretty much all areas. Secondly, the separate subwoofer connection is rather gimmicky in my opinion. For example, using REL's preferred method of speakon/high level connection still sounds better.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a very nice component, and very good value for the money. But giant slayer or 'punch above its class' it's not. It's made in the USA, and competes favorably with similar priced amps from other countries, both in terms of quality and cost. This was honestly my motivation to buy, not the hype.

Disclaimer: I have been using it with low sensitivity speakers (Harbeth and Sonus Faber), so it might be a completely different beast with higher efficiency ones. But it certainly doesn't have the juice to drive low efficiency speakers to their full potential.

@jjss49 -- the simple answer is that it competes very favorably in its respective price category. No, it’s not better than the other amps that you mentioned. I compared it directly with two integrateds that I have owned -- Cronus Magnum II (Blackhawk is slightly better, more tube-like vs. the CM which sounded closer to SS to my ears), ARC GSi75 (no competition, not even close, ARC is in another league altogether, as it should be given the price difference).

The Blackhawk does well in my smaller home office (12 x 13) driving Harbeth 30.1s, but nothing spectacular. It is completely out of place in the larger room (20 x 15) driving SF Olympica 2’s (now sold) and Habeth SHL5+. Just doesn’t have enough juice to wake up the speakers - very flat and un-involving.

But, of course, what do I know. I understand that the opinions of those who actually own this amp are not relevant at the Raven alter of worship :)

Agreed --- the point was to not expect miracles. It has been claimed that those 20 watts are much, much powerful than you would think -- they're not! Within it's power specs and price range, it is a very good amplifier and worth buying.

I think the seller is skypunk. 
On a different note, can you imagine if the same number of people reported problems with chifi tube amps? Oh the horror!!!

@chicagoblue1977 - Texas might be a big state buy Sachse is not. 

@rsfphil You’re right. The listing says Sachse, TX clearly. I’m pretty sure it’s him. BTW, he had a very rough experience with Raven as well. 

I have dealt with James in the past and found him to be very helpful, knowledgable, and responsive. My guess is he is struggling to keep pace with the growing demands of the business and can use an extra hand or two. By the way, this episode has really increased my respect and admiration for companies like Pass Labs who go above and beyond to make sure their customers are satisfied. And you don’t have to call Nelson every time to escalate your concerns ;)

Given the onslaught of chifi products, it is easy to see how difficult it is to build and sell products in the USA. You obviously cannot undercut them on price, so your only option is to make a very high quality, reliable product and provide excellent customer service, pre and post sales, to retain their business. I think Raven would do well to get some help for James instead of publicly shaming an ex-customer for sharing his experience. Sorry but that was uncalled for.

I know I might not have come across as positive when talking about the Blackhawk. Well, I'm going to perform the virtual equivalent of eating crow. I changed some power cords in my home office system last night -- Audio Envy Mega 3 PC for the Blackhawk, and Cerious Technology Graphene PC for the Audio Mirror DAC. Well, god damn!!! It's like someone added a rocket booster underneath the Blackhawk. It sounds significantly bigger, heftier, and more lush (in a good way) than before. I can crank it up way above my normal listening levels and it never loses its composure. It's still not at the same level as the Luxman, but has certainly reduced the gap further. Hard to believe how a simple change like swapping a power cord can have such a big impact.

Accordingly, I'm changing my guidance on the Blackhawk from Hold to Buy :)

@charles1dad -- Agreed. That was the wrong choice of words. I should have said "It's amazing how ... ". I have always noticed a difference between cables, especially power cords, although not always for the better. But sometimes the change is just mind blowing, as if you bought a new component. This is definitely one of those changes.