🔶 Grado Ltd Edition Hemp

[hit_the_right_note]

@A_COC0NUT

“Goddammit! You fuckers are enjoying my favorite toy WRONG! You have to play with this way and ONLY this way!”

I understand you, I’ve been involved in this “blasphemy” since the early 90s .

My “ancient wisdom” lets me overlook it .

As a rule, it is “operating errors” that make these headphones uncomfortable, too sharp-sounding or poor in bass for “inexperienced” Grado users.

GRADO’S are like oldtimer cars, if you have the right trick, they will give you unbelievable pleasure!

Like a '69 Jaguar E-Type, a Grado can make a music lover extremely happy.

Perhaps at some point I will write down which sound settings and equipment I have had the best experiences with GRADO Headphones over the past 30 years.

[themertfn]

3D printed part and some blue tack

[Jose_G]

@A_COC0NUT

Also I really don’t get why everyone seems so just dismiss the F-cush pads. Zeos said he only really tried them for an hour or so, Andrew pretty much ignored them, and DMS said they sound bad.

I noticed this too, i dare you to find someone who actually had no issues with the comfort on the stock pads, then tried the big ones and actually truly preferred the big pads sound-wise over the stock ones. Absolutely ridiculous, every single one of these reviewers let it get to them and automatically think that the big pads sound better even when they all notice the same bad things on them, treble going up a fair bit, bass losing impact and extension, timbre and tonal balance goes wonky. it’s absolutely ridiculous

[Jose_G]

Been listening to these all morning since they came back just yesterday from being modded balanced 4.4. And it’s been nothing but a pleasure! The hemps have a sound that i have not experienced where you can kinda guess how they sound if you just think about where they were made. Brooklyn. A place filled with gritty tough dudes lol. It’s just a very gritty, textured sounding headphone with very nice and natural sounding mids. It also sounds, not dirty but fairly busy so it’s not something that excels at clarity nor nothing but has it’s own vibe to it. Bass really is as fun as i remember in addition to having super nice slam. Considering that this headphone costs 420 it’s got a sweet price tag too which always makes me happy. It really does have a more immediate and intimate type of sound that i’m thoroughly enjoying. I think that the fellow hemps shill’s thoughts on this headphone are pretty dang spot on @A_COC0NUT lol

[Bighack]

I thought I’d share something I haven’t seen anyone try yet and my initial thoughts. The following pics are of the Brainwavz Round Memory Foam Pads. They’re “generic” and wouldn’t fit over the housing, until I put the stock F-pads on first by inserting them like in the pic.

I’m trying out several of them to see which I like best and will return the rest. Right now the perforated linked ones above or the hybrid are on my list of keepers. I’m not sure about the velour or sheepskin quite yet, but I’m leaning towards returning those.

I think the stock pads probably sound better, but something about them causes pain on the upper part of my right ear and I can’t wear them longer than 20 minutes at a time no matter how I adjust them. I’ve tried just about every foam thing you can think of and I personally think the G-cush pads sound bad like some of you. I was using the L-Pad Knockoffs (Geekria) for a while and thought they were pretty dang close to perfect until the Brainwavz I am trying out now. They feel great and sound pretty darn good too! I’m pretty new to this hobby so the best I can do to explain what I hear compared to the stock pads are:

• Bass is “more,” like enveloping, but maybe a touch less crisp. Is that muddiness? If it is, I like mud.

• Upper Mids and Highs may be toned down a touch (maybe it’s the extra foam between the driver and my ear)

If anyone tries this out and decides to cutout the foam on the Brainwavz pad let me know how that goes, I’m too afraid to do that and am diggin’ what I am hearing right now.

Again, for me, it’s a comfort thing and has unfortunately taken a very slight priority over sound, but these sound pretty darn good and imo way better than the G-cush craze so many reviewers are using.

And Happy Memorial Day all!

[Jammies]

Im wondering how the new sr-325x compare to the hemps. Apparently they use the same drivers and are the same impedance as the hemps as well.

DMS updated his list and basically said the sr-325x are a better hemp. Where I’m from the 325x are around 150ish cheaper.

Discounting the very nice aesthetics of the hemp, I’m wondering if I should return them and try get the sr-325x.

[A_COC0NUT]

I would stick with the Hemps if you already have them. While Grado doesn’t elaborate on what they are specifically, there are changes between the drivers of each model, and I’m willing to bet the Hemps are better than the SR325x (even if only slightly).

[Jammies]

I have a slight feeling you personally REALLY like the hemps hahaha.

But in all seriousness they do sound… weirdly good and pleasing? It’s just they are excessively uncomfortable, yes the greekia pads help the ears but the headband is… not great.

[hit_the_right_note]

@Jammies

It’s just they are excessively uncomfortable, yes the greekia pads help the ears but the headband is… not great.

???

In all its simplicity, Grado has the easiest-to-handle headbands on the market!

You can bend them by hand at any point on the head so that they fit every head like a glove.

So comfort is definitely not the problem with Grado headphones.

Sometimes I think that people, especially with this brand, are looking in the crumbs to make them look bad.

Sorry not meant to be angry!

[A_COC0NUT]

What’s the problem with the headband?

[hit_the_right_note]

@Jammies

I have a slight feeling you personally REALLY like the hemps hahaha.

And he’s not the only one

[Jammies]

Even with excessive bending I still find there is a hot spot on the top. Maybe I just havent bent them appropriately and haven’t gotten the fit right? This is just in comparison to the other headphones I’ve had which right out of the box the fit has been for the most part good.

[Jammies]

I dont think I’m really looking into the crumbs? (As in going out of my way to to bash these headphones, I just stated my experience with them so far)

I literally said I do like the headphones except presently I find them uncomfortable. So maybe I do need more time adjusting the fit but that’s been my experience so far.

For context I am comparing to the other headphones i wear that have fit fairly decently with no hot spots out of the box (zeus, 6xx, 560s sundara).

[Ohmboy]

Grado headband mod in progress…we got this lol…

Joshing hopefully there’s a solution tho @Jammies buddy

[A_COC0NUT]

There are two things I would recommend.

The first is to try and shape the headband to fit the curve of your head. To do this, you’ll need to kind of “fold” the headband, bending it tighter in the middle and wider towards the ends. Basically the exact opposite of what Zeos does with his headband. If you can get it to fit right the contact patch should be much larger, hopefully helping with the hot spot.

The second is to either get this headband (or the XL one if you want). This requires you kind of “break” a rod block off the headband, so if that is not a risk you want to take, you can also try a Dekoni Beyer headband.

[Kate_Ang]

New GRADO SR325X headphone + U TURN's 100,000th turntable

Steve Guttenburg has just reviewed the sr325x. Though he didn’t do a comparison with Hemp, he was a lot more excited when he reviewed the hemp as compared to this sr325x review. The way he described the sr325x sound signature, doesn’t sound like what I’ve heard when I demo the hemp. I guess we’ll have to wait for dms’s review on sr325x.

I’ve just ordered the hemp yesterday, either way it’s too late for me to change my mind.

[Chifiguy]

Just thought I’d stop by and say these still somehow sound amazing running out of… a Shure MV7 mic with input from the USB. They’re not quite loud enough for maximal enjoyment, but the actual quality of the sound? It’s not just good considering- it’s just great- period. And it is “loud enough”, so add it to your list of DAC/Amp combos to consider for the Hemp! (kidding obviously about the consideration part- not about the quality of the sound)

[hit_the_right_note]

Well Andrew:

Grado Hemp Review - High on Mt. Grado, but still Grados

He’s definitely right about one very specific thing

But why is it like that

Well, these, with all the frequency curves fetishists , so “oblique” and “wrong” measurement data, make absolutely sense , – because exactly these headphones (and the most GRADO’s in particular) have in common:

An extremely stress-free reproduction of purely acoustic music, this type of music is presented in such a natural, precise, airy and wide manner that even the Susvaras, Utopias and T&A Solitair’s of this world have problems to convey this sound quality. (tried them all on a Audiovalve Solaris)

Even the deepest note of a bass guitar, drums, timpani or wind instrument is reproduced precisely

So the talk is of the fact that these cans cannot reproduce bass perfectly, actually stupid stuff. (we still taking about acoustic music)

Instruments and voices, fade out in the room, just as it has to be.

They present the whole thing with such a “sound authenticity” that for lovers of THIS music genre it doesn’t even make sense to pay 3-6 times the price, especially since Planar Drivers just can’t manage this kind of naturalness with such music genres .

However, as soon as any electronic instruments come into play, the music recordings are relatively cheap (the case in 70% of the mainsteam productions), and these should also represent an overloaded and fast sequence of vocals and instruments. –

I can / must confirm, that the critics of these headphones are right, the headphones are stinging in the high frequencies at times and / or are overwhelmed .

Well, that’s why the Focal’s, Hifiman’s, Audeze’s … exist .

Until a price structure in areas in which I could buy a small car .

---

And with so many mainstream recordings, it makes a lot of sense to buy a DSP-controlled bluetooth headset anyway, as they are then able to put a decent portion of icing over what is presented, making the whole thing bearable.

PS .: there are special headphones for almost all genres of music but no “Jack of all Trades” (not even for $ 7000) at least not in my eyes / ears.

Happy listening everyone

[A_COC0NUT]

Grados really are something special with acoustic music. I find the depth of the soundstage to be what gets me. It’s not “wide” by many people’s standards but does a great job of making things sound like they fade off into infinity. DMS said in his review of the SR325x that way they present is somewhere inbetween headphones and speakers and I totally agree.

With the stock F-cush pads I never find the Hemps to be too bright. I think that is just because of the Geekria G pads since they boost the treble and make it a bit peaky.

The Hemps are imo really specifically tuned for the F pads. Most other pads I’ve tried lose something from the original sound and often gain very little.

You can really see this in the Hemp’s treble. I actually found the Hemps to be a touch brighter than the GH-2 when they both had the same pads (either F or L cush). This is probably because they needed a bit more treble to compensate for the relatively darker sound that the F-cush pads have (darker relative to other Grados) so when you switch to another pad, the treble gets boosted more than you might expect.

[hit_the_right_note]

To be honest, I’m not fixated on an partiqular ear pad.

As a rule, I like to experiment, depending on the album and recording.

But as a soundstage junkie, however, if the recording quality allows it, I often use the G-cushions, as they open up the stage and airiness significantly.

I use the model from Yuhtech, as these are considerably softer and flatter than the originals from GRADO or Geerika, and they are also somewhat larger-pored than the other models, so the cushion “absorbs” the sound like a sponge, so to speak, then dribble it on a large area over the entire ear surface.

Because the ear pads can be changed quickly and easily, I am very happy to use the variety of sounds available.