ParaLoganGrado
100+ Head-Fier
Just got the HF3s in from Todd's loaner program this afternoon. I've put about 60-90 minutes on them so far and should have some notes and comparisons to my GH2s in a few days. But the first few things that jump out:
Well that wasn't as short as I'd planned, but again that's after ~1 hour of listening. So far, I think they are a great set of cans. Again, my only Grados to compare against are the GW100 and GH2, so take that into consideration where my reference points are.
- They are more "in your face" -- soundstage is much closer / smaller than GH2s but still very enjoyable for most music. The tone almost reminds me of turning the "Presence" knob up on vintage 70s and 80s hifi speakers. This is great for additional details but might be considered "bright" for some people. I've never tried the SR325x series, but I wonder if this sounds somewhat similar?
- It seems that the emphasis on the frequency response is shifted up about 1/3 to 1/2 an octave. Not sure exactly how to explain this sound otherwise. Maybe in the full review. Bass seems to roll off linearly right around the initial thump of a bass drum -- maybe 70Hz? I haven't run a series of test tones. This and the point above are likely closely related.
- The oak body is gorgeous -- the grain is a bit more coarse and the contrast is greater than on the GH2. They are also lighter and don't have the extra "flair" on the outside that the GH2s do. The extra density and mass of the cocobolo wood might provide more dampening and lower the resonance of the cans in them vs. the oak used in the HF3.
- From what I can see, there is only one vent hole on the magnet structure of the driver. If there is a second one, it is covered by the glob they attach to the magnet casing (which starts in the center and kind of nicely "spreads" towards the outside of the magnet structure -- exactly opposite position of where the second vent hole would be.) There appears to be a bit more of this material on the HF3 drivers than on my GH2s.
- I've had a decently bad sinus cold the past week so I know my hearing isn't 100%, but I haven't listened to the GH2s since Tuesday so that I can try and find a baseline with these before making a judgement based on what my ears are used to. However I did throw on the Sennheiser HD 280Pros briefly to see if the lesser bass was just because my sinuses are clogged. The first thing I noticed is that these cans are much lighter on my head and don't have that AWFUL congested, plastic & closed back resonance in the midrange. However, the bass seems almost exactly the same. My guess is the bit brighter tuning on the HF3s vs HD 280s makes the bass SEEM less than it is. However it is very natural sounding and uncolored.
Well that wasn't as short as I'd planned, but again that's after ~1 hour of listening. So far, I think they are a great set of cans. Again, my only Grados to compare against are the GW100 and GH2, so take that into consideration where my reference points are.
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