Grado Fan Club!
Jan 5, 2021 at 7:24 PM Post #44,686 of 65,063
All this praise for the hemp makes my heart warm. Just wished more people from the public gave it a chance, it could be their gateway into the house of Grado

I agree with you. I could be happy the rest of my life with the Hemp as my only pair of headphones.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 7:29 PM Post #44,687 of 65,063
Jan 5, 2021 at 7:49 PM Post #44,688 of 65,063
Hey! Circling back after having my Hemps for a couple weeks and putting in some serious listening. Now that I've escaped family after being hunkered down out there for a few months due to covid concerns I'm back with my setup!

Wow are these handsome headphones. They're a great addition to my collection, and the final bit of flavor I needed to round it all out. These are my third headphone; Clears for serious sit down listening, K712s for PC gaming, and now these for a fun, flavored and laid back listen. I can wear these while I work / read and not get too distracted, and similar to the k712s they're more rugged than my grey clears so I need to baby them a lot less. Due to the low impedance, they're also surprisingly good plugged in to a playstation controller, so my girlfriend has been borrowing them a lot as she works her way through the last of us 2.

Fun! Warm! Electric guitars really pop. On ear is a great contrast to my other over-ear headphones, and I enjoy it more than I expected to. My only complaint is the coarse pads can hurt my ears after a little bit, but there are tons of options to replace them. Anyone have a recommendation? Slightly overwhelmed by the number available.

Wish I was courageous enough to mod these to have detachable wires :k701smile:
As others have said, the only option with the pads is to leave them alone. Stock is required for best sound.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 8:05 PM Post #44,689 of 65,063
All this praise for the hemp makes my heart warm. Just wished more people from the public gave it a chance, it could be their gateway into the house of Grado

Yeah, I think if more people would give these a chance, they'd change a lot of minds about Grado. I've read so many times (here and other forums) where people are saying Grado fans are only Grado fans because they haven't listened to actual good headphones and that has always struck a nerve a bit. I get that these Hemps are more expensive but I like them A LOT more than the 58X's (which are supposedly much better than Grado according to them) and I'll probably end up selling them. I only kept them around for music that didn't really work with the MS2i's but these Hemps keep the Grado sound and can very easily handle what I used the 58X's for.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 8:14 PM Post #44,693 of 65,063
I think stock pads sound best. I'm waiting on the Geekria flat pads but I cut a hole out on Grado flat pads and reversed them, which is similar to the Geekria, and I think stock sounds better, so I expect the Geekria's won't be much different. I do like the flat pads with a cutout more than without though, so I'll probably use them with the MS2i's.


FWIW, I think that's generally the case. Not always, of course, but more often than not.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 8:16 PM Post #44,694 of 65,063
You’re really missing out. I wear glasses too, I just tilt the stems a little to sit on top of the pads.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 8:19 PM Post #44,695 of 65,063
FWIW, I think that's generally the case. Not always, of course, but more often than not.
Agree, the pads are so integral to the sound signature, changing pads essentially turns it into a different headphone. Way more of an impact on sound than amps, dacs or other things we agonize over.
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 8:35 PM Post #44,697 of 65,063
FWIW, I think that's generally the case. Not always, of course, but more often than not.

I agree, though there does seem to be some dissent. I was reading a review of the Hemps by someone on Head-Fi that said they sound the best with the Geekria L's. I disagree with that and it seems like most everyone else commenting here does as well.
 
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Jan 5, 2021 at 8:53 PM Post #44,698 of 65,063
Does it sound good with the G pads?
Unfortunately, I really disliked my Hemps with the G pads, the stock pads by far sound the best to me
Yeah, I think if more people would give these a chance, they'd change a lot of minds about Grado. I've read so many times (here and other forums) where people are saying Grado fans are only Grado fans because they haven't listened to actual good headphones and that has always struck a nerve a bit. I get that these Hemps are more expensive but I like them A LOT more than the 58X's (which are supposedly much better than Grado according to them) and I'll probably end up selling them. I only kept them around for music that didn't really work with the MS2i's but these Hemps keep the Grado sound and can very easily handle what I used the 58X's for.
Everything you say resonates with me so much, I was told by quite a few people that my taste in Grados was because I haven't heard anything better and since this was when I was new to this hobby I thought that may be true, I went on a binge buying headphones which were supposed to be "better", well 30-40 headphones later I've learnt my lesson and I'm back to Grado for good, Grado has me as a customer for life
 
Jan 5, 2021 at 11:38 PM Post #44,700 of 65,063
I wear glasses with a pretty thick frame on the arms. No issues with the Hemp at all. Feels fine. You may just need to stretch out the headband a bit to make it comfortable with the glasses on.
 

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