First off, I want to thank Todd again for letting partake in the loaner program for the Grado Hemp’s. They were truly a great listen.
PACKAGING
The Grado Hemp’s come in the standard Grado packaging. Only this time in white.
Open the box up and you’ll see on the insert a brief summation of Grado’s business tenure and a cutout about their legacy
BUILD
The Grado Hemp, like the name suggests is made from Hemp wood. Hemp wood itself is a new building material that is manmade. Hemp wood is manufactured at a plant in Murray, Kentucky. Taken from builtwithrise.com Hemp wood is “
made from low THC cannabis plants containing a concentration of no more than 0.3 percent THC. The hemp pulp fibers are compressed by the process of bio-mimicry and strengthened with a tested soy-based glue”.
The wood was developed using the algorithm of an oak tree and reverse-engineering the growth cycle to mimic the hardness, density, and stability of the popular building material”.
From Grado’s website the “hemp creates a damping effect between their fibers. This produces a fuller sound, comprised of a noticeable low end and a top end that extends smoothly to its limits”. But Grado did not stop there. To get the sound of the Hemp, Grado integrated maple wood into the housing. The mixture of maple helps balance out the sound and brings out the sonic properties that maple produces.
The drivers are special tuned for this new material. They are open-air, dynamic drivers with a frequency response of 13hz – 28khz. The drivers have a 38 Ohm impedance with a SPL of 98 mW. Making them easy to operate from just about any source. Grado choose to pair the Hemp with F cushions. The Hemps sits really close your ears with these pads. Together with the hemp and maple housing the Grado sound is maintained.
SOUND
Setup: iFi Micro USB3.0, Burson Conductor 3XR, Tidal. Putting these on the first thing you notice is the breakaway from the typical Grado sound that you’re use too. Since the Hemps sits a lot closer to your ears, bass levels are bumped up significantly. The Hemps almost sounds boomy. What I noticed about the Hemp’s in comparison in comparison to the GH1 is the lack the clarity of Hemp’s. The bass is deeper on Hemp’s but the midrange isn’t as clear as it is on the GH1’s. The treble is also rolled off in comparison to the GH1.
As an experiment, I put the Hemp pads on the GH1 and the results are outstanding. It also proves my theory that the bass levels are increased because the earphones are sitting closer your ears. These pads transform the GH1 into entirely different sounding headphone. Bass is no longer light. Instead is hits hard with impact. The midrange is full sounding but the treble detail and clarity on the GH1 takes a small hit. Nor does the GH1 sound as open. Soundstage is smaller as well with the F cushions on the GH1.
Putting the L cushions on the Hemp opens the soundstage and improves clarity. The boomy bass is more refined and is still deeper than the GH1 with L cushions. To me it seems the Hemp is tuned to be a bassier headphone. The F cushions makes them sound quite congested in comparison. Treble is somewhat muted. The F cushions also has this effect on the GH1’s.
Moving over to my newly modified Liquid Platinum with my Hugo 2 as the DAC and Schiit Loki something strange happen. The Hemp’s became downright musical with the L-cushions. The 7730 tubes I have in the LP set the tone for the rest of my listening session. The dynamics that Grado are known for came alive with the pairing. Overall, I feel the Hemp’s are priced accordingly. They are not the most resolving Grado’s I’ve heard but the new tuning makes them a worth while listen.