Hey everybody, I just got in a pair of the new run of HF-2 and I noticed there's a bit of a difference that will set them apart from the original run. To begin with, I owned one of the first run HF-2s (#44) before passing it on to another Head-fi'er so he could enjoy the opportunity to have some unique headphones. While I had a little regret, that was quashed when John Grado and Todd from TTVJ announced a second run of HF-2 for our expanding community.
Of course, I jumped right in and barring some delay, finally got a pair of the second run cans today (#1019...seems they started the second run at 1000). The box was once again signed by John Grado, but I noticed the earpieces looked a little different. Taking them out of the box, I find the build quality is definitely up to par (possibly better than my old ones). But the Metal earcup pieces are not the same as the older HF-2s.
The older metal cups were smooth and shiny and the engraved lettering appeared to be dark against the light metal. The new cups have a matte finish due to texturing and makes the back of the cup look like it has a slightly darker ring (definitely not a manufacturing gaffe). The sides of the cups are lighter but still matte and textured (possibly from the anodizing). The telltale was the lettering which is again engraved but now looks light against the dark metal. Understand that these are subtle and not overly obvious differences, but they will be noticeable to people who have seen the original run HF-2s.
The GS-1000 "Bagels" in the first picture are mine. The HF-2s come with the "bowl" pads like the RS-1s.
So, there are distinctive differences between the first run and the second (except the "F1", which was deliberately not fixed). This will allow Head-fi'ers to tell which run (or edition) they have. Personally, I like the change and am happy to keep this second edition HF-2.
I'm burning it in now and will add pictures as soon as I can get some good light to show off the differences.
Thought you might be interested...
Cheers!
-HK sends
Of course, I jumped right in and barring some delay, finally got a pair of the second run cans today (#1019...seems they started the second run at 1000). The box was once again signed by John Grado, but I noticed the earpieces looked a little different. Taking them out of the box, I find the build quality is definitely up to par (possibly better than my old ones). But the Metal earcup pieces are not the same as the older HF-2s.
The older metal cups were smooth and shiny and the engraved lettering appeared to be dark against the light metal. The new cups have a matte finish due to texturing and makes the back of the cup look like it has a slightly darker ring (definitely not a manufacturing gaffe). The sides of the cups are lighter but still matte and textured (possibly from the anodizing). The telltale was the lettering which is again engraved but now looks light against the dark metal. Understand that these are subtle and not overly obvious differences, but they will be noticeable to people who have seen the original run HF-2s.
The GS-1000 "Bagels" in the first picture are mine. The HF-2s come with the "bowl" pads like the RS-1s.
So, there are distinctive differences between the first run and the second (except the "F1", which was deliberately not fixed). This will allow Head-fi'ers to tell which run (or edition) they have. Personally, I like the change and am happy to keep this second edition HF-2.
I'm burning it in now and will add pictures as soon as I can get some good light to show off the differences.
Thought you might be interested...
Cheers!
-HK sends
I have one of the new batch coming, and I didn't want to have to worry about trying to track down a set from an earlier batch if somehow the sound quality changed.
