Grado Hemp (2020) Measurements, Reviews, and Impressions

As others mentioned, the comfort on these is pretty bad. For me, the F cushions are worse than S cushions (found on the SR60e, SR80e, & SR125e) since the foam is stiffer but more comfortable than the L cushions (which just seemed to concentrate the force on my ears since less of my ear was touching the pads). The comfort is particularly bad when wearing glasses.

I've resorted to placing a pair of Brainwavz oval hybrid angled pads over my F cushions (Brainwavz actually has a sale on a lot of their stuff right now), which make them as comfortable as anything else I have. It does make the bass sound rather bloated though, but since I usually just casually listen to these in bed when I have my glasses on, it became a must.

And, I agree that the hemp medallion in the center looks ugly. I don't really care to have a pot leaf on my headphones, and the print on my pair is pretty blurry. My pair is on the left, and the pair on the right is taken from Grado's website.

 

They can be ordered from grado to ship without the medallion and they will do it.

 

Hemp feels better on my ears. However, you really, really need to stretch the headband where the ear pads barely don't even push down to the ears at all. This however can cause them to fall off if you move your head too fast.

The more you use the pads, the more the "sandpaper" feeling of the F-Cushion goes away. I was able to wear them for two hours straight yesterday with no comfort issues. Like anything with Grado, the more you use the Pads, the more that rough feeling on the pad surface goes away.

 

Your medallion actually looks worse than mine. Mine doesn't look like the website either (which looks like it was significantly post-processed and edge-enhanced), but it looks like yours in color with similar sharpness to the grado website (except the lettering isnt black, its light colored like yours)

Why dont you email them this pic and ask if they will pay for shipping & remove the medallion for you since yours came out a bit crummy and u dont want medallion anyway?

 

In fairness, the picture of my headphones color-wise looks like garbage since I just took a quick snap from my iPhone in very suboptimal lighting conditions; I was just trying to illustrate the blurry print for prospective buyers. I don't actually care enough to make a stink about this to ship them back. After all, I don't plan on wearing these outside the house.

I guess my other issue with the medallion is that it kinda screams "I smoke weed!" when I don't (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I knew that when I bought them. And like I said, I don't plan on wearing these outside the house anyway.

Random aside: if you order a pair from 4ourears, they include this AWESOME shirt. Not that it really matters, but they didn't ask for my size and threw in an XL..... I wear S or M, but this was destined for Goodwill anyway.

 

Mine isn't blurry tho. The lettering isn't black like on the website, the coloring is more like yours. But it is sharply cut lettering.

I don't think the medallion screams "i smoke weed." I think it says something more like "smoking weed isn't a horrible thing," or at worst "i support smoking weed if people choose to do that".

 

When I had my GS2000e, treble monsters too.

 

Does anybody have any budget amp recommendations for the Hemp? I note Magni 3+ viewed pretty highly by Vtory.

I've been playing around with Vali 1, MCTH with warmer tubes, and straight out of Sony WM1A and AK120. The hemp sounds pretty decent out of everything but at the same time there seems like a bit of a synergy balancing act with Grado presentation as to which works best and which becomes slightly too annoying for long sessions or certain recordings, at least for me personally. The portable sources sound surprisingly good but both feel a bit claustrophobic compared to the standalone amps.

I'm thinking the perfect (budget) amp probably has the expansiveness and extension of the MCTH but is somewhere between MCTH and Vali 1 in terms of overall tonality and presentation. Also the noise floor on my Vali 1 is a bit high with the Hemp.

Maybe a Vali 2?

 

Had some time with these with stock pads, so will give some impressions!

The handshaking experience with these is..terrible. The box is the cheapest I have ever seen on a pair of headphones beyond 100 bucks, I think even the Koss Porta Pro box inspires more excitement. The paper the Grado boys signed even looks cheap lol, at least use some glossy paper!

Build quality leaves some to be desired, the one I got has a chip on one of the cups, its very small and isnt horrible but still disappointing. The piece missing isnt in the box so I assume it just got missed in QA.

The cable is not as bad as I expected based on comments, its a great length, not too long and not too short and it is THICC. I am pretty sure it doubles as a home defense weapon as you could garrote a intruder with it. Its not microphonic and as long as you keep it on your lap not too bothersome.

Comfort is not as bad as I expected, I have issues due to wearing glasses but they actually dont bother my ears too much as long as get the position right. They are super light which is perfect for me as I have Scoliosis and heavy headphones murder me. Clamp is a little snug but of course can loosen it later.

The FR on these is wonderful, Vtory wasnt blowing smoke about that

Ironically considering all I have heard about Grado being treble beasts, the Bass is the most impressive aspect of the Hemp to me. Its extremely well extended for a dynamic driver, goes down to around 34hz for me before it starts rolling off significantly.

These do not have the typical dynamic midbass hump at all, instead they have some extra upper bass over a typical dynamic which makes it sound warmer. Owing to this they actually arent super "punchy" instead having more of a slam/deep impact which is my preference.

I am going to describe the bass as "bouncy" because that is the word that comes to mind, it kind of smacks you in the ear then goes away. It never gets in the way of the midrange at all, its just off in the background bouncing away.

I actually find this bass sounds more like a Planar Magnetic than a Dynamic to me,more specifically the T50RP. The T50 has a fun kind of one notish bass that the Hemp reminds me of. Hemp is like a super T50RP in the bass, not as one notish but a bit fuzzy or hazy.

That haze or fuzz is the main negative for me in the bass. It doesnt give you the really nice detailed texture or allow you to quite clearly hear all the little nuances in a bass guitar for instance. Its actually pretty great for its price point, but comparing it the Aeon 2 Open (EQed to fix wonky FR) it falls short there. Its very satisfying and fun though, so I dont actually care that much, I love its bass overall but its the internet so I have to complain about everything.

The Midrange is gorgeous and absolutely top notch, very much competitive with the Sennheisers, wonderful detail, great ability to convey emotions, I have no complaints at all here, if this is what Grados mids are always like I see why people like them because they are stellar.

I actually think the Hemp does Female vocals better than the Aeon 2 open does, I LOVE female vocals on the Hemp, they sound slightly warm yet still having pizzaz and sparkle. Going to perhaps ruffle some feathers and say I think the Hemp is better than the HD650 at female vocals. 650 warmed them too much IMO, Hemp gets it just right.

The upper-midrange is the only place that I think annoyance happens, that 2.1-2.5kish peak is very real and I find it to be quite irritating on some tracks. Its not unbearable but it does prevent from cranking the volume as much as I might have without it. This is why EQ exists, I just use a -2db cut at 2100hz (Q3) and now that peak is a pleasant bump and I love it.

Treble is remarkably smooth, I hear no major peaks, spikes and its super clean sounding. I actually think its too polite for some tracks, it could stand to be a little more energetic, but makes for a wonderfully laid back listening experience that hits both the nonfatiguing and engaging notes well. Even the 10-11kish peak shown in the Fr graphs really doesnt bother me at all, which is surprising as 11k peaks usually bother me. It is just not bad enough to be bothersome.

The other area that is "lacking" is the air region, it rolls off pretty hard past 13-14k, a lot of the higher end headphones have a lot of energy in the air which is likely why someone might find the Hemp to not be "hifi" sounding. I dont like lots of air so this is fine for me, but maybe a bad thing for others.

I actually think the Hemps FR could qualify as a fantastic reference FR once the 2.1k peak is cut a bit, its extremely well done.

I find the Hemp to be extremely speedy, almost planar like which has been a fun contrast with the Aeon 2 open which I find to be a planar with dynamic headphone qualities.

Imaging on the Hemps is actually quite good, to date the best imaging I have personally heard was with the HE5SE (with the everliving F** EQed out of it) and the T60rp, doesnt quite match them but gets close enough to not complain. Catch is you have to EQ down the 2.1k peak to improve it, with the peak it makes everything sound more forward than it is which throws it off IMO.

Soundstage is not huge but it does sound like it goes outside the earcup which is good enough for me, I personally dont care about it.

I actually prefer the Hemps with the Asgard on LOW gain which is interesting, as I prefer HIGH with the Aeons and Koss stuff. High gain kicks the "FUZZ" up to 11. I think the Hemps might sound great with one of the ultra low distortion amps out there, based on this as they should be smooth enough to sound nice with them.

They can be run without a amp too with decent results, I plugged them into my Xperia 1 II (IT HAS A HEADPHONE JACK HELL YEAH!) and they sounded damn good albiet even DARKER. Not done a lot of testing with it but I assume the Xperia is a bit dark as every other Sony DAP,DAC,AMP I have ever tried has been.

 

Okay have spent some time with the Yaxi Pads and from a sonic perspective they are a huge miss for the most part. They are thicker and push the drivers away from you ear which causes the midrange and bass to drop off considerably. The treble seems to increase a bit, which is actually a positive as I think the Hemps are on the dark side. Soundstage is also slightly wider due to the wider pads.

The BIG BIG issue though is that the 2-2.5k peak stays the same(or perhaps worse) and becomes completely unbearable for me at least. With the mids and bass cut, that peak stands out like a giant sore stabby thumb. The 4.5-5k region also spikes up a bit which is also very irritating given the diminishment of the mids and bass. There is a also a slight muffling effect over everything which given how sharp and clear the Hemp sounds on stock pads is both good and bad, would depend on preference. Pretty sure this is caused by the foam totally covering the driver rather than having a open hole there like the stock pads as well as the extra width making everything not quite as right in your face.

Being a EQphile I set out to see if I could EQ the Yaxi pads to sound like the stock pads and the answer I think is unfortunately no, but I could get reasonably close. The main issue is the bass just cant be EQed up to sound the same, the Grado driver needs to be pressed on your ear to bring out the subbass I think.

The EQ I have been using with Yaxi Pads is:

Preamp -2.5db
Low Shelf Filter 200hz +2.5db
Peak Filter 2100hz Q3 -5.5db (YES IT IS THAT BAD)
Peak Filter 4900 Q2 -2db

I actually think it sounds pretty darn good with that EQ, but stock is still better. What is greatly improved is the comfort, Yaxi pads are really comfy, leagues better than the stock pads. I guess many people might use them for that reason alone. I would be curious to see what they do on other Grados, they are basically super S cushions so I suppose the effect will be roughly the same, maybe a little less treble as I think the foam is denser. Marv posted a FR graph of the S cushions on the RS2e in his Grado Love thread which looks very similar to what I am hearing on the Hemps, so perhaps its basically the same.

The "Hendrix Edition" of the Hemp!

 

Thanks for sharing your thought @ChaChaRealSmooth

Raw-analogy is interesting. In fact, I thought similarly but with a little different nuance. I'd say Hemp's mids and highs are slightly undercooked while 650 w/ typical amps too overcooked. In apple-to-apple (i.e., upstreams fixed) comparison, I found the former gave me more immediate victories -- "effortlessly" more multi-dimensional, more resolving, and easier to focus on moderately small details (e.g., vocal tech, keyboard micro-control, etc). May not reach to the lowest bit of resolution but I don't bother much as anyhow those bits can't bring something significant to my table.

Interestingly Chacha's description (with some internal translation on my side) is helping me to adjust my overfantasy of JARs seasoned by hypes in the forum. Still want to get my hands on them though.

 

I would agree with this, in a way similar to the HD700 enhances rock/metal except without the HD700's high frequency energy that some may find fatiguing - Hemp has that raw crunch to electric guitar distortion and certain synthesizers. I find the Hemp is excellent with Synthwave and rock/metal (like the HD700 as well) - main differences being Hemp has smaller soundstage but a bit more balanced FR, HD700 bigger soundstage but less balanced FR and can be piercing with the wrong amp. Both of them seem to really excel at some music types while sounding "off" on other music types. Still, that "raw" sound is nice to have to compliment a more typical balanced headphone sound. The question is, do I want to keep both the Hemp and HD700 long term or dump one of them? They both have their merits and pitfalls. At this point I am leaning towards keeping both in my permanent headphone lineup since I like them both a lot; sometimes its nice to be wearing something nice and simple on-ear like the Hemp. I already have 6 on/over ear headphones though, so I will probably get rid of my GSP600 instead. Electronic music is my bread and butter so headphones like Hemp that enhance synths in various ways are going to be must haves for me.

Wow, I thought I had a big head but it sounds like yours is bigger. I also need to do max extension but the band feels comfortable enough to me. The earcups themselves seem to be less comfortable for me and more present/annoying the longer one listens. Good for shorter listening sessions.

 

The more I use the Hemp the more I love it for golden age Hip-Hop/Rap. On HD6## series I don't always need the soundstage from that era of music. The Hemp upfrontness helps a lot here.

Of course I would never use this for more technical recordings. Steely Dan (and Donald Fagen solos) I prefer them on the Senn stuff.

 

Bit late here but over on another forum a poster said it was a perfect match with LIQUID SPARK, which he originally bought to tame highs on gs3000e which it did, but it turned out to be amazing match (and thought it offered even better synergy with) Hemp.

 

Interesting suggestion! Hadn't really considered that one.

It might just be brain burn-in but the MCTH is sounding even more excellent with the Hemp lately. Lately I just plug in my AK120 and use the stock tube. Don't have much to complain about.

 

If you mean the EH 6922 , its a surprisingly good tube for the price. The only criticism I would have might be that it could be a little too "diffuse" / "smeary" sounding in the highs, but that works in favor of some headphones [not the Hemp tho IMO].

I am using Hemp with Liquid Platinum, which probably isn't too different than what you are hearing on CTH. I felt that with the stock tubes it was a bit "dead" sounding in the highs. I am burning in a set of BEL 6922 now (Philips PQ Holland parts, india manuf'd) and it does FAR more justice to Hemp than the stock tubes did.

Liquid Spark is more colored out of the box than CTH/LP since there is no ability to change tubes for color, I assume. But apparently the warm color Spark has is a real good match for Hemp - the poster described it as "transcendental" or something when using them overnight w/ schoolwork. And LS was apparently a lot better with Hemp than the Schitt heresy stack he has.

 

So I made the pilgrimage to Eearphone today to compare the Hemp with the GH3, and GH4 as the Hemp has officially made its way to Japan. I used my phone to compare so not quite ideal but it was very interesting to try them all.

The Gh3 was...not good, I was thoroughly unimpressed. It sounded remarkably boring, basically just a super dull headphone hidden behind the trademark 2.1k peak. Bass was super rolled off, albeit fairly clean. Treble was weak, dull and it sounded lacking in dynamics. People often say Grado has no soundstage or imaging ability at all, and I have to say the GH3 really didnt. Separation of elements and the imaging was really poor. Soundstage had very little-no depth, was VERY in your face and just disappointment all around. It was very comfortable due ti using the S cushion, and having the 4 conductor thin cable which is much nicer ironically than the higher end ones like the Hemp, but the Hemp was in every single other way better than the GH3.

Maybe the GH3 could be improved with some heavy EQ or by using some better earpads but I wouldnt recommend it at all stock. I am assuming the reason its got such a poor soundstage is that the driver housings are super small, much smaller than the Hemp's and GH4s.

I really really liked the GH4, it was pretty darn fantastic IMO. I actually prefered it to the Hemp as it addressed my complaint of the Hemp being a touch dark. The GH4 has the standard 2.1k Grado Peak but also had a peak at 4.5k-4.8k. EQing those down slightly it became a absolutely fantastic sounding headphone, very natural, and a nice combination of width to the soundstage and solid imaging. Imaging was the most impressive of the 3 Grados on the GH4 and actually really really good. It did a nice job of giving the "3d" effect. Dont know how much of this is due to the L pads. Treble was perfect for my taste, sounded very much in line with the midrange, a little elevation at 10k and 14k but nothing extremely offensive at least not to me. The Hemp sounded super dark and congested when used right after the GH4 as its lacking air which the GH4 had plenty of. Only negative point for the GH4 from me (aside from the upper mid peaks) was that the bass was a little soft sounding. Not nearly as impactful as the Hemp. Probably due to the L pads but maybe other factors as well.

The Hemp was the bass king, the deepest most impactful bass of the 3. It fell in the middle in terms of soundstage and imaging, very intimate but not completely lacking width or death the way the GH3. Very natural sound and was the easiest to like with no EQ as the 2.1k peak is not as overwhelming. Also a bit warmer than the other 2. More engaging than the GH3 for sure but I must say I preferred the GH4 listening to them back to back which surprised me. You trade in some of that nice bass impact and warmth for a great deal more spaciousness and improved imaging.

So for me based on my demos over the course of 2 hours I think the GH4 was the best followed by the Hemp and trailed not at all closely by the GH3. I could see some people preferring the Hemp to the GH4 though as its very easy to listen to and presents details in a nice forward manner without being fatiguing. GH4 is just a really nice reference style, reminded me of the DT880 quite a bit, though trading in Mount Beyer for some hotter upper mids and sounding more natural to me.

Seems the Hemp is a effective gateway drug for Grados as now I want a GH4!