Grado HP100 SE Review: The Most Capable Grado Ever?

hello,
so, what do they weigh?
cheers!

 

Really curious about the THD measurements. Wondering how it would be.

 

headfiers say 520g (no cable with G cush)

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/grado-signature-hp100-se.974679/

 

Forgot to ask but the FR looks different, is this with the salad bowl pads or also the flats, just not compensated and without smoothing? If these are the salad bowls I get what you mean about preferring the flats-- the bowls just make it more v-shaped with a distinct edge in the upper mids.

 

Any possible reason for blue trace to have extra wiggling in the high bass and above that sort of tracks with the D2 spike and the impedance curve, or just a one-off thing from environment? IIRC other headphones didn't exhibit compression above bass frequencies, but would be interesting to compare how something like this with less rigid acoustic damping than other designs fares compression-wise out of stuff like the Midgard with that Halo topology magic and just other amps, maybe with lower damping factor.

 

How do these compare to higher end Grabbo clones like the LTS (LTA?) v1 or similar?

How do they compare to 90s pink driver Grabbos like the first SR60?

 

Which of these amps will work the best with HP100: ECBA, ECAF, ECZDS, TA66 and CFA3?

With classic TP mod, can I expect HP2 like sound profile but with way better technicalities?

Following is a stream of thoughts over days and not in any way coherent ‍

Edit: Guess I am not going to get any answer on this. I will have to buy the cans and find out for myself.

Edit 2: okay I got the cans. Still burning in but is it me or are the HP100se drivers incredibly fast? I would say faster than 800S, HP2, HEK unveiled, JOAL and in the ballpark of Utopia (may even be slightly faster than Utopia). Not quite at RAAL level … but what is. Also, I am getting a PS1 vibe from these…

Utopia level of driver tech. Incredible level of micro dynamics, extremely fast and may even be a bit smoother than Utopia through the mids. HD600 is not even in the same league. (HP100 with TTVJ pads and Moon Audio Silver Dragon on Kevin Gilmore amp)

Also, TA-66 is a no go. Uncontrolled bass, uncontrolled driver, lacking focus, resolution.

EC AF (EML 300B2.5v) is okay to good. Balanced is too much of a good thing for HP100 on some songs. A bit dry and slight too much upper mid energy (could be not enough current delivery capability)

Headamp Dynalo+ - nice, synergistic pairing

ECBA/Elrog 300B - nice, synergistic paring with all the tube goodness.

Edit 3:
I picked up a pair of EML300B 2.5v to replace the RCA 2a3 on the ECAF. When I initially listened with the new tubes I didn’t quite like AF (the cans may also have not been burned in long enough). Now that the tubes and the cans are broken in the sound signature is now closer to ECBA, although not quite as wet but the tonality, drive and soundstage have all been improved when driving HP100. Diana Krell sounded live, transparent, intimate, warm and natural. Depth perception is excellent when such information is present in the music. The general presentation is as if you are standing next to Diana on stage or the front row and the band extends well behind her.

I have done some back-and-forth testing with and without the rubber rings. I found the rubber changes the sound and introduces some resonances at the upper mid and treble that's not desirable. You may or may not hear this with the stock copper cable, but it was pretty obvious using the silver cable. YMMV.

Edit 4: Having had HP100 for 3 weeks now and I have been mainly using CFA3 with them. CFA3 makes HP100 sound even more speaker like with realistic dynamics and deep and expansive soundstage. There is this realistic weight to the notes that is very speaker like. The tone is natural with hint of warmth without losing clarity or resolution. The human voices sound so natural and smooth with a touch of clarity that makes the voice real. Piano and violin have the right attack with lots of information and without sounding sharp in any way. Downside of CFA3 is I have almost no range on the volume, which does suck. The dac used is PBD Merlot.

 

The removable cables alone make this an instant purchase for me.

 

If this is on par with a Utopia with what I think ought be an even roomier headstage (from limited demos I feel the Utopia is generally more intimate than even the Senn kids) then I think they're beating Focal at their own game. I'll be damned if I didn't think Grados had the potential to reach that level of performance just because of how immediate they've always sounded but gah if this were a more affordable headphone it would be stomping lots of TOTL offerings I think.

Thanks for taking the plunge to verify for yourself, the impressions are greatly appreciated. Kinda makes sense that too high an OI amp would be overly loose (even accounting for the FR differences, naturally ), Grados do seem to want at least some extra grip. The KG amp pairing isn't one I felt would have worked with it, so colour me wrong there. I've always liked Grados more out of hybrid amps for my preferences, but it seems the voicing on this one is definitely more versatile.

 

Yep. Impressive write-up, @purr1n! Will put these in the bucket list, though in this day and age the chance to get a hold of a pair is slim to none with salaries we're getting paid in out 3rd world hell hole. At least there's the option to audition a pair where I live to get the taste of Grado HP100.

 

I suspect the FV?

The TA-66 requires high impedance to work well.

 

What's FV just out of curiosity? None of his amps could be abbreviated that way AFAICT

 

Think it's the Folkvangr? https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-measures-like-shit-but-sounds-grrreat.12429/

Hmm. Okay yeah I haven't had a Grado since 2016~17 I think primarily for reasons of comfort. This is VERY curious stuff