Grado Signature HP100 SE - HP1000 homage?

[MexicanDragon]

https://gradolabs.com/products/hp100-se

Just found out aboot these today thanks to @DouglasQuaid

Anyone have hands/ears on yet?

[recstar24]

They look cool! Would be curious as well.  I do not have high hopes that they actually sound like a Joe Grado lol

[blessingx]

59 minutes ago, recstar24 said:

They look cool! Would be curious as well.  I do not have high hopes that they actually sound like a Joe Grado lol

Different drivers, different housing, and different pads? Never affected the sound of a Grado before.  🙃

[Sherwood]

They lost me on the pads, obviously, but Todd still sells flats.  The price isn't particularly competitive with used HP1/2/3, even.  That said, I'd love to hear them.

[HiWire]

I'd like to try them, too.

I don't expect them to beat the Joseph Grado HP-1/2/3, but I'm curious about how Grado engineers a target sound profile for a flagship headphone... and what kind of electronics they use to drive them.

[MexicanDragon]

8 hours ago, Sherwood said:

They lost me on the pads, obviously, but Todd still sells flats.  The price isn't particularly competitive with used HP1/2/3, even.  That said, I'd love to hear them.

https://gradolabs.com/products/grado-headphone-replacement-cushion-f

Look familiar?

Grado is now selling "F-Cushions", aka "Flat Pads... and these headphones come with both G (salad bowels) and F (flats) cushions.

They also have a nice little chart on their pad page that shows all the things that they work with:
https://gradolabs.com/collections/headphone-cushions

One thing I'm happy about, as someone who has had HF-2s that have been down for a couple years due to a bad cable and I just haven't gotten together with @cetoole (who has a Tyll-esque appreciate for Grados) to recable them, is that they have an effective-standard of mini-XLR jacks for cables. That opens up SO many opportunities to make something ridiculous.

Who is the first person to make the plunge and then have @n_maher woody them?

[HiWire]

Differences between the HP100 SE and HP1000 from Head-Fi:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/grado-signature-hp100-se.974679/post-18494071

[nikongod]

Considerable sadness.

[HiWire]

I didn't expect them to be perfect on the first time out.

The new Grado does seem to be more committed to changing, which is better than where they were stuck before - the detachable cables are a good change, and I think they should focus on reducing the headphone's weight as well as improving its sonic properties (I think they're overpriced, but all the flagship products are).

Since the HP100 SE can use balanced cables, it would be interesting if somebody were to try it with the Schiit Midgard amplifier to test their Halo topology.

Edited December 23, 2024 by HiWire

[aerius]

Tried out the HP100SE at the audio show today and it's not for me, darn thing sounds like an SR325 with more resolution and a bigger soundstage.  It's too bright for me and it doesn't have the midrange magic of my RS-1.  The overall frequency balance sounds like it was tuned for fans of the Senn HD800 or Stax 9000 series, it seems made for people who like a brighter more clinical sound that emphasizes detail & resolution. Yes it's punchy, dynamic, and checks the usual audiophile boxes, but way too much of the music I like just doesn't sound good.

I think the Grado S950 beats the snot out of it any day, that one sounds like an RS-1 with Audeze LCD-XC soundstage & resolution, way more musical & forgiving and as far as I can tell in show conditions it doesn't give up any detail & resolution to the HP100SE.

[jpelg]

Are you a fan of the original Joe Grado HP-1000 series?

Did you try both sets of pads with the HP100SE?

[aerius]

I'm not really fan of the HP-1000 series, it's too clinical sounding for me and a poor match for most of my music.  It does the technical things well and I can pick out all the faults in the recordings, but I feel it sucks too much of the life & emotion out of the music.  Keep in mind that my reference until the last year or so is the RS-1 so take that for what it's worth.

I did try swapping the HP100SE to flat pads, tames the brightness a bit but it also shrinks the soundstage and makes everything smaller.  It's kinda like going back to a 21" computer screen when I'm used to a 27" one.  IMO it's better than the giant bowls but at the price the HP100SE is going for I'd much rather buy the S950 or try to hunt down a set of PS-1 Pros.