Grado The Hemp Headphone

The Hemp Headphone is a limited edition release from Grado Labs, the Brooklyn-based manufacturer that has been hand-building headphones since 1953. Sitting within Grado’s Limited Editions range, the Hemp represents an experiment in material science — pairing highly compressed hemp with maple to create a housing unlike anything else in the Grado catalogue.

Hemp and Maple Construction

The ear cup housings combine two woods with complementary acoustic properties. The highly compressed hemp creates a natural damping effect between its fibres, producing a fuller sound with a noticeable low-end presence and a top end that extends smoothly to its limits. Maple is placed into the housing to help balance the sound and bring out the tonal characteristics that maple is known for in Grado’s other models. The result is a fusion that looks and sounds distinct from both the Prestige and Reference series.

Driver and Performance

Grado’s dynamic drivers had to be specifically tuned for the hemp housing — a material the company had never worked with before. Being paired with maple gave the engineering team some foresight, but the final voicing was achieved through trial and error to bring out the potential of the hemp. The drivers are matched to within ±0.05dB, delivering a frequency response of 13Hz–28kHz with a sensitivity of 98dB at 1mW and a nominal impedance of 38 ohms. The open-air design maintains the spacious, natural presentation that characterises the Grado sound.

Comfort and Build

Each Hemp Headphone is hand-assembled by Grado’s team in Brooklyn, New York. The UK version features a vegan-friendly vinyl headband rather than the leather headband shown on the US model. An 8-conductor braided cable terminates in a 3.5mm mini plug, with a 6.35mm adapter included for use with dedicated headphone amplifiers and hi-fi equipment.