Grado Labs is no stranger to exotic woods for limited edition runs. Utilizing everything from bourbon barrels to local Brooklyn trees, the family-owned business from NY has recently branched out out even further with the new Grado Hemp Headphone.
Comprised of a compressed hemp and maple housing the Hemp Headphone will retail for $420, of course. Like most of the Grado line, the piece is an open back design with a dynamic driver taking care of the heavy lifting.
Website copy and online chat abound with light-hearted weed references. From the feature set:
In our never-ending pursuit to experiment with all types of woods and materials, we had the opportunity to build with hemp. We weren’t sure how these hemphones would turn out, but to everyone’s surprise it quickly became a favorite passed around Grado. To be blunt, this is one of the best sounding Limited Editions we’ve built.
Grado Hemp Headphone Product Page
My personal favorite comment on Facebook has to be: “So er… What are the highs like?” To which Rich Grado replied, “Everybody reacts a little differently”.
He does go on to say: “We’ve had a lot of fun with this product launch today, and its not ending here, but please realize this headphone is no joke. The properties of the hemp wood when combined with the maple collar add to the detail and warmth of the sound. When you hear this headphone you’ll be amazed at just how good it is.”
We recently caught up with the Grado team at a recent CanJam in Los Angeles, which was a first public meeting for the brand in quite some time. At that point the perhaps Beatles-inspired “White” headphone was fresh to the market, alongside the roost of open-back standbys including the entry level classic SR60/80e. What might come as a surprise to some die-hard personal audio enthusiasts is that Grado actually makes a wireless headphone now called the GW100 ($249).
The Hemp Headphone by Grado is currently available for purchase direct from the company’s 4OurEars retail site for $420.
More info: Grado Labs Hemp Headphone
Rich Grado recently joined Qobuz for a Facebook live stream to talk about all things music streaming, headphones, high resolution digital and more. You can check it out directly in the embed below.
