Grado Hemp Reference Series Signature Wired On Ear Open Back Stereo Headphones

The Grado Hemp is a limited-edition wired, open-back on-ear headphone from the Reference Series. It features a hemp and maple wood housing with drivers specifically tuned for the material, a frequency response of 13 Hz to 28 kHz, 38-ohm impedance, and an 8-conductor cable. Each pair is hand-built in Brooklyn.

Note: UK-supplied Hemp Headphones come with a vegan-friendly vinyl headband, not the leather headband shown in some images.

Key specifications

• Housing: hemp and maple wood
• Design: open-back, dynamic
• Frequency response: 13 Hz to 28 kHz
• Impedance: 38 ohms
• Sensitivity: 98 dB SPL at 1 mW
• Drivers matched: 0.05 dB
• Cable: 8 conductor
• Cushions: F cushion
• Headband: vinyl (vegan-friendly)

Reference Series Hemp Headphones

Hand-built in Brooklyn with drivers specifically tuned for their hemp and maple housing, these limited-edition headphones deliver a warm, precise sound with a noticeable low end and a smoothly extended top end.

• Hand-built in Brooklyn
• Hemp and maple wood housing
• 8-conductor cable
• F cushion
• Drivers matched to 0.05 dB
• De-stressed driver
• Vinyl headband

Built from hemp

Highly compressed hemp creates a damping effect between its fibres, producing a fuller sound with a strong low end and a top end that extends smoothly to its limits. Maple is built into the housing to balance the sound and bring out the sonic properties the two materials produce together.

Driver focused

The drivers fitted to the hemp housings required specific tuning for a material Grado had never worked with before. Pairing hemp with maple provided a starting point, but the final result came through extensive trial and error to fully realise the potential of the combination.

High expectations

Over seven decades of headphone building inform the Hemp's voicing. It rewards repeated listening, revealing new details in familiar music over time. Grado's signature sound runs throughout, working in tandem with the hemp and maple housing.

Hand-built in Brooklyn

Every Hemp Headphone is assembled by hand at Grado's Brooklyn workshop. Hemp and maple come together for the first time in a Limited Edition, bringing a new level of vibrancy to a range that has been built by hand since 1953.

Into the unknown

Hemp was an unfamiliar material for Grado, but it quickly became a firm favourite within the team. The result is one of the best-sounding Limited Editions the company has produced.