A Revered Hi-Fi Company Reimagines Its First Headphones from the ’90s

They’re a modern take on the brand’s iconic first headphones from the early 1990s.

Published October 29, 2024

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Updated October 29, 2024

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Grado Labs — the revered third-generation family-owned audio company that handcrafts its headphones in Brooklyn — has released new flagship hi-fi headphones to celebrate what would have been the company’s founder Joseph Grado’s 100th birthday.

The all-new Grado Signature HP100 SE are contemporary versions of the company’s classic Signature HP1, its first headphones released in the early 1990s. The new models share similar 90s nostalgia but have been re-engineered from the ground up with new drivers and modern design tweaks.

Grado Signature HP100 SE

A completely new driver

The headline feature of the HP100 SE is its 52mm driver, which Grado says is a completely new speaker design. It pairs a paper composite cone with “a powerful high flux magnetic circuit” and a new voice coil made from lightweight copper-plated aluminum.

The result, according to the company, are headphones that produce “excellent high-frequency resolution, midrange smoothness and bass energy with low distortion, resulting in a voicing that is musically and harmonically correct.”

A comfier “signature” design

The HP100 SE are wired open-back headphones that take design ques from Grado’s previous Signature models — HP1, HP2 and HP3 — but boast updated housings that have been individually machined from specially treated aluminum.

The headband has been redesigned — with 50 percent more padding — to be more comfortable for long listening sessions.

Like all its other headphones, the HP100 SE are hand-assembled in the company’s Brooklyn-based headquarters.

A “first” for Grado

Interestingly, the HP100 SE are Grado’s first-ever headphones to have detachable cables. This allows for more flexibility should you want to use different sources or change cables in time. If the cables get damaged, they’re easier to replace, too.

The cables also differ from those found on the brand’s high-end Statement Series headphones. According to Grado, the new cables have a “softer but durable braided” finish. They feature a 6.3mm termination plug and connect to each housing using a 4-pin mini XLR plug.

Grado says it will release compatible detachable cables — with 4-pin XLR and 4.4mm balanced terminations, and at different lengths — in the future.