The new vintage-inspired headphones from an American hi-fi company look like modern classics

Grado Labs – the respected third-generation audio company that handcrafts its headphones in Brooklyn – has released a new flagship pair of hi-fi headphones to celebrate the 100th birthday of company founder Joseph Grado.

The all new Grado signature HP100 SE are contemporary takes on the company’s classic Signature HP1, the first headphones released in the early 1990s. The new models share the same ’90s nostalgia, but have been redesigned from the ground up with new drivers and modern design tweaks.

Grado signature HP100 SE

A completely new driver

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

The result, according to the company, is a headphone that produces “excellent high-frequency resolution, smooth midrange and bass energy with little distortion, resulting in a voice that is musically and harmonically correct.”