[Trinkle]

There are a bunch of impression in this thread about the OAE 1 in reddit, if you guys are interested

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/1bbfeh6/canjam_nyc_2024/

 

[Rob80b]

There are a bunch of impression in this thread about the OAE 1 in reddit, if you guys are interested

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/1bbfeh6/canjam_nyc_2024/

Two interesting comments ...

"....... Don't feel like it had the soundstage of the HD800 though"
With the radical offset drivers not what I was imagining.

"I think the OAE1 is siginificantly more impactful and weighty-sounding than an HD800."
Will be much appreciated by many.

Without actually hearing one the OAE1 is sort of an enigma at this point.....not too sure where it stands, an improved alternative to Axel's previous HD600 endeavours or ...... ??

 

[BobG55]

...not too sure where it stands, an improved alternative to Axel's previous HD600 endeavours or ...... ??

Blasphemy ! There is no possibility of an improved HD600, let alone an alternative ! Them’s fightin’ words !

 

[Halleluhwah]

I wouldn't take showfloor impressions seriously.

 

[Menkau-ra]

To me OAE1 sounded like a HD650 with better sound stage and really good bass even from Mojo2.

 

[zilax002]

To me OAE1 sounded like a HD650 with better sound stage and really good bass even from Mojo2.

That sounds very impressive!

How controlled did the bass sound? I've heard mixed things about whether it's good bass or just good *amount* of bass

 

[Menkau-ra]

That sounds very impressive!

How controlled did the bass sound? I've heard mixed things about whether it's good bass or just good *amount* of bass

I can’t tell for sure. It was so loud there. But if you already love HD6 series, then OAE1 would be interesting upgrade/side grade with deeper bass and wider sound stage.

 

[zilax002]

I can’t tell for sure. It was so loud there. But if you already love HD6 series, then OAE1 would be interesting upgrade/side grade with deeper bass and wider sound stage.

Fair enough. I do love the HD6XX series, though I've moved past it performance wise with more expensive headphones (Ananda Stealth, Elex).

Which is the crux of my dilemma over whether to get this. It's probably not realistic to think it'll outperform some stuff I already have, but I think Grell making his own over-ear headphone with a unique design is super cool. And I don't have anything with a bio-cellulose or angled driver

 

[Trinkle]

Two interesting comments ...

"....... Don't feel like it had the soundstage of the HD800 though"
With the radical offset drivers not what I was imagining.

Not an audio engineer, but AFAIK, multiple things affect soundstage , driver size , driver angle, openness of the cups & frequency response.
I think with HD 800S the size of the driver was bigger and they also tried to tamper with the frequency response to increase the soundstage. But once Dan Clark from DCA said that if you reduce the amplitude of a certain portion of the bass region you get a bigger soundstage but the sound becomes diffuse and lacks body. I think on one hand the drivers in OAE 1 are more angled and further, the cups are more open but on the other hand the frequency response is not compromised and the drivers are smaller (40 mm circular vs 56 mm ring) . Thus it has a big soundstage with an uncompromised frequency response, just that the soundstage may not be as big as the HD 800S.

I hope the smaller driver accompanied with the more open structure has a cleaner CSD plot and lower distortion.

 

[Menkau-ra]

Fair enough. I do love the HD6XX series, though I've moved past it performance wise with more expensive headphones (Ananda Stealth, Elex).

Which is the crux of my dilemma over whether to get this. It's probably not realistic to think it'll outperform some stuff I already have, but I think Grell making his own over-ear headphone with a unique design is super cool. And I don't have anything with a bio-cellulose or angled driver

To me the HD650 is my favorite headphone regardless of the price. And I’ve had many of TOTL headphones and tried everything at Canjam. Every time I just go back to lovely HD650.
I’m still not sure if OAE 1 can replace it. But that would be the first candidate.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

They were not even closed to impressed

 

[zilax002]

They were not even closed to impressed

No, they were not. Though sometimes I think the dividing line between good and bad gets impossibly narrow for some reviewers. Perhaps understandably when you've heard hundreds of headphones. But DMS implying he'd enjoy the headphone if you removed one "treble peak" gets a bit of an eyebrow raise from me. I don't tend to find a couple peaks enough to ruin a headphone for me. But maybe it's a truly atrocious peak. :/

 

[Trinkle]

With relatively cheap DACs coming with PEQ (Topping D 50 III), I personally think that small mistakes in the FR is less important than other factors like resonance, distortion, whether the driver geometry is aligned for soundstage or not etc, you can't fix those with EQ. If they are worried about one treble peak, and the rest is fine, it wont be a deal breaker for me.

 

[Nomax]

Let's just let Axel surprise us

NOMAX

 

[musicday]

Let's just let Axel surprise us

NOMAX

Better than composer?