DROP + GRELL OAE1

[Philimon]

Rumour has it.
https://drop.com/buy/drop-grell-oae1-signature-headphones/reviews#reviews

I will try that.

My disappointment with OAE1 comfort has had me these past couple days trying to make one myself.

Spoiler

 

[pr0l0w]

Every new product needs time to fix some issues. I like that Mr Grell is reading, listening and doing something about those issues people are reporting. That's a sign of responsibility. I am pretty sure he wants his product to be the best it can get.

Very interesting to me was someone who mentioned the point of rotating ear cups earlier in this thread. No rotating means, that you just have to remember the position on your head to get your desired sound result. Also they could be rotated individually, so it would be rather cumbersome to get both to the desired angle I assume? So I think the fixed position is pretty well thought through.

It is quiet interesting that we have to even think about the angle you wear this headphones at, since this is not the case with traditional HP at all.

 

[Rob80b]

As the OAE1 stands right now, how is the head band sizing compared to the NDH 30. I have my NDH 30's bands almost fully bottomed out with only 1 click/adjustment to spare.

You may be out of luck, I've got the OAE-1 fully extended and could do with a few millimetres or more, with the NDH30 I've still got a number of clicks left.
Mind you the clamp force on both is almost night and day, the Neumann is just feather dusting in comparison.

And should add that I squeezed in a quick listen with both, the OAE-1 are looking pretty good, while the NDH30 clearly gives distinct left to right and sharper imaging the darker sounding Grell adds depth, dimensionality and an overall organic feel to the music.

 

[Vitaliy Belz]

*

 

[ruinedx]

As the OAE1 stands right now, how is the head band sizing compared to the NDH 30. I have my NDH 30's bands almost fully bottomed out with only 1 click/adjustment to spare.

Hard to say I think it's a more a head shape thing. I have an objectively large head (last snap of a baseball cap) but Grell oae1 fits perfectly on largest size. So must be a head shape/geometry issue

 

[Rob80b]

Numbers of right and left drivers:

If they test individual drivers maybe each is then given a number for a replacement reference, your guess is as good as mine.
Any idea if they're a neodymium magnet, couldn't find the answer elsewhere?
Sorry they weren't your cup of tea, I'm finding mine or my ears getting along quite nicely.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

You may be out of luck, I've got the OAE-1 fully extended and could do with a few millimetres or more, with the NDH30 I've still got a number of clicks left.
Mind you the clamp force on both is almost night and day, the Neumann is just feather dusting in comparison.

And should add that I squeezed in a quick listen with both, the OAE-1 are looking pretty good, while the NDH30 clearly gives distinct left to right and sharper imaging the darker sounding Grell adds depth, dimensionality and an overall organic feel to the music.

Well I guess I have to wait for the updated one

Numbers of right and left drivers:

I wonder what the red sharpie marking denotes, probably driver measurement closer or farther (still acceptable) from target. Also, those driver port tubes look very tempting to play around with.

 

[pure5152]

I may keep both. : )

The OAE-1 are doing fine with movies but the way audio is assembled for the big screen, multi channel, centre dialogue, etc and not too concerned about natural sound staging as such, the NDH30 being designed specifically as a studio monitoring tool IMHO do a stellar job.

Yeah for sure! Agreed that if I had to do work involving audio monitoring the NDH30 would by far be my pick over the OAE1. I think I should also clarify that the reason I'm thinking about selling the NDH30 instead of just keeping it as a nice contrast is I just don't have space financially/physically for two headphones, so I had to pick just one to keep >_o

Yes indeed! The sound is very addicting. Combining with wider soundstage and better bass, it's a lot more enjoyable than my HD650!

Just to mention that over the past few days, somehow the tolerance for this sweet spot/angle has 'widen' a little for me, and I no longer need to angle and place the headband at the exact tilt and spot for OAE1 to sound the best, which I find very interesting

The bass really is something! I don't think I've experienced bass quite like this before-- the eikon closed had subbass extension but didn't feel as open or dynamic; the utopia had amazing slam but was definitely not as extended/visceral; the pmx2's planar bass had the same viscerality but wasn't as impactful; the verite closed had good punch but the resonances ended up giving me fatigue. The OAE1's bass really does remind me of a subwoofer in some ways

I want to think that the sweet spot/angle has become less finnicky for me, but sometimes when listening I think "man, I'm getting fatigued" or "dang this sounds a little closed sounding" and then realize that adjusting the cups mere millimeters totally resolves those issues for me. I will say that I think I'm developing muscle/"feel" memory so it is getting easier to find that sweet spot over time though!

As the OAE1 stands right now, how is the head band sizing compared to the NDH 30. I have my NDH 30's bands almost fully bottomed out with only 1 click/adjustment to spare.

If it helps, I currently have the OAE1 extended with only 1cm left on each side (about 80% extended I think)-- whereas on the NDH 30 I only used 3 clicks on each side.

 

[ThEvil0nE]

If it helps, I currently have the OAE1 extended with only 1cm left on each side (about 80% extended I think)-- whereas on the NDH 30 I only used 3 clicks on each side.

Hard to say I think it's a more a head shape thing. I have an objectively large head (last snap of a baseball cap) but Grell oae1 fits perfectly on largest size. So must be a head shape/geometry issue

with the NDH30 I've still got a number of clicks left.

Ya'll making me feel like a cone head

 

[Somafunk]

UK customs are brutal, unfortunately not much you can do to get around that. It makes buying stuff from drop usually not worth it

It’s worked out around £350ish for the Grell to the UK which I expected, most of the reviews highlight that it seems to do well with electronic music which is 90%+ of my listening so hopefully it’ll be a keeper, otherwise I’ll try the HD490.

 

[pure5152]

Ya'll making me feel like a cone head

no it's not you! just trying to illustrate how unconventionally small the OAE1's headband is in comparison haha. it makes the headphones look sleek/sexy, but it is unaccommodating sadly

(random but I also wonder if it's just single-sided cables that are more microphonic in general, as I find the OAE1's single-sided cable to be a lot more microphonic than the dual sided one, as my arm/shoulder ends up rubbing against the sleeve more and causing more microphonic noise to transfer through the wire)

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Here’s 618.

 

[pure5152]

If you guys want to have some fun, there's some interesting "headphone checks" at this website, including frequency extension tests, driver matching tests, etc: https://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php

FWIW in the driver-matching test, my OAE1 seems pretty close down the middle perceptually. It's not "extremely tight" in the highs like I've heard from the NDH 30 and some focals, but it's very close to the middle with no noticeable deviations. It does kinda match the spec graph sent with the OAE1, and makes me feel that the deviations shown are pretty subtle overall and they are overall nicely matched.

For frequency extension, I could actually feel some rumble at 10hz and it was very present from the full 20hz to 200hz. I could hear some extension at 17khz and it was audible from 16khz through 8khz for me

For harmonic distortion, I could notice a difference between 0.05% and 0.01% making me feel the OAE1's are pretty damn resolving (of at least artificially distorted sine waves haha)

Curious to hear what others who try it report! At the very least it's pretty fun to test

https://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php

 

[ThEvil0nE]

no it's not you! just trying to illustrate how unconventionally small the OAE1's headband is in comparison haha. it makes the headphones look sleek/sexy, but it is unaccommodating sadly

Definitely just going to wait then.

 

[Rob80b]

Yeah for sure! Agreed that if I had to do work involving audio monitoring the NDH30 would by far be my pick over the OAE1.

Probably the right move < I've yet to make a definitive conclusion about the overall sound but I'm leaning toward the OAE-1 as being more fulfilling musically.

I just don't have space financially/physically for two headphones

Maybe later.... plus there are quite a few NDH30 on the used market, the OAE-1 there will be far and few between.
Bottom line is, keep the one you like best.