[Somafunk]

Had to pay ~100€ customs/fee
Really lost all interest in them, goes directly to classifieds/sale.

Surely you were aware of the custom fees for importing before you purchased?, I knew by a quick calculation that the Grell would have a £350 price in hand before I ordered them.

 

[Evshrug]

The more I listen to them the more they are growing on me. I like them. I have tested with some combinations of gear I have, to my surprise what I have found sound the best is with a Fiio q11 that I rarely use. I have tested them extensively from my Cayin, Mojo 2 and the lake people amp, even though they sound really good on those, this inexpensive fiio q11 is doing something to them in a very positive way. The only thing I am having a small issue is the clamping pressure, extension for me is perfect, but the clamping is a little to much for my liking.

In case this helps you, here’s steps and photos to stretch the spring (a little!!!) that is responsible for the amount of clamp pressure: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/drop-grell-oae1.967413/post-18210418

Pretty easy! The first time I took apart the headband, I just did it with my bare hands, and pulled the spring a little to stretch it.

 

[Shane D]

So finally got a chance to go to the schiitr and have some impressions! By some stroke of luck the schiitr was completely empty when I went with my dad (Will told me this was very unusual) and I was free to just try/swap between the schiit stacks as much as I wanted and gathered some impressions.

(Note I didn't have a balanced XLR adapter, so all impressions were done using single-ended out. Also these are all my subjective opinion, YMMV!)

Stacks tried:
- magni unity w/ internal dac
- modi multibit 2 -> vali 3
- asgard 3 w/ internal 9028 card
- jotunheim 2 w/ internal multibit card (single ended)
- bifrost 2/64 -> valhalla 2
- bifrost 2/64 -> lyr+
- gungnir a2 -> mjolnir 3 (single ended)

First of all my favorite pairing with the OAE1 was the bifrost 2/64 -> lyr+. All the impact I was missing with the magni unity w/ internal dac was there and the OAE1 slammed like a train! Also the stage holography opened up and it was as if details swirled around the stage effortlessly, with beautiful decays and amazing microdynamics. This really surprised me, as I've seen some impressions of the Lyr+ elsewhere and they didn't seem anything "too" special, but maybe it's something to do with their power massive power output and the OAE1's needing a lot of power to come alive. I can only describe the sound as superlative

Second favorite pairing was surprisingly the magni unity with internal dac. I actually preferred it to the jotunheim 2 with multibit card, the modi multibit 2 -> vali 3 stack, the asgard 3 with 9028 dac card, the bifrost 2/64 -> valhalla 2 stack, and the gungnir A2 -> mjolnir 3 stack (!). The magni unity just felt punchier with less harshness in the highs, and while it didn't have the slam/impact/effortlessly layered staging as the lyr+ stack, it had a similar grippiness and just felt fuller sounding than the other stacks. The asgard 3 powered the OAE1 well, but I felt it was too warm and didn't synergize well (too much "warm honey" if that makes any sense). The rest of the amps really just didn't feel like they powered the OAE1 enough and sounded thinner (remember all listening was done with single-ended outs).

I think my main takeaway here is that the OAE1 may really _really_ just love neutral sounding amps with lots of power. The magni unity just has more power than the vali 3, valhalla 2, jotunheim 2, and mjolnir 3 with their single-ended outs (2.5W into 32 ohms, vs 1.5W, <0.5W, 2W, and 1W respectively), and sounds like it. I think if I had a balanced XLR cable and tried the mjolnir 3 and jotunheim 2 with their balanced outputs (2W and 6W respectively) they could also sound great too, but can't say now unfortunately. The lyr+ has significantly more power single ended than the rest of the amps (6W into 32 ohms!) and my god the OAE1 just came alive with that amp!

Second main takeaway is I now really want to save up and make space for a bifrost 2/64 and especially a lyr+ amp, which I never would have expected before. My god the synergy with the OAE1 was something special!

I am starting off today where I finished last night. BF2 (OG) into Vali 3 with a nice clean tube. First up is Black Byrd by Donald Byrd (1973). One of my go-to jazz albums.
I didn't expect to like this combo so much.

 

[Rob80b]

Shop’s closed for the day and raining

so just chilling with a piano selection, sounds fine on the OAE-1.
https://tidal.com/playlist/e57a9bd3-ec61-4e79-8f4d-bca23801dcac

 

[BizznessSox]

I am currently running this on my iPhone 15 Max, just an Apple dongle, sounds great. Bass is tight, I do not know how it runs on other phones but I am not even maxed out in volume. Curious about different phone impressions. Definitely opens up quite a bit more on my Questyle M15 but sounds pretty good through just dongle.

 

[JM Popaleetus]

Leiker535 over on ASR made an AutoEQ if anyone is interested in giving a shot. They also think it might not work with the OAE's design, but nonetheless something to try:

 

[ruinedx]

I am currently running this on my iPhone 15 Max, just an Apple dongle, sounds great. Bass is tight, I do not know how it runs on other phones but I am not even maxed out in volume. Curious about different phone impressions. Definitely opens up quite a bit more on my Questyle M15 but sounds pretty good through just dongle.

Replace your Apple dongle with a FiiO KA11, about the same size but way more powerful, only $30 too. With apple dongle on quieter recordings you might run into issues

 

[Headphoneprobs]

I searched "fatigue" on here and was surprised it's taken up so little real estate. These have nearly the same effect on me as every hifiman (knives to inner ear). Anyone start with this and, if so, did burn in help?

 

[ruinedx]

I searched "fatigue" on here and was surprised it's taken up so little real estate. These have nearly the same effect on me as every hifiman (knives to inner ear). Anyone start with this and, if so, did burn in help?

the opposite for me, its one of the most fatigue free headphones ive used. are you underpowering it? It actually needs decent power, many portable players and dongles won't have enough juice

 

[M3NTAL]

Has anyone found a headband cover the correct size?

The OAE1 headband 'leather' doesn't feel like it will be a winner in the durability category.

 

[Headphoneprobs]

the opposite for me, its one of the most fatigue free headphones ive used. are you underpowering it? It actually needs decent power, many portable players and dongles won't have enough juice

Ive got it hooked up to a kinki amp on low SE (and at a normal volume) fed by a soekris 2541 which isn't particularly bright. I stopped listening about five minutes ago and my ears are going nuts.

Maybe my ears are the problem.

 

[BizznessSox]

Replace your Apple dongle with a FiiO KA11, about the same size but way more powerful, only $30 too. With apple dongle on quieter recordings you might run into issues

I have the Questlye M15 which I mentioned in the post. I think $220 is enough dongle buying for me lol. I was just seeing if ppl are getting this horrendous sound from the phone, but, atleast on the iPhone, that’s not the case.

 

[JM Popaleetus]

I have the Questlye M15 which I mentioned in the post. I think $220 is enough dongle buying for me lol. I was just seeing if ppl are getting this horrendous sound from the phone, but, atleast on the iPhone, that’s not the case.

I thought it sounded meh at best with Apple’s dongle. Not nearly enough power even for reasonable volumes.

 

[4udio7ool]

I searched "fatigue" on here and was surprised it's taken up so little real estate. These have nearly the same effect on me as every hifiman (knives to inner ear). Anyone start with this and, if so, did burn in help?

There's definitely a peak in the frequency response that can be harsh on certain tracks. Seems to be centered near 4.7khz. If you are comfortable with EQ I'd try bringing that down at least -4db with around a 2.0Q.

I've been working on an EQ preset over the weekend with some success. Listening with an EQ preset based on an existing target, like Harman, does not sound right to me at all. So I've been trying a more nuanced approach like I did with my HD800S. The biggest problem is that any change, even bringing down the lower mid hump at 180hz, seems to affect the perceived soundstage. I've never had a headphone where EQing the bass affected anything except bass level and punch. It's both fascinating and frustrating.

 

[jrkong]

There's definitely a peak in the frequency response that can be harsh on certain tracks. Seems to be centered near 4.7khz. If you are comfortable with EQ I'd try bringing that down at least -4db with around a 2.0Q.

I've been working on an EQ preset over the weekend with some success. Listening with an EQ preset based on an existing target, like Harman, does not sound right to me at all. So I've been trying a more nuanced approach like I did with my HD800S. The biggest problem is that any change, even bringing down the lower mid hump at 180hz, seems to affect the perceived soundstage. I've never had a headphone where EQing the bass affected anything except bass level and punch. It's both fascinating and frustrating.

I can only theorize that the way the sound resonates throughout the earcup was accounted for as they tuned the headphones.

The OAE1's sound is hard for me to pin down for sure. Sometimes it works for me sometimes it doesn't. I need to give it some more time before I can give my thoughts on them but regardless of result, they're a fun collector's piece.

The soundstage is the oddest thing for me. Sometimes it feels expansive, other times it sounds like it has a hard wall. Sound cues are generally aligned but there are times where the seems overpowering and the mids sound crunched.

I need to put a lot more time into these to come up with a final verdict on these.

I've been spending a lot of time with the Yamaha YH-5000SE and I haven't had time to go back and forth between the other headphones in my collection like the HD6XX, 600, 660S, HD800 etc to give these a fair shake but as I do my usual listening I've had a signal going through the OAE1 to get the drivers a stretch after reading that Reddit post by Axel that says the driver membrane is supposed to harden a bit after a while.