DROP + GRELL OAE1

[Rob80b]

Are the Grell 2.5mm dual entry jacks TRS or TRRS?

Found my answer, so if they fit the adapters should work.

Cable 1

• 6 ft (1.8 m) Double-sided, silver-coated OFC cable
• Connectors headphone side: 2.5 mm TRRS
• Connector device: 3.5 mm stereo plug
• Adaptor: 3.5 mm to 6.3 mm, screw-on

Cable 2

• 6 ft (1.8 m) Single-sided, silver-coated OFC cable
• Connectors headphone side: 2.5 mm TRRS
• Connector device: 4.4 mm Balanced TRRRS stereo plug

 

[StivVid]

I'm sure they're made of plastic, they painted the outside, the inside hasn't been painted yet, we can see the blurriness.

Are you judging from photos, or do you have them? They're not plastic.

 

[buidoimiennui]

Are you judging from photos, or do you have them? They're not plastic.

I used Evshrug's image

 

[ruinedx]

Happy 4th all. I get mine tomorrow, confirmed by UPS tracking.

I just wanted to note, reading the initial impressions of some, I think some are approaching this headphone the wrong way in impressions.

With the exotic driver configuration, there is no way this should be approached like a "normal" headphone. It is very clearly a specialist headphone, meaning that there is some material it is going to sound awkward or bad with, and other material it will sound amazing with. This would not be something to buy as your only headphone, but rather something to give you a unique experience other headphones can't replicate.

Also re: build quality- it's a $350 headphone independently made. I am not sure what you expect, but even massive companies that get bulk discounts in China still typically deliver plastic at this price point. Probably the closest comparison you could make is the Grado SR325x since that one is also a more "indie" type project, and it also has a lot of plastic; you need to spend over $450 with Grado to get something more than plastic, and even then it doesn't include an exotic driver configuration like this headphone does.

When I present my impressions tomorrow, I am going to try to describe what it does best and where it excels, rather than evaluating it as an all-rounder - which I think would be a mistake given the driver configuration.

 

[StivVid]

I used Evshrug's image

Also... Evshrug's images are from a pre-production unit if I'm not mistaken.

 

[buidoimiennui]

Also... Evshrug's images are from a pre-production unit if I'm not mistaken.

Okay, we'll wait for others to confirm further. And I'm also waiting for my package to arrive, probably at the end of the month.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

With the exotic driver configuration, there is no way this should be approached like a "normal" headphone.

Nonsense.

Its a headphone it should be judged like a headphone. With listening to music.

 

[ruinedx]

Nonsense.

Its a headphone it should be judged like a headphone. With listening to music.

This sounds like its not the device for you as you don't understand it's intention.

Would be similar to comparing a headphone amp with crossfeed feature enabled vs one without crossfeed feature and wondering why they sound so different, lol

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

This sounds like its not the device for you as you don't understand it's intention.

Would be similar to comparing a headphone amp with crossfeed feature enabled vs one without crossfeed feature and wondering why they sound so different, lol

Another nonsense.
I fully understand why it was created and what was the idea.

You seem to be looking for excuses why people have very mixed bag feelings about this headphones.

 

[Poimandres]

I don’t have any issues with the build quality. I have been very excited to give them a listen after reading EV’s review over and over again, despite the recent negative feedback on them.

There is no xlr so I fed them SE from my Liquid Platinum amp and DAC. First go round something is wrong here, shutdown swap over to my Clear’s, hmmm. Shutdown swap back to the OAE’s definitely still something wrong here. Rinse, repeat back to the Clears. Welp been listening to the clears via balanced rinse, repeat now on the Clears SE, still sounds much better than the OAE’s. Boxed up the OAE’s, these are definitely going back…..

Must be doing something wrong, right? Complete frequencies and sounds totally missing and unaccounted for, how can this be?

Turns out that I never completely pushed the 2.5mm ends into the OAE’s. Feels like they were but nope there is an audible click. How did I eff that up?

There that’s much better, something is still off though with the headphones sitting normally on my huge head, yokes almost completely extended there isn’t too much clamping force either.

Now I start adjusting the headphones on my head. I found that the best position for me is to have the headphones sit normally on my head, take both of my thumbs and push directly back on the bottom of the cups until the front earpad is almost touching the bottom front of my ear.

That’s much better, sounds almost like it is supposed to. Need to spend some more time with these before deciding to keep or send back.

Definitely need to order a dual 2.5mm xlr cable. I’m still wondering if the jumper going through the headphones may be causing any issues when using a dual cable. I guess as long as it is the right 2.5mm connector (maybe just tr?) it shouldn’t be doing anything?

 

[ruinedx]

Another nonsense.
I fully understand why it was created and what was the idea.

You seem to be looking for excuses why people have very mixed bag feelings about this headphones.

Nope, I am simply remarking that most reviews have not described on which content it excels vs which it is less geared towards; examples of where the driver configuration offers unique experiences vs typical configuration; examples of what the effect is like, etc. Most have been approached as a general headphone impression, and this is a specialty headphone.

As I said earlier, if you expected this to sound amazing on everything I think you made a wrong turn, it was clear from the start with the exotic off axis driver configuration there were going to be winners and losers in terms of how content sounds on it.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

As I said earlier, if you expected this to sound amazing on everything I think you made a wrong turn, it was clear from the start with the exotic off axis driver configuration there were going to be winners and losers in terms of how content sounds on it.

....please just stop.

That's my last response. I'm done doing off topic on that nonsense.

 

[Shembot]

Nope, I am simply remarking that most reviews have not described on which content it excels vs which it is less geared towards; examples of where the driver configuration offers unique experiences vs typical configuration; examples of what the effect is like, etc. Most have been approached as a general headphone impression, and this is a specialty headphone.

As I said earlier, if you expected this to sound amazing on everything I think you made a wrong turn, it was clear from the start with the exotic off axis driver configuration there were going to be winners and losers in terms of how content sounds on it.

I can assure you that at least my initial impressions were not "general purpose" or on only a limited selection of content, I understand the design of the headphone, I tried multiple placements, and it's quite rare for me to give a middling or negative impression of any gear (I even have very good things to say about the qualities of such oddballs as the AQ Nighthawk, HD 700, and HD 820). I think you'll see what we mean when you get them on your head.

 

[Rob80b]

as the Grell can accept the single sided cable TRRS on either side for their balanced cable, may need a TRS TR adapter only, not sure.

........

Definitely need to order a dual 2.5mm xlr cable. I’m still wondering if the jumper going through the headphones may be causing any issues when using a dual cable. I guess as long as it is the right 2.5mm connector (maybe just tr?) it shouldn’t be doing anything?

Looks like we're on the same page.

 

[buidoimiennui]

I think the problem here is, when the driver is in a special position, then it will be revealed that the structure of each person's ear will produce a different type of sound. Has anyone here ever listened to speakers but placed them straight in front of them without separating them on either side? I see that if we have 2 speakers. But placing them in the same direction, in the same position, the sound is very difficult to hear, it is no different from mono. But we separate the 2 speakers into 2 directions, now it's truly stereo. So what happens when some people have slightly more perked ears than others?