[joe75]

Still any grell users here ?


I got a device a few days ago with LHDC codec support and does my grell sound extremely good



That's with sound id and wavelet app activated too (and anc turned off)

I have several other TWS, prior owner of Momentum 3 True wireless too but those died several months ago unfortunately.

 

[Evshrug]

Still any grell users here ?

Yes!
Even though I had to leave grell audio last summer, I still use mine as my "on the go" headphones. My wife gets annoyed that I'll go grocery shopping for two hours, haha! Solution... just go earlier while she's still working! I do enjoy my custom profile I made for these with the soundID app. I don't ever use the "wings," so I'm thinking of further customizing by filing off the edges of the groove for the wings/rings.

 

[moorashj]

Sadly I returned mine.

 

[erockg]

Sadly I returned mine.

Same. Had high expectations, but there were so many better options out there. Hopefully, they get funding for a gen 2. I'd bite.

 

[robo24]

3rd time was a charm for me. The first 2 were too buggy to use. All good with the 3rd set for the past year now. So much better sounding than the original APP I also have and with foam tips the isolation and noise cancelling is pretty amazing. It's too bad they were launched before a lot of bugs were worked out. I use them every time I run or do yard work.

 

[moorashj]

I got so frustrated that I just had to give up. They sounded pretty good and would have kept them off the bugs were worked out

 

[Evshrug]

I got so frustrated that I just had to give up. They sounded pretty good and would have kept them off the bugs were worked out

I don’t know if you got to update to the March ‘22 firmware? That made a big difference for my TWS1X.

 

[moorashj]

No I returned them before that date

 

[Evshrug]

Well, Strax owned grell audio and decided last summer to consolidate to just one brand (grell was one of like 3 or 4), but it looks like Axel Grell bought back the rights to the grell brand name and is picking up steam again.

The March firmware version was the only one that addressed the intermittent dropouts (that weren’t due to small appliances like microwaves close by emitting enough EMI to disrupt any Bluetooth signals).

 

[joe75]

Well, Strax owned grell audio and decided last summer to consolidate to just one brand (grell was one of like 3 or 4), but it looks like Axel Grell bought back the rights to the grell brand name and is picking up steam again.

The March firmware version was the only one that addressed the intermittent dropouts (that weren’t due to small appliances like microwaves close by emitting enough EMI to disrupt any Bluetooth signals).

Good to know about Strax...
But I am still annoyed by the battery drain in the case since I hardly use the Grell anymore...so they inevitably end up connecting on their own to my smartphone when the battery case is empty.... I really would have liked a way to have them go to sleep for good and not have to think about them
Well only reason I bought them in the first.pkqce was because of the hype around Axel name

 

[Evshrug]

I haven’t owned a lot of TWS headphones, but all my battery powered devices have a bit of drain over time, from my grell TWS/1, Sennheiser MTW1, wife’s 1More TWS, my iPad, my cameras, my electric skateboard… I imagine this is common among all TWS, where the cases top off the buds until the cases are empty, and then once the contacts are dead I think it would be a rare thing for TWS buds to sense that they’re still in the case, and the battery would drain over time regardless.

Wireless and wired headphones have different advantages inherent to how they work, and TWS have their own rules in addition to the standard wireless/battery operated electronic. If the priority is 0 battery maintenance and rock solid connection, then hardwired headphones are the best. In-Ears have a few pro and con trade-offs from over-ears, and TWS require more battery care and can have interference… there’s an optimal time for each. I love my TWS/1 for mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, and I keep the case on a wireless Qi charger next to my bed when they’re not in use so I can pull one bud out to watch YouTube on my phone while resting the other ear on my pillow. For the TV (I have an Android media streamer), I use over ear Bluetooth headphones because nobody can trip on cables, I find over ears more comfortable, and the battery lasts much longer (bigger battery!). In my home office, wired over-ear headphones reign supreme. Analyze where a product fits best into your life, play to its strengths, and you will be happier.

 

[ayang02]

That battery drain issue looks really similar to the issue that plagued Sennheiser's MTW1. I own the MTW2 and it didn't have that issue. Similarly, don't have battery drain issues with Audio Technica ATH-TWX9, Sony WF1000MX4.

It is true that slowly but surely these TWS IEMs will lose charge over time but the rate at which the TWS/1 does it, it's quite fast. I'm sure it's something that can be fixed in the next iteration

 

[joe75]

That battery drain issue looks really similar to the issue that plagued Sennheiser's MTW1. I own the MTW2 and it didn't have that issue. Similarly, don't have battery drain issues with Audio Technica ATH-TWX9, Sony WF1000MX4.

It is true that slowly but surely these TWS IEMs will lose charge over time but the rate at which the TWS/1 does it, it's quite fast. I'm sure it's something that can be fixed in the next iteration

Yes, battery drain was famous on MTW1 but I think it was a design flaw for a first gen product and I can report I don't have battery drain at all from my WF-1000Xm3 earbuds or MTW2 ( I sold them since to get MTW3 but this is another story) had before...it means they can stay weeks, even months in their case without losing a charge...but they also have a wear sensor .. that surely helps too ..

Also my android tablet( like an ipad) does not drain battery at all if I turn it off completely ...it takes less than 1 min to turn it on...makes no sense to not turn it off completely when I am not going to use it for a while...

I won't complain much over TWs/1! since they probably are in their final state as end of life of today and it s unlikely they will get any improvements (multipoint and battery life)

So they are OK from a first joint venture point of view I guess...they are far from being the worst since Other companies sell today TWS that don't have an app or anc to begin with..

Having Open drivers or firmware could be nice. For product in their EOL..but at the same time when it s for something you put in your ears i would probably be more wary and only go with official firmware to be sure they're still have volume limitations and safetu

 

[Evshrug]

The MTW2’s battery drained on idle too, it just took longer because they used a more power efficient System on a Chip (which, as a trade-off, had more background noise, the MTW1 sounded a bit better overall, also the MTW1 had the aptX low latency codec which would help Windows users and gamers). The MTW1 lasted 6-7 days if charged full and not used (I own one). To Sennheiser’s credit, they were lauded as the best TWS headphones at the time of their release, and I haven’t heard the MTW3 but that undoubtedly has benefited from the advances in Bluetooth tech and Qualcomm’s SoC designs.

The grell TWS/1 both has larger batteries in the case and earpieces as well as uses less power in sleep mode than the MTW1’s standby mode. The grell TWS/1 lasts long enough that I lose track of how many days go by before I charge it; when I first got my early December sample and charged it up, I didn’t have to recharge it till January. I don’t use mine every day, but I wear them with ANC on when I mow the lawn for 1.5 hours every week, when I go grocery shopping once a week, and sometimes randomly when I go on 30 minute walks for fitness. I also like to use mine for hands-free phone calls. I use the TWS/1 often enough that when I take them out and the case only has one bar of charge left, I charge the case while I use the headphones. I have several headphones and speakers at home, but the TWS/1 are the only TWS headphones I’ve used for the past year and a half, and I always use them for those situations where TWS are best. Now, I also have a pair of Drop + grell TWS1x, which I swapped my photo sample one with someone at a CanJam with connection issues (I was so happy when the March firmware update basically fixed that one)… that one doesn’t get used much, so there has been two or three times where the case battery drained and my phone connected. Different habits.
Yes, if you fully charge a tablet, turn it off, and check it a month later, you will notice it’s also lost some charge (though consider the much much much larger size of tablet batteries vs the compact by necessity TWS setup). Even if that was not the case, the start up time for a tablet completely shut down would be intolerable for daily TWS users who are likely to take the headphones out of the case several times a day, or if they need to connect them in time to answer a phone call.

A wear sensor may prevent unexpected Bluetooth connections while the earpieces are in their case… but they are an added cost, and the TWS1 was meant to outperform at a lower price, despite being from a start up company without deep pockets or manufacturing subsidies. The charging contacts are used to communicate with the case, and removal from the case is usually plenty to indicate that the earpieces are about to be worn and should come out of their sleep mode.

Multipoint allows a user to be listening to, say, a video on their tablet, but have a smartphone take over if they receive a call. They still can only listen to one audio source at a time, but it maintains a connection to two devices (I don’t know if that impacts battery), and it does nothing to improve connection quality.

I speculate that the TWS category is best suited for daily/frequent users, smartphone users, to have their batteries “topped off” the same time as the smartphone or smartwatch (every 1-3 days) and have enough charges to get someone through a weekend trip or long airplane flight. This philosophy is more evident (and easier) in new models with Qi Wireless charging cases, but even the original AirPods used the same Lightning charge connectors as the iPhones, meant to share the same charging setups.