[SHAMuuu]

" I feel the headphones are a gift from Mr. Grell to the headphone community."

This is best statement/ comment in here.

It looks like a well engineered headphone. His wife? also helped in design it seems from some comments in here.

All he has to do now is make an e-stat (like baby orpheus) for like $499 - $999 w/ energizer/amp

and he will be lvl 99 O.G.

Moving countries, and I can only take one headphone at the moment ... and sad to leave Lawton, Stax, Beyerdynamic behind....

It is slightly modified Axel Grell 's 580 (early Gen II). I think he still owns one.

 

[maegnificant]

This is best statement/ comment in here.

It looks like a well engineered headphone. His wife? also helped in design it seems from some comments in here.



All he has to do now is make an e-stat (like baby orpheus) for like $499 - $999 w/ energizer/amp

and he will be lvl 99 O.G.

Dude I think he earns a good chunk of money for this.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Dude I think he earns a good chunk of money for this.

Its rare to see such innovation/design for what is being asked.

Hopefully, they are of high quality... channel matching and what not... good balance... QC etc.

If he's good at what he does, he should get paid no problem with that .

 

[maegnificant]

Its rare to see such innovation/design for what is being asked.

Hopefully, they are of high quality... channel matching and what not... good balance... QC etc.

If he's good at what he does, he should get paid no problem with that .

He has a lot of credibility for a reason for sure. That's why Drop is working with him and they seem to have more ressources or give him more freedom as Sennheiser to support his projects. They pay for his name, because it's a great marketing tool. Maybe the OAE1 is great, maybe it's not. I ordered one to try it. Sentences like this make me worry though (german, please translate it)
„Unsere Ohren sind so individuell wie Fingerabdrücke. Wenn man also einen Treiber direkt auf das Trommelfell setzt, wie es bei den meisten Kopfhörern der Fall ist, klingt er für die einen gut und für die anderen schlecht“, erläutert Grell. „Durch die Anordnung des Lautsprechers vor dem Ohr bringen wir die natürliche Geometrie des Ohrs in den Klangbildungsprozess ein, so dass das Gehirn den Klang ausgleichen kann. In Kombination mit dem offenen, ohrumschließenden Design sorgen diese einzigartigen Kopfhörer für ein sattes und natürliches Klangerlebnis.“
This sounds like nonsense to me. Stereo speakers, concert halls and live mixes still sound different for each Individual person.

If they would just market this as a headphone that sounds like stereo speakers that would be more genuine imo.

 

[SHAMuuu]

He has a lot of credibility for a reason for sure. That's why Drop is working with him and they seem to have more ressources or give him more freedom as Sennheiser to support his projects. They pay for his name, because it's a great marketing tool. Maybe the OAE1 is great, maybe it's not. I ordered one to try it. Sentences like this make me worry though (german, please translate it)
„Unsere Ohren sind so individuell wie Fingerabdrücke. Wenn man also einen Treiber direkt auf das Trommelfell setzt, wie es bei den meisten Kopfhörern der Fall ist, klingt er für die einen gut und für die anderen schlecht“, erläutert Grell. „Durch die Anordnung des Lautsprechers vor dem Ohr bringen wir die natürliche Geometrie des Ohrs in den Klangbildungsprozess ein, so dass das Gehirn den Klang ausgleichen kann. In Kombination mit dem offenen, ohrumschließenden Design sorgen diese einzigartigen Kopfhörer für ein sattes und natürliches Klangerlebnis.“
This sounds like nonsense to me. Stereo speakers, concert halls and live mixes still sound different for each Individual person.

If they would just market this as a headphone that sounds like stereo speakers that would be more genuine imo.

Same concept in 1977

and ... to me my favourite... well "ear speaker"

and with some gain of salt ... ear speaker or headphone ... since very limited in terms of vibrotactile and bone conduction through body it will always be limited

so in the context of that in mind, i guess we have to gobble up some of that marketing mumbo jumo

but he did say it gives goosebumps ... or goosepimples as some others say let's hope so!

 

[maegnificant]

I would just prefer honest marketing instead
"Less than 300pcs are available to order." By the way.
FOMO still works pretty well on me, sadly.

 

[Rob80b]

Sentences like this make me worry though (german, please translate it)
„Unsere Ohren sind so individuell wie Fingerabdrücke. Wenn man also einen Treiber direkt auf das Trommelfell setzt, wie es bei den meisten Kopfhörern der Fall ist, klingt er für die einen gut und für die anderen schlecht“, erläutert Grell. „Durch die Anordnung des Lautsprechers vor dem Ohr bringen wir die natürliche Geometrie des Ohrs in den Klangbildungsprozess ein, so dass das Gehirn den Klang ausgleichen kann. In Kombination mit dem offenen, ohrumschließenden Design sorgen diese einzigartigen Kopfhörer für ein sattes und natürliches Klangerlebnis.“
This sounds like nonsense to me. Stereo speakers, concert halls and live mixes still sound different for each Individual person.

If they would just market this as a headphone that sounds like stereo speakers that would be more genuine imo.

Pretty well explained in layman's terms here...
https://drop.com/talk/137963/the-most-open-open-back
Could all still be marketing speak but the price of admission doesn't cost an arm and a leg to find out.

 

[ruinedx]

I am starting to wonder if it is best to cancel the order and just wait. Everyone’s ears are different but I have been reading very contradicting reviews from Munich. Either some liked it a lot but others disliked it completely, and just one review makes it hard. I guess at this point is a bet, I did demo them in NY in Canjam but it might be that this final version is completely different. I guess it is what it is.

I think its a pretty simple decision. If you liked the HD800S and want a bit more casual and less expensive spin on that headphone combined with even more extreme soundstage, this headphone is a no-brainer.

 

[Mojo65]

I ordered mine yesterday... It is about time I was looking for open dynamic headphones for classical music especially and somehow these are intriguing...
For the price (shipment included) it is worth to try, so far I have never been let down by Drop products, my most used headphones since years is the Fostex TH-X00 Ebony and more recently the EtherC ... I hope Grell's new headphone could be a good pairing for the TH-X00 that is phenomenal with every genre but a bit lacking of "air" when it comes to Symphonic music).
I often use headphones also with vintage equipment and the Sash Tres or the EtherC are not an ideal load for those amps, while TH-X00 works perfectly, so the specs of the OAE1 looks promising.

 

[maegnificant]

Pretty well explained in layman's terms here...
https://drop.com/talk/137963/the-most-open-open-back
Could all still be marketing speak but the price of admission doesn't cost an arm and a leg to find out.

Pretty much what I said

 

[Fatsosixsixsix]

I am starting to wonder if it is best to cancel the order and just wait. Everyone’s ears are different but I have been reading very contradicting reviews from Munich. Either some liked it a lot but others disliked it completely, and just one review makes it hard. I guess at this point is a bet, I did demo them in NY in Canjam but it might be that this final version is completely different. I guess it is what it is.

It's your money at the end of the day. Chances are they'll make more eventually so you can always just order it during a restock after people get to review it at home and give more reviews

 

[Evshrug]

BTW does anyone know what was the volume level while plotting this graph , want to compare against the graph of HD 800S available at other places.

That’s a very significant and smart question. Many headphones have different squiggles depending on the SPL at 1kHz. And… I don’t know. Edit: I feel like Jude and Listener probably published their SPL somewhere, I just don’t know

Hey Guys. I ordered the Grells. At my PC I am using a Rode AI-1 as my DAC and Mic Combo. Do you think it will be sufficient?

The OAE1 is easy to drive, so yes it will be sufficient. However, I find amps have different flavors, and the Rode may sound different than another device with an integrated Amp or a discrete amp. I prefer using my Monoprice Liquid Spark over just straight into the $9 Apple dongle, for example, even though the $9 Apple Dongle has plenty of power output (and it’s fine if that’s all you have).

 

[4udio7ool]

Pretty well explained in layman's terms here...
https://drop.com/talk/137963/the-most-open-open-back
Could all still be marketing speak but the price of admission doesn't cost an arm and a leg to find out.

THIS. I saw Axel Grell's presentation at CanJam SoCal 23 and this is essentially what he spent the hour covering, distilled down to a short blog post. The drivers are not positioned in front to simulate speakers in front of you. They are there because it is the optimal position for the lowest acoustic impedance. Think of the design as taking the HD800 to the next level. The FR should be more consistent across individual heads than other headphones. They should sound more spacious than other headphones. They are the most open openback headphone.

That is not to say they are a slam dunk. The FR is still a bit concerning to me, especially the cliff at 6khz.

 

[tutetibiimperes]

I wish they’d gone with a higher impedance driver, the 300 ohm Sennheisers are more flexible with different amps than this sudden obsession with making every low impedance for the dongle obsessed, but I went ahead and placed an order anyway.

It’s an interesting design, and being so open but still having bass sounds very promising.

I do love my Beyerdynamic T1.2 which also have very angled drivers.

 

[Evshrug]

If they would just market this as a headphone that sounds like stereo speakers that would be more genuine imo.

It would be more simple to advertise “speaker-like sound,” but Axel has been veeeery careful to not promise the moon. Since the left ear still cannot hear what the OAE1’s right driver is doing at any significant SPL, there’s no true “In-Front Localization” that will happen JUST because of the headphone. People who would hear “speaker-like” marketing might assume IFL would be there, and even though the soundstage is great it still doesn’t sound like there’s a phantom center out in front of you (unless you use a DSP, like I said in my review).

So, by managing expectations, Axel has been uncommonly genuine and transparent about the benefits and goal of the design. “I” personally do whole-heartedly recommend using it with a Spatial Audio DSP though! Thankfully those are becoming more and more common these days You can force the (better than nothing but not “wow” for me) Dolby Atmos headphone DSP in many streaming apps these days (like Apple Music and Tidal) and devices may have Spatial Audio too (PlayStation 5 has its bespoke DSP, I believe Xbox Series has Dolby Atmos too).