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Drop + Grell OAE1 Signature Headphones
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Drop + Grell OAE1 Signature Headphones
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Product Description
The ultimate acoustic experience? The natural one: where sound reaches your ears through the open air, from a source right in front of you. It’s not a difficult concept to wrap your head around. In the history of headphone design, however, it’s proven difficult to wrap it around your head. Until now. Meet the Drop + grell OAE1 Signature: a groundbreaking pair of headphones with game-changing driver geometry and an ultra-expansive soundstage.
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keyboard_arrow_downHoffmanMyster
2966
Community
May 9, 2024
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The Drop + grell OAE1 Signature headphones are finally here, and we couldn’t be more excited!
It has been a long journey to get to this point. Together with Axel, we’ve shown the headphones at a number of shows, received feedback from trusted ears such as Jude Mansila of Head-fi.org, and tweaked the tuning along the way.
The OAE1 Signature are collectors items and limited to 1,000 units in total. All Signature headphones are individually measured before leaving the factory and the measurements are included inside the package. The Signature version also comes with two high quality cables, a carrying case, and as the name says—the headphones have Axel’s signature on them.
The headphones come with a 2-year warranty and our 30 day return policy applies to OAE1 Signature as well.
One goal with this launch was to minimize the wait time until the OAE1 Signature arrives. The headphones are in production and expected to arrive to our warehouse mid-June, and ship shortly thereafter to everyone. We look forward to getting these into your hands!
Edit to add: All orders, including international, will be shipping free! If you already purchased and paid for shipping, that cost will be refunded to you automatically.
(Edited)
Hifiearspeakers
0
May 11, 2024
The hd560S is already a bright headphone compared to other models in the 5XX/6XX line. These have an even greater peak between 3-4 kHz which is also in the ear gain frequency range. I don’t know how these couldn’t sound sharp/harsh. Hard pass until user reviews start coming in.
Robson
215
May 10, 2024
I did order one anyway to see what Axel has come up with, but a couple things are concerning in the frequency response...
They seems to have a very pronounced bump from 3K to 5K, and then fall off a cliff from 5K to around 11K.
I'm not a Harmon curve nazi, but why he chose to tune them like this is puzzling. I hope they take to eq ok, I prefer to see the tuning to be "right" in the first place.
Also, the "limited to 1000 pcs" is simply not believable. Drop has always made more units when a headphone sells well.
Supposedly the AKG K7xx and Sennheiser 6xx were both "limited", but reappeared many times over. Of course the 6xx is now always available.
In any case, they sound interesting, so we will all see!
(Edited)
shorkorde
129
Keyboard Club Member
May 11, 2024
RobsonAgree with your concerns on the FR. The only possible defense of this I can think of is that the aggressively repositioned and angled drivers make the conventional response curve and pinna interaction measurements look wrong but sound okay? Time will tell on that point I suppose (though I am curious). I'm not against EQ, but agree that audio equipment tuning really should be nailed down without EQ being a necessity.
As far as the "1000 pcs" goes, I interpreted that to mean that the *first* 1000pcs would be the "signature" edition - specifically including Grell's signature; but that it would continue to be available in "non-signature" edition after the fact.
mattmik
15
May 10, 2024
Does anyone have any insight into the comfort? I am one of those types where comfort is actually above sound quality. I can't sue something that bothers me.
SirIppo
11
May 10, 2024
I already preorder but I was wondering are the headphones gonna be numbered like 1/1000 ect? I'm very excited getting these soon.
Artismo
468
May 10, 2024
These are beautiful looking headphones. These would look lovely on cam while streaming, on an office desk connected to your personal rig, or at home on your headphone stand beckoning you to just put them on. They definitely have a unique and boutique-ish look, the design cues speak to studio beautiful and collector’s item -premium but not unapproachable.
I really hope the sound quality and performance match this visual attention to detail. At least it is a headphone worth having in your arsenal for its novelty and piece of audio history. I think that a lot of people don’t think of audio longterm in terms of legacy. The fact that a man with a reputation and history of designing, tuning, and having a hand in some legendary cans, has been in the industry for literal decades, and then culminating his expertise and experience into this crescendo of audio has significant merit. I don’t expect it to be perfect for me or others but I definitely see it as a meaningful piece of audio and audio history.
Evshrug
3864
Keyboard Club Member
May 10, 2024
ArtismoI think it’s cool that his wife and daughters helped him too. It’s the start of a family business.
Artismo
468
May 10, 2024
EvshrugDefinitely respect and recognition due to the Grell family in their entirety -especially Katrin and daughter- for their contributions and design.
Je_Saist
165
May 9, 2024
Part of me wants to get these... the other part of me kind of... just can't justify them.
Den-Fi-Kyle
8
May 9, 2024
I bought a pair to review, but in case anyone was wondering how these measures compared to the HD560S and HD650’s 5128 measurements, Listener did the hard work to trace Jude’s measurement:
(Edited)
Den-Fi-Kyle
8
May 9, 2024
I believe these measurements are averaged from several 5128s, of which include Jude’s 5128. With the price of 5128s, there aren’t very many different units around—I believe these would be an average of Jude’s, Headphone.com, and possibly Soundguys’. An average makes more sense than a single unit because it’s been shown different units do measure differently so this will be closer to the “average” expected unit.
For what it’s worth, this measurement is pretty close to what I remember hearing at CanJam—too much bass, too much upper mids, dipped center midrange that make them sound “pinched nose.” I didn’t like it at all, but it was a level of dislike so severe that I wanted to try it at home to see if it gets better, like I did with the Yamaha YH-5000SE and Abyss Diana TC.
But I purchased this unit because the pads are apparently different from the unit I tried so my CanJam impressions can be considered invalid. I’ve also had experience with quite a few other very open headphones like the AKG K1000, Jecklin Float, MySphere 3.1, Peerless PMB85DA, RAAL SR1a, Sony MA900, Sony PFR-V1, and TakeT H2+ and would like to see how this compares in presentation.
As someone that both is off the deep end in subjective tweaks but also is very interested in measurements, I do think measurements, or at least measurements of midrange (bass and treble can vary a lot on different heads), give a fairly reliable expectation of what a person will hear, but that is an entirely separate factor from preference. I have some preferences that are deviant from any target, such as the Sony MDR-R10 being one of my favorite headphones despite measuring pretty terribly, but the measurement is the measurement. I won’t make excuses for it measuring “poorly” because individual preference is an entirely separate matter from being able to recommend it to the average reader. I’ve yet to hear any headphone of the probably 400-500+ I’ve heard that straight up disagree with measurements, but because of that, I’ve been able to trust my ears better in finding reasons I like certain deviations in measurements. It’s helped me a lot in reviewing because I’m forced to look past my own preferences and try to understand what the average person is more likely to enjoy.
Evshrug
3864
Keyboard Club Member
May 9, 2024
Den-Fi-KyleFor what it’s worth, I do think measurements are a useful tool (and I’m not looking for a fight, lol, we’re all enjoying the same hobby, right?). Especially for a designer or modder to track the changes they make on their headphones during production. It’s just that I’m cautioning Joe (Or Julie? J?) public that headphones measurements aren’t as one-dimensional as a thermometer or yardstick.
For half a decade, my preferred sound signature was near the AKG K712 Pro and HD 800S, but after my “holy grail” phase ended my preferences started broadening out. Some headphones seem more situationally limited than others, and some be seen people absolutely fall in love with a headphone that fills a certain niché. At this point, it’s very rare for me to severely dislike a headphone, but also I’m rarely tempted to want to own new headphones. In the few cases where I don’t like a headphone, I’ve seen enough people who do that I feel comfortable saying “if you love this, you’ll probably also like this or that.” Being able to see or at least take a guess that someone else might love what you’re hearing is one of the hardest but most valuable skills for a reviewer: if you’re saying you’ve learned how to do that, then I commend you!
Yaderb11
237
May 9, 2024
Put some review units out. Hell I'll take one for the team. Send one my way. I'll pay for it if I like it. You have dropped the ball far too many times. I'm interested but cautious.
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