We partnered with Axel Grell—legendary engineer behind some of Sennheiser’s most sought-after headphones—to create a true-wireless IEM with unprecedented audiophile-grade performance. Working closely with Axel’s new brand, grell, we left no feature unrefined. Noise-canceling is revolutionized with grell’s innovative psycho-acoustical Noise Annoyance Reduction (NAR) system. Connectivity is optimized with Bluetooth 5.2 and support for the latest codecs. Communication is crystalized with an advanced microphone array and patent-pending Multilayer Turbulence Eliminator (MTE). And sound quality? It’s best-in-class, thanks to custom-designed dynamic drivers. Introducing the Drop + grell TWS1X IEM: your new true-wireless staple.
The Grell TWS1X sound good and are very tough. On the heavy side and fit is an issue.
So for working out a little fussing is necessary to keep them in.
Pros:
Good Sound overall balanced delivery
super tough and solid
crystal clear mic quality
good ANC
Cons
fit can be an issue even though a decent selection of tips and wings is provided
weirdly unresponsive and touchy at the same time control buttons
a little heavy
overall
good sound but not great for listening while doing strenuous activities. When sitting the ANC works well and sound is good and despite other’s experience connectivity has been good. When working out I have to keep pushing them in which leads to the controls deciding to change the settings so annoying. For the price I’m happy with them as the performance beats other units I’ve had I just wish they stayed in place better.
These are really good for $100. The ambient sound is not great, but I think if you are buying these its for the tuning by Axell. The noise cancellation stuff is ok. But the sound, the sound is great!
The whole thing reminds me of a product that would have been high end fove years ago.
The battery life on the case itself is pathetic, I have to charge them every other day- compared to other IEMs in this price range is embarrassing.
The touchpads on the earbuds used for controlling the devices are unresponsive at worst, fickle at best. Tapping your ear furiously while someone is trying to talk to you, eventually just pulling one of the earbuds out of your ear only for the touchpads to start working as you hold it in your hand is one of the most frustrating experiences I have had with this product. Another annoyance is trying to pause your media to talk to someone, accidentally activating your phone assistant service, and receiving a response to a question you didn't ask pay over the conversation your are trying to have.
The worst offense of these devices, the reason I am writing this review, however, is that these devices simply do not work; regularly the audio quality will the be choppy, unintelligible and unlistenable as though there is some signal loss.
I can not recommend these less, this is the worst product I have purchased from Drop. My apologies for my poor grammar.
Also the left earbud goes into the right spot in the case and vice versa for the right (unintuitive garbage)
A lousy earbud that, once inserted, should admit: "We don't usually make these!"
Oh, boy. I really regret making this purchase.
PROS
Nice sound. Big soundstage (for true wireless), good detail. They fit OK, although they look nerdy as hell.
CONS
The Bluetooth connection is tenuous; at times, one or both buds will stop playing music, become distorted, or struggle to synchronize with its complement. This is the most basic feature of a true wireless headphone, and they bungled it.
There's no app. OK...but the touch controls aren't intuitive, either.
The "active noise cancelling" is garbage. These earbuds wouldn't cancel out the sound of one hand clapping. Attempting to use them next to a snoring partner, a jet engine, a stream of commuter traffic, or some loud household appliance, is pointless.
The battery life is weak.
Speaking of battery life, the charging case leaks charge. And the leak is severe. If you carry them around for a week, without using them, you'll probably lose half of their capacity. I mean, come on. I can't even think of earbuds by TOZO or JBL that actually leak charge from their cases.
There aren't any bells or whistles, like multi-mode noise cancelling, multiple codecs, HiFi certification, or anything else of the sort. All you have is a mysterious name: Grell. It's the name of a man who made his name designing headphones that work completely differently -- that are, in truth, almost the opposite of buds like these.
Oh yeah -- the right earbud charges on the left side of the case, and the left earbud charges on the right side of the case. Just so you can experience a fun little counterintuitive puzzle EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU USE THEM.
You have to push these little bastards down into their cubbies to get them charging up after use.
The sound coming out of these things is incredible. However, the fit is awful no matter what tips you use. None of the wings do anything to help with the fit either, so it is imperative you get comply tips.
The good
These are pretty decent sounding head phones. They are great for music and have a very solid low end. The ANC works well, and I’ve used them on a few flights with surprisingly good results. All in all, they do a very good job at reproducing sound and blocking noise.
The meh
These aren’t the most comfortable earphones. Not terrible, but definitely not the best. The transparency mode isn’t great either. That may have more to do with the weight and size, but they definitely don’t disappear like my airpod pros do. The transparent mode just seems slightly off, and a little too crisp.
The bad
Really only one thing I can complain about, one of the earphones makes a hiss when on transparent mode. Not noticeable with music, but it is with audiobooks and podcasts.
Conclusion
They sounds great and have good ANC. They aren’t the most comfortable earphones, but aren’t terrible either, and they stay in place decently despite their bulk. Compared to airpod pros, they come up short in every aspect but sound, which they are a bit better at. Won’t be my go-to, but a good backup.
I can never get them to fit comfortably, and the included o-ring things don't stay in play well.
The noise canceling is good, but has a habit of malfunctioning and sending random sounds until the noise canceling is turned off.
Bluetooth connection works probably 85% of the time. The most common problem is one earpiece will drop out for a few seconds.
Sound quality is fine. When the noise cancelation is on, the bass seems way overblown and boomy.
For the price it isn't worth the trouble. You get a budget experience for a premium price.