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Drop + Grell TWS1X First Look

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We’re Teaming Up With Audio Legend Axel Grell You read that right! Drop will soon be partnering with the venerable Axel Grell, known for his work developing many of Sennheiser’s most notable headphones.  Since leaving Sennheiser in 2018, Axel has started his own audio brand. Having worked with Axel in the past, we know how dedicated he is to creating excellent audiophile sound. For our next combined effort, we’ll be focusing on an audiophile-worthy True Wireless IEM, built from the ground up.  At the core of the product is a custom-designed 10mm dynamic driver able to deliver a detailed-yet-punchy sound. Also critical to the product is its adaptive, active-noise-cancellation circuitry. While most ANC headphones are good at attenuating high frequencies, we worked to develop a system that filters out even more of the surrounding environment—and does so without compromising the quality of the audio signal.  Be on the lookout for the TWS IEM in the coming weeks, and let us know your thoughts in the comments! And please hit the request button to receive updates.
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kzvm
1
Jul 3, 2022
hi, there got this pair of earphones but the right earbud doesn't work. Have no sound at all. Have tried to reset them, etc no effect. Also, it cannot be updated. So what is the solution? Thanks.
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pinky999
3
Dec 22, 2021
I got my TWS last weekend. In Germany they are called TWS/1. without wingtips :( I would like to know if they make a big difference when worn or if you prefer to use them without?  My first impression, ... high quality. First listening impression, good, but much too quiet. So SoundID installed, firmware update, sound profile run through and EQ optimized. Now it is ultra! Top sound. High resolution, finally loud enough so that you can not permanently listen at this volume. I am totally thrilled. Since also nothing distorts. The sound is clear and powerful. Simply outstanding! For comparison, I have wired AudioTechnica. I was able to adjust the TWS sound exactly as I need and love it. I would not have expected that. I was all the more pleased that it is possible. You should take the time to do justice to the product as well-.  Transparency, ANC or NAR are not so important to me. Phone quality is really good. I can hear the person I'm talking to as if they were standing next to me. It is the same the other way around. It's high definition. What I always activate beforehand is transparency. It's simply more pleasant to hear what's going on around you. Something interesting happened when the right TWS went off during a phone call. Battery too low. But, the microphone still worked and sound continued to come out of the left TWS, which by the way, the microphone is not used for phone calls. Also explains why the right TWS went dead much sooner.  Conclusion: I love these parts and hope that they do not break down so quickly.  Here in Germany, the TWS/1 cost 199 euros. For this I bought them through grellaudio-shop. This is high-priced, but in this case, absolutely reasonable and fair. From me there is a clear buy recommendation.  Can SoundID not be used, they sound good, but are clearly too quiet. In such a case, buy something else, because otherwise you will not be happy. Merry Christmas :)
pinky999Hey Pinky, Thanks for all the wonderful comments and compliments! We were really aiming to beat the sound quality of wired headphones when they’re connected to built-in headphone jacks and a dongle like Apple’s, etc. We would be really interested to know what phone you were using when the right earbud stopped making sound. It would help us to further enhance the product quality! And, just so you know, we have another firmware update to enhance your grells and improve things like how long the battery lasts when you leave the earpieces inside the case, coming very soon. If your phone is an Android, it may have separated the system volume and device volume. You would know that if you tried swiping up or down on the right earbud to change volume, but your phone didn’t display an animation of the volume bar. If that is the case, we recommend controlling the volume from the grells, and leaving the phone set to 100% so that it transmits all the sound data to your headphones. Alternatively, you can look up how to enter Developer Mode on you android device, and set it so that the grell’s volume is linked to the Android volume, which is how iOS works. Thank you again!! We here at grell audio want our customers to enjoy their headphones as much as possible!
pinky999
3
Jun 24, 2022
pinky999Hi Evshrug. The thing with the battery discharge has not been fixed. Neither unused in the charging case, nor if you just leave it unused outside the charging case. Disaster! For me so not usable! Likewise the touch surfaces. They trigger something, but not what they are supposed to. It doesn't matter if I make the inputs in quick succession or let a lot of time pass in between. It doesn't matter at all! Maybe someone will do his job right. Or I want my money back! You can have the TWS/1 back. I am endlessly disappointed!
simmogra
1
Dec 7, 2021
first time here hope to get these IEM if available
TheSpiderGuy
14
Nov 27, 2021
I better not regret getting these like I did with my Pandas
HStark
4
Nov 22, 2021
Please make sure it isn't plagued with quality issue/design flaws like the Pandas... Loved how great the Pandas sound, but I've had 2 pairs already and they both had power issue where it wouldn't turn on unless stars align(which at this point is a common issue with the Pandas)... Please go to the Panda thread and help your customers out...
HStarkI can’t speak to the Panda, because I never owned one. However, grell audio (I’ve got to get used to typing that in lowercase) is it’s own company, existing outside of Drop, with its own manufacturing.
Shay-Dee
18
Oct 24, 2021
Wireless charging?
Shay-Dee
18
Nov 6, 2021
Thank you Markttp.
Shay-Dee
18
Nov 6, 2021
I meant if the case is capable of wireless charging. Sorry about the confusion should've been more specific.
sandriyi
0
Oct 23, 2021
Hope it has a decent mic. XM4 and Final Audio's Eva are already decently sounding, but the mics sound like cancer. Please, guys, look at Edifier TWS600 for bone-conducting mic technology, it's an amazing thing to integrate into the package. Or the TWS330NB AI mic tech. Nothing really comes close in mic quality that I tried.
sandriyi
0
Nov 28, 2021
Interesting, thanks for the information. There are first reviews and tests on YouTube now as well. The mic quality seems not total garbage, but definitely lagging behind several popular offerings, including Samsung and Sennheiser, about equivalent to Sony. Doesn't cancel out a lot of ambient noise. Funnily enough, reviews of the sound are not that good. I'm going to wait to see what Crinacle has to say about it.
sandriyiI honestly don’t know how they sound yet either, but I am curious to see how well the SoundID EQ customization works. Sennheiser’s CapTune app offered a similar feature, and I thought it was pretty cool there, but it didn’t save the EQ profile inside the headphone for use with sources besides a smartphone. I also wondered if ANC would interfere with sound quality, but Axel said ANC can make the sound better… it will be interesting to talk to him and find out exactly what he meant. While I don’t think YouTube demos of the sound quality of a headphone are valid, a demo of a microphone should be pretty good, and I’ll make sure to include a sample. I wouldn’t recommend a TWS for voiceover work, but they should be adequate for phone calls and VoIP conference calls.
(Edited)
ricardo.irving
0
Oct 21, 2021
Will this have a wired option? I've yet to hear a wireless IEM that sounds better than a wired one.
Belmiros
1
Oct 30, 2021
ricardo.irvingI would wait until the qualcomm lossless becomes readily available if you want wireless that compare to wired. I have some great wireless but they def don't compare to my 350+ dollar open ears with a portable dac/amp
ricardo.irvingI wrote a blog article on this topic (published here on Drop and Head-Fi). Basically, if you lift the price, wired headphones can be connected to the best DAC/amp you can afford, maybe even a cable upgrade with less resistance, and this often makes a bigger sound quality difference than music file bitrate since now 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis (Spotify) and 256 kbps AAC is pretty much the common baseline. However, for someone just using their smartphone, laptop, monitor, or even a home theater integrated amp, a Bluetooth headphone will have a DAC and amp built-in that was carefully selected for synergy with the in-ear driver requirements. And with FLAC being a more efficient audio compression than AIFF or WAV, things are different now than when CD formats began. The TWS/1 supports LDAC and LHDC, as well as AptX adaptive and AAC. If you haven’t heard of Savitech’s LHDC, it’s a high-res Bluetooth codec comparable to Sony’s LDAC, but you can add LHDC support to many Android phones by downloading an app… hopefully the app is approved by Apple some day, but meanwhile AAC is a smooth and pretty good psychoacoustic codec. The grell TWS/1 is also able to take advantage of other digital benefits, including the SoundID app that guides you to create an EQ based on your personal ear’s frequency response, then the profile is uploaded to the TWS/1 itself so that you can enjoy your signature no matter what you use as your Bluetooth source (phone, computer, TV streamer, usb Bluetooth dongles, portable music players, etc). This is just grell audio’s first product ;)
hype hype
erickongI should be getting a sample in this week or next I’m looking forward to seeing how it fares.
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