Drop (a leading community-driven e-commerce brand) and audio pioneer Axel Grell have launched the Drop + Grell OAE1, a new pair of premium headphones with an open-around-ear design that is said to deliver a listening experience on par with speakers, featuring improved stereo imaging, an ultra-expansive sound field, and more. This is a limited-edition product; only 1,000 pieces are available for pre-order.
Product link and details:
- DROP + GRELL OAE1 SIGNATURE HEADPHONES
- Limited to 1,000 units
- Available for pre-order at $349 (MSRP $399)
Drop + Grell OAE1 Specifications:
- Frequency Response: 12–32,000 Hz (-3db) 6–44,000 Hz (-10db)
- Transducer principal: Dynamic
- Ear coupling: Circumaural
- Sound characteristic: Front oriented loudness diffuse field equalization
- Adaption to the individual hearing curve: Soundfield pinna interaction
- Nominal impedance: 38 ohms
- Sound pressure level at 1kHz 1VRMS: 106 dB
- Maximum long term input power: 500mW
- THD at 1kHz 100dB: 0.05%
- Weight (without cable): 365g
A promo vid:
Corsair on Drop and Grell’s new headphones:
Leveraging Grell’s three decades of audio engineering and product development experience designing some of the industry’s most iconic headphones, the driver-forward, open-around-ear OAE1 headphones lean into the structure of the human ear to achieve a more natural and realistic sound field much closer to a speaker listening experience.
The most notable aspect of the Drop + Grell OAE1s is the radical and acute placement of the drivers in front of and away from the ears, enabling the sound field from the transducers to take advantage of the ears natural structure to direct sound into the ear canal. The open-around-ear design minimizes acoustic reflections and controlling sound pressure, with the culmination of both innovations resulting in improved stereo imaging, a natural sound field, and the uncovering of the deepest dimensions of any song.
Discussion (5 replies)
Join Discussion →Maybe I'm really stupid here. But what headphones today don't have speakers in them?
"Sounds like speakers" Seems to me to suggest other headphones didn't have speakers in them.
A quick google tells me that isn't so.
Plus.. haven't we all had trash speakers back in the day.. when having a stereo in your room was cool. Before the apple headsets cost as much as the cheap home stereos for teens?
There are bone conduction headphones that work a bit differently
That said I always found it odd that Drop more less morphed into a headphone company
And keyboards!
And many other odd things, but yeah, headphones and keyboards are their bread and butter it seems.
Not to mention most of the time they are overpriced compared to the open market.
Yeah, really depends on what it is; they also sell on Amazon themselves which makes things kind of awkward sometimes IMO.