Grell OAE1 Headphones: Don't Buy If You're Unsure

No, because when you EQ it, it either kills the soundstage or induces weird resonance.

Basically, it seems the sonic "shortcomings" were deliberate choices to both a) make the headphone listenable without treble pain b) preserve the 3-D soundstage effect

As I mentioned earlier, its not a headphone you should go into to get a flat response experience; get the HD600 for that. The OAE1 is more if you want a 3-D/realistic soundstage with the sonic profile you might expect with a speaker-in-a-room setup instead of headphones. Like all headphones there are tradeoffs and in this case the tradeoff for the exceptional stage is a bit of an odd duck of FR curve.

 

When are these going on sale for $150?

 

It may come down to the preference and where to adjust.

If you want to reduce some mid-bass, cutting via low-Q low shelf filters may help. But I'd recommend against boosting presence and brilliance for OAE1 (note I am mostly skeptical with EQing treble, given huge variation across individual HRTFs) because there appear to exist many structural peaks and dips (i.e., caused by constructive or destructive interferences among multi-order reflections) and some even driven by the notch filter. We also need to consider FR-induced spatiality. Overall, OAE1 might be on the trickier side, I believe.

Instead, one may dial in through more conventional tuning like removing/changing inner clothes, bypassing notch filter, etc. Not a cookie-cutting answer, but may work better in the long run.

 

This is one to try with the SW51+ if you can. Lyr 3 is also pretty good. Was not a very good fit with Folkvangr even with the impedance multiplier in place.

It's an interesting headphone if a little unusual. Definitely seems thirsty, but then the SW51+ doesn't really put out that much power.

 

works amazingly with Garage1217 Project Polaris in low gain without the input attenuator inline, 0.1 ohm output impedance. low gain with the input attenuator inline isnt powerful enough

any amp that imparts a very warm or thick sound, or with high output impedance, is going to sound bad with these likely. and if you dont give them enough power they just sound off

 

Well I ended up running them for nine days straight. Physically, these are perfect for me. I even have extra adjustment space left on the headband. I also like the feel of the pads. And I like the look of them.

Sound wise, I have no complaints or compliments on the treble. It all sounds good to me, but I am an old guy.
The mids are very forward and I Love that! I am totally a vocals guy. 10 out of 10 for me on the mids.

Bass wise, it is thick, deep, and can be too much. On top of that, the bass is not sharp, clean or exact.

The overall sound was hit and miss for me. That came down to two things for me though:

Music wise, if does not excell with messy music. Think Nine Inch Nails, the Black Keys or anything described as lo-fi. Jumping around with rock music it was up and down. Mostly up though. Jazz was MUCH better.

The next problem was amplifier related. The
Violectric V220 is a little too warm and makes a lot of stuff very thick sounding.

The iFi Pro iCAN was leaning the same way. I put it in SS mode and turned off any bass boost and 3D sound effects. They sounded much better in this set-up.

The Lehmann Audio Linear amp was Great with them. It is clean, clear and neutral to my ears.

The Vali 3 was a bit of a surprise to me. With a clean tube, GE 5* or a nice GE JAN 5670, they are wonderful! The more thick sounding Russian tubes don't do it for me.

With the right music, on the right amp, I do get some of that wrap around sound. The music seems to come from the far left and across the far right. Pretty cool!

Awesome with jazz, which is mostly well recorded. I listened to jazz for days, which I rarely do.

I will be keeping them. My only complaint is that they seem pretty fussy on the music that is acceptable.

I am on a roll with cheapies! Thumbs up to the OAE-1's, the Aune AR5000's and the FiiO FT5's.
Same to Vali 3 and a well used Lehmann Linear.
2024 is a frugal year for Audio gear, for me!

 

Not if you keep buying more of it (as I seem to)!