The Drop + Grell OAE1 are a collaborative offering from Drop and legendary engineer Axel Grell, the creator of numerous precedent-setting headphones, like the Sennheiser HD 600 and Sennheiser HD 800 S. These open-back, over-ears seem dead set on defying convention, armed with 40mm Biocellulose dynamic drivers that are uniquely positioned in an attempt to create the most natural, speaker-like presentation possible. This configuration has repercussions on the design too, giving these monochromatic headphones a slightly bulbous quality that protrudes some way out from the side of your head. All in all, it's easy to see why these headphones are both a statement piece and a talking point within the audiophile community.
Our Verdict
The Drop + Grell OAE1 aren't designed for sports and fitness. They have a very bulky design that protrudes out from your ears, impacting their stability while in motion. They're far from the most comfortable headphones for most head shapes, and their thick velour pads are bound to trap sweat against your ears. Plus, you'll have to contend with their cable getting snagged on objects as you run past.
Good, solid build quality.
Heavy, bulky design.
Not very comfortable, with high clamping force.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are a bad choice for travel headphones. These bulky audiophile cans are designed to leak as much audio as possible, so they're not suitable for use in public places (or anywhere where you run the risk of disturbing those around you). By the same virtue, they do almost nothing to isolate you from the outside world, so you'll be at the mercy of noises produced by planes, trains, automobiles, and everything in between. They're also uncomfortable for most people, with a high clamping force that can make extended listening sessions somewhat taxing on the ears and the top of the head.
Good, solid build quality.
Heavy, bulky design.
Not very comfortable, with high clamping force.
Terrible noise isolation.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 aren't suitable for office work. If you work in a quieter environment, the excessive leakage outputted by these headphones will surely bother those around you. Correspondingly, they do very little to attenuate the sounds of a bustling office, which can make it tough to concentrate on the task at hand. They're not very comfortable either, with a high clamping force that will take its toll over time (especially if you have a bigger head or large ears). If you require headphones that help you participate in online meetings, the lack of a built-in mic makes these audiophile over-ears a less enticing proposition.
Consistent audio delivery.
Heavy, bulky design.
Not very comfortable, with high clamping force.
Terrible noise isolation.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are wired-only headphones that can't be used wirelessly.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are a passable choice for wired gaming. While you'll need to pair them with a standalone microphone to communicate with teammates online, their well-matched L/R drivers and focused soundstage make them a good choice for fast-paced online play. Their warm sound profile helps add some low-end heft to cinematic cut scenes, if single-player games are more your speed. That said, they're not very comfortable headphones, which can mean they're difficult to wear for extended gaming marathons.
Good, solid build quality.
Consistent audio delivery.
Heavy, bulky design.
Not very comfortable, with high clamping force.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are good for audio reproduction accuracy. These over-ears are very much an oddball when compared to other open-backs. Their warm sound skews towards bass-heavy at times, and they excel when playing back sparse, low-end-focused genres, like dub and minimal techno. While their recessed treble range minimizes ear fatigue, it also means that some high-end detail and nuance are lost in orchestral recordings and soundtracks, with some air and presence missing from strings. Still, their L/R drivers are well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase, and they exhibit no audible distortion, even at higher listening volumes. Their more divisive quality is their PRTF performance, where our PRTF test struggles to accurately convey their presentation of space and distance. While their soundstage shares a certain focus with marquee open-backs, like the Sennheiser HD 600, it's still a far cry from speaker-like.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are terrible at attenuating external noise. The steel mesh that covers their drivers is specifically designed to let as much sound through as possible. While this means that they leak a lot of your audio, it also means that pretty much the entire frequency range of external noise is audible. Regardless of whether you're in a bustling co-working space or on a transatlantic flight, you'll be at the mercy of environmental audio.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 don't have a built-in microphone.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 are good at delivering audio consistently. Despite their tight clamping force, they're relatively consistent between different physical characteristics and reseats, with no major deviations in any frequency bands. As long as you take the time to achieve a solid seal, you'll be able to enjoy consistent audio delivery.
Performance Usages
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Drop + Grell OAE1 come in just one color variant: 'Black'. An early variant, the Drop + Grell OAE1 'Signature' edition, was produced in a silver colorway and limited to 1000 units worldwide.
If you encounter another variant, please let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Headphones Comparisons
The Drop + Grell OAE1 were designed to stand apart from other open-back over-ears, with their unique driver geometry and on-board acoustic baffle. As a result, the market isn't rife with headphones that pose as viable alternatives. If you're after open-back headphones with good bass extension, the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO are worth a look. These versatile open-backs offer a more versatile listening experience, aided by their swappable pad design. They aren't quite as warm-sounding as the Drop + Grell, but they're able to reproduce more width in stereo recordings and offer a more comfortable fit. You can always look to the pantheon of Grell-designed headphones for alternatives. Among them, the Sennheiser HD 800 S offers the most expansive sound field presentation, though they come with a premium price tag. Meanwhile, the Sennheiser HD 600 offer a clinical, detailed sound that's more typical of open-backs at a more affordable price point.
Check out our recommendations for the best studio headphones, the best open-back headphones, and the best headphones for music.
Both the Sennheiser HD 6XX and the Drop + Grell OAE1 are sold by Drop, with Axel Grell playing a part in the engineering of both pairs. The Sennheiser HD 6XX are a better fit for audiophiles seeking a more traditional sound. They have a flatter sound profile that rolls off the bass in favor of balanced mids and treble. They also deliver audio more consistently and have a more comfortable fit. The Drop + Grelll have a solid bass extension, which is surprising for open-backs, but also feature a recessed treble range. Their high clamping force makes them a poor fit for those with larger heads.
While the Drop + Grell OAE1 advertise a game-changing, speaker-like presentation of stereo audio, the Sennheiser HD 800 S are still the better choice for audiophiles. They come at a higher price, but the Sennheiser (also designed by Axel Grell) have a detailed sound profile that's more in line with other open-back cans. They're also better-built, more comfortable, and create a more natural perception of space in stereo recordings that feels more immersive. That said, the Drop + Grell put out more bass, and their warm sound profile is less likely to induce ear fatigue over long listening sessions.
Both the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO and the Drop + Grell OAE1 are open-back over-ears with solid bass extension. The Sennheiser are certainly the more versatile of the two, and their flat sound profile will be more appealing to most listeners, especially those who use their headphones for pro audio work. The Sennheiser are more comfortable, better-built, and feature a swappable earpad design that lets you change up the fit and frequency response depending on your use case. That said, some may prefer the Drop + Grell's darker sound as it can be less fatiguing over long listening sessions.
The Sony MDR-MV1 and the Drop + Grell OAE1 share a somewhat similar sound profile: one that features a warm, controlled bass range with under-emphasized highs. Still, the Sony's top-end roll-off isn't quite as extreme as the Drop + Grell and they have a much more forgiving fit that doesn't clamp down on your ears as much. The Sony aren't as well-built as the Drop + Grell, though and they retail for quite a bit more.
We've upgraded our Headphones Test Bench to 2.0! This update brings several key changes to our tests and usages, making it easier than ever to interpret our sound results based on your personal preferences. You'll also find a brand-new interactive graph tool featuring multiple targets (including our own!) for you to explore and compare.
For a full breakdown, check out our changelog, which includes detailed commentary from our test designer explaining the rationale behind our update.
We'd also love to hear your thoughts: your feedback helps us keep improving, so join us in the comments!
Test Results
The Drop + Grell OAE1 have a warm sound profile that boosts the bass range more than any of the targets found in our graph tool. That said, it's still difficult to characterize the sound as bass-heavy, as the angle of the drivers results in a more controlled bass sound. The bass is prominent but doesn't extend as low as you'd think. The fairly unique sound profile rolls off a lot of the high-end, so it's easy to mistake the absence of brightness for a more bass-heavy sound.
These headphones have good frequency response consistency. Depending on your facial features and physical characteristics, there are very minor deviations in the bass range, but these should be negated by ensuring you have a good fit.
These headphones have excellent compliance with our target in the bass range. Overall, they tend to overemphasize the bass in relation to our target curve, particularly in the mid and high-bass regions. This contributes to a warm sound that can either bring out low-end-heavy instruments like bass guitars in sparser mixes or muddy the mix in the face of several competing instruments in a similar frequency band. The squelchy kicks and buoyant bassline in Boards of Canada's Roygbiv start to blend into each other, cluttering the high-bass and muddying the overall mix.
The mid-range compliance is great. There's some overemphasis in the low-mids that's carried over from the boosted high-bass response, which can add presence to snare drums and rhythm guitars. Otherwise, the rest of the range is quite balanced, with only a slight dip in the high-mid that can thin out male vocals.
The treble range compliance is disappointing. These headphones have a unique response in the treble that boosts the low-treble slightly, while underemphasizing the rest of the range. Though the upper harmonics of vocals are mostly preserved, sibilants skew towards sounding dark. This mid-treble roll-off ensures there's no harshness in brash splash cymbal hits, but also removes almost all of the airy quality of high orchestral strings and airy vocals.
The peaks and dips in performance is decent. Most of the deviations from these headphones' warm sound profile occur in the treble range. There's a slight peak in the low-treble that adds richness to the upper harmonics of orchestral strings. However, there's a sequence of significant peaks and dips, as well as driver mismatch, in the mid and high treble that can cause sibilants to be rendered a little inconsistently. That said, given that this range is very under-emphasized anyway, even the peaks don't result in overly bright cymbal hits.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 have an excellent stereo mismatch performance. The L/R drivers are well-matched when it comes to amplitude, frequency, and phase. Although the right channel can be slightly louder in the highest registers, we lose sensitivity to this range over time, so it's unlikely to be too audible in real-life audio content for most people.
The group delay performance is okay. While group delay mostly falls below the audibility threshold, it does cross the threshold between the low-bass and mid-bass regions. Given how boomy their frequency response is, it's hard to identify any looseness in the bass range that can be easily attributed to group delay. From the mid-bass onwards, group delay falls consistently below the audibility threshold, though, resulting in transparent audio reproduction.
Our PRTF measurements indicate that there isn't much interaction with the pinna, but it's worth noting that this is a byproduct of their unique design. These headphones feature 40mm drivers that are placed in front of the ear and further away from it, angling each one back to send sound to the pinna directly. However, this design uses the pinna to dampen resonances, so when we measure without the pinna, it allows for the reflection from the membrane and 'magnet structure' to be picked up in the measurement.
As a result, we don't expect our PRTF results to be indicative of their real-life performance. The presentation of distance and space can depend quite heavily on the fit and positioning, as this determines the drivers exact angle to your ears.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 have a good harmonic distortion performance. Even at higher listening levels, there's no audible coloration of the sound so you can expect clean and pure audio delivery with everyday listening.
The manufacturer states that these headphones have an impedance of 38 ohms, which aligns with our measurements and evaluation that you won't need an amp to drive them.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 have a unique design, with bulbous ear cups that stick out quite a bit. At a glance, their proportions seem to have more in common with construction earmuffs than the average pair of open-back cans. Their ear cups are allegedly '90-percent open metal mesh and a woven stainless steel acoustic-damper mesh', a design choice that allows for sound to travel through the enclosure with minimal interruption. The headphones feature a mostly black color scheme throughout, with striking silver rings accenting the perimeters of the ear cups.
These over-ears don't have a particularly comfortable fit, due to a combination of their high clamping force and very bulky ear cups. The high clamping force can be a positive thing for stability, though, in reality, you'll likely find the force exerted on your ears too much, especially if you have a larger head or wear glasses. While the larger ear cups can be a good thing if you have small ears, those with larger ears will find that they fit a little too snug. Finally, the headphones are top-heavy by nature, so you may experience some pain on the top of your head after extended use as the internal grooves on the underside of the headband dig into your scalp. The hinges are also on the stiffer side, making them difficult to adjust when they're on your head.
These headphones aren't portable at all, but this is very much by design. They're bulky audiophile headphones, designed for home listening, so they don't fold up or collapse to make them any more portable.
The Drop + Grelll OAE1 have a great build quality. They use a high-quality, soft cloth padding for earpads that's similar to the Sennheiser HD 600 (which were also designed by Axel Grell). A thin, metal mesh is used for the outside of the ear cups. The hinges are made of metal and offer smooth retraction and rotation, though they stiffen up once they're placed on your head. While the padding on the headband is soft and supple, it doesn't offer quite enough support considering these headphones' considerable clamping force. The internal grooves/notches on the headband can also press into you, which is uncomfortable.
These headphones have decent stability. Their stability won't rival that of wireless over-ears designed for on-the-go use, but they'll stay on your head during listening sessions so long as you don't sway your head too vigorously.
- Drop + Grell OAE1 headphones
- Safety + user instructions
- 2.5mm to 3.5mm adaptor cable
- 1/8" to 1/4" twist adapter
Due to their open-back design, these headphones have terrible noise isolation. While they offer slightly more attenuation in the treble range, they provide very little isolation across the entire frequency range.
The Drop + Grell OAE1 fare equally badly when it comes to isolating you against common scenarios, though this is entirely by design. The paltry attenuation they provide in the treble range makes them marginally better suited to cutting out the whoosh of passing cars and the honk of car horns on a busy street, compared to the low rumble of a jet engine or the chatter of coworkers in an office space. Still, you wouldn't want to take these outside of a controlled, relatively noise-free environment if it can be avoided.
These headphones have terrible leakage. More or less everything you listen to will be audible to those around you, especially if you're in a confined and quiet space.
These headphones come with a 1/8" to 1/10" (3.5mm to 2.5mm) TRS cable. You'll need to ensure that the 2.5mm connection is properly secured to the connector in either the left or right earcup when plugging it in (it should make a clicking sound). There's also a 1/8" to 1/4" adaptor supplied that has a twist mechanism for easy adjustment.
You can connect these headphones to your PC via a wired connection, though you'll need an external mic if you want to input audio.
These headphones are compatible with PlayStation family consoles via a wired connection. Given there's no integrated mic, you'll need a standalone mic if you need to communicate with your teammates.
These headphones can be connected to Xbox family consoles via an analog connection. However, you'll need a separate mic to communicate with your teammates.