Drop has dramatically lowered the price on its Drop+Grell OAE1 headphones — a set of open-back wired cans that Drop created with legendary headphone designer Axel Grell. The new version, known as the non-signature OAE1, has an official price of $299 ($100 less than the Drop+Grell OAE1 Signature release), but starting November 13, you can buy them for just $249.
A few changes have been made to the non-signature OAE1 to help achieve the new lower price, but none affect the sound quality. The new version still has the same unusual driver orientation (in front of and away from the ears), which Drop says “enables the sound field from the transducers to take advantage of the ear’s natural structure to direct sound into the ear canal.” The result, according to the company, is an ultra-expansive soundstage and a sound field that’s stunningly natural.
Impedance is still 38 ohms and the claimed frequency response is unchanged at 12Hz to 32,000Hz (-3 decibels) and 6Hz to 44,000Hz (-10db).
The shape and materials are identical, however, the new model wears a new color scheme: all-black, with dark gray accents. Drop has also eased up a bit on clamping force as some folks found the signature edition to be too tight. Drop has also added a left/right indicator inside the earcups to help you ensure you’re wearing the cans correctly.
Another set of indicators have been added to the 2.5mm cable connectors on each earcup. Apparently, some owners had trouble lining up the cable connectors due to the elongated rubber gaskets that cover the inputs.
Finally, you don’t get as many bells and whistles. Drop is only including a single-sided, 6-foot cable with the new cans — and it’s now single-ended, not double-ended. The Signature edition also shipped with a single-ended balanced cable. You can still get the balanced cable, but it’s now sold as a separate accessory.
It’s same story with the Signature’s travel case — it’s also an optional add-on for the non-signature model.
Before striking out on his own, Axel Grell was the driving force behind some of Sennheiser’s most-loved wired headphones including the HD580, HD600, HD650, HD800, and the HE-1.
Digital Trends didn’t review the Signature OAE1, however, reaction to the headphones among those who did seems to be mixed. Headphones.com felt the cans didn’t deliver on their promise of superior audio quality, while reviewers at Head-fFi.org appear to have had much better experiences.
