Axel Grell is known in the audio industry as the designer of some of Sennheiser’s most reputed high-end headphones, having worked for the famous company for over 27 years - until 2019. Now with a brand that carries his own name, he is following an online-exclusive, direct-to-consumer model, targeting the “head-fier/Drop” communities of headphone enthusiasts. The fact that the new company was launched with a true wireless ANC design using a Qualcomm chipset is probably not the road that the many would expect, but market trends would advise such a strategy before daring to attempt a new take on the circumaural headphone classics.
It also helps to know that the Grell Audio brand is wholly owned by STRAX, the Swedish company that also manages a portfolio of lifestyle audio, mobile accessories, and health & wellness brands such as Urbanista, and licensed brands including Adidas, Bugatti, Diesel, and many others. Founded as a trading company in 1995, STRAX has since expanded worldwide and evolved into a global distribution business, listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange.
The TWS/1 does indeed offer a Scandinavian, minimalist industrial-style design that contrasts with the acoustic reproduction features that are said to be the main differentiator for the first Grell product. As STAX describes it, a product “designed to make high-end audio quality more accessible,” that “offer personalized listening experience at a price that reflects the cost for quality of the sound, alone.”
The Grell true wireless earbuds are also promoted as “a direct response to a growing new generation of audiophiles in the digital era who are looking to experience the ultimate transparency and clarity that headphones can offer — in a smaller in-ear form factor.” Which brings the question about how much of an influence will Axel Grell’s name be in a high-volume market where technology platforms are key.
Featuring custom, carefully-matched 10mm dynamic drivers of which no construction/design details are offered, the Grell earbuds will be available in an all-black finish, exclusive to the community-driven commerce platform currently know as Drop (originally Massdrop), distinguished from the standard space-grey TWS/1 version available elsewhere. Drop will eventually also “drop” additional blue wingtip options for clients in that online platform. The connection between Drop and Axel Grell was established originally when that platform promoted the very first community-oriented “modding” of the original Sennheiser HD 650 open-back headphones.
How much of the features of the TWS/1 true wireless earbuds will actually “speak” to those communities remains to be seen. “I always try to create the best possible acoustical experience for the money, no matter the price point,” says Axel Grell. “With Grell, we put our resources solely into achieving the best sound possible, emphasizing the acoustic experience of the product and providing audio that is fine-tuned to the user’s ear. With our focus on audio, alone, we carefully selected custom dynamic transducers, used the best chipset that is available (editor’s note: outside of Apple’s), and the best sounding codecs, shipped directly to the consumer in simple, inexpensive packaging. And this is true for every pair of Grell earphones — giving the user high-end quality, but not at a high-end price.”
Noted specifications for the TWS/1 includes a reference to 28-hour battery life (5 hours per earbud with ANC on, 35 hours charge in the case), touch controls on both earbuds, low-noise, match-paired microphones, active noise cancellation implementation featuring Axel Grell Noise Annoyance Reduction technology, and the mentioned SoundID calibration/personalization via dedicated app.
Using a Qualcomm chipset, the choice of codecs includes aptX and aptX HD (not yet Adaptive), as well as AAC, SBC and, interestingly, LHDC (the Savitech hi-res codec). Other features of note include an advanced microphone array with wind noise protection provided by a (patent pending) multilayer turbulence eliminator (MTE).
Detailing a bit more the exclusive Noise Annoyance Reduction patent pending technology, Grell Audio says that this was designed as a sort of an active equalization feature, adding to the passive isolation in the high mid and high frequencies, and standard ANC that filters predominantly the low frequency range. When a very strong noise reduction in the low frequency range makes higher, more annoying, frequencies more audible, the new Noise Annoyance Reduction technology is said to scan the full audible spectrum and “controls the ANC” using a psycho-acoustic model to minimize annoyance. So, although the name suggests something more creative - such as the option to select a person’s voice signature to cancel it - it actually seems to be something fairly standard. Matching the product itself.
www.grellaudio.com
