A fascinating hour with Axel Grell was offered this afternoon over Zoom. Axel Grell established his name at Sennheiser, in particular with the 650 and 800 series, not to mention the ‘most expensive headphones in the world’, the $60,000 Orpheus HE-1 project. However, after 27 years and 47 different products, it is now time for Axel Grell to put his name on the line, and on a brand (grellaudio), in the form of the TWS/1 in-ear headphones (with apologies to Axel’s business partner Gisli Gudmundsson, who is clearly doing a great job with marketing and online stuff, but it is the sound guy we all love!).
This session with Axel Grell was an introduction to a new product line centred firmly on sound reproduction, affordability and community. The community talked about by Axel Grell and Gisli is centred around an exclusively online retail experience (also pre-ordering using drop.com) and a community where the forums for discussion can be accurately monitored and moderated.
But it is sound where Axel Grell comes alive in his explanation of the frequency curve desired from the grell audio TWS/1 project. Grell noted that we all have different perceptions of sound and they are unique to all listeners particularly when using in-ear monitors. With this in mind, the tailored frequency distribution for the TWS/1 can be adjusted using the SoundID EQ App. As well as this the TWS/1 features Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and something called Noise Annoyance Reduction (NAR) technology which seems to pass shade on annoying background frequencies by adjusting the high frequency and low-end response in the digital signal processor in the in-ear monitor itself.
The grell audio TWS/1 features the new Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity technology and aptX Adaptive which is claimed to get us ‘near to’ lossless quality over a wireless connection. There is a high-quality microphone in here too and battery life sounds pretty good with a claimed (combined) 34-hour life and it is wireless charging compatible. All bases covered then.
All in all a very impressive introduction, I just have that really good feeling we’ll be hearing a lot about grell audio in the coming years, we may expect further product lines to follow, watch this space for more news and reviews.
The grell audio TWS/1 is retailing at £179.99 in the UK and current pre-orders are shipping for Christmas
