TL;DR
New open-back over-ear headphones from Axel Grell, former chief headphone engineer at Sennheiser
Front-mounted drivers are designed to interact with the outer ear like speakers do, rather than firing straight into the canal
Priced at $599 USD / £499 GBP / €499 EUR, releasing March 31, 2026
Axel Grell’s last product, the TWS 1 earbuds, launched back in 2021 and delivered some of the best sound we’d heard from a true wireless at the time. Over four years later, he’s turning his attention to over-ear headphones and taking a very different approach to how they should work.
A headphone designed to get out of your head
Unlike most headphones, the OAE2 positions its driver at the front of the earcup, aiming sound more naturally toward the ear.
Most headphones fire their driver straight into the ear canal. The OAE2 does the opposite. The 40mm bio-cellulose dynamic driver faces forward, toward the pinna (outer ear), so sound interacts with your ear’s natural geometry before it reaches the canal. That’s the same thing that happens when you listen to speakers in a room, and it’s what Grell calls Front-Sided Sound Field Modulation (FSFM). The large open baffle reinforces this, allowing unrestricted airflow and avoiding the pressurized feel of most headphones.
First impressions with the headphones, the difference is immediately apparent. There’s no diffuse field effect, that familiar sensation of sound living inside your head that you get with virtually every other headphone. Instead, the music sits out in front of you. Instruments feel placed forward, as if you’re facing a stage rather than wearing headphones. Whether the tuning will be pleasing to most listeners is something our lab measurements will confirm. For what it’s worth, Grell himself acknowledges an adaptation period is likely: your brain is trained on conventional headphone sound, and the OAE2 asks it to relearn.
On the specs side, Grell claims a frequency response of 12Hz–34kHz (-3dB) and a resonance frequency tuned down to 40Hz — compared to ~70Hz typical of most headphones — for deeper, more controlled bass without added distortion. THD sits at 0.05% at 100dB, a very low figure for a dynamic driver. At 38Ω and 100dB sensitivity, it should drive easily from most sources.
Build quality backs up the price. The aluminum ear cups and precision stainless-steel damping mesh feel solid and premium in hand, and the velour pads are notably soft. At 378g, it’s on the heavier side, but it didn’t feel burdensome in a short session. Every component is also replaceable, which Grell positions as both a repairability win and a long-term value argument. The OAE2 ships with a 1.8m balanced cable (4.4mm), a 1.8m single-ended cable (3.5mm), and a carry case. That said, this one is aimed squarely at the home listening and audiophile market — not commuters or gym-goers.
The OAE2 is priced at $599 USD / £499 GBP / €499 EUR and launches internationally today directly from Grell Audio.
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