Axel Grell was a guest speaker at the New York edition of CanJam 2023, and delivered a talk that expounded on the geometrical design of a headphone in relation to a listener's spatial perception of audio. Attendees of the expo were surprised to find that the ex-Sennheiser engineer had a new gizmo to show off on the show floor. The prototype headphone's origins are clearly linked to his research into the shape and directivity of sound fields, with the result being an unusual front-mounted driver orientation.

The super angled driver design will emphasize soundstage, which is an aspect vaunted by gamers in the search of the ideal headphone for competitive multiplayer sessions. Grell told attendees that the open-back prototype is 'version 1' and that it was constructed via a 3D printing process, he also added that the drivers are made from a biocellulose membrane. The chosen collaboration partner seems to be Drop (formerly Massdrop) and that a launch price of around $300 is being discussed.Axel Grell launched his own operation, the appropriately named Grell Audio, soon after departing audio giant Sennheiser. His debut product was the TWS/1, a high-end true wireless earphone launched in early 2022. The Drop + Grell TWS1X version followed soon after. He was also announced as being the head designer of the crowd-funded Heavys headphone project, which is set to have a sound signature tuned specifically for fans of metal music. The closed back shell will house eight drivers in an array that is designed to provide a Natural Sound Field.Grell's previous design track record at Sennheiser has been highly celebrated by audio enthusiasts - since starting there in 1991, he has a hand in designing the HD 580, 600 and 800-series, plus the monstrous Orpheus HE-1 system. His (apparent) current partner, Drop, has boasted that their OEM versions (HD 58x and 6XX) of Grell's classic headphone designs are all-time best sellers on the Drop.com online store.