As the name suggests, Grain Audio’s array of speakers and headphones uses wood (as in “wood grain”) as its central design theme. The most visually subtle entry in its lineup is the Grain Audio IEHP.01, or “in-ear headphone 01.” At $99, the IEHP.01’s simple design incorporates real walnut wood into the earpieces and includes an inline remote control and microphone for mobile devices. As for audio performance, the IEHP.01 delivers powerful, deep bass and very bright highs, but the mids sometimes seem like they are far too dialed back, giving the earphones a scooped-out, unnatural sound on many mixes. If you want a more balanced sound, the Sennheiser MM 70s( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) might be more up your alley.

Design
Like all Grain Audio products, the IEHP.01 features actual wood in its design, though there’s obviously less real estate to work with on this earphone pair than on the company’s larger headphones and speaker models. Each earpiece’s housing is constructed with Forest Stewardship Council-certified walnut, capped at the ends with gray silicone rubber engraved with the Grain Audio logo. A gray audio cable descends from both ears, terminating in an exceptionally narrow connector that should fit even the bulkiest phone cases.

The microphone-equipped inline remote control rests just below chin-level on the right earpiece, and includes Play/Pause, Track Forward/Backward, Call Answering/Ending, and Volume Up/Down buttons. You might do well to ignore the “Play Loud” advice emblazoned on the back of the remote, but that’s only if you want to retain your hearing over the course of your lifetime.

The IEHP.01 ships with four pairs of silicone eartips in various sizes and a small black protective carrying pouch. I found the fit of the eartips extremely secure, which both keeps the earpieces in place and allows for more bass presence.

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Performance
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like the Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the IEHP.01 delivers some serious throttle with no distortion, even at top (and unsafe) listening levels. At more reasonable volume levels, the bass response remains quite powerful, but not so much that it overwhelms the mix on this track. A decent amount of high-mid presence comes through to help maintain a sense of balance, but the high frequencies seem a bit more present than the high-mids, giving the sound a slight scooped-out feeling.

On Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” this extremely sculpted sound signature becomes more pronounced. The drums receive a heavy dollop of low frequency boosting, and Callahan’s vocals and the guitar strumming are coated with a high frequency sheen that is a bit too bright, all while the mids get quite dialed back. It doesn’t sound brittle or anemic, but it’s notably unnatural.

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” benefits a bit more than other tracks from the sound signature of the IEHP.01. The earphones add some snap to the attack of the kick drum loop and some high-end presence to the vocals, all while delivering the sub-bass synth hits with a focus on the lowest frequencies. This too sounds sculpted, but in a way that benefits the dense mix.

Classical tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams’ “The Gospel According to the Other Mary,” also sound overly shaped and curved, but in a way many listeners won’t mind. The often subtle presence of the lower register instruments is made much more prominent in the mix, while the higher register strings, brass, and vocals all still command the spotlight.

Purists obviously aren’t going to be too interested in the IEHP.01’s very sculpted sound, but bass lovers who want an equal amount of sculpting in the highs might. To be more direct, however, this pair will probably appeal more to people who want cool-looking wooden earphones; the audio performance is clean, but those looking for excellent sound in this price range can do better without plant matter.

The Sennheiser MM 70s, the Audio-Technica AH-CKX9iS SonicFuel( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window), and the JBL Synchros S100i are all solid options with varying levels of bass response and a better sense of overall balance than the IEHP.01. If you’re looking to spend less money, the reasonably priced RHA MA450i has a decent sense of balance as well, but isn’t really in the same league as the aforementioned pairs. If the allure of walnut enclosures is your primary attraction to this pair, you can buy the Grain Audio IEHP.01 knowing that it offers clean and powerful—if seriously sculpted—audio performance.