Nothing Lasts Forever But For Less Than Five Bones, Koss Is Boss
Written: Jan 26 '06 (Updated Jan 26 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Above average sound, wind up plastic case, inexpensive.
Cons: They aren’t going to last more than three months ....
The Bottom Line: I won't lie, these aren’t the best headphones but for less than $5.00 they have a great sound, fit nicely and keep up with me at the gym..
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| Freak369's Full Review: Koss P4 Consumer Headphones |
As you may have gathered from my other reviews of headphones, I am tough on them. I wear them when I am running, working out at the gym and when ever I am out and about by myself. Music is something that I can’t live without, even if I have the stereo on some obscure station, I need that background noise or I am stuck in first gear. For a few weeks I was using a large pair of [don’t laugh] Radio Shack headphones and I am not kidding when I say that these were the most incredible things I’ve ever had. I found them in a box and decided to try them out and - again I am not kidding - when I listened to some of my favorite CD’s with them, I picked up stuff I’d never heard before. They were a little on the old side, the foam covers were ripped to pieces and they were uncomfortable to wear when I was running so I started looking for something else, that’s when I spotted the Koss P-4’s at Wal-Mart. I was torn between getting another in the Sony MDR series or trying these and curiosity got the best of me. Could a $4.64 pair of headphones really cut it with me?
Koss P-4 Ear Bud Headphones
These are in-the-ear buds that rely on your ear canal to hold them in place, they have a foam padded cover over the buds to enhance sound quality and keep ear wax from getting into the headphone area.. I have mixed luck with these types of headphones; sometimes they are shaped a little different and for what ever reason, the left side falls out every few minutes. The Koss P-4’s didn’t fall out all that often and thanks to the long cord, you can have your CD player in your packet or backpack and still have plenty of cord so your movements aren’t restricted. There is no volume control on these so you will still have to use the unit for that; one side note I would like to mention is about purchasing an adapter that you can plug into your CD player before you plug in the headphones [the headphones go into the adapter]. This allows you to control the volume of the music without having your CD player in hand; this is a real perk if you use the hold feature to keep it from skipping tracks or having any of the buttons get pressed accidentally. This is a really nice thing if you want to be hands free yet have the ability to control the volume. I didn’t think that I would use the adapter all that often but it makes it really nice when you want to have the CD player in your pocket or backpack. The adapter is a necessity if you use your CD player when running; you won’t have to fumble to get the unit out of a holder or pocket when you need to turn the volume down immediately.
The cord on the P-4 is nice and thin but it took me a while to get used to the light color plastic on the outside of it, most of the headphones I have owned have had black cords. The cord can kink easily so if possible, make sure that you keep them in a bag or the plastic case that comes with it so they don’t get destroyed. One of the biggest killers of headphones is the connection at the jack and the wires that go into the ear buds. Resist the urge to yank the ear buds out of your ears by the cord, over time this will wear down the connection and you will lose sound in one or both sides. I can’t say that using the plastic case will extend the life of the headphones. Think about it like this - if they are getting wrapped in a certain way over and over, eventually that is going to stress the connection. But come on, these cost under five dollars at Wal-Mart so if they die in three to six months it isn’t going to cost you an arm and a leg to replace them.
Overall Sound
Because I listen to a lot of different types of music I need headphones that are going to be able to handle such a wide range of beats, extended bass and ear bleeding volumes. These sounded great with everything from death metal to opera, 80’s hair metal, Metallica - St. Anger to rap and even the hard stuff like Cradle of Filth and Type O Negative. These are the two groups that I really tested these out with; Type O has a lot of variations - from the dark and bass filled Black Sabbath to the faster, tighter Cinnamon Girl type stuff. For Cradle of Filth I went with Medusa & Hemlock and Lord Abortion. The Koss P-4’s handled most of the music well but when I had the extended bass enabled on my CD player there was some distortion. For those who like to listen to audio books, these are a great pick. The spoken word comes through clearly and there’s almost no crackling or hissing.
Wind Up Case
Don’t go getting all excited about this feature because it isn’t as awesome as it seems. There is a small finger pod on the bottom of the plastic case that you, theoretically, push your finger into and turn it so that it pulls the cord into it. This is after you place the ear buds into the sockets and get the process started manually. I’ve had several type of wind up headphones and most of the time I found it to be a true hassle. The only time that this might be a benefit is if you don’t use these all that often and want to protect the cord from getting kinked up or the ear buds smashed. I do have to admit it, when I saw that the case had the wind up feature to it, I had this momentary lapse of reason thinking that I would use it all the time and get more life out of the headphones. Well, image this - you are a piece of plastic coated wire that gets wrapped around something over and over, it is only going to be a matter of time before it cracks, breaks or some type of connection is lost. You are better off investing in some type of CD carrying case and tucking the headphones into an external pocket to protect them.
Price
Long gone are the days when I would spend upwards of $15.00 on headphones for the gym; it just doesn’t work out in the long run. I thought that maybe if I spent more on headphones I would get something that would be able to handle a little more use and abuse before breaking but it hasn’t been the case so far. I saw these at Wal-Mart for $4.64 and figured that I’d give them a shot. These weren’t the cheapest ones they nor were they the most expensive [duh] - they were somewhere in the middle. I wanted the ear bud type so I could slip them in and out of my ears while wearing a hat so I had to choose between these and two from Sony. I went with these because of that slick yet misleading lifetime warranty, price and plastic case. For under five dollars I got a nice pair of headphones that have above average sound, come with a plastic carrying case and have worked great so far.
Warranty
You know, I really have to laugh about this. They come with a lifetime warranty - as long as you own them, Koss will replace them if they are defective. OK, yeah, there is a catch. You have to mail the headphones to them with six dollars. Now, I ask you this ... if you paid $4.64 for these would you really pay the six dollars to send them to Koss to have them ‘evaluated’ to first see if they are covered under the warranty and second to receive a replacement pair? There are some conditions that you have to adhere to when you are sending them in for a replacement, you have to make sure that you register the headphones at the website and it never hurts to hold on to the receipt. I can say this, I will never be taking advantage of this warranty. I might be crazy, hell, some say I am insane but I’m not a complete moron. I’ll take that six dollars that Koss wants to ‘evaluate’ them and march right into Wal-Mart and buy another paid for $4.64. So when you see these on the shelf and get that warm feeling that comes from seeing the words “lifetime warranty” know that’s just like getting married ... it’s not always as fulfilling as it seems.
The Bottom Line
I am really glad that I decided to give these a try. They are pretty comfortable to wear for an few hours, the sound that you get from them is well above average and the price is something that is hard to beat. The warranty is pretty misleading but you have to consider the fact that you can get these for under five dollars. The one thing that really sucks about this is the packaging. The plastic case is slapped inside a cardboard sleeve and there’s no user information about these. The little leaflet that comes with it is all about the warranty so there are no warnings about playing this at loud volumes or how to care for them. Please use common sense when wearing these; I joke around about playing my music at ear bleeding levels but I’m no spring chicken and I have to exercise some caution if I want to have my hearing when I am sixty [Ha, I might not make it to forty]. These make for a great pick as a replacement headphone for portable CD players as well as home systems if you want to listen to your music without everyone complaining about it. When it comes to above average sound that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, Koss is boss.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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