Pros: Pretty solid construction and materials, good sound, lifetime guarantee.
Cons: behind-the-head is awkward for me
The Bottom Line: These are great for people who want to wear them in a variety of outdoor situations. The sound quality is excellent in relation to their portability.
wforrest's Full Review: Koss Porta Pro Consumer Headphones
I got these for my minidisc player. I wanted something light and not too huge, that would not take a lot of power (which can make headphones deliver low sound levels), and I don't like things that are low-quality construction. I knew I wasn't going to get great great sound; I only wanted to spend up to about £40 (approx $60).
I bought a pair of Sennheisser HD495 headphones, but found I couldn't hear very much at all when connected to my (Sony MZR700) minidisc player. It was REALLY quiet, and I'm not talking about them not blaring; it was hard to hear anything while walking down the street. So I got these.
At first the sound was rather too smooth on top and was predominantly bassy. I was listening to opera (Solti Ring) and the words were hard to hear because consonants were lost all over. Interestingly, after listening for several hours, and also suddenly after I lent the headphones to a friend to try out with his own music, played louder, they came into a very good natural sound with full dynamic range clearly audible. The top brightened up and the resonance of the strings and voices, and especially brass, are now very clear. I guess all speakers - headphones or big speakers - need to stretch their wings a bit. I've always found this with Koss headphones. Maybe one's ears also have to adjust.
You get a good amount of volume out of them. It doesn't block out all the outside sound obviously, but it wins in competition to it, even while walking through Liverpool St. Station in downtown London at rush-hour I was still able to enjoy the music I was listening to. Let me put it this way: I hate it when headphones aren't loud enough even when you've got your player at full volume. Full volume with these is a bit too loud for me, so I've got that range to play with.
There is a good amount of bass to the sound. The soundscape is not very open. I think the idea with these must have been to make them good for moving around a lot where there is noise around you (sports, but then that also applies to getting to and from work, doesn't it). So the soundscape is brought right up close to you, which makes it easier to hear the music rather than the moron on the PA system at the train station or the cars and busses that are driving past you as you walk along a sidewalk. For this kind of use, these phones are just great. You'll probably find when you get home and plug them into a hi-fi that they will not be as rewarding. They're good for listening to for a long time as well. My ears sometimes get sore from headphones (especially from the little ones that go into your ear) but these are kind on the ears. The sound doesn't ram its way into your head like with those ones, but it's still nice and close up.
They also come with a lifetime guarantee!
The construction is solid for the type of headphones that they are: small to medium-size over-ear. The band you see across the top is a springy metal which seems unlikely to loose its shape, and the bits that go over your ears are nice solid plastic.
The over/behind the head option is a bit of a gimmick I think, but the mechanism that allows you to change the shape of the phones seems like it will not break unless you really want to break it.
There is also a little extra spongy bit above the ear-pieces, about an inch along the metal band that goes over/behind your head. This extra bit of foam takes some of the pressure that would otherwise just be on your ears. It is a brilliant little innovation and has two effects: it makes them fit more comfortably, as there is very little pressure in one place keeping them in place, and it adds a lot of stability: they don't move around, because the extra pad acts like a brake. Cool, isn't it. Well I think so. They are very easy to adjust so long as you put them on big /extended and then shrink the band down. Making them larger once they're on your head is finickety.
There is a little button on the cord for turning the sound off. I don't like this and would rather do without it. Now and then you depress it accidentally and the sound goes off, but more than that, I think it's unnecessary.
They also fold up into a small shape. The two earpieces hook together at the bottom and they come with a little vinyl bag to keep them in.
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