Awesome sound and design...pinches top of ears though
Written: Jun 24 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great sound.
Look awesome.
Awesome original clip design.
Cons: Pinches top of ear.
Cable is 3'.
Susceptible to interesting damage.
The Bottom Line: Great sounding headphones that have a very tight feel on your ears as long as you don't mind a little bit of pinching at the top of your ear.
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| tokar's Full Review: Koss KSC-50 Consumer Headphones |
I bought these earphones after I saw a review of a DVD player written on a website like MSNBC. The guy was reviewing some portable DVD player at Walmart and mentioned that to compliment the excellent DVD player he suggested buying the KSC50. He mentioned they sounded great and were cheap. So I checked my local stores and found them at $15 at Best Buy and $20 at Circuit City. I of course bought it at Best Buy :). Mind I note this was 4 years ago. I still use these headphones going 4 years strong...however this is the third pair I am using, which I will get into in a bit.
The great thing about these headphones are their sound. Its like night and day when you compare these headphones to other junky clip headphones or even the iPod white bud headphones. The bass response is very good and it supports up to 20,000Hz. I actually tested this out, however this test has its limitations since I might not be able to hear 20,000 to begin with. But anyway, I was able to hear a 19,000Hz MP3 file playing a simple 19,000Hz signal. While annoying it proved it worked. I did not hear 20,000Hz. This can either be proof of it not supporting 20,000Hz, or it is just that I have reached the point where I can't hear 20,000Hz anymore (my dad for example can't hear much past 11,000Hz). Whatever...I'm not too concerned. All my music sounds great...classical, rap, alternative, soundtracks, etc.
The design of the headphone is awesome. This model was the next product in line from the KSC35. It was a very nice upgrade in design from the mundane black clip to the new age silver clip. The cap on the back of the driver (the gray grated dome) pops off with a little coaxing...but it is on tight...so the headphones will stay together quite well.
The clip is completely original and the best in terms of getting the earpiece on my ear. It is some kind of rotating clip which you rotate up to open space up to place the clip on your ear. Release the clip and it rotates back for a nice tight hold on your ear. People complain that the KSC50 isn't tight, and the KSC75 is tighter. I beg to differ. I have both of those models and I feel more confident in the KSC50 staying on my ear than the KSC75. Unfortunately Koss abandoned the clip and returned to the KSC35's clip design in the KSC75. I hope they release a KSC90 which is an upgrade to the KSC50 (35 -> 50 -> 75...see the pattern? add 15...thus 90).
Now for the negatives...
This headphone was designed for the mobile person in mind. By mobile I mean he/she who is a jogger...or goes to a gym...or is big with using their MP3 player/laptop/portable DVD player wherever they go. I say that because the cable, like the KSC75, unfortunately, is only 3'. Its nice for laptop use or MP3 player use, but it is absolutely unusable with a desktop PC. I ended up buying a 10' extension cord to use it on my desktop PC.
Because of the design I experienced some interesting issues, which is why I am on my third pair of these headphones.
The first pair, while using them with the desktop PC, I broke when I stood up from my chair. While getting up I was accidentally standing on the 10' extension cord. Because the headphones were so tight on my ears (as I stated above) it gave them a nice tug and the cable must have become disconnected because I lost audio in both headphones. So I bought a second pair and returned the bad ones. They were only a week old...I was p*ssed.
In both the second pair and the first pair I experienced an issue where I would hear a loose spring while playing music. It was really odd. For the longest time strong audio would cause something internally to vibrate. At one point it was a piece of plastic which was in the space behind the driver and cover to the driver, which I removed. But the rest of the time it sounded like a spring IN the driver. The first pair had that problem when I returned it...which it developed in the first few days. The second pair the same...first few days it developed it...and it stayed that way for the longest time. I can't recall whether it was still prevalent when I returned them to Koss (more on that in a bit) for a third pair.
I would be very gentile with the clips in rotating them. They are held in place, in their limits of rotation, by very small pieces of plastic internally, 4 to be exact. I broke one of them due to fatigue, but the clip remained in its boundaries since the other 3 were intact. So just be aware of this.
The other interesting problem I encountered, which caused me to do a warranty repair on the second pair which actually netted me a brand new third pair in return, is due to the cable design. Instead of your usual 2 glued cables which split off from the jack going to each of the 2 headphones, Koss decided to have a single cable lead off from the jack. Then halfway down the cable it leads into some kind of rubber splitter and it then splits off into two cables. The problem with this design is that the rubber insulation around the wire is NOT continuous as is the case with two cables along the entire headphone cable. After that nice tug I explained above one of the cables leading to one of the headphones started having its rubber separate from the splitter. The wires were still in tact, but eventually instead of the rubber insulation supporting the connection to the splitter, the rubber would eventually sever completely causing the wire itself to support itself which would end up becoming severed. It was going to happen and I sent them into Koss for warranty and they sent back a new pair.
The other negative with these headphones is the clip itself. In ALL three of the KSC50's I owned, let alone the ones that all the other reviewers here on Epinions used, all caused this pinching problem. If you look at the KSC75 clip, it is 100% rubber up and down the clip. Now look at the KSC50 clip. 80% is rubber, 20% is plastic. That 20% portion which is plastic at the top of the clip is not adjustable and decreased space from its position it causes a pinch on the top of your ear. You wont feel it initially when u put the headphone on...but you will within 10-15 minutes of leaving them on. It is quite annoying. But its a small price to pay to feel secure that the headphones wont fall off.
Overall they are great headphones. In fact I actually prefer these over the KSC75. They have the same driver as the KSC75 and I do about 1% of the clip adjustment that I find myself doing with the KSC75 just because of how tight they are right out of the box.
Great sounding and you can't go wrong at $15. Get them while you can still find them online. With the KSC75 now in stock the KSC50 might only be around for a little while longer. They might suffer the same fate as the KSC35...
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tokar
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Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 1 member
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