Koss PortaPro Headphones with Case
by Koss
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List Price: Our Price: Calculated in a shopping cart Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Speakers See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Koss PortaPro Headphones with Case
Customer Review: Sound Great, Horrible Quality
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought my pair of Portapros less than a year ago. I love the way these sound. The sound quality is rich, deep, and nuanced, and they have terrific bass for their small size. Other low-cost headphones sound terrible after your ears adjust to these things.
What I hate hate hate about these headphones is how flimsy they are. Like I said, I bought these less than a year ago, about 8 months to be exact, and I have already sent them in for warranty repair twice. What prompted me to write this review is that they just broke, again, after I've had them back for less than 3 weeks from the last warranty job. The first two times the wires broke internally near the headphone jack, not as a result of any trauma but from what appears to me to be normal use. This time I was wearing the phones, took them off for a moment and set them on the table, then picked them up again and noticed the plastic bracket holding the right earphone had snapped. I have no idea what caused this other than poor quality, as I did not step on, drop, or otherwise do anything forceful to the headphones when this happened. Maybe this is how Koss keeps costs down: put a lot of money into a good speaker, and use flimsy crap for the rest.
Now admittedly, Koss has a lifetime warranty on these phones, so I can just send them in for repair/replacement. This would be one thing if I had a problem maybe once every year or two. But at this point I'm having a problem once every three months or less. And since I pay $10 or $11 for shipping every time I get warranty repair or replacement, the costs are quickly adding up. Now that I'm sending these in for a third time, my $30 pair of headphones (good Amazon price) has doubled in price. Not to mention I go without the phones for a couple of weeks every time I send this in and rely on a crappy old backup pair. How much more will I spend on these phones before I finally throw in the towel and get a new, more durable pair?
My last headphones were Sennheiser PX-100s. They sounded great, too, maybe not even as good as the Portapros, but lasted for several years before they had any problems. (Past the warranty period, unfortunately.) Sennheisers don't have an unlimited warranty like these 'phones, but as I just discussed I'm beginning to think that's a bit of a boondoggle. I'll get the Portapros repaired again, but much more of this and I'm going back to Sennheiser.
Customer Review: sick headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never really cared about headphone quality before buying these. I usually buy the cheapest pair available at whatever store happens to be closest when my previous ones break. However, for one reason or another, I decided to google "headphones" one day and came across some pretty insane comments including one claiming that this pair of headphones prevented the reviewer from committing suicide.(seriously). So, I decided that I didn't have much to lose and coughed up the 40 bucks. Although I won't speak for their psychological effects and would probably recommend therapy for suicidal thoughts, I must say my initial reaction to them after the very first song was, "these are some sick headphones." After about a month of use, I can honestly say I will not go back to using any other headphones, unless they come out with a noise reducing version of these. Here is why they are "sick."
1. Even if you are not an audiophile, the sound is amazing compared to cheap or as cheap headphones (and although I can not vouch for this, they are alleged to be good as some pricey ones)
2. They are really convenient to fold up and throw into a bag, maybe not as portable as buds or like those ones that clip onto your ears but I still believe they are worth the extra second to fold.
3. They are more durable than they look, they have taken a few major hits and survived even when I thought they were goners. I accidentally body slammed them when jumping into bed and one of the earphones snapped off but i just snapped it right back into place.
4. If they do break the warrantee is unbeatable and will probably save you money in the long run instead of continually buying cheap ones
5. I think they look really cool despite other's comments about their dorkiness
6. Some people claim the headband rips their hairs out and although this happens occasionally, it is barely even a problem, I lost about 3 hairs with my month of use and I use them every day and have long hair.
The only problem is that they don't have noise reduction and I need to turn them up pretty loudly on the subway. I imagine this will be true on planes as well or anywhere with ambient noise. Because they leak sound, I am probably that annoying person that is listening to their music too loudly on the train but I don't really care. This might be an issue for someone though, so there it is.
Customer Review: Fantastic sound, minor comfort issue
Summary: 5 Stars
These headphones are hard to beat on several fronts, but most importantly, sound quality. I found the sound quality to be quite crisp while packing a powerful low-end bass. It really does vary from player to player as on my Zune HD, it sounds good, but sounds amazing on my old iRiver Clix 2. Customizable EQ settings are the way to go, not just presets. Nearly maxing out the bass response and volume, the portapros didn't show even a hint of distortion. (I probably just further degraded my hearing, but I dont care when you can experience headphones that could actually rattle your head!)
The build, in my opinion, is sturdy and WILL stand up to abuse. It feels cheap in the hand at first, but I've crushed this under piles of textbooks, dropped off several stories high (fell out of my bag), tugged and yanked the wire (I'm bad at keeping headphone wires from snagging something), yet it functions perfectly still after ... a looong time. (I don't remember if it was 1-2 years ago I got this?) Gold plated plug and skinny anorexic plug means no crackling from moving the connector and the ability to fit into most devices' headphone jacks and the openings in cases for such devices. Cable length seems to be ideal for me; I've never had a problem with it being too long or too short.
The downside that I see is the positioning of the head supports right above the earpieces. The tip of my ears always seem to touch these and the metal hooks that are used to secure the portapros in the folded position. Result: discomfort and soreness after extended use. Maybe my ears are atypically sized, but I certainly don't think so. Foldability is awkward and it springs open on occasion, so I always use the bag. Fold it, shrink it, stuff it in the provided bag (the "case") to hold the shape. Problem solved.
Summary? A solid recommended buy! Price + lifetime warranty make it tempting, true-to-hype sound quality as long as you have an EQ to fiddle with. Even then, like on my Zune HD, these are extremely solid performers and I still use these way more often than my other IEMs (Klipsch S4. Don't get me wrong, they sound great, but I don't think any IEM can match the boom, thump, punch that the portapros provide.) Minor comfort issue, but I will just attribute it to me not having it adjusted properly!
Customer Review: Impedance too high for portable use!!
Summary: 3 Stars
What drove me to buy these headphones is their comfort level and sound quality. And that they were compatible with portable devices.
I hooked them up to my Cowon S9, considered an "audiophile quality" device. I had high expectations given all the glowing reviews. Some even compared these to $500 "studio" headphones. When I listened to them for the first time, I was thoroughly disappointed. My old Ultimate Ears (Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio) were superior in sound quality, namely they faithfully reproduced transients in music. This makes music engrossing and exciting to listen to.
The probblem I suspect is the impedance. These are too high for portable devices. They're rated 60 ohms, 101 dB sensitivity, compared to my Ultimate Ears which are 13 ohms, 115 dB sensitivity. Even at max volume (40/40) the Portapro's are not as loud as my Ultimate Ears at 30/40! And this is disregarding the effect of noise isolation. In fact without noise isolation, the Koss Portapro lose ("leak") even more volume. The Koss Portapro just sounded very flat with little dynamic range and no "punch" to transients, for example bass sounded loose and mushy. Like you would expect from a subwoofer in a high order enclosure with large ports, compared to a small closed enclosure.
Typically high impedance speakers combined with rigid driver construction, will have low dB sensitivity and require a lot more than they typical power required for a speaker of that size. That's exactly the case here.
Hooking the Koss Portapro up to my Onkyo receiver, they suddenly got VERY loud and had plenty of dynamic range. (Still, nowhere near the sound experience I get from my very cheap home stereo. Clearly headphone technology doesn't come close to even an average home stereo...) By comparison, the Ultimate Ears plugged into my Onkyo receiver began to clip when I tried to reach the same high SPL (Sound Pressure Level). Clearly the Koss Portapro is far better suited for home stereo listening (except for the short 4 ft. cable length), NOT for portable use!
It looks like I'll be investing in some kind of amp, and I suspect the cost of the amp plus these headphones would be nearly the same as the cost of my Ultimate Ears (or comparable noise isolating earphones). You get what you pay for...
Customer Review: Beautiful Headphones. Please just do yourself a favor and get a pair now.
Summary: 5 Stars
Probably the BEST HEADPHONES YOU CAN BUY IN THIS PRICE RANGE AND TYPE. I am so fed up with so many people buying those terrible, cheapo Skullcandy headphones, please, if you are considering those awful things, buy these instead: you will NEVER REGRET IT. I've had these headphones for about a year and they're pretty much the only pair of headphones I use anymore, aside from studio work. Here are a few the of reasons you should invest in some of these still fairly uncommon headphones:
1. The balance of its bass, treble, and mids is perfect; take a walk outside with these things, they completely immerse you in sound, they are just one of those headphones that sound so fantastic that they FEEL good. For headphones of this size the clarity is admirable while maintaining an enjoyable and rich balance between the different levels.
2. The build of these headphones is surprisingly good, they have been everywhere with me and have even survived being thrown onto the ground in my bag (No i didn't purposely throw them to test if they would survive.); they are also surprisingly light weight. The connector is GOLD PLATED and is very small and portable, it is also surprisingly sturdy, works great. Additionally, I think these headphones look cool, they are very unique and have a somewhat odd appeal to them.
3. They are comfy and fit my head very well, they also have pads that rest around your temples, allowing them to stay on a little better.
4. Koss offers A LIFETIME WARRANTY ON ALL OF THEIR PRODUCTS. So if anything ever happens to these headphones, you just pay six bucks to send them back to be either fixed or replaced. It's a "no questions asked" warranty however these are damaged they are still under warranty: stick em in the microwave for 10 minutes and you can still send them back to be replaced.
5. They're more than affordable, really; 30-40 bucks for headphones of this quality is more than a good deal, AND they come with a case and a hi-fi 1/4 converter jack (also gold plated), you really should have no reason not to go and buy a pair of these from amazon.
So do your self a favor, you will enjoy these, I think the fact that I bothered to even write a review raving about these headphones is enough to merit their outstanding quality.