Koss Porta Professional Traditional On-Ear Headphones, Retro Fashion, 3.5mm Wired Plug, Sturdy, Black/Silver

Classic Design, Timeless Sound Quality
I received a pair of PortaPro’s a few days ago, and I’m impressed with the sound quality. This is not my first experience with the 60-ohm Koss drivers. That honor goes to the KPH30i, which I’m pleased with. That headphone has a warm and dark sound signature, and enough detail to satisfy most people, including some audiophiles. Many sources can sound a bit veiled, especially if you’re coming from a studio headphone like the Koss Pro4S, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, AKG K240 or Sony MDR-7506. The KPH30i’s little bit of detail prevents the sound from getting muddy. Overall, a pleasant, non-fatiguing sound.The PortaPro on the other hand, has more treble detail and a bit of additional bass boost. Some people prefer the KPH30i or KSC75 over the PortaPro. I don’t own the KSC75, so between the KPH30i and PortaPro, I prefer the PortaPro over the KPH30i given the extra treble detail. That extra treble detail improves clarity with many songs, pieces and film scores. Plus that extra bass boost allows genres like EDM, modern pop, Hip-Hop, Dubstep, etc to sound amazing. Sure, given these are on-ear open-back headphones, the subbass is rolled off, but the midbass, upper bass, and mids are very good. Treble performance is often pretty good for a headphone with a warm sound signature. No added harshness or sibilance. The treble can be soft and veiled with some audio sources, but like the KPH30i, perfectly acceptable in those scenarios. Soundstage is decent as is imaging. These headphones offer excellent good sound quality for the money.The open-back design helps with sound quality, but means sound can leak in, and your music can leak out, unless you keep the volume down very low. These headphones are best suited for a quiet environment, like at home. Despite this, some people do use the PortaPro in public. I prefer closed-back headphones like the Koss Pro4S for going out specifically for its sound isolation and ability to listen to music at moderate volume without much leaking.The design of these headphones is a clear throwback to the 1980’s. That’s because these headphones made their debut back in 1984. They were designed to fold up into a ball in order to be placed into a small bag or a pocket. And boy do they fold into a small ball, thanks to the bendable metal headband and the hook just above the earpads. The comfortZone feature helps to reduce the pressure the earcups place on the head. Setting it to Light really makes these headphones comfortable. They do have a thin cable, but it feels sturdy enough to not feel like its going to break at any moment. Back in 1984, these were the best-sounding portable headphones you could buy. In fact, the PortaPro’s drivers have been used in a multitude of Koss headphones over the years, some of which are still in production today (KSC75, KTXPRO1, UR40, SportaPro, KPH30i, and the new KPH40).The main disadvantages is the fact that you have to adjust the headphones each time you put them on your head. Same goes for setting the comfortZone to Light if you prefer that setting over Firm. Some people have had their hair get caught in between the headband or the adjustment mechanisms, but that hasn’t happened to me yet. Overall, these issues are minor and don’t detract from the overall rating I’m giving these headphones. Your experience may vary, however.These headphones deserve a 5-star rating. They’ve been around since 1984, and hold up very well in December 2021. I’d recommend them to anyone seeking decent sound quality on a fairly tight budget and don’t mind using open-back headphones.

No me decidía entre éstos y los Koss KPH40Tengo entendido que la calidad es prácticamente la misma, solo que me decidí por estos por el diseño más retroEl audio es excelente, impresionante la calidad que tienen, lo mejor es que son muy ligeros, por lo que si te agachas no se te caen por el peso como pasa con casi todos los audífonos de diadema modernos.No aíslan el audio exterior, por la calidad no lo vas a notar, pero eso es bueno porque puedo caminar y estar atento a mis alrededores mientras escucho música en buena calidadCombinados con un iPod classic es la mejor experiencia de audio, hasta puedo distinguir detalles en canciones que nunca había notado antesY hasta le pedí a mi madre que me tejiera unas “esponjitas” la verdad no las necesita, solo se las puse para fines estéticos.Estoy muy contento con la compra, se ven frágiles pero son resistentes y los he estado usando literalmente todos los días desde que los compré, no me han fallado.

Alright so I got them on a pretty neat discount. Back then I wasn’t willing to pay the full price, and now that I have one I’m still not convinced on the 50+ cad price. Yeah sure it’s wonderful pricing for such a great sounding headphone, but did you ever consider the consequence of taking such a plunge? I mean go on the internet and you’ll either find raving reviews saying these are the best in class, or immeasurable disappointment who foolishly set too high of an expectation to get what they expected: Not good enough.When you buy one of these as a hobbyist, you look back at your audio, wondering where you’ve gone wrong. It’s not quite audiophile enough to replace my more expensive, albeit larger sets of headphones, but it’s not quite bassy enough to satisfy my basshead beast that’s leaching off my life essence (curse you Sony Extrabass and your extra-bassyness that not even the bass the fish can sate my evergrowing lust for extra bass). I’d compare the bass level to what sony throws out on their non-Xtra-Bass lines of headphones.There’s enough width to sound to almost pretend I’m in the place of recording… almost. It just lacks that little bit of something that ruins the immersion. Yeah sure it’s wide, but what’s the point if you’re fully aware that what you’re listening to is only a sample of what the audiophile world has in store for you? The audio listening hobby quickly shifts from a minor purchase here and there to irresponsible spending in a blink of an eye… and before you know it you’ve created a black hole in your wallet where your hund-o’s used to live.That’s what this is, unsatisfying in any way you look at it, if you’ve gotten a glimpse of what it could’ve been with a few more tens, hund-o’s, or grandies to spend.Build quality is competent, but I wish the clamping force wasn’t so hard, and the foam that’s supposed to sit on the head to alleviate the problem doesn’t reach my big, dumb head.Comfort is there, but not enough. The furthest settings for the “comfortZone” (which adjusts how much pressure the earpads assert on your poor ears) is just not light enough for my sensitive ears. I don’t think I can spend a whole day wearing these without my ears getting sore. Good news for glasses wearers though (at least some of them), the pressure is put on the antitragus and the tragus, so though you’ll get discomfort (or at least itchiness) in those middle outer parts of your ears, your glasses frame will likely not dig into your skull! But of course your mileage may vary.The cable is not noisy at all, though I don’t think that matters much considering that these are open back, and you’ll definitely hear the cable whack around furniture due to careless usage.The audio quality, though really good for the price, short of a miracle that everyone claims it to be, and a bit too bassy for ex-bassheads (and not bassy enough for the bassheads). It’s a pretty warm sound, but the mids and highs are present enough to make it seem like it just has that extra bass on top of a balanced sound.Sure the driver units can be popped off and attached to other attachments (I’ve actually gone and put them on a KSC75 earhook), and the foam pad can be replaced with the much more comfortable and better sounding YAXI earpads… however I’m reviewing the product as it’s own… and without any accessories (except a “protein leather” egg bag), this product is not good enough for all the praise everyone’s screaming out…But that’s what it is. Disappointment if and ONLY IF you set your expectations stupidly high based on reviews bowing down before its presence. If you ignore all the fans (somehow) and just buy the product expecting nothing but a 50$-sounding headphones, prepare to have your socks blown off to next sunday cuz this set of headphones is the best retro-style good-sounding headphones for the money!When you buy this, don’t expect a giant-killer; Be humble, and you’ll get more than you’ve bargained for. If not, at least these do well as conversation starters and/or room decoration.

De eerste Koss headphone heb ik per toeval gekocht vanwege de kleine vorm, maar was zeer aangenaam verrast over de kwaliteit van het geluid : vol, krachtig, duidelijke bas maar niet dat het zodanig domineert, goed gebalanceerd met de midden en hoge tonen en alles in een lichte, makkelijk te transporteren geheel. Ik gebruik het voornamelijk voor de smartphone. Een ding vind ik minder en dat is de lichtere kwaliteit van de kabel welke te makkelijk gaat krullen en dit uiteindelijk werd het fatale einde van de headphone omdat de krullende kabel scheurde bij het oorgedeelte. Ik ben inmiddels bij de tweede en de derde Koss (allebei tegelijk gekocht) want de headphone is naar mijn oordeel nog steeds één van de betere voor smartphones, qua bouw en vooral qua geluidskwaliteit. Aanbevolen.