Koss Porta Pro Limited Edition On-Ear Headphones, in-Line Microphone, Volume Control and Touch Remote Control, Retro Style, Includes Hard Carry Case, Wired with 3.5mm Plug, Rhythm Beige

Finally, after many others, the everyday headphone I’ve been trying to find…
I’ve been through the gamut of the mid-fi suggestions. It all started when my $20 On-Ear Sony’s dropped off my desk and one side busted. So, what was the internet recommending?I’ve daily driven Grado sr80s, Audiotechnica m50s, V-Moda LP2s, a very misguided Marshall headphone purchase, a small assortment of 40-80 dollar in-ears that were never good, and most recently the Phillips X2HRs. All with their own shortcomings, personalties, and usual discomfort. They aren’t bad. The Grado and X2HRs still see use while the others have mostly fallen into disrepair or are just gross from age. Unfortunately, I’ve never been completely happy with any of them. If I could go back and add a few of those sets together and rebuy something more in the 300-400 dollar range like the Sennheiser HD 600s I would, but I have this horrible addiction to buying value headphones. Overperformers for price.Well, it turns out I never did that. I was overpaying. These Koss Porta Pros are true overperformance. It doesn’t make any sense. These frail little headphones can hold their own against anything else I’ve had in the past at half of the cost along with any of my friend’s headphones and headsets I’ve tried. With the Porta Pros performing well past most of them and with COMFORT. No m50 headband clamp and painful hot ears. No harsh X2HR treble poking sharply at my eardrums after an hour. None of the Grado “Grattle” forcing me to constantly pull small hairs out of the drivers. Just the beautiful, warm tones of these lovelies. I’ve always struggled with harsh sibilance or sub-bass pressure, and it’s just not here. It’s just a hug of sound.You can wear these all day, every day. Your ears won’t get hot and you won’t have a sore spot on the top of your head after 2 hours like you would with whatever the heavy “recommendation” of the week is. It feels so good to have finally found the headphone I can grab for any occasion or genre.Honest’s truth, the build quality feels cheap, but that’s also what keeps it all so light. The cord is a sin against consumerism and Koss should feel bad about it. It won’t matter once you have them sitting and situated on your head though. I’ve already picked up a pair of Yaxi pads to go on them and they’ve become even more comfortable. They may sound even better.To anyone who has been stuck in value hell, these are them. Get these. You’ll forget you even have them on and you’ll just be left enjoying music. The sound could be too warm if you really like that crispy, crispy treble, but personally, I can’t take more than 2-3 hours of that before I need a good long silent break. With this sound, you can plow through some podcasts and a few albums while working on a large project and never feel fatigued.If this pair breaks, I’ll either fix it or quickly replace them. I’ve never been happier with a set of headphones. I don’t even care that I overpaid for some beige coloring. They look GREAT with some bright orange Yaxi pads by the way…Just get ’em. You’ll find yourself using your other sets less and less. Maybe not because they sound better, surely there’s better, but because they are that dependable cozy audio blanket that you can depend on for anything. Save your money now with these, and then buy something that’s a true step-up later if you still need to chase that audio dragon. I most likely won’t be.

The best portable alternative for earbuds
I just really don’t like earbuds, but I needed something more portable than my Sennheiser or Grados. I didn’t even consider that these might give those cans a run for their money in terms of sound quality. But, the Porta Pros absolutely blew me away. First off: the soundstage on these is amazing. I listened to some Oscar Peterson trio and I swear I could pin-point where Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums were playing in relation to Peterson’s piano (at least in my head), it was like they were all there in the room with me, the sound was so clear, vibrant, and nuanced. My Sennheiser and Grados have been collecting a lot of dust lately, cause I just love the way these sound so much.I was a bit concerned about comfort and build quality, but my fears were allayed. Despite being on-ear, I can wear them for hours without any discomfort, and the pressure is adjustable. I wear glasses, and the gap between the pads allows my glasses to sit without having to adjust them (which I can’t say for any of my other on-ear or over-ear headphones). Build quality-wise, these feel incredibly solid for a combo of plastic and metal.I fold them up and take them on the road with me. While not as compact as a set of earbuds, they are still incredibly small for headphones. I also needed something that would double as a headset since I do a lot of Zoom for work. While not perfect, these work in a pinch. Folks can hear me fine on the other end. The biggest issue being that moving around the mic can knock against my shirt and cause noise, so I have to be conscious of that to avoid annoying my listeners.I added some orange Yaxi pads to these and the comfort did go up a notch or two. I loved them so much, I got the version they have on Drop.com as well (those have stock pads still, which work fine). You can’t go wrong with either, but I like that these came with a hardshell case and in-line volume, so in that regard they may be slightly better value.PS I don’t know why they want me to rate noise cancellation on here, these do not seem to be noise cancelling at all. Which is what I want since I use them portably and want to be able to hear what’s going on around me. It is easy to hear with these on. There is a bit of sound leakage, but they aren’t as bad as my Grados, so as long as you aren’t blasting them, you shouldn’t disturb people around you too much.

The headphones came in a premium cardboard box, inside another Koss box with tearaway strip, inside the Amazon shipping box (3 boxes total). Headphones came with a really nice zipper case, and a separate pouch – not sure why you would need 2 things. The zipper hard case is great for travel and protection. The gold on the headphones really sparkles and is much nicer than in pics. Shipping to Canada cost $15 plus another surprise duty/handling of $25 which is the only negative. This brings these headphones to cost quite a lot more than the listed price, so be prepared.

Simply the BEST.