Reticuli

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.13 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from none

Summary:
I tried these at CES. They appeared to be designed as a flat response, extremely low distortion headphone for specialized applications, or by some pocket protected engineers who never took the time to listen to them. Maybe they listened to them but have bad taste. Even in speakers you don't want a flat response for enjoyment of commercial product. Headphones are even less flat, since they need to take into account both the expected speaker response and the effects of the room on the tonal balance. These headphones are just flat, kind of like the Etymotic ER4B. There is what we audiophiles like to call a perceived "lift" from the upper mids and beyond with commercial recordins on a flat, high fidelity source. The only way I could see you using the ESP950's as a primary playback device would be as said specialty product (with dummy heads or flat response live mics, including technical applications) or with a very warm preamp, cartridge, or eq in the line somewhere. Otherwise you'd be stuck playing recordings that are either naturally rolled off on top (a lot of acoustic stuff) or mixed/mastered on very bright equipment. Hence all the recommendations in these reviews about needing to use just the right recordings on it. Probably most of the recordings they're refering to are not actually meant to be heard on flat transducers anyway, but aren't necessarily aggressive and unpleasant when presented in such a manner.

Strengths:
True L/R signal to each earpiece without crosstalk. If you have a suitable technical application, warm equipment, or very selective music taste, then this is incredible bang for the buck considering how expensive the competition is.

Weaknesses:
It's not built particularly well considering the price, but Koss has that warranty. This is not a refined audiophile product. Technical users are still probably better off with something more rugged and/or "professional".

Price Paid:  $60000.00 from friend

Summary:
May i just add one important factor with these fantastic cans. Please make an attempt to use all battery power when listening despite having the rca cord I was in cloud 9 and did not want to leave sonic heaven Very thirsty for juice but i use rechargable - right to the end of red light- with no noticeble lack of quality

Strengths:
All the above chacteristics but is not forgiving with material Feed it high quality recordings and it will reward you back

Weaknesses:
E90sseemed to have been abit large for lying back on pillow and just to balky but did overcome the small inconvenence.

Price Paid:  $399.00 from EBay

Summary:
For comparason's sake, I've got a Headroom amp I use to power Sony MDR V900's, Grado SR200's & my top dynamic choice: Sennheisser 580's. The sound source for all is a desktop Nakamichi CD system that I use on my nightable. The Koss 950 compares most closely with the Senn's sound. The Senn's have excellent transparency, but the Koss, with its corresponding driver, has even more. Details on the Koss are more precise-- truly impressive. Each instrument is excruciatingly defined. The Koss have very high brightness in the mid & high ranges-- in fact this sounds slightly exaggerated compared to the others. Lows are tight & overall good. On the Senns lows are more pronounced though less defined. In sum the sound is very high quality.

Strengths:
Sound, comfort. Good value compared to an independent headphone amp/high quality can combo. Lifetime Warranty.

Weaknesses:
The Amp is chintzy-- cheapish plastic, mediocre connects & volume/balance control, although they work. The detachable earspeakers' connects with the headband don't work well-- they can easily disconnect.

Similar Products Used:
Sony MDR V900, Senn HD 580, Grado SR 200 with Headroom Amp.

Price Paid:  $600.00 from J&R Catalog

Summary:
First of all, these ESP-950's aren't for your average listener. These awesome headphones produce an accurate, detailed & very transparent sound most audiophiles and many amathur audiophiles (I'm in the later group) will enjoy using. Though I'm still more use to a closed-ear style headset, having been weaned on the original Pro4A's, with the liquid filled headphone ear covers back in the late sixties, I found these lightweight headphone cups quite comfortable with their fixable headset assembly. It takes a while for some users to get use to "open-air" phones. IMHO, these are a step or two above the Sennheiser HD 600 which are a quite popular and excellent sounding headphones. Due to the nature of electrostatic drivers, they are very sensitive and quite unforgiving of a poor quality signal source, & many untrained amateur audiophiles may find them disappointing if the user has lower quality equipment. Please allow at least 125 hours to properly break in the drivers. With its simple design made for comfort, the lows are quite tight, deep, and smooth; the mid-range is out of this world with strings sound amazing while imaging and soundstage are first class; the upper frequencies are distortion free, transparent, perfectly crystal clear and won't cause chronic fatigue syndrome. -LOL- After a hard day's work, a quiet listening session will give you a whole new attitude about the world. As many of you are already asking yourself: "Are they really worth the money?" YES, they're worth every penny! -smile-

Strengths:
Simply put: The highly accurate & transparent sound quality! Listen to any programing you like and you'll appreciate the recording as if it's the very first time you're reviewing it. And the No questions asked LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Weaknesses:
You'll need to order an extra extension cord or two. A Koss engineer mentioned the use of one additional extension cord wouldn't interfere with the frequency response, yet with these old ears of mine, I haven't noticed an ounce of frequency lose using up to three cords...

Similar Products Used:
Koss Pro 4A, Grado RS2, Stax Lambda, Sennheiser HD600

Price Paid:  $1120.00 from Logitech (Canadian d

Summary:
I cannot believe the inane and ludicrous use of this web site. I though it was to be for honest and impartial evaluations of the product under discussion. To those idiots who don't know what a message board or chat rooms are for get a life. Now to my review. In one word STUNNING! These phones have got to be close to being the best phones on the market. Crystal clear highs and subsonic lows. One characteristic that dynamic phones can not do, is the complete lack of coloration and a dynamic range that exhibits absolutly no distortion. Bass is below the floor, doing somethig I have never experenced with headphones before, actually feeling the bass not just hearing it. Probably because of the huge size of the transducers. Simply, the best phones I have ever had and if that wasn't enough, comfortable to wear. Exceptional performance and add to that a LIFETIME WARRANTY! Who could ask for aanything more. The E90 energizer/head amp is excceptional. I have used dynamic phones with a Harmon/Kardon 3370 receiver, but this little head amp is exceptional, no noise excellent bandwith and dynamic range. as for the volume control on the unit, I don't use it. I've hooked it up to the pre-amp ouput on the H/K receiver and control the voume via the preamp. In fact, I recommend that this unit be integrated into the stero system for best flexibility. These usits a designed for portable use but to me, it is a shame that these mavelous headphones would be hooked up to a crappy portable walkman, Use a Sennheiser HD 570 , 580 or 590. as for the guy that prefered Sennheiser HD 500's over the Koss, get your hearing checked. I have Sennheiser HD 590 & 600, they pale nex to the Koss ESP/950's. I relagated the Sennheiser to my backup drawer. I wish I could review these headphones over and over again to negate the reviews of the idiot that kept crabbing about Koss, who I think showed extreme patience with this customer.

Strengths:
Crystal Clear Highs and Subsonic Lows Lack of Coloration Exceptional Dynamic Range Good Little Head Amp Simply the best Headphones I have ever used

Weaknesses:
Dual Entry cord, I'm Nit Picking

Similar Products Used:
KOSS ESP 9b, Pro 4A, Sennheiser HD 570, 590 & 600