I went into the store looking for the Sennheisers and Sony headphones that you see many "intelligent" people use, but before I could pay for them, the clerk told me to try these funny looking headphones that looked more like a designer's nightmare than something that could whoop a big name brand.
Then I plug them in max the bass and volume and switched between all the headphones in the store, and guess what??? The porta pros rocked, literally, the socks off anything I heard. The only analogy comparable would be taking a light weight boxer and making him knock-out Evander in one punch.
Awesome and downright a waste of time if you look at anything else.
Buy them, and then mass email Koss to redesign their look.

Bold yet controlled musical presentation, portable

the jack keeps breaking

When i first heard these things back in 1988, i was blown away. Up until then, i had only used cheap phones that came with walkmans etc. The Koss phones was my first experience with hi-fi sound. They were nothing short of a revelation. The bass is strong and with good instrumental separation and a rich tonal character that has "bite". Its no wonder the porta pro's are still in production after all these years!!!!!! They truly are pro's......

I've gone through three pairs of porta pro's, all of them developed the same problem, the sound goes out in one ear because the contact in the jack comes loose. In between pairs, i auditioned replacements at similar price points made by sensheinner? and sony, the sony's couldn't compete and the sensheinners? didnt have the bass response of the porta pros. I've sinced listened to much more expensive phones $250 and up, and yes they do improve on the porta pros (the sound becomes much more airy with increases in detail resolution too). But for the money, the porta pros are outstanding, and for many, its all you will ever need. I for one, have no desire to upgrade them!

Similar Products Used:

Sony (unsure of model no..)

Best sounding portable headphones ever come across

Not available in Singapore

This is really the best headphones I have ever come across, I used to have a pair back in 1992 but I killed it by accident, ever since I have been hunting high and low for something of similar sound quality and value, frankly nothing comes close not even my $200 Sennheiser, maybe I got the wrong model but I frankly must say that the Sennheisers are really much better in their studio/home hi-fi products but it is still not there as compared to the porta pro in terms of portability sounding. I have tried other models from Koss too but they are also a dissapointment, like the porta pro 2000,(I wonder if anybody actually got that pair?) I admit it is as good as the porta pro in terms of sound quality but in terms of durability... out of the question. the stupid headband is just to fragile, broke just after 6 months. That's another reason why I LOVE the porta pro so much, that flexible metal headband is almost impossible to break and it is light!!! I even bought 3 pairs of the porta pro and a bunch of ear cushions the minute I see that it is available on line. Really, like the reviewers from a magazine I hace read... you have to hear it, to believe it... for the price, it really is.....

Similar Products Used:

All sorts of portable headphones/earphones

Great sound for the money.

None

These headphones are great for the money. I agree with everyone's comments about how good they sound. They can compete with some of the best headphones on the market that cost $100.00 or more. That's my opinion.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser

Excellent Sound
Lightweight
Easy to drive for good volume
Fairly low cost

Outdated Styling

Use these for my portable MD players, and they sound incredible. Better imaging and clarity then any other stock phone or phones of comparable price. These are an excellent upgrade from the tinny sounding phones you get with units.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Sennheiser

Incredibly rich

The Foam wearing out after 5+ years

I've been always a fan of KOSS headphones since a cousin of mine show me that 'not all Headphones were created equal'.

It's been a while when that happen and since that moment I fell in love with true KOSS quality Headphones.

Well to tell a story short, let me tell you that back then when I was in college, I used to walk with my walkman hearing my favorites(RUSH, Alan Parsons Projet and MECANO)and recall that I have sell my Sony Walkman and bought a cheap $10 GP(Grand Prix) just to get by. A friend of mine had a Super Hi-tech Sony (the latest back then -$70+) and we took a peek of what each other had been hearing, well I tell you that those Sony sounded good but you had to see the look on his face(jawdropping) when he heard "Tom Sawyer" on my 'GP' cassette player. He asked me "Wow!, what kind of walkman is that?" and I told him "It's not the walkman is the Headphones". He tried them on his sony and he wanted me to sell him the KOSS Porta-Pro right at that moment!.I paid $44 and he wanted to give me $60(I ended up selling them to him at what I paid for and Used the money to buy a higher clas TNT-77, Great Ones too!. And I went later on to buy another KOSS PORTA-PRO!

Well I've tried other ones (Sony, Pioneer) and none it's even close to the detail & crispness of these.

It's a shame that Koss went to put crappy All-in-one sytems
I think hurts it's Image as a Headphones dedicated Company.

(shh hey...If you want to buy KOSS, don't buy the cheaper ones I think they're made by the audio systems division)

Similar Products Used:

KOSS TNT-77, Sony MDR's

Amazing bass for small, open-air headphones

Retro styling, bass distortion at high listening volume

Although the Porta Pros are small and open-air, they deliver incredible bass for their size--at moderate listening levels. But at high volume, distortion began to set in--perhaps because of the boofy bass. Overall sound quality is similar to the closed-seal Sony MDR-V300 studio monitors (or is that VDR-300?). The styling gave every one of my friends fits--they were laughing at me! The older model is blue-and-silver and had a nickel-plated plug! (Newer models of the Porta-Pro are mostly black and have a gold-plated plug.)

In short, they are still superior to most of the Sony open-air, on-the-ear headphones (most of which are just average in performance and value). I'm giving these 5 stars for value and 5 stars for sound quality minus 1 star for distortion.

Similar Products Used:

Various Sony open-air models. This is my first review of an open-air headphone (other than earbuds).

the koss porta pro is by far the best headphones for use with all kinds of portable players. I have a sony MZ-R50. the sound of the phones is warm and contains a lot of bass. so skip the "mega bass" functions. it might be a bit expensive for my taste, but boy they sound good. and they're good-looking too. mike..

Sound very clear and realistic

Weird design and could be a little cheaper cause i mean we dont all want the neat carry case.

Well firstly i must admit my dad owns some really good highend sony and koss headphones that all costs above $70, so when i bought my koss porta pro headphones wasn't well stunned. But dont get me wrong though after a few days of listening i realised how good indeed these headphones do sound...btw these headphones give the cleanest clearest and most crisp sound i've ever heard on a heard phones and while the bass isn't boom bastic it is certainly very deep and clear, the frequency response is awesome..amazing from a 4 cm speaker.

Similar Products Used:

other koss headphones, sony and any other headphone

None

Everything

I am posting this review to refute my previous post on 7/23/00.

I had read a new post dated 8/8/00 on Sony Street Styles with only a 1-star rating and that suggests buying the Porta Pros. I have been extremely disappointed with them from Day One. First, the Porta Pros have a very boomy, undefined bass even though I always listened to them with the bass boost completely turned off. Second, there are no mids whatsoever--the boomy bass completely drowns them out! Third, the cord isn’t single-sided: It’s attached to both earpieces which is extremely easy to tangle and impossible to straighten out! Plus it doesn’t seem at all durable. Fourth, the plug is only nickel-plated, not gold-plated. (The current version still has a nickel-plated plug, not gold-plated as I had mistakenly stated on my earlier post.) I consistently had severe problems with deterioration of the plug contacts. (Several times, I could either not hear anything at all or I had severe distortion or erratic loudness on one or both channels.) Finally, they look very UGLY!

Five strikes and you’re way, way out.