Koss Portapro Appreciation Thread - Page 25

Gave a set to my friend as I've just upgraded to a set of Shure SE425's. She just tried them and sent me this on Facebook:

"**** me - songs with your headphones sounds amazing

Similar thing here. I had my friend listen to my PortaPros on my Clip+. He ordered both the next day.

Now that he has them, he says they completely blow away his $350 Bose headphones. (Shocker...)

He is definitely a fan, but bummed about spending $350 on his Bose!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

BloodyPenguin, what earpads are those? They look quite comfortable.

They are just quarter modded Grado Ear Pads.

..

Sooo... modified the Grado pads even further.  The pads were just too big.  So a pair of scissors and five minutes later.  I had this:

Ghetto KossGradoPros

(Brings the drivers just a little bit farther away from the ears, opens up the sound a lot.  Less bass, more detail and better soundstage).

(Took apart another pair of pads for the thin cloth you see in the middle).

..

Quote:

Originally Posted by heishiro 

love mine with grado bowls

cool - might give these a try

Quote:

Originally Posted by the search never ends 
 

Do the little pads above the temple pads touch your head?

Just a little.  The larger pads I have on there do push them farther away from your temple.

I tried going back to stock pads to test them, but I really like the sound that comes from my ghetto pads instead.

..

I want to do a very simple mod on my trusty porta-pros: a quarter mod: will that be enough to make significant difference in SQ?

I have an extra pair of foam covers so no issues if I mess up. :)

Update: I tried the quarter mod--made little difference in SQ.

I did burn in my new-ish portapros for about 50 hours and they are so sweet now it's ridiculous. It seems as if the mids and highs have really opened up and sparkle just a little bit more. Same fat bass to excite as always. I don't think I'll ever buy a pair of headphones over $100, there's just no need.

Quote:

Originally Posted by newphones 

Update: I tried the quarter mod--made little difference in SQ.

 

I did burn in my new-ish portapros for about 50 hours and they are so sweet now it's ridiculous. It seems as if the mids and highs have really opened up and sparkle just a little bit more. Same fat bass to excite as always. I don't think I'll ever buy a pair of headphones over $100, there's just no need.

The Koss portapro/sportapro/ksc75 drivers are pretty crazy indeed. If you want to have fun with the sportapro's, see this great tutorial. I've had the portapro's and I have the ksc75's, but I'll definitely be trying out those sportapro mods!

Just got a set of these off of Amazon for about 30 bucks.

Man, I gotta say, as long as you've got a fairly quiet  listening environment? These are about the best 30 bucks anybody could spend on headphones, outperforming many others costing much much more.

My other cans are Grado GS1000's and Shure SE535's; also have a set of Beyer T1's in the house and some LCD-3's (my roommates cans) and so I don't compliment 30 dollar headphones very often. But trust me, I'd take these portapros over a whole lot of cans costing far more. 

But for truly portable listening? I mean, moving around, driving, commuting, working out and doing anything really where there's a lot of ambient noise? I don't think they are nearly so good as a good pair of isolating IEM's or closed cans ... they just leak too much (extremely open sounding). 

But as a second pair of desktop, portables? For the office and what not? Shiza ... can't go wrong. Great sound across the range (really surprised at the bass presence) and highly responsive to EQing (I'm using them with a Cowon J3 and add a few notches to either end of the freq range). Again, 30 bucks is insane. And being a child of the 80's (graduated HS in 86), I totally dig the robotic like, retro looks.

Agreed, I've got full sized and IEM's that retail for quadruple the PortaPro's and I rarely even bother with them anymore. So much fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah 

Just got a set of these off of Amazon for about 30 bucks.

 

Man, I gotta say, as long as you've got a fairly quiet  listening environment? These are about the best 30 bucks anybody could spend on headphones, outperforming many others costing much much more.

 

My other cans are Grado GS1000's and Shure SE535's; also have a set of Beyer T1's in the house and some LCD-3's (my roommates cans) and so I don't compliment 30 dollar headphones very often. But trust me, I'd take these portapros over a whole lot of cans costing far more. 

 

But for truly portable listening? I mean, moving around, driving, commuting, working out and doing anything really where there's a lot of ambient noise? I don't think they are nearly so good as a good pair of isolating IEM's or closed cans ... they just leak too much (extremely open sounding). 

 

But as a second pair of desktop, portables? For the office and what not? Shiza ... can't go wrong. Great sound across the range (really surprised at the bass presence) and highly responsive to EQing (I'm using them with a Cowon J3 and add a few notches to either end of the freq range). Again, 30 bucks is insane. And being a child of the 80's (graduated HS in 86), I totally dig the robotic like, retro looks.

Driving while listening to headphones is illegal in CA, I believe. At some point, we have to realize that it's probably not a good idea to be using headphones 24/7. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by newphones 

 

Driving while listening to headphones is illegal in CA, I believe. At some point, we have to realize that it's probably not a good idea to be using headphones 24/7. 

 Well that's about the... (censored) ... thing I've read all day.

;-)

I only a few words to say in response to that:

...

(I'll probably get hit by a dump truck while running with my IEM's but it would be a good death,  an honorable death)

;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1rrah 

Just got a set of these off of Amazon for about 30 bucks.

 

Man, I gotta say, as long as you've got a fairly quiet  listening environment? These are about the best 30 bucks anybody could spend on headphones, outperforming many others costing much much more.

 

My other cans are Grado GS1000's and Shure SE535's; also have a set of Beyer T1's in the house and some LCD-3's (my roommates cans) and so I don't compliment 30 dollar headphones very often. But trust me, I'd take these portapros over a whole lot of cans costing far more. 

 

But for truly portable listening? I mean, moving around, driving, commuting, working out and doing anything really where there's a lot of ambient noise? I don't think they are nearly so good as a good pair of isolating IEM's or closed cans ... they just leak too much (extremely open sounding). 

 

But as a second pair of desktop, portables? For the office and what not? Shiza ... can't go wrong. Great sound across the range (really surprised at the bass presence) and highly responsive to EQing (I'm using them with a Cowon J3 and add a few notches to either end of the freq range). Again, 30 bucks is insane. And being a child of the 80's (graduated HS in 86), I totally dig the robotic like, retro looks.

They are the most amazing little set of cans for the money with a really great Bass presence for the size of them.

The only thing I don't like is how bad they leak sound and it doesn't take much volume for others to hear what your listening too... other than that did I mention that these are the most amazing little set of cans!

     Quote:

Originally Posted by newphones 

 

Driving while listening to headphones is illegal in CA, I believe. At some point, we have to realize that it's probably not a good idea to be using headphones 24/7. 

Thanks MOM, we'll all keep that in mind while where out and about amongst the texting drivers and the DUI people...