The titanium does not do much to help the sound of the headphones. In fact, these types of drivers have been used by Koss since the late 80's and it has had its share of problems over the years, and several people yesterday said the problems continue. The usual complaints are a very colored honky quacky sound, and I have also noted this phenomenon on the Koss phones I have used. You will note that Koss uses a very thin diaphragm, which can extend the high frequencies but also results in a tubby peaky bass. Add in the overabundance of plastic surrounding the drivers and housing and you have a recipe for disaster. Having said that, I do think that Koss offers very good value for money, but the coloration problems persist and some might not find them acceptable at any price range. YMMV.

Actually,

The "titanium" diaphram made its debut in the original Koss Portapro Jrs that were relabeled for sale by Sears, J.C. Penney's and Radio Shack in 1982 under the name "metafilm."

The marketing stratgem being supposed "superior sound and water resistance as these were designed for portable use with early walkmans such as the Sony Walkman 2 and the Toshiba KT-VS1."

The original portapro jrs suffered from a very discolored sound and high driver failure along with those damned custom stick on "sponge pads" which could only be replaced by sending them back to Koss.

Although the drivers were redesigned in 1983 using conventional cellulose, I could never understand why they never addressed the issue of the sponge design although in subsequent models, they did provide spare sponge sets for replacement.

Regarding the price difference between the KSC35 and the KSC50, weren't the 35s originally sold at the price t he 50s are now?

Nope,

Original price was 39.99 for the KSC-35.

Thanks, guys, for all of the input. I was hoping the knowledge of more experienced members would be able to shed light on why I was hearing differences between the 35s and the PortaPros. Hawkfire, you especially, came through. Thank you for providing so much detailed (and unexpected) info. I never thought the cables of these two cans could be different, but from your experience it appears as though they are different.

Next, I must apologize. In my original post I referred to the drivers (the actual materials that produce the sound) and their casing as one in the same and referred to them both simply as the drivers. This was my mistake and I’m sorry for the confusion. In my effort to (over) simplify things (always a mistake with audiophiles) I likely made things more confusing. I will now call the drivers along with their encasings together just "phones" in order to avoid confusion. Remember, though, that these "phones" are still different entities from the apparatuses which hold them onto the ears such as the 35s clips and the PPs headband.

By the information provided by you guys it seems that yes, the drivers (the actual sound producing diaphragms) are the identical in the both the PortaPro and the 35s (and the SportaPros) and for that matter so are the casings which surround each driver (except the casings of the 35s are black and the PortaPros’ blue). It appears, though, that it may be the wires which are the hidden culprit which can explain the differences in sound between these phones. This makes sense--if a headphone is not getting enough voltage or current the first thing to suffer is usually bass extension. Supply enough voltage and current and bass response returns. Because the PortaPro is receiving more voltage and current due to its thicker cabling this would explain why its bass response would be higher, and unfortunately too high for myself and many other head-fiers. This would also explain the higher treble extension which I have recently come to notice the PortaPro possess over the 35s. Treble extension is also known to improve with more voltage and current.

So is the mystery solved? Hopefully you guys can refine my non-technophile insights. I hope that we can lay to rest the idea that someone can achieve the sound of the 35s with PortaPros by positioning the drivers just right around the ear--something I have never able to accomplish .

Thanks,

Patrickhat2001

P.S.-- Macdef, in response to your point that identical phones may sound slightly different from each other based on anomalies during the manufacturing process I totally agree, but I think the chances are unlikely in this situation. My experience with the 35s and the PortaPros have been very similar to the experiences of many others on this forum, but you are right, anomalies could be playing a part. I have been contemplating ordering another pair of 35s so, hopefully, in the near future, I will be able to see if they sound identical to the 35s I already own.

P.S.S. I hope that tomorrow I will be able to get around to doing a detailed test to assess if the actual phones of the 35s and the PPs sound different when mounted on the PortaPro headband or the 35s ear-clips or when simply held to my ears.

Patrickhat2001, any updates on your findings? Maybe you can find out the gauge of the wires from the 35's and Porta's and then make a wire mod to change the phones: 35's ---> Portas or Portas ---> 35's. That would be really cool.

-Dan

Hehe, it stinks how real life always gets in the way of headphone comparisions. Anyway, sorry about the delay. So far my findings have been that the each phone sounds different when placed to my ears with either of the three methods. The sound from the PortaPro headband is the worst of the bunch--it gives each phone a darker tone that I really don't care for. This is especially evidant with the 35's drivers. The difference in sound between the 35's clips and holding the drivers with my fingers is minute but still there--on the 35 clips each phone sounds a wee bit darker in comparision, but both sound much better than the PortaPro headband.

I've got an idea as to why this may be so (besides the obvious placebo effect which I always tried to keep in mind)--the PortaPro headband has a lot of plastic about 1/4in behind where the phones attach to the band. The amount of plasic is almost as large as the drivers themselves (but has a small crecsant shaped area cut out). My idea is that sound is reflecting off of this plastic and back into the ear, mudding the sound. There is some plastic behind the phones (also about 1/4in away from the phones) on the 35 clips as well, but not nearly as much as with the PortaPro headband. And of course there is no plastic involved when I hold the phone to my ears--their is only the palms of my hands which varied from two to three inches inches away.

So in conclusion, it is my belief that the differences in sound between the KSC-35s and PortaPros are caused not only by the wiring but also by what means the phones are held to the ear. It has nothing to do with angle, pressure, or distance of the phones in relation to the ears--it has to do with how much plastic is 1/4 of an inch behind each phone.