Or if you have UR40s that die for whatever reason, it's good to revive them as UR-Pros by swapping the Portapro drivers into the driver housings, and to remove the foam padding from the back of the housing, opening the headphones up and showing the blue Portapro driver through the silver mesh, which would look really cool, especially with the solder plates exposed, as opposed to sounding great and being comfortable as hell.
And then get some KSC75s and PX200 earpads and attach those to the Portapro headband.
3 weeks in and the KSC-75's just get better. Have burned them in on classical and romantic for 100+ hours. On some recordings these phones are nearly binaural, with sounds coming clearly from my blind spot in both channels. The treble is clean, clear and free of most grain and Ssssibilance. Mid-range is accurate if not lush and rich. Bass is there but trails off as these cans have no cup to form a resonate cavity against ones ear. Great extraction of detail. Benefits from amplification. Works very well with my old mobile phone - sounds very good with that pairing on 320kps mp3's.
Treble detail and sparkle are outstanding.
The only issue is that the clips don't get optimum clamp on some peoples' heads, hence the parts express headband mod. I prefer to not do that, as the lack of mechanical connection prevents all inter-channel resonance and thus is why they have such excellent separation and sound-stage. Press the cups against your ears and hear the lower mid and the bass improve.
They are very good down to about 70hz, then trail off down to 40hz.
A headband would fix some of this.
I bought them in Asia for $34/205RMB.
For $10 USD you have no excuse to not buy one or two pairs and enjoy.
A re cable would be wise as the wire feels far too frail and will likely rip out accidentally as the clips and wire cause a huge tangle of cable and the wire is very thin.
These equal the performance of many $150 headphones.
In public they have huge amounts of ambient bleed through. You can easily hear everything going on around you, no isolation.
Detailed, light and airy is how I would describe them.
Not for bass-heads, and most styles - classical, some rock and EDM - will not get the final kick from bass that you are used to with full size over the ear cans.
I just got my KSC75 today and they are AMAZING!!! They're have less boomy bass than the PortaPro (another amazing headphone which I'm about to Kramer mod) and I actually like the clip ons! Very light and make it a much more portable package. They won't resolve as much detail and aren't as smooth as my Fidelio X1 but for only $9.99 they probably put out about 90% of the sound quality of the X1. I'm very impressed. Everyone on Head-Fi needs to pick one of these up. For $9.99 how could you not?
I agree, they take you most of the way there. I recently bought some Sennheiser Momentums (over ear type) which are unambiguously better headphones overall but is there £200 worth of absolute difference between the headphone that retails here for £215 and the one that retails for £15? Definitely not. I think when you listen with a superior headphone you do get a better insight into the music and also an insight into where the KSC75's deficiencies lie, but when you put the Koss 'phones on and play the music they aren't any less impressive or enjoyable for that. If someone could take that airy, vivid and natural sound and reproduce it in a closed 'phone with some isolation and a more natural bass response they could get rich. At the other end of the price spectrum the KSC75 undermine various hyped up claims about other supposed budget priced marvels. If I lived somewhere quiet I would be satisfied enough using the KSC75s that I doubt I would be motivated to pay the extra for some seriously good closed headphones.
So I did a ghetto ass job of putting 17 holes into the grill of my PortaPros. Nearly destroyed the entire blue housing in my attempts to pry the grill off (obviously I was doing it wrong) but the bass is definitely not as boomy as before!
(pic of my shoddy workmanship )
The PortaPros are much more lush and fuller sounding than the KSC75. The KSC75s are more neutral and more sparkle at the top end. I love the contrast between the PortaPro and KSC75! They are a perfect companion set.
Going back to read through the threads to figure out what the Kramer mod does to the KSC75. Hopefully I won't do such a ghetto job with the mod this time around.
Whoops! I thought I was on the Kramer mod thread. LOL!!!
So I did a ghetto ass job of putting 17 holes into the grill of my PortaPros. Nearly destroyed the entire blue housing in my attempts to pry the grill off (obviously I was doing it wrong) but the bass is definitely not as boomy as before!
Been there, done that (actually detroyed my ksc75 drviers lol). The drivers are THIN! Gotta be careful, that's for sure.
The PortaPros are much more lush and fuller sounding than the KSC75. The KSC75s are more neutral and more sparkle at the top end. I love the contrast between the PortaPro and KSC75! They are a perfect companion set.
I never liked the PortaPro. I like the KSC75 at lot - its my go-to headphone whenever I am away from home (HD 800). They are by no means as good as the Senns, but they are very satisfying in their own way - mostly in the way they just disappear from my consciousness and let music come through.
I believe that it is a gigantic credit to Koss and KSC-75/35 drivers that these units still are being discussed/appreciated on HF in whatever context or modification we choose to expose them to . I do honestly mean this in a very positive way..
They have been around for years/decades and always received a unique/deserved attention on HF, multiple of threads/discussions all including the hype and the hate....It is somewhat a constant repeat or a deja vu to me and probably to a few other members but that is how it is... absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I have personally modded the hell out of multiple KSC 35/75 drivers in any kind of imaginable way or even unimaginable way... and many others have done the same. Great fun, but today I'm not sure if it sonic wise really benefited them that much...
I have moved on but on occasions I still come back to my old modified Koss units or the stock/unmodified ones and it somehow keeps my sanity/appreciation/value understanding intact... although it doesn't quite keep me from chasing the next level..
I picked up a Portapro during Amazon's recent $25.00 sale (which is still going, btw.)
Earlier in the thread I mentioned that I didn't like the fit of the parts express headband. Well, after listening to the Portapros for a while, I took the stock drivers off and mounted my Kramer and Quarter modded KSC75s on the headband. I'm speechless. They sound superlative, and while they'll never be a "fashion" headphone they actually look pretty nice (the silver back to the KSC75's peek through the open back of the headband and IMO look much better than the portapro blue).
I think it's worth it right now to buy a portapro for the headband and case alone.
Been listening to both my unmodded and Hiflight modded 75s all morning through my C3. Guys. If you don't own a pair, get one.
The stock 75s are just a joy to listen to. They're super lightweight, have a great SQ throughout the spectrum, oh and they cost between $10-20.
The Hiflights honestly are like a more refined older brother. The pseudo-Kramer mod + resin on the covers tames the treble and certainly smoothes the bass. The added impedance just seems to refine everything. And if you're curious, it doesn't push the power requirement over the portable-only edge. I can listen comfortably from the C3 or my iPhone 4S, no problemo.
Just a little Xmas Eve hype for the KSC75 owners out there.
While the new HD 558's I got today sound better, they sometimes will have to step aside to my Kramer + reverse Kramer modded KSC-75's with their funner sound presentation to my ears.
I'll be ripping off as much of the back section of my KSC-75's for fun and curiosity
First post though, pictures may not show up.
[Edit By Mod: Use the image icon (the mountain landscape) and put your URL in there]
As a long time member but infrequent participant, this forum has been an invaluable resource, helping me enjoy my love for music to the fullest. No particular bit of information has been more appreciated by me than the discovery of the merits of the Koss KSC75 headphones.
I’ve spent many hours reading the numerous posts and the generous people who shared their opinions and more importantly their alterations, transforming these good, inexpensive headphones into great, affordable ‘cans’.
May this video be a thank you to the innovators and helpful to those who are arriving late to the KSC75 party.
Great job with the video Gary! Especially enjoyed the patient and crucial way that you dealt with removing the diffuser and not puncturing the driver membrane.
I have just bought the orange A070B earphone from ebay, but the headband seems cannot be separated from the earphone itself, it is one pcs and unable to separate.
those who really wan to mod the headband, would suggest go for part express, i have yet to try it though.
I have just bought the orange A070B earphone from ebay, but the headband seems cannot be separated from the earphone itself, it is one pcs and unable to separate.
those who really wan to mod the headband, would suggest go for part express, i have yet to try it though.
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