KOSS ESP-950 Thread

[Ham Sandwich]

That's a mistake. Unless you're listening to 2k+ in gear the Koss will embarrass whatever you've been listening to in the interim.

The Koss ESP 950 system isn't that level of giant killer. The Koss has a niche where it is neat listening and interesting to have. But it's not an all-rounder and has some notable performance limits. I think it's the energizer that is holding it back. The amp isn't a transparent window to the source. It's veiled and keeps you from being able to hear things like subtle differences between DACs or differences in recording quality of an album. The amp struggles and loses control when the music gets big and busy. It's good with a chamber quartet, but soundstage and dynamics and imaging will collapse with a full orchestra. If I'm listening to a classical orchestra I can do better with a HD650 and a $500 amp. You don't need to spend $2K in gear to out perform the Koss.

One of these days I'd like to be able to hear the headphone with a much better amp. Cause I'm sure the headphone itself is more capable and the Koss energizer is holding it back.

 

[timb5881]

The Koss ESP 950 system isn't that level of giant killer. The Koss has a niche where it is neat listening and interesting to have. But it's not an all-rounder and has some notable performance limits. I think it's the energizer that is holding it back. The amp isn't a transparent window to the source. It's veiled and keeps you from being able to hear things like subtle differences between DACs or differences in recording quality of an album. The amp struggles and loses control when the music gets big and busy. It's good with a chamber quartet, but soundstage and dynamics and imaging will collapse with a full orchestra. If I'm listening to a classical orchestra I can do better with a HD650 and a $500 amp. You don't need to spend $2K in gear to out perform the Koss.

One of these days I'd like to be able to hear the headphone with a much better amp. Cause I'm sure the headphone itself is more capable and the Koss energizer is holding it back.

I have the ESP950 and the HD6xx, both are excellent but both are not perfect. The ESP950 with a Stax transformer and a Cary Rocket 88 sounds stunning.

 

[dirtrat]

That's a mistake. Unless you're listening to 2k+ in gear the Koss will embarrass whatever you've been listening to in the interim.

In my situation it's not a mistake and believe me it won't embarrass what I'm currently using. Look at my tag in my post to see what my headphone system is. I agree the ESP-950's are a great value but I just don't listen to them anymore. I did have many years of use from them and definitely got my money's worth from them.

 

[Allanmarcus]

That's a mistake. Unless you're listening to 2k+ in gear the Koss will embarrass whatever you've been listening to in the interim.

look at his signature. He's way past $2k

 

[Kukuk]

These are such an interesting headphone, I regretted trading them on. I've been waiting for a set to pop up on the FS board, but no luck, so I ended up just biting the bullet and ordering a pair during Koss's black friday sale. I remember them being a pretty poor value, even at $600, but I really couldn't help but like them.

My feelings in a nut shell:

 

[Kukuk]

I dunno if Koss changed something, or I'm taking crazy pills, but the bass seems waaaaay better on these than I remember.

I was daily driving the Arya before these arrived, and the step down in bass is really not that noticeable. It's a little down in level, to be sure, but there's a far more jarring difference going from the Arya, to, say, the Sundara.

 

[Svperstar]

My Koss 95X developed an issue where if you jiggled the cable the right headphone would go up and down in volume, and also got the dreaded buzzing noise coming from the energizer.

I sent them off Wednesday before last with a check for $9, they were delivered last Friday to Koss. I called them Tuesday for a status update. They let me know they were being worked on and should ship out soon. I asked them to please ship them back USPS. They said they would email me a tracking number.

They showed back up at my place today sent USPS 2 Day priority and I wasn't charged for that, never got a tracking number but no biggie. New cable and I am not hearing the buzzing anymore.

The most annoying thing with the 95X is the horrible volume knob which you will always slightly knock off balance. I got a little preamp with a volume knob that has tubes. It takes a minute to power up as the tubes turn on. Instead of using the built in volume knob on the 95X I just use my little tube preamps knob:

 

[Svperstar]

Is anyone else using a preamp as a volume control for the 950/X? Any particular model? I can't be the only one.

 

[adeadcrab]

Is anyone else using a preamp as a volume control for the 950/X? Any particular model? I can't be the only one.

I still need to send my 95X back for repairs (loaned to family and they damaged the cable to one earcup)
I have both the Gustard P26 with Burson Vivid opamps and the Topping A90D to use as preamps.

 

[doctorjazz]

Haven't used my Koss in quite a while, (mostly using iems, or my Hifiman HEK v2 or HE-560), but couldn't stand that volume control either, so I got a Stax srm-323 for it (you need an adaptor for the cable, Stax and Koss connect differently). I did like using it, but it's just too much trouble to go back and forth connecting sources, etc...

 

[vmiguel]

Haven't used my Koss in quite a while, (mostly using iems, or my Hifiman HEK v2 or HE-560), but couldn't stand that volume control either, so I got a Stax srm-323 for it (you need an adaptor for the cable, Stax and Koss connect differently). I did like using it, but it's just too much trouble to go back and forth connecting sources, etc...

Can you please point me to that adaptor?
TIA

 

[doctorjazz]

It's ages ago, but here's the cab'e I purchased way back when...
https://fongaudio.com/store/default/koss-esp-950-to-stax-5-pin-adapter-cable.html
(I think it's more expensive now, but fongaudio was who I purchased from).

 

[Svperstar]

Haven't used my Koss in quite a while, (mostly using iems, or my Hifiman HEK v2 or HE-560), but couldn't stand that volume control either, so I got a Stax srm-323 for it (you need an adaptor for the cable, Stax and Koss connect differently). I did like using it, but it's just too much trou

The cool thing with my new RME ADI-2 is now I don't have to swap cables to listen to the Koss so I imagine I will use it more. I've heard rumors that the issue with the Koss electrostats is the energizer box not the headphones.

 

[Svperstar]

Wow I feel extremely stupid. Since I got them back from Koss I have been using the 95X a lot more then I did before I sent them(obviously since they were damaged)

Today I put them on and they sounded so thin and horrible. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I thought my little $49 tube preamp might be going so I recabled taking it out of the loop. Sound issues remained. My favorite songs sounded so unnatural.

.....then I remembered last night I played games with friends and I had turned on Loudness Equalization. Loudness Equalization is fantastic for detecting enemies in games but terrible for music. Turned it off and everything was better.

 

[Svperstar]

I still need to send my 95X back for repairs (loaned to family and they damaged the cable to one earcup)

I was impressed that they were gone for almost exactly one week, fixed for $9 even tho I got them in 2019