[stevenswall]

Recieved an E-mail for these, wondering if anyone has checked them out. I can verify that they are not available at retail locations of BestBuy, I checked today. The cable seems to be attached to the earphone without an interconnect, perhaps sacrificing durability for convienience?
 
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Koss+-+Insider+Pulse+Earbud+Headphones+-+Black/Silver/9936247.p?id=1218198487164&skuId=9936247&st=pulse&contract_desc=null
 
 

 

[stevenswall]

Checked B-Buy yesterday... and they are now in stock. Very minimalistic packaging. apparently the housing is aluminum, and the back of the speaker capsule has rubber strain relief. Very thin cables from what I can see through the package.

 

[David58117]

I'm tempted to pick these up as I have $15 off due to reward zone coupon, and I'm looking for a beater pair to exercise in, might as well try them out.
 
Either that or portapros, but I'm more into iems..

 

[stevenswall]

You could always try both, just for kicks, though I doubt it will sound as good as the Portapro... just return the Insider to B-Buy if you don't like it. After doing a review on Headfi of course!

 

[BubbaBob]

Bought a pair 2 weeks ago. In fact, they do sound a lot like PortaPros and beat anything else in this price range and then some. None of the rubber that came with it fit me well but I dug out some extra double-flanges I had lying around and now they fit much better. Nice strong bottom that doesn't colorize the mids. Good highs, very nice imaging. I don't know how long I have until the cords rip out of them, though
.

 

[BubbaBob]

Why is everything on the net about these written in Russian and why  aren't they on Koss's website?

 

[tdockweiler]

Might pick up a pair of these tomorrow since I'm already so impressed with their other pulse series headphones. Hopefully these sound like the Porta Pro's and UR-55.
 
Wonder if you can "upgrade" the inserts on these. Perhaps get some comply foam to work with them. Probably not.

 

[BubbaBob]

The inserts have a standard sized hole. I upgraded mine out of my collection of spare insets with no trouble. I think they sound a lot like PortaPros (or at least SportaPros, which is the variant I own).

 

[tdockweiler]

I bought a pair of these on sale yesterday for $24.99. Not a bad deal for the sound quality you get.
What's nice is that they're compatible with the Comply Foam T-400. Those are the same tips that my RE0 uses.
 
The overall sound signature is good. Vocals seem a tad bit recessed so far at times, but it may have been just the songs I tried. The biggest negative is that with these tips they have an insane amount of bass. WAY too much on bass heavy songs. Even a bass reduction EQ setting doesn't do much. Perhaps it's just because of these tips I'm using.
 
If you love a lot of bass, these have some of the most bass out of any IEM i've tried. They even have more bass then the M50s!
 

 

[BubbaBob]

The vocals will come up as they burn in. As for bass-heavy response from bass-heavy source material, maybe you need a change of source material <g>.
 
The extra bass seems to be well below the usual 250 Hz bass hump region.  It sounds like an extension of response rather than a non-linearity.
 
The comply tips may be excessive. Then tips that come with it don't fit my ears at all but regular double-flanges seem to be just about right.

 

[tdockweiler]

I think I may try some of the other tips. I just have always hated using plastic inserts that most earbuds come with. The comply foam is the most comfortable insert to me. Maybe this makes them so bass heavy, who knows. The largest tip that comes on the earbuds wouldn't even fit my ear. I'm sure the smaller one will.
 
Other then the bass, the overall sound quality is very good.
 

 

[nikc4]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I got around to buying these and I am pleased with the sound.  The comply tips are probably your problem, they add to bass on any earbud.  I have found that the sound is much better when hooked up to a Fiio e5 (bass switch off), even though they have a low impedance and I'm using a samsung p3,  it seems to make a difference. I have the cord looped over the ear as well. Found burn in to be negligible, with the most difference being in the first 10-20 minutes of use, and going away after that.  Overall, i prefer these over my super.fi 3s or ep-630s and find them a good portable counterpart to my m50s.  
 
My two cents,
Nick

 

[swaffleman]

I just got these today. I've been looking for a good sounding, but good fitting ear bud since I started working out. I've been searching a lot, and the biggest issue is finding a pair that both stayed in my ears well with good comfort and that also sounded good.
 
I got these koss today and I have to say that I was really happy with the sound. Like someone else said, they sound like the porta pro. I'd say their sound is a little more "boxy" than the porta pro, like the sound stage is much more contained. I suppose that's because they are ear buds rather than an actual pair of headphones. But things like drums sound a bit "cut off", as though they don't extend enough. However, the balance is really good, and the detail is actually quite clear, even though these seem to try to create a mixture of sound, sort of like something with actual sound stage. But it doesn't reduce clarity. They work well with all types of music, and get loud enough. The overall quality of sound seems spacious and natural.
 
I was initially disappointed with the fit, but I decided to take them home and mess with the ear tips on them. The thing is, I have accumulated a couple of very cheap pairs of ear buds in my quest and one of them was the JVC marshmallow, which had the memory foam tips. I didn't take the JVC back since I was thinking that it was the best I was going to do with the sound/fit/comfort ratio for the money.
 
Anyway, I put some really thin bands of electrical tape around the part where the tips go over the speakers (so as to stabilize the memory foam tips, otherwise they would slide around on the housing), and widened the marshmallow tips enough to put them on the Koss. They work perfectly...they stay in my ears so easily now and they isolate like ear plugs. I also noticed a little bump in the bass after doing this, but it isn't too much. It's probably not as much as with these so called comply tips I hear about. But the electrical tape around the speaker housing does its job, as the memory foam tips don't rotate around on the housing, and they aren't so narrow as to not allow the sound to leave the speaker uninhibited. I can wear them for a long time and be fine with them.
 
I'm very happy with these, although I sort of think that I should not have to rig the ear tips to get them to be ideal. Anyone know where I can get some replacement JVC marshmallow tips?