Monkeyk2010
100+ Head-Fier
Thanks for the reply, some reading todo 
Koss KPH30i appreciation thread
- Thread starter waynes world
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Monkeyk2010
100+ Head-Fier
I ordered the SP330, it my country is 20 euro incl shipping, i think its a steal for that money 
Maybe a little glue but i will try to fix it if it breaks.
Maybe a little glue
but i will try to fix it if it breaks.
waynes world
Headphoneus Supremus
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Fyi, the SP330's are on sale at Koss for $50 US right now (the SP530's are $55). I'd consider snagging a pair, but shipping to Canada, along with the exchange rate, dampens the enthusiasm.
LaughMoreDaily
Headphoneus Supremus
$50!?!? I saw them on KOSS's USA website a few days ago for $25USD.
I ordered the SP330, it my country is 20 euro incl shipping, i think its a steal for that money
Maybe a little glue
Maybe you will start a trend with SP330 Grado bowl pad mods.
Re: their price. Yeah, they were $25 USD around black Friday week and also for a good chunk of December, too.
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B00MCVOSVM?context=search
Nick-s-f
100+ Head-Fier
Not sure if anyone knew, but its possible to transplant the kph30i drivers over to the P21 retrospekt "utility" headband. The old plastic headband is prone to cracking, ime.
Unlike with the PortaPro drivers that snap into the clips, you have to do the opposite and force the entire clip into the square hole in each cup. It goes in easily and holds in-place very well.
Unlike with the PortaPro drivers that snap into the clips, you have to do the opposite and force the entire clip into the square hole in each cup. It goes in easily and holds in-place very well.
Attachments
Awesome. Found a video on how to remove the cups, then another video on how to put them on the other headband.
Looks idiot proof and reversible if you don't like the results.
wildforest
Head-Fier
a bit silly question, but how would you compare these phones to sennheiser hd 201?
That looks super cool, and from the way you describe the effects on the sound, I think I would like it. What cheap headphones did you use for the outer shell? I just wanna make sure the pads u mentioned would fit. Plus, I'm looooooving that look.I bought another pair just for fun to test something that i want to do for HD25 also.
So i started with the low budget to see what happens.
I wanted to make a Semi open back Around Ear with angled drivers Koss30i.
I bought a cheap 8 euros headphone and Hybrid angled Brainwavz pads.
What i did is to find a cheap headphone with open air grills so the drivers can breath like the stock one , to help that i also take off the foam behind the drivers of the stock koss 30i . i measure the space for the driver and for pads to fit and it was ok for the money.this is the grills behind the plastic driver.
i use spacers so i can give space to the driver for breath.
i place the pads and they look like that.
It was just a test and honestly i LOVE it huge soundstage everything sounds fuller way more comfortable also something negative or positive for some people is the increased bass ...
I didnt like the added bass so i take of the driver and put inside foam baton and the bass get lower and more progressive so it was spot on for me.
I know that this is not a closed back headphone, but the final e500 sounds in the ball park of the regular stock kph30i, with less bass and soundstage. Most importantly to you, they have zero leakage being an iem.
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Monkeyk2010
100+ Head-Fier
I Know the final e serie very well. I have the e4000, e5000 and for the office the e3000. all very nice, but need alot of power to sound best. my order of the sp330 has been canceled... so for know just love my kph30i and ofcourse the rest of the collection
LaughMoreDaily
Headphoneus Supremus
Do you have the clear and non-clear 30i's? Is the clear just brighter (lack of foam)?my order of the sp330 has been canceled... so for now just love my kph30i and ofcourse the rest of the collection
What's your Koss collection like?
I have the KTXPro1, KSC75 (2), and Porta Pro.
Have you tried the Grado S earpads? I heard they're the best with Koss?
Do you also know what DAP's or dongles sound the best with the brand?
Monkeyk2010
100+ Head-Fier
Wow what a questions
.I don't have the clear kph30i.
I have one with the grado gs1000 pads and this is very nice, very spacious sound en feels great on the ears...
One kph30i white/blue just for the fun of it.
So I only have two kph30i, I wanted the sp330 but bad luck with that.
I use the ifi go blu with the koss kph30i, it has160mw out of the single ended output which helps the koss to sound best. I still want to rebuild one kph30i with mmcx connectors so i can use them balanced. Before the ifi I had a shanling m3x which I personally didn't like, it was to metallic sounding. I also use the btr5 2021 alot but for me the ifi is a better sounding, natural sounding device
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LaughMoreDaily
Headphoneus Supremus
You have two Koss headphones that sound the same? Cool. But you're Koss-prived! Time for you to try the KPH40 at least.Wow what a questions
I don't have the clear kph30i. One kph30i white/blue just for the fun of it.
So I only have two kph30i, I wanted the sp330 but bad luck with that.
I still want to rebuild one kph30i with mmcx connectors so i can use them balanced.
Since you only have two Koss with the same sound I would get bouncing on your balanced project. It seems like you need and deserve it.
Thanks for the info on the iFi GoBlu sounding better then the Shanling M3X.
I mainly just use my Shanling Q1 (3.5mm) with Koss so you're definitely getting a better 3.5mm audio experience with your BTR5K and iFiGoBlu and wow... you have a M3X too? Too lucky.
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So I ordered a KPH30i Gray (regular one) and KPH30i Clear. I listened to them back to back from same source (apple iphone dongle), same songs, etc., and then I tried them with the $11 grado pads. I ended up preferring the sound of the stock gray KPH30i, so I did not remove the stock foam pads in front of its driver because that would be pretty much irreversible. I did, however, remove the foam in front of the clear to see what would happen.
I made a graphic trying to illustrate everything that I heard.
These are NOT measured frequency responses or anything objective. They are simply what I felt that I heard. Going into this, know that I am very treble sensitive and personally prefer a warm tilted sound with a boosted sub bass shelf.
First, I AB'd the stock gray and stock clear. The gray sounds to me like a gradual downward slope from the lows to highs, with a surprisingly satisfying amount of bass, warm tilted mids, and highs that were always present but never fatiguing.
The clear sounded like a gradual upward slope from the lows to highs, with bass that was present but not quite to the level I prefer, almost perfectly balanced mids, and highs that were always present, more so than the grays, but again never fatiguing.
Soundstage, imaging, and everything else felt nearly identical.
The main difference between the grays and clears and the reason I prefer the grays is that they have much more bass level and impact compared to the clears, and the upper mids and treble are right where I like them to be in the grays while its a hair forward for my liking in the clears.
Then, I cut a slit for the wires in a pair of the grado pads and tried both pairs of KPH30i's with them on. With the pads on, you have to crank the volume a good bit higher to reach the same volume as before. The soundstage opens up a hair, but I never felt that it really opened up as much as the hype train (cough cough...z reviews, dms, etc) would lead you to believe. The stock KPH30i's are reasonably comfortable, and while the grado pads do make them insanely comfortable, the effect they have on the sound is not to my liking.
For the grays with the pads, the bass kinda stayed the same, with maybe a little more of an open feel. The mids and lower mids were very scooped out, and the upper mids kinda stayed the same, leaving them to sound a little more forward. The treble felt very boosted, spiky, and kind of forceful.
For the clears with the pads, they were just absolute treble canons, and I listened no further.
So far, the stock KPH30i's were my favorite, so I took off the grado pads and left them stock.
Because didnt see myself using the clears very often, I decided to remove their stock foam pads in front of the drivers to see if doing so would cut down on the aggressive treble any and offer any other improvements (with the gado pads on of course).
And boy it did! The treble was sort of at the same level, but it was no longer forceful and spiky. It was still very present but now it was smooth, detailed, and clear. The soundstage did open up a tad more, and the mids came back up just a little more. The bass was exactly where the stock clears was. I would describe the clears as now sort of linear neutral but with a large treble boost, especially in the upper treble.
edit:
The treble has just been too much, and I cant seem to eq it right, so I super glued the stock pads back on the clears. Sooo much better. The grays and clears sound really close to each other. I do still stand by my statement that the grays sound like a gentle downward slope and the clears sound like a gental upward one. Now, I usually use the stock gray KPH30i to listen to music and the clear when gaming. Sometimes, i want a little more clarity amd energy, so i go with the clears, and other times, I wanna kick back and zone out from the world with the grays. (In college and broke, so this setup will do for now haha actually pretty satisfied with it. I take my final e500's with me to class and on the road. love em)
I made a graphic trying to illustrate everything that I heard.
These are NOT measured frequency responses or anything objective. They are simply what I felt that I heard. Going into this, know that I am very treble sensitive and personally prefer a warm tilted sound with a boosted sub bass shelf.
First, I AB'd the stock gray and stock clear. The gray sounds to me like a gradual downward slope from the lows to highs, with a surprisingly satisfying amount of bass, warm tilted mids, and highs that were always present but never fatiguing.
The clear sounded like a gradual upward slope from the lows to highs, with bass that was present but not quite to the level I prefer, almost perfectly balanced mids, and highs that were always present, more so than the grays, but again never fatiguing.
Soundstage, imaging, and everything else felt nearly identical.
The main difference between the grays and clears and the reason I prefer the grays is that they have much more bass level and impact compared to the clears, and the upper mids and treble are right where I like them to be in the grays while its a hair forward for my liking in the clears.
Then, I cut a slit for the wires in a pair of the grado pads and tried both pairs of KPH30i's with them on. With the pads on, you have to crank the volume a good bit higher to reach the same volume as before. The soundstage opens up a hair, but I never felt that it really opened up as much as the hype train (cough cough...z reviews, dms, etc) would lead you to believe. The stock KPH30i's are reasonably comfortable, and while the grado pads do make them insanely comfortable, the effect they have on the sound is not to my liking.
For the grays with the pads, the bass kinda stayed the same, with maybe a little more of an open feel. The mids and lower mids were very scooped out, and the upper mids kinda stayed the same, leaving them to sound a little more forward. The treble felt very boosted, spiky, and kind of forceful.
For the clears with the pads, they were just absolute treble canons, and I listened no further.
So far, the stock KPH30i's were my favorite, so I took off the grado pads and left them stock.
Because didnt see myself using the clears very often, I decided to remove their stock foam pads in front of the drivers to see if doing so would cut down on the aggressive treble any and offer any other improvements (with the gado pads on of course).
And boy it did! The treble was sort of at the same level, but it was no longer forceful and spiky. It was still very present but now it was smooth, detailed, and clear. The soundstage did open up a tad more, and the mids came back up just a little more. The bass was exactly where the stock clears was. I would describe the clears as now sort of linear neutral but with a large treble boost, especially in the upper treble.
edit:
The treble has just been too much, and I cant seem to eq it right, so I super glued the stock pads back on the clears. Sooo much better. The grays and clears sound really close to each other. I do still stand by my statement that the grays sound like a gentle downward slope and the clears sound like a gental upward one. Now, I usually use the stock gray KPH30i to listen to music and the clear when gaming. Sometimes, i want a little more clarity amd energy, so i go with the clears, and other times, I wanna kick back and zone out from the world with the grays. (In college and broke, so this setup will do for now haha
actually pretty satisfied with it. I take my final e500's with me to class and on the road. love em)
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