Blighty
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
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[size=small]Koss KSC-35[/size]
Aesthetics, Construction, Ergonomics
The earphones come in a plastic shell case that has the slogan "mp3me Stereophone" written on the top and the message, "Delivers deep bass from
your CD, DAT, MP3 and other portable players", labelled on the lower portion as well. It seemed really gimmicky from the get-go and I was wondering if all those who wrote favourably of them were being "polite". At first glance these earphones appear to be really cheaply constructed. A second glance and I am wondering whether these are worth the $54CAD($34USD) I paid for them locally. The cables are quite short at 4.5ft(not for home use out of a receiver), ultra-cheap, and thin while the foam ear paddings are abrasive to the touch. Added to the luxurious factor -- the earclips are made of sharp, thin black plastic that really isn't very comfortable. Incidentally, the packaging also mentioned that these phones "clip securely around your ear for the ultimate in listening comfort". I agreed about the secure part at least. Combined with the generic black plastic housings of the drivers, the KSC-35 seems to have cheap written in large white letters on the sides rather than "Koss". The only redeeming factor was that they were very light and secure on your ears once you figured out how to position them properly. They fit well and will not fall off your ears when on the go or even during strenuous exercise. Oh, the faux leather carrying bag was a nice touch and may be the only material thing included that had any class
Specifications
There was nothing special about their specs on paper. Sensitivity is listed at 101dB SPL/1mW. Impedance was fairly low at 60 ohms and are easy to drive out of your typical portable player. Frequency response is listed as 15-25000Hz. Despite the higher impedance and sensitivity of 101 these phones can easily be driven to insanely loud levels. They easily reached 106dB at regular listening distance from the ear and 117dB at the driver. What did surprise me was the fact that the Left and Right drivers were matched within 1dB. I guess QC at Koss must be improving as my old(and more expensive) Koss R/100 headphones had a driver discrepancy of at least 6dB. Bravo Koss.
Sonic Characteristics
Right out of the packaging the KSC-35s sounded pretty good. There were no quickly discernable glaring flaws in their frequency spectrum (15-25000Hz) from a short, casual listening session. Frequency response listed is slightly exaggerated but that is also expected. You would have a hard time hearing 15hz on these earphones at comparative, normal listening volumes. The soundstage is unimpressive and tends toward the narrow end. Complex passages of music were presented adequately though a little lacking in separation and imaging. After a short, casual listening session these were left for a break-in period of roughly 60hrs of full-range frequency sweeps. I cannot attest to whether there was a significantly noticeable appreciation of sound quality but I tend to burn-in all new headphones -- some for as much as 100hrs with short listening breaks in between to check for improvement.
Highs
The Upper midrange to high end are clear and sharp although lacking in refinement and definition. There is no noticeable sibilant effect on vocals
except in the worst recordings and only a hint of harshness in the high end. Cymbals were portrayed competently if a bit mechanically. Flutes lacked a sense of openness and decay off of trailing notes but those are difficult to produce well even with most good headphones.
Mids
The overall impression of the mid-range is that it is uneventful and bordering on dull, distant sounding. Clarity is only mediocre while ultimate
detail and depth in vocals and stringed instruments are missing. The subtle nuances of female vocals, guitar and piano that even the entry level Grados excel at are not produced well with the KSC-35s. Horned instruments also suffered from the same problems as the flutes for trailing end notes that higher-end Sennheisers seem to produce well due to their airy quality. Sadly, it just does not portray the nuances of music very well in the mid-range which is quite important to most types of music.
Lows
Lower mids and upperbass have a good sense of impact and tightness. However, the midbass becomes rather boomy, muddy, losing its definition and leading into a rather dislocated low bass that seems to have lost its cohesion with the main body of the music. Extreme low frequency response was very weak to non-existent but this was as expected. Bass seems to be one the strengths of the KSC-35s drivers and is marketed as such but one should not expect 16mm drivers to produce extreme low bass that is felt as a sensation rather than heard. But a pair of cost-effective earphones, they sure go lower and with more pronounced effect than any other pair of earbuds I have ever listened to.
Putting it Together
Although there are earphones that perform specific tasks better than the KSC-35, for overall versatility in a portable application, they are quite ideal. Despite my criticisms of their absolute sound, I think it is justified especially in light of all the praise they have garnered, that I offer a more critical opinion of them in comparison to a reference level which I have in my mind and which other headphones have established in each of their niches and for prices costing up to ten times as much. The KSC-35 will play a wide variety of music well from classical,jazz, rock, and contemporary pop to country, folk, techno, dance and newage. In short, they are pretty neutral phones compared with the rest of the Koss lightweights using the same drivers. Although they do over-emphasize bass intentionally, we can almost forgive them for doing so since it is an element that is missing from all portable earphones ranging from $2 to $160
. Sure, there are the Etymotic ER4P/S canal phones but many people dislike their high isolation and microphonic effect for on-the-go applications while others do not want to deal with their finicky seal issues, feeling of a foreign object in your ear, and difficulty in quickly removing and replacing them in public.
Final Words
The Koss KSC-35 exhibits superior value for its performance especially against most consumer oriented earbuds commonly available at your local B&M. Not to add to the hype surrounding these earphones but they do compete well with a lot of full-size headphones in the sub-$100USD range and even beat most of them despite their tiny drivers and cheap look. It seems ironic that their ultimate ugliness is inversely proportional to their sonic performance which all in all is directly reversed with brands like Sony that place much more emphasis into aesthetics and marketing than fidelity. They are no longer being stocked by most retailers online or local so grab a pair while you can for they are surely worth their price and more for portable use.
Aesthetics, Construction, Ergonomics
The earphones come in a plastic shell case that has the slogan "mp3me Stereophone" written on the top and the message, "Delivers deep bass from
your CD, DAT, MP3 and other portable players", labelled on the lower portion as well. It seemed really gimmicky from the get-go and I was wondering if all those who wrote favourably of them were being "polite". At first glance these earphones appear to be really cheaply constructed. A second glance and I am wondering whether these are worth the $54CAD($34USD) I paid for them locally. The cables are quite short at 4.5ft(not for home use out of a receiver), ultra-cheap, and thin while the foam ear paddings are abrasive to the touch. Added to the luxurious factor -- the earclips are made of sharp, thin black plastic that really isn't very comfortable. Incidentally, the packaging also mentioned that these phones "clip securely around your ear for the ultimate in listening comfort". I agreed about the secure part at least. Combined with the generic black plastic housings of the drivers, the KSC-35 seems to have cheap written in large white letters on the sides rather than "Koss". The only redeeming factor was that they were very light and secure on your ears once you figured out how to position them properly. They fit well and will not fall off your ears when on the go or even during strenuous exercise. Oh, the faux leather carrying bag was a nice touch and may be the only material thing included that had any class
Specifications
There was nothing special about their specs on paper. Sensitivity is listed at 101dB SPL/1mW. Impedance was fairly low at 60 ohms and are easy to drive out of your typical portable player. Frequency response is listed as 15-25000Hz. Despite the higher impedance and sensitivity of 101 these phones can easily be driven to insanely loud levels. They easily reached 106dB at regular listening distance from the ear and 117dB at the driver. What did surprise me was the fact that the Left and Right drivers were matched within 1dB. I guess QC at Koss must be improving as my old(and more expensive) Koss R/100 headphones had a driver discrepancy of at least 6dB. Bravo Koss.
Sonic Characteristics
Right out of the packaging the KSC-35s sounded pretty good. There were no quickly discernable glaring flaws in their frequency spectrum (15-25000Hz) from a short, casual listening session. Frequency response listed is slightly exaggerated but that is also expected. You would have a hard time hearing 15hz on these earphones at comparative, normal listening volumes. The soundstage is unimpressive and tends toward the narrow end. Complex passages of music were presented adequately though a little lacking in separation and imaging. After a short, casual listening session these were left for a break-in period of roughly 60hrs of full-range frequency sweeps. I cannot attest to whether there was a significantly noticeable appreciation of sound quality but I tend to burn-in all new headphones -- some for as much as 100hrs with short listening breaks in between to check for improvement.
Highs
The Upper midrange to high end are clear and sharp although lacking in refinement and definition. There is no noticeable sibilant effect on vocals
except in the worst recordings and only a hint of harshness in the high end. Cymbals were portrayed competently if a bit mechanically. Flutes lacked a sense of openness and decay off of trailing notes but those are difficult to produce well even with most good headphones.
Mids
The overall impression of the mid-range is that it is uneventful and bordering on dull, distant sounding. Clarity is only mediocre while ultimate
detail and depth in vocals and stringed instruments are missing. The subtle nuances of female vocals, guitar and piano that even the entry level Grados excel at are not produced well with the KSC-35s. Horned instruments also suffered from the same problems as the flutes for trailing end notes that higher-end Sennheisers seem to produce well due to their airy quality. Sadly, it just does not portray the nuances of music very well in the mid-range which is quite important to most types of music.
Lows
Lower mids and upperbass have a good sense of impact and tightness. However, the midbass becomes rather boomy, muddy, losing its definition and leading into a rather dislocated low bass that seems to have lost its cohesion with the main body of the music. Extreme low frequency response was very weak to non-existent but this was as expected. Bass seems to be one the strengths of the KSC-35s drivers and is marketed as such but one should not expect 16mm drivers to produce extreme low bass that is felt as a sensation rather than heard. But a pair of cost-effective earphones, they sure go lower and with more pronounced effect than any other pair of earbuds I have ever listened to.
Putting it Together
Although there are earphones that perform specific tasks better than the KSC-35, for overall versatility in a portable application, they are quite ideal. Despite my criticisms of their absolute sound, I think it is justified especially in light of all the praise they have garnered, that I offer a more critical opinion of them in comparison to a reference level which I have in my mind and which other headphones have established in each of their niches and for prices costing up to ten times as much. The KSC-35 will play a wide variety of music well from classical,jazz, rock, and contemporary pop to country, folk, techno, dance and newage. In short, they are pretty neutral phones compared with the rest of the Koss lightweights using the same drivers. Although they do over-emphasize bass intentionally, we can almost forgive them for doing so since it is an element that is missing from all portable earphones ranging from $2 to $160
Final Words
The Koss KSC-35 exhibits superior value for its performance especially against most consumer oriented earbuds commonly available at your local B&M. Not to add to the hype surrounding these earphones but they do compete well with a lot of full-size headphones in the sub-$100USD range and even beat most of them despite their tiny drivers and cheap look. It seems ironic that their ultimate ugliness is inversely proportional to their sonic performance which all in all is directly reversed with brands like Sony that place much more emphasis into aesthetics and marketing than fidelity. They are no longer being stocked by most retailers online or local so grab a pair while you can for they are surely worth their price and more for portable use.
