[joe]

If you're looking for a tried-and-true budget headphone that sounds great and doesn't break the bank, you can easily look at the Koss Porta Pro. It's a legend in the community and a well-regarded headphone, especially at its $49.99 price point. Practically everyone has experienced or owned the Porta Pro least once in their Head-Fi lifetime. I am no exception. But when a package arrived at Head-Fi HQ with the Koss Porta Pro Wireless inside, I was naturally intrigued.

A wireless Porta Pro.

​

And thankfully, it sounds just like a Koss Porta Pro, but wireless.

I've spent a few hours comparing the Porta Pro Wireless with its wired predecessor, trying to look for any differences in sound, fit, and comfort. After a while, I forgot which one I was wearing. I was keeping one on my ears and the other around my neck, and after several blind switches, I lost track... but it didn't matter. The sound is that close to my ears.

So what's the difference?

To start, the light blue of the wired Porta Pro is now a strong royal blue on the Porta Pro Wireless. It's a more striking appearance, with the same headband and assembly. I prefer its styling over the standard Porta Pro, as well as the beige and black/gold limited edition versions that are also roaming around Head-Fi HQ.

The other difference in its style is the roughly 20-inch cord on the Porta Pro Wireless, which connects both earpads to each other, as well as holds the battery, inline mic, and controls. It is almost as if they took a standard Porta Pro and cut the cable at the top of the Y-split. The slightly thicker cable is fantastic in that it wasn't obtrusive to me in the least. I barely notice it's there throughout my day.

With Bluetooth 4.1 and aptX in the Porta Pro Wireless, I've had no issues with the signal cutting out. I've always had issues with my regularly-used wireless devices cutting out when I've worn them roughly the full distance across the office, with walls, doors and whatnot in the way. My most frequently-used Bluetooth devices -- the Sennheiser Presence and Apple AirPods -- are no exception to this.

I'm happy to report that the Porta Pro Wireless isn't giving me any issues when paired to my iMac or MacBook Pro when used for music and Netflix, and it worked great when paired to my iPhone 6 Plus through a few hours of chores I had to get done around the house. It is now my current go-to Bluetooth headphone for general listening throughout the workday, especially with its 12+ hour battery life.

There's isn't much I can add about the sound of the Porta Pro Wireless, as I would be re-iterating everything that's been said about the Porta Pro before from many Head-Fi'ers over the years. To my ears, it's the same headphone. It's a Porta Pro, through and through... but wireless.

I'm not sure why it took this long to finally make this classic into a Wireless headphone, but I'm glad it did. I feel Koss took their time and got this one right. I'm interested to see what @jude and @AxelCloris (Brian) think about it, especially since Brian regularly uses the wired Porta Pro as one of his monitoring headphones during Head-Fi TV shoots.

I'm really excited about the Koss Porta Pro Wireless, and I recommend you pick one up and enjoy it like I've been doing since its arrival. I think it's a solid addition to their line, a great evolution of the Porta Pro, and a strong value at $79.99 MSRP.

Well done, Koss!

 

[MICHAELSD]

They dropped the ball with that wire.

 

[joe]

For me, its fine. It doesn't hinder me in any way, and it keeps the mic and controls in front of me, without changing the look and feel of the classic design. It is long enough for me to not feel horse-collared by it, and it never seems to get in the way, as far as I've used it.

 

[VRacer-111]

Really wish it didn't have wires hanging down...you see 'wireless' and then you see wires hanging down and the brain goes 'why!!!'

How hard would it be to run the wires over the top of the headband and into the plastic housings, using molded/small 3D printed clips to keep it in place? All the circuitry, controls and batteries could have been integrated into the main plastic side pieces. Then put circular control rings where the silver rings are with small separate button in the middle to control volume/mute on one side (RH preferrably) and track forward/back and pause/play on the other. Rotate rings forward to increase volume/go to next track and rearward to lower volume/go to previous track. Koss really didn't think that far outside the box like I was expecting of them.

 

[MonteM]

If you're looking for a tried-and-true budget headphone that sounds great and doesn't break the bank, you can easily look at the Koss Porta Pro. It's a legend in the community and a well-regarded headphone, especially at its $49.99 price point. Practically everyone has experienced or owned the Porta Pro least once in their Head-Fi lifetime. I am no exception. But when a package arrived at Head-Fi HQ with the Koss Porta Pro Wireless inside, I was naturally intrigued.

A wireless Porta Pro.

​

And thankfully, it sounds just like a Koss Porta Pro, but wireless.

I've spent a few hours comparing the Porta Pro Wireless with its wired predecessor, trying to look for any differences in sound, fit, and comfort. After a while, I forgot which one I was wearing. I was keeping one on my ears and the other around my neck, and after several blind switches, I lost track... but it didn't matter. The sound is that close to my ears.

So what's the difference?

To start, the light blue of the wired Porta Pro is now a strong royal blue on the Porta Pro Wireless. It's a more striking appearance, with the same headband and assembly. I prefer its styling over the standard Porta Pro, as well as the beige and black/gold limited edition versions that are also roaming around Head-Fi HQ.

The other difference in its style is the roughly 20-inch cord on the Porta Pro Wireless, which connects both earpads to each other, as well as holds the battery, inline mic, and controls. It is almost as if they took a standard Porta Pro and cut the cable at the top of the Y-split. The slightly thicker cable is fantastic in that it wasn't obtrusive to me in the least. I barely notice it's there throughout my day.

With Bluetooth 4.1 and aptX in the Porta Pro Wireless, I've had no issues with the signal cutting out. I've always had issues with my regularly-used wireless devices cutting out when I've worn them roughly the full distance across the office, with walls, doors and whatnot in the way. My most frequently-used Bluetooth devices -- the Sennheiser Presence and Apple AirPods -- are no exception to this.

I'm happy to report that the Porta Pro Wireless isn't giving me any issues when paired to my iMac or MacBook Pro when used for music and Netflix, and it worked great when paired to my iPhone 6 Plus through a few hours of chores I had to get done around the house. It is now my current go-to Bluetooth headphone for general listening throughout the workday, especially with its 12+ hour battery life.

There's isn't much I can add about the sound of the Porta Pro Wireless, as I would be re-iterating everything that's been said about the Porta Pro before from many Head-Fi'ers over the years. To my ears, it's the same headphone. It's a Porta Pro, through and through... but wireless.

I'm not sure why it took this long to finally make this classic into a Wireless headphone, but I'm glad it did. I feel Koss took their time and got this one right. I'm interested to see what @jude and @AxelCloris (Brian) think about it, especially since Brian regularly uses the wired Porta Pro as one of his monitoring headphones during Head-Fi TV shoots.

I'm really excited about the Koss Porta Pro Wireless, and I recommend you pick one up and enjoy it like I've been doing since its arrival. I think it's a solid addition to their line, a great evolution of the Porta Pro, and a strong value at $79.99 MSRP.

Well done, Koss!

Isn't the whole point of wireless not to have wires?

 

[Makiah S]

Isn't the whole point of wireless not to have wires?

It's not to have a cable or attached cord, a LOT of small housed/driver wireless products like the LG Tone or Apple iBeats have cables that sit on your neck. There's also some kind of Japan Exclusive LDAC dongle that also sits on your neck and has a 3.5mm plug in I think or something I dunno

Either way based on what others in the industry are doing... the little neck dangling cable isn't uncommon on smaller products. I only wish it was a smidgen longer but who knows, maybe comfort wise it does just fine though my neck is kinda thick. Still I might even get a pair of these to replace my Corded MassDrop Porta Pro [which also have the inLine Mic +CableControls]

 

[Buddhahacker]

Many folks prefer having the wires to ensure the headphones don't fall while outdoors or exercising. Personally, I don't like wires but I have found that devices with wires seem to have far less signal drops. Probably due to the larger antenna.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Can Joe or someone PLEASE confirm that the drivers can be snapped off, so I could attach them to the KSC75 clips? Both the Sportapro and Portapro can do this. Just wanna make 100% certain the wireless stuff isn't on the headband itself. This would make the Portapro wireless, my fave headphone of ALL TIME, if so. Wireless version of this is all I could ever ask for.

Example:

 

[joe]

I left them at the office as my current all-day listening headphones, but the look like the same porta pro we know and love.... I’d assume that if you can do it with a regular Porta Pro, you’d be able to do it with the wireless, as all of the wireless parts are on the cable.

Perhaps @AxelCloris can post some more pics tomorrow that might give you a better look.

 

[trellus]

Yeah, got the email this morning from Koss announcing these, I also puzzled over why they didn't get rid of the wires, but it would have forced some redesign that frankly isn't necessary since it's not unusual for smaller-form wireless sets to have wires between the ear pieces, and Koss explained in their video that they didn't want to change anything on the frame or ear pieces and risk some acoustic differences -- they wanted these to be identical to the existing Porta Pro but with Bluetooth functionality.

 

[RGLM]

They dropped the ball with that wire.

Similar with the wire on that comes with the wirless Shure Se215's, no one can seem to get wireless cables right

 

[bvng3540]

Last time I check the dictionary, wireless mean no wire, but from the picture I can see at least a foot long wire hanging down

 

[Maelob]

Oh my god you guys are picky, 90 percent of wireless IEMs have a cable to connect the left and right channels, only a few makers are making really true wireless. Yes full size headphones dont have the cable showing but the porta pro are so small that I dont care about a little cable around my neck. It should not be any surprise that when the industry call something wireless it means BT with no connection to a headphone jack.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I was at a Tokyo airport when I first obtained my Porta Pro headphones.

These beautiful Japanese gals kept looking over at me and smiling! It was almost like a cologne commercial. They would smile....I would look back and smile...................I thought.....wow I’m 20 or 30 years these gals senior and there must be something they like about me?



Then my wife sat down next to me and said, Greg.....you’re headphones are so loud, they can hear them all over the airport.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I don't know why people are complaining, when the small wire normally is beneficial as you can leave your headphones hanging from your neck when not in use (at least in terms of stuff like IEMs, and the Koss clip ons.)

I say normally because the Koss KSC75, KSC35, Sportapro/Portapros have really bad cables that are prone to getting lose from the solder and losing audio, so any strain on the wires is a BAD thing. Hopefully this has been fxed on the Wireless, though I'm not holding my breath. It'd be nice if it had SOME strain relief.