Koss PRO-4AA Review
Jul 9, 2003 at 5:14 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16

Schizorabbit

Head-Fier
Joined
Jul 2, 2003
Posts
76
Likes
11
I have noticed that there have been quite a few posts regarding questions of quality regarding the Koss PRO series, so I thought I'd offer a review.

Musical Selections: Dredg - Same Lo' Road (Bass), Of The Room (Distortion), Brushstroke: An Elephant In The Delta Waves (Acoustic), Walk In The Pack (Piano/Violin)
(These selections offer a general overview of sound in that each of them relies on one of many traditional elements in modern music.)
Beck - Round The Bend
(I utilize this piece in order to tell how well a set of cans handles subtle change and soft/slow chord progression
Duke Ellington - Caravan
(Quite simply one of the hardest selections for any headphone to convey accuratley, simply because of the awkward choice in key and chords, which often leads a set of headphones to exagerate high end treble)


Now the headphones:
These headphones performed solidly when I put them to the task of bringing out the acoustic sound conveyed in Dredg's Brushstroke: piece, and might I say handled it rather beautifully. But that was where their pinnacle stood and as for the rest it was a dreary blur. These headphones (though excellent for blocking out exterior noise) don't do bass well, they make it sound as if your listening to the bass player through a wall, which made Beck's - Round the Bend, sound completly boring and emotion void. It also stripped the clarity of Dredg's - Same Ol' Road and took it from a neatly orginized and meticulously punctuated peice into that mess of a room you can never seem to find your keys in. The Koss headphones did the same thing to the distortion present in Dredg's - Of The Room, completley muddled, the piece actually sounded clearer on my Bose 701 speakers! The cans simply weren't able to define one line of distortion from the next, taking a somewhat complicated stream and turning it into a mainstream sounding simplistic bore. And as for Duke Ellington's - Caravan, I'm not even going to go there, the first chord was just painful, and had to turn my ears away.

Summary:
Whenever these headphones are presented with two distinctly different sounds, it comes through very well, which is why it was able to handle any acoustic piece I threw at it (as well as piano) , and handle it very well. But when you start going into sounds where in there may not be a distinct shift in notes or chords, it tends to blur and subtract energy from the music. Hence the confusion among bass and distortion.

Highs: Blocks out noise very well. Handles Low-Mid treble very well, Hi treble pretty well (minus The Dukes Caravan).

Lows: Clarity in Bass, Distortion, and Overlapping Melody and Bass Lines.
 
Jul 9, 2003 at 5:43 PM Post #2 of 16
thanks for the review
smily_headphones1.gif


is this for the old school frankensteins or the new school titaniums?
 
Jul 9, 2003 at 5:47 PM Post #3 of 16
Hi Rabbit-
Thanks for the review...are these the Pro-4AA's as opposed to the newer Pro- 4AA Titaniums?

These:
pr1.jpg


or These:

pr2.jpg


I am curently into hour 24 of burn-in with the 4AAT's and so far so good.

edit...now at 40 hours and not so good
frown.gif


John
 
Jul 10, 2003 at 5:32 PM Post #5 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by Schizorabbit
This was not a reiview of the Koss Pro4AA Titaniums. Besides you've got to love the retro look of the regular Koss PRO-4AA's.


I used to have a pair, ca 1972!
 
Jul 10, 2003 at 8:04 PM Post #7 of 16
All this talk of 4AAs is making me want to hear the 4AATs. Has anyone heard these? And what do you think of them. I had the old 4AAs and got rid of them a few years ago since there were just some many better options that I already had. Im just curious about the 4AATs now.

Hiker
 
Jul 11, 2003 at 12:30 AM Post #8 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by Hiker
All this talk of 4AAs is making me want to hear the 4AATs. Has anyone heard these? And what do you think of them. I had the old 4AAs and got rid of them a few years ago since there were just some many better options that I already had. Im just curious about the 4AATs now.

Hiker


Hi Hiker-

I posted some impressions of the 4AATs last night...here's the thread:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...highlight=koss

and here are some by usc goose and a few other head-fiers:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...highlight=koss
 
Aug 30, 2015 at 12:12 PM Post #12 of 16
I owned a a pair back in the 70's and sounded very well although they are very hevy I mean very heavy and bulky. I am considering to buy a new pair since I an reading too many contradictory stories this days. I want to find out formyself the real story. What I do remember is that when I took them off and went back to my speakers a par of Altec 7 at the time rhey sounded veil, muffled awful.
::)
 
Jun 9, 2016 at 9:35 AM Post #13 of 16
I have re-issue (not original, they were replaced) Koss Pro 4AAs.  Regarding comments about lack of bass, there's a *big* caveat. These are 250 Ohm headphones with huge drivers by today's standards. My Fiio A3 does "ok" with them, but they're still kind of mediocre even on most average home stereos. The sad fact is most devices are hopeless driving headphones like these.  Plug them into a 1979 JVC stereo? Yeah, they have bass! Not flabby boom, but satisfying, controlled "thump".

BTW, if you find them uncomfortable, replace the ear pads with "Brainwavez Memory Foam Earpads".  They just barely stretch over, but fit and stay put. And they dramatically improve comfort. They're thick and comfy. Currently $22 on Amazon as of 6/9/2016.
 
Jul 21, 2016 at 9:16 AM Post #14 of 16
Do these still have the liquid (oil?) pads like the ones I had in 1973?
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top