[Music Alchemist]

I got a brand new Koss UR55 from Amazon today. I also own the KTXPRO1 and previously owned the KSC75 and UR40. All of those are a little bright up top, but nothing that ruins the experience, and I love each of them in their own way. The UR55, on the other hand, is so bright and harsh it's unbearable! I wasn't expecting this from the most expensive Koss out of the four.
 
What's even stranger is that many of the online impressions describe it as actually having rolled-off treble and strong bass...but mine is like the opposite: the bass and mids are more often in the background and the excessive treble peaks make it sound totally artificial most of the time. With some acoustic music, it sounds great, and I can tell it has superior technical capabilities in some (perhaps most) respects (it has insane detail and articulation for a headphone at this price point), but with most everything else, it's nearly unlistenable. (Though I'm forcing myself to get used to it for now.)
 
To be more specific, it's not the entire treble range that is problematic. It's more like the upper treble where cymbals and such are. Female vocals, for example, sound glorious on these for the most part.
 
So what I want to know is:
 
1) Are there other UR55 owners who have had similar experiences?
 
2) Has anyone heard improvements with burn-in? If so, in which ways, and after how many hours? I have never experienced (or at least never noticed) burn-in myself, even after owning sooo many headphones. It would be nice if others have noticed, say, the treble going from nasty to neutral after a certain number of hours, but I won't cross my fingers.
 
3) Any info on revisions of the UR55? I believe I read about the old version having a brown grill and sounding darker than the new one with the silver grill.
 
4) Any quick and easy EQ settings? I plan on following the various EQ guides out there to get a more accurate frequency response. Hopefully that will fix things...
 
Oh, and I'm not looking for recommendations for other headphones.

 

[Mr Head P Hones]

I had the same experience with them when I first got them they were super bright and harsh. Give them about 20 hours to burn in which I do not know if I believe him either but it will make a bit of a difference.

 

[Music Alchemist]

I had the same experience with them when I first got them they were super bright and harsh. Give them about 20 hours to burn in which I do not know if I believe him either but it will make a bit of a difference.

 
Thanks for your input.
 
After 20 hours, how much darker did they become?
 
Can you compare the brightness of your pair to any of the other Koss I have owned?
 
My problem is that in addition to the nasty treble peaks, the entire tonal balance is just too thin. (Whereas the KTXPRO1 is too thick, but much easier to listen to.)

 

[Mr Head P Hones]

I have not heard those other models. Even though the trouble will calm down a bit they are still a bid been sounding to me also. I am mostly just use them or listening to audio plugs because they are very light and comfortable to me.

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

haven't owned the UR55 but your experience sounds like my experience with the RHA ma750. To answer your question, even though I was a firm non-believer in burn in, burn in MASSIVELY changed the sound of the ma750. But not just a few days, it didn't sound that great after a week of regular use! But three weeks in the change was astonishing. The mid bass which was non-existent before now was present (but could still use some work) and the top end that was sibilant before to the point of being unbearable was now clear and detailed (but still a bit bright on some songs). Now, ymmv, but I'd let them burn in for about 4 days (I've seen a reccomendation of 1 week for the ma750!) and perhaps you will hear a difference. I am still unsure about "burn in" in general, but that is coming from someone who didn't believe that the sound signature could change like that at all.

 

[crazychile]

The UR55 I had would barely adjust big enough. Its like they designed them for a kids head. I don't have mine any more because the cat chewed the cord, but they were backup only. The sound and comfort just werent anything special. I don't remember them being bright.

The KSC-75 is the shizzle when you get a headband on them. Ridiculously good for less than $20.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The UR55 I had would barely adjust big enough. Its like they designed them for a kids head. I don't have mine any more because the cat chewed the cord, but they were backup only. The sound and comfort just werent anything special. I don't remember them being bright.

The KSC-75 is the shizzle when you get a headband on them. Ridiculously good for less than $20.

 
Fits my smaller head fine. But I noticed that there's barely enough room left over beyond that. The KTXPRO1 is almost too big for me even on the lowest setting.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Just realized that I can attempt to burn in the UR55 at the same time as listening to the KTXPRO1. (Which I immensely enjoy, unlike the thin-sounding UR55 that sounds like $5 headphones with most music and $200 headphones with some music. lol) Both headphones are currently plugged into my Creative Sound Blaster E1. Didn't know until now that plugging in a second headphone actually gives me even more volume! Now let's see if it burns in for real...

 

[Mr Head P Hones]

Cool let me know how it works out.

 

[Music Alchemist]

So much for that. For some reason, when I plug both headphones in at the same time, the drivers start acting like they're failing after awhile. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to have been any permanent damage to either headphone. Guess I'll have to only use one at a time.
 
I also noticed that when I push the UR55 as close as possible to my ears, there's a lot more bass...but it sounds awful (with lots of music) either way.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Just got the replacement UR55 from Koss and played some test tracks. It seems to be better than the first one, because I can enjoy it with all types of music, unlike before...but the same type of problems are still there. There are weird things going on in the frequency response that make it sound artificial much of the time, especially the treble peaks that hurt my ears. At least this one has better dynamics and stronger bass. But now the tonal balance is too thick down low instead of too thin, and remains nasty up top. I don't understand why the more expensive model would sound worse overall than the three cheaper ones, even though it has superior technical performance in some areas. Hopefully I'll be able to fix it with EQ...

 

[cam94z28]

The UR55 I had would barely adjust big enough. Its like they designed them for a kids head. I don't have mine any more because the cat chewed the cord, but they were backup only. The sound and comfort just werent anything special. I don't remember them being bright.

The KSC-75 is the shizzle when you get a headband on them. Ridiculously good for less than $20.

Unless you're in public, try sliding the headband further back (past the highest point) on your head, and then tightening the headband. They look funny, but work just fine that way. The drivers aren't angled, as far as I know, so it won't have an effect on sound, either.
 

  I got a brand new Koss UR55 from Amazon today. I also own the KTXPRO1 and previously owned the KSC75 and UR40. All of those are a little bright up top, but nothing that ruins the experience, and I love each of them in their own way. The UR55, on the other hand, is so bright and harsh it's unbearable! I wasn't expecting this from the most expensive Koss out of the four.
 
What's even stranger is that many of the online impressions describe it as actually having rolled-off treble and strong bass...but mine is like the opposite: the bass and mids are more often in the background and the excessive treble peaks make it sound totally artificial most of the time. With some acoustic music, it sounds great, and I can tell it has superior technical capabilities in some (perhaps most) respects (it has insane detail and articulation for a headphone at this price point), but with most everything else, it's nearly unlistenable. (Though I'm forcing myself to get used to it for now.)
 
3) Any info on revisions of the UR55? I believe I read about the old version having a brown grill and sounding darker than the new one with the silver grill.

My experience has been the complete opposite. The UR55's are the "Holy Grail" for me, in terms of a neutral, laid-back, but also fun headphone, with punchy bass. Those, and my HD203's, are virtually the only ones that don't cause fatigue. I'm extremely sensitive to sibilance, and even moderately forward midrange causes my ears to hear a painful almost "plastic crinkling" aspect added to the sound. I run them flat, but if I had to EQ them, I might cut a dB or 2 in the 900-1000hz range. Both of my pairs have sparkly, airy highs, but I would say they have rolled-off treble, as do my HD203's. The 203's are weird, though, in that I would say they have bright, slightly tinny treble, but it's not harsh.
I have the SportaPro's, which have the same drivers as the Porta Pro's (and KSC75?). They have less treble, but are much more fatiguing, over time, than the UR55's. I basically use them for walking, and have spare pads for when they degrade from sweat.
My HD595's, for comparison, are unlistenable above quiet volumes. They are extremely harsh, and sibilant to my ears.
 
Did you say you bought them directly from Koss? There were said to be fakes out there, when they were more popular.
To answer your other question, I ended up with a pair of each variation. One with Silver Grille, one with the Brown grille. The silvers are WELL broken-in, and my new (brown grille) pair sound nearly identical.
What is your source? Are you playing them through a cheap mp3 player, or a weak PC sound card? Mine sound great out of both my phone (HTC Desire 817), and my Laptop (Dell Precision).

 

[Music Alchemist]

My experience has been the complete opposite. The UR55's are the "Holy Grail" for me, in terms of a neutral, laid-back, but also fun headphone, with punchy bass. Those, and my HD203's, are virtually the only ones that don't cause fatigue. I'm extremely sensitive to sibilance, and even moderately forward midrange causes my ears to hear a painful almost "plastic crinkling" aspect added to the sound. I run them flat, but if I had to EQ them, I might cut a dB or 2 in the 900-1000hz range. Both of my pairs have sparkly, airy highs, but I would say they have rolled-off treble, as do my HD203's. The 203's are weird, though, in that I would say they have bright, slightly tinny treble, but it's not harsh. I have the SportaPro's, which have the same drivers as the Porta Pro's (and KSC75?). They have less treble, but are much more fatiguing, over time, than the UR55's. I basically use them for walking, and have spare pads for when they degrade from sweat.
My HD595's, for comparison, are unlistenable above quiet volumes. They are extremely harsh, and sibilant to my ears.
 
Did you say you bought them directly from Koss? There were said to be fakes out there, when they were more popular.
To answer your other question, I ended up with a pair of each variation. One with Silver Grille, one with the Brown grille. The silvers are WELL broken-in, and my new (brown grille) pair sound nearly identical.
What is your source? Are you playing them through a cheap mp3 player, or a weak PC sound card? Mine sound great out of both my phone (HTC Desire 817), and my Laptop (Dell Precision).

 
Hey. I made some updates in this thread. The first pair was from Amazon. It was apparently defective. Koss said they think there could have been some bad wiring. They sent me a replacement pair, which sounds much better. Still has some peaks and dips, but not as bad. The treble is still wayyy too bright, sibilant, etc. at some frequencies, which makes it sound artificial some of the time and often hurts my ears. Complete opposite of rolled-off or how it's supposed to sound in real life. (I'm an experienced musician.) Easily in the top five harshest, most sibilant headphones I have ever heard, and I've heard countless ones. It's not the entire treble that's emphasized; just certain frequencies. I guess you could say there are some dips too. But the lower frequencies, dynamics and impact, etc. are much better than the first pair.
 
I like my KTXPRO1 (which has treble close to neutral; only a little bright) much more overall, though the UR55 is technically better in some ways.
 
It's always possible that their quality control has gone down the hill and this pair is also slightly defective, but I'm not gonna bother with another.
 
My current system is: Alienware M11x R2 + Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop + SoftPerfect RAM Disk → Belkin F8V203tt06-E3-P → Creative Sound Blaster E1
 
I use the internal DAC of my laptop (which sounds the same to me as a Schiit Modi 2) because I like it more than the DAC in my DAC/amp, which I use only as an amp. The music player I usually use does processing to emulate high-end DACs, which improves the sound too.
 
Also, here is my neutral headphone reference. (That one sounds much more like real instruments, with everything in the right place, more or less.)
http://cdn.head-fi.org/6/6d/6de6f4f3_STAX_SR-207_EP-507_SB2217.png

 

[cam94z28]

   
Hey. I made some updates in this thread. The first pair was from Amazon. It was apparently defective. Koss said they think there could have been some bad wiring. They sent me a replacement pair, which sounds much better. Still has some peaks and dips, but not as bad. The treble is still wayyy too bright, sibilant, etc. at some frequencies, which makes it sound artificial some of the time and often hurts my ears. Complete opposite of rolled-off or how it's supposed to sound in real life. (I'm an experienced musician.) Easily in the top five harshest, most sibilant headphones I have ever heard, and I've heard countless ones. It's not the entire treble that's emphasized; just certain frequencies. I guess you could say there are some dips too. But the lower frequencies, dynamics and impact, etc. are much better than the first pair.
 
I like my KTXPRO1 (which has treble close to neutral; only a little bright) much more overall, though the UR55 is technically better in some ways.
 
It's always possible that their quality control has gone down the hill and this pair is also slightly defective, but I'm not gonna bother with another.
 
My current system is: Alienware M11x R2 + Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop + SoftPerfect RAM Disk → Belkin F8V203tt06-E3-P → Creative Sound Blaster E1
 
I use the internal DAC of my laptop (which sounds the same to me as a Schiit Modi 2) because I like it more than the DAC in my DAC/amp, which I use only as an amp. The music player I usually use does processing to emulate high-end DACs, which improves the sound too.
 
Also, here is my neutral headphone reference. (That one sounds much more like real instruments, with everything in the right place, more or less.)
http://cdn.head-fi.org/6/6d/6de6f4f3_STAX_SR-207_EP-507_SB2217.png

I didn't catch that part about Amazon. Actually, now that I think back, my very first pair from Amazon came in defective, but may have been fake. They played like they were halfway unplugged. They sounded like an 8-bit mp3, with no bass and an echo to everything, until I squeezed the little "Y" in the middle of the wire. The replacements sounded GREAT, but, over time, the wires have started pulling out of both earcups, so I bought a new pair.
 
It sounds like your source is more than adequate. I have a Schiit Vali, and multiple smaller (cmoy) amps, using Spotify Premium (extreme quality), and mine sound good with all of them, or through cheap sources. My headphones that should be the most neutral (HD555) are the ones I can't listen to. Either we have very different ears, or something else is going on. To me, the UR55's are not harsh in the slightest, where normal sibilance would be. Maybe you are more sensitive to lower treble/upper mids, where they may be more forward, and the STAX may actually be laid-back. Try playing a very slow sine sweep on UR55/STAX, and see if there are any much louder areas. Or if u come across a pair of lower end Sennheiser HD2xx? let me know what you think. If you are ever in Florida, I'll let you hear mine.

 

[crazychile]

I wonder how common Koss counterfeits are on Amazon. With the exception of my ESP-950 and KSC-35s, I have purchased most of my pairs of Koss' off of Amazon. I thought the KTXPRO1 kinda sucked, and the UR55 were only barely acceptable at 1/2 off retail. Both of those came from Amazon. Maybe they were fakes and that's why I didn't care for either. The UR55 was at the point of being almost too small and I never had that problem with other headphones, but that's a separate issue. I still love my KSC-35 and KSC-75 headphones with the PE headband.
 
I tried to give Koss business because of their heritage and I kinda like rooting for the forgotten underdog, but I'm only impressed with their products about half the time. If I was their marketing manager I'd probably cull 1/3 of the models they offer and focus on fewer SKUs to make the line more coherent. Sometimes I wonder if they even have any real engineers working for them any more. Unless Koss returns to their roots and does something really spectacular, I'm probably done with them. There isn't really anything else in their line I want to try. I own enough headphones and am more focused on amps and sources now anyway.