[jyang]

Hi, I'm looking for some cheap headphones that will be used primarily with my computer (sometimes with my stereo, but rarely; and probably never with a portable). I was looking at the Koss KTX-PRO1 but found that people found it lacking in build quality, esp. w/ the thin, plasticy cord, so I'm thinking of moving up a little... from all the threads here, people seem to really like the Koss KSC-75, the Portapros, and the Sennheiser PX-100. So, that's a pretty easy call for me to make.

I'm leaning toward the PX-100 (the KSC-75 is really tempting, but I'm pretty sure I'd never get used to the clip-on/lack of a headband; I like to just throw them on). In part I'm leaning toward the PX-100 because the cord is ever so slightly longer than the other ones (1.4m=55", vs 48"), and the distance to my computer is very tight. But, I'm worried about the cord durability, even though all three (the KSC75, Portapros and PX-100) have pretty high marks for durability (headphonereviews.org) and there's such an overwhelmingly good consensus for them. Even for the PX-100's, there are some people here and at Amazon, who have had problems with the cord shorting out -- and I definitely want to avoid that as much as possible, b/c my last two headphones (admittedly cheapie) died through the cord shorting out. $35 isn't a lot of money, but still I want to be able to use them for more than a year or a few years, for the level of quality that they are.

So, should I go for the PX-100's? Or, would the Portapros be better long-term? Or, about the same?

Thanks very much for any advice -- much appreciated..

 

[Grey Massacre]

Hello,

I had the portapro for about 6 years, I stuffed them in my school pack without caring, they held well. I changed the foams on them 2 times, that's it. They sound really good for the price, good bass.

Charles

 

[uraflit]

if you have a lot of hair, portapros have a rep around here to catch on hair... they have more bass tho =]

 

[appophylite]

All three are headphones that can take a beating and live to tell about it. The one that has the most problem with abuse, in my experience, is the KSC-75 which has a tendency to have the clips pop off more often than the driver will fall off of the band on the PortaPro or PX100; but even then, they rarely actually do pop off and pop right back on if they do. I've yet to actually have a problem with any of the three of them and have thrown them around fairly often.
The cords on all three are fairly durable, and the only one I've ever had a problem with is the KSC 75, but only the model that had the volume control inline. The cord broke away at this connection and I had to resolder the joint.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

If you're looking to "throw around" your phones I'd stick with the cheapest of the bunch - the koss portapros or ksc-75. If you're going to be using them out of your computer I'd go for the Senns.

If you ever wreck your koss headphones they come with a nice lifetime warranty.

 

[anoobis]

I beleive the PX100 have kevlar-reinforced cables. Should be fairly resilient...

They seem more than durable enough for ordinary office use to me.

 

[chriscu1]

Like some of the amazon people, my PX100's left channel cord started going flaky after about 6 months. The channel will go out and I'll have to shake it to get it to reconnect. Some days it takes a bit of effort, some days it never happens. I could just have a lemon, but still worth commenting on.

 

[scompton]

I have KSC 75s and PX100s. I use them working around the house and yard so I catch the cords frequently and have them ripped off of my head. On one pair of KSC 75s, the cable got ripped out of the ear piece. The clips do also occasionally come off, but they snap right back on. They usually come off with I pick them up and the clip catches on something. They've never come off when I'm just sitting there listening