Southern Cross
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2013
- Posts
- 23
- Likes
- 40
Hi, everyone, this is my first post so a little introduction can't hurt. I'm from Argentina. Yeah, far off. Meet and wine are great and cheap, electronics are not.
Anyway, I was trying to improve a little bit the quality of my music and buy some more decent stuff than my unimpressive Sony MDR-ZX100... on a shoestring budget, that is. So after a lot of looking around at our Argentinean ebay, and seeing no interesting brand new headphones within my budget, I stumbled with these used Koss TD/80. Seeing how many fans Koss have around here, I investigated a little further, and found a few reviews, which were quite praising and flattering of its sound (if not of the comfort+isolation dept.). The model seems to have been sold around 1999-2003, for what I gathered. It was a good price, I decided to take my chances. Here is a picture of it:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/koss-td-80-closed-ear-home-stereophone
The former owner was a mature lady that bought them for audio-lessons some ten years ago and then simply boxed them and forgot about them until now (she was moving). She barely used them, and I'm pretty sure she told me the truth because they look like they had almost no use, even the plug is pristine. Also, the thing looks solid and well built. Ugly as damn, but quite heavy and solid, with a good thick cord. They look like something a Soviet tank commander would be issued with. They are as comfortable as you may imagine.
I bought them and eagerly plugged them to my phone. First problem: it was incredibly low, even at full volume, with mids almost non-existant. Damn. Arrived home, plugged them into my radio, put it at full volume, and it finally was audible, but I'm not quite sure that was much better: it was a booming bass-piercing treble V monstrosity. Middles were quite lacking and dull. I tried with my PC, and, again, blasting volume levels that would normally fry my brain just to make them work normally, and fiddling with the equalizer like a madman, FINALLY was able to get some juice from them. Still, compared to my budget-Sonys they still sound quite awkward and not much of an improvement. Trebling is greatly helped with equalization, but the bass is still really strong and boomy (not warm at all) and mids are... well, I'm no audiophile here, just a noob, but I'd say crispy, too sharp. Suddenly, some specific notes or effects sound great, with a surround feel, while others are just metallic and clang-y. I wish I could describe it better.
SO! Maybe the community here may help me. I don't know if a 10 years old set of headphones with very little use should sound like this, I'm almost sure they shouldn't. I understand Koss has a reputation, and these cans were budget but not crap when released, they were something like U$S 40 back in 2001.
Any guidance, help, suggestions or feedback will be greatly appreciated!
Anyway, I was trying to improve a little bit the quality of my music and buy some more decent stuff than my unimpressive Sony MDR-ZX100... on a shoestring budget, that is. So after a lot of looking around at our Argentinean ebay, and seeing no interesting brand new headphones within my budget, I stumbled with these used Koss TD/80. Seeing how many fans Koss have around here, I investigated a little further, and found a few reviews, which were quite praising and flattering of its sound (if not of the comfort+isolation dept.). The model seems to have been sold around 1999-2003, for what I gathered. It was a good price, I decided to take my chances. Here is a picture of it:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/koss-td-80-closed-ear-home-stereophone
The former owner was a mature lady that bought them for audio-lessons some ten years ago and then simply boxed them and forgot about them until now (she was moving). She barely used them, and I'm pretty sure she told me the truth because they look like they had almost no use, even the plug is pristine. Also, the thing looks solid and well built. Ugly as damn, but quite heavy and solid, with a good thick cord. They look like something a Soviet tank commander would be issued with. They are as comfortable as you may imagine.
I bought them and eagerly plugged them to my phone. First problem: it was incredibly low, even at full volume, with mids almost non-existant. Damn. Arrived home, plugged them into my radio, put it at full volume, and it finally was audible, but I'm not quite sure that was much better: it was a booming bass-piercing treble V monstrosity. Middles were quite lacking and dull. I tried with my PC, and, again, blasting volume levels that would normally fry my brain just to make them work normally, and fiddling with the equalizer like a madman, FINALLY was able to get some juice from them. Still, compared to my budget-Sonys they still sound quite awkward and not much of an improvement. Trebling is greatly helped with equalization, but the bass is still really strong and boomy (not warm at all) and mids are... well, I'm no audiophile here, just a noob, but I'd say crispy, too sharp. Suddenly, some specific notes or effects sound great, with a surround feel, while others are just metallic and clang-y. I wish I could describe it better.
SO! Maybe the community here may help me. I don't know if a 10 years old set of headphones with very little use should sound like this, I'm almost sure they shouldn't. I understand Koss has a reputation, and these cans were budget but not crap when released, they were something like U$S 40 back in 2001.
Any guidance, help, suggestions or feedback will be greatly appreciated!
