My Porta Pro is turning out to be a set that I’m regularly picking up and listening to by choice, which is a complete 180 from my earlier opinion. Get the Porta Pro X for the nice cable and add some Yaxi pads; I doubt it gets much better than this in the headphone world without spending significantly more money.
The overall sound signature is balanced leaning towards warmth. The midbass is emphasised, but I find that it is sufficiently fast and punchy that it doesn’t cause apparent bloat in the lower mids. Male vocals may sometimes sound slightly recessed and south of neutral, but female vocals remain clear and neutral. Pianos sound especially full and lush.
Unlike the pair of Porta Pros that I hated, these Porta Pros actually have a treble section. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like you’re going to be able to tell what type of cymbal is being struck and where that strike is taking place, but there’s some sparkle and brilliance to complement the otherwise tasteful bass and mids presentation.
Note weight is decent, as expected of a dynamic driver; the Porta Pro has that “musicality” that comes from not sounding overly sharp or lean. These headphones also soak up power like a sponge, and are best enjoyed at higher volumes (within reason of course). Indoors in a quiet room, I’m currently listening to them at slightly above 50% volume out of my Earmen Eagle. Overall detail retrieval is decent but won’t kill any giants. Obvious details can be clearly heard, but the Porta Pro probably won’t give you that feeling of “hearing things you never heard before”. What you do get with the Porta Pro, however, is a budget benchmark for soundstage and imaging. Most IEMs below $100 will probably fail to match the Porta Pro in this regard. Of course, the form factor and lack of any real isolation helps a lot in this department, but the Porta Pro presents a deep and wide soundstage where the music can be easily perceived as happening outside your head, in an arc in front of you. Each element of the track can be further perceived as being associated with a rough position on that arc if you concentrate - it’s definitely a step up from the two/three blob imaging that is to be expected in the budget realm.
The Porta Pro is often compared to the KPH30i and the KSC75, which apparently cost less and (some might say) possess even greater sound quality. I do think the Porta Pro is the best looking of the trio, however, and the foldable design and adjustable clamp force is neat (note that with the Yaxi pads it becomes impossible to fully fold the Porta Pro into its “circle” form.
So, I stand corrected. I don’t know what went wrong with my previous Porta Pro (I must have somehow ended up with a dud), but I now completely understand why people like these. Far from being an 80s cosplay item, they’re a legit budget on-ear option that I think are on par or better than the CAL and can trade blows with headphones that cost 2-4x more. Paired with a decent source, they can be very enjoyable indeed.