The Official Koss Pro 4AAT Appreciation thread
Sep 6, 2006 at 1:48 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 32
Bigfieroman

Bigfieroman

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I picked up the Pro 4AATs based on recommendations on this forum and my previous experience with Koss. I burned them in for about 250 hours to begin with.

I have a set of Koss UR30 phones I bought 7 years ago, I love their isolation and sound. I even bought a pair for a friend (they were like $16 at best buy), who used them with joy for years before they were destroyed by a hungry rabbit.

Until yesterday, I have not been able to really enjoy the Pro 4AATs yet, as I didn't have an amp and my laptop just cannot produce enough juice to drive these without clipping the bass. Even worse was my tiny MP3 player; with only 1 AAA battery, I had to have the thing at full volume even to hear decently and it still wasn't loud enough. Of course it sounded like crap, too.

Well, after almost 2.5 weeks of waiting, my Pengamp finally came from Germany. The only problem is that with my weak ass MP3 player, I have to have both at almost max to drive the 4AATs, but I have the MP3 player primarily for the KSC 75s.

I must say, the Pro 4AATs sound amazing. They don’t quite seem to have the bass response of my KSC75s, but I think this is a function of the crappiness of some of my sources+the huge input load of the Pro 4AATs. Also, the KSC 75s are known for amazing bass response.

I think Koss, with few exceptions, gets a bad rap on this board, but the Pro 4AATs really seem spectacular once they are properly burned in and powered.

I also could not find an appreciation thread about them, so I decided to start this one. The low price of these cans belies their potential. I know these cans have at least a few fans on this board.
 
Sep 6, 2006 at 3:45 PM Post #2 of 32
Pro4aat is a good value for the money and was my gateway phone to head-fi. If it wasn't for the strain it put on my neck, I don't think I would have felt the need to get another full-sized phone; at least it would have been really hard justifying spending the kind of money I had to for another phone.
 
Sep 6, 2006 at 11:42 PM Post #3 of 32
Congrats and happy listening.
wink.gif
 
Sep 7, 2006 at 3:29 AM Post #7 of 32
I have a pair of these phones that I use at work - their isolation is a plus when working with live high school bands in talent shows. Sometimes even they can't isolate enough, but they sure help me hear what I am working on when the room is filled with the sounds of teen angst. The fun part, though, was when I took them home one summer for personal enjoyment and discovered that they are really great with some of my finer recordings. I actually like the density of these guys - makes you think you are working with a legitimate piece of audio equipment. I hope one day to try them with a better source/amp situation.

One question: Does everyone get these with the little numbered tag that tells you it's a special edition commemorative model, or are mine somehow different/more rare etc?
 
Sep 7, 2006 at 11:47 AM Post #8 of 32
Opus,

You are probably using a set of the anniversery Pro 4AAs. They have a different casing and construction than the modern version, and their drivers are not titanium coated. They are made to look like the ones they made back in the day.


In general:

I have been losing my mind at work, the soundcard in my laptop is killing me. I really sounds terrible, and it distorts no matter how I try to add bass (EQ, Bass Boost, lower volume on source/higher amp volume). I am just going to use my battery powered mp3 player for now.
 
Sep 7, 2006 at 6:27 PM Post #9 of 32
Yeah, my $18 MP3 player beats out this crappy work laptop easily.

It's sound quality is kinda muddy, but it has built in EQ presets and has frequency response for the whole audible range...unlike this laptop.

Not sure if anyone else has done this, but I pulled out the foam and mesh that covers the drivers. The cups are not very deep, and the headphones were making my ears ache after 30 minutes. Now they are much better and more comfortable. I wore them all day today with no pain.
 
Sep 8, 2006 at 4:28 AM Post #10 of 32
Big,
I did something like that. I tried it without the mesh and foam, more for clarity issues than comfort, but me having kinda oily skin, didn't really enjoy the ear print that I saw after taking off the phones :p So I "modded" the foam and cut them so that they would better expose the driver. Helped some to open up the sound and I feel it also helped the soundstage
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Sep 8, 2006 at 9:08 AM Post #11 of 32
I have about 170-180 hours in this phone right now and the sound is indeed opening up in terms of the weight of instruments/vocals and thus the bigger 'dynamics' or livelyness of the music. There still is a dark veil, it makes the music sound a littly blurry, so I removed the foam and clarity came out without making the sound harsh. This is what I like, transparency. I wonder why Koss decided to leave the foam in, cause the potential of this phone is huge in terms of accurately producing music.

Oh, and above all, I reduce the volume to about 10 o'clock. With foam it was raised to 12+ o'clock. I got a headache after listening for half an hour.
 
Sep 8, 2006 at 2:31 PM Post #12 of 32
I think now I just need to use a better source. The phones sound good, but still kind of muddy and weak in the low end. (At least it doesn't audibly distort like my POS work laptop) I will try them out with my home laptop (very good, 5.1 capable SPDIF card) and see if my opinions change. My pengamp is very good, I know the headphones have a lot of potential, I just need to try a good source.
 
Sep 27, 2009 at 8:13 PM Post #13 of 32
Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigfieroman /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I think Koss, with few exceptions, gets a bad rap on this board, but the Pro 4AATs really seem spectacular once they are properly burned in and powered.


I have to agree. Since I got my 4AATs, I haven't even touched my RS1s. I love the way they give music, especially orchestral soundtracks, and movies real weight and authority. I always found that missing on the Grados.
 
Sep 28, 2009 at 4:27 AM Post #14 of 32
Quote:

Originally Posted by jacdan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I have to agree. Since I got my 4AATs, I haven't even touched my RS1s. I love the way they give music, especially orchestral soundtracks, and movies real weight and authority. I always found that missing on the Grados.


Really? I had a Pro4AAT for a while and loved it at first, but sold it since it did not sound as good as my other phones... too bad though. I found they did not have much bass at all.
 
Sep 28, 2009 at 4:51 AM Post #15 of 32
Quote:

Originally Posted by Zombie_X /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Really? I had a Pro4AAT for a while and loved it at first, but sold it since it did not sound as good as my other phones... too bad though. I found they did not have much bass at all.


Could just be me but I've gone with Grados, Senns, Beyer, and AKG and the AATs sound the best to my ears with rock solid bass and highs that don't torture the ears.
 
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