Hey
My Koss's are the A/200's, which have been discontinued, and have virtually disappeared
I picked them up for only $50 when they were discontinued....
They look quite similar to the A/250's and ESP950- They have the same plastic earcup + metal grill construction, with a padded steel headband. they also use the smame 4 individually insulated cord and insulated chord However, the earcups on the A/200 are smaller (mine are the same size as the HD600), and have cloth covered earpads instead of pleather.
Overall, the construction is quite good, similar to the HD580s in design, but not quite as high quality. the plastic is a bit cheap, but gets the job done... THe chord is the best of any headphone i have, not overly thick and stiff like Grados, not flimsy like the Senns...Its basically two sportapro chords running side by side, like a ribbon cable.
(btw, the one in my avatar is the 250, i couldn't find a pic of the 200)
Quote:
| . These headphones have great sound, HOWEVER it has speakers on the outside too! These speakers are not terribly loud on the outside, |
The a/200s are basically open air, with their metal grills, but there is a piece of felt under the grill, as well as a lot of dense foam that fills up most of the earcup away from the driver. Sound does escape, but not as much as Senns or Grados. (in comparason, the Senn earcup is totally hollow, with no resonance absorbing foam anywhere)
However, some people that have heard both the 250 and 200 say they sound quite different, i;ve heard that the 250s are muddy, which would be totally opposite of the 200's...
Anyways, to the sound...
THese headphones are the most detailed headphones i've ever listened to. (the most expensive i've heard are the HD600 and RS-2) They resolve a lot of detail in instruments, classical instuments sound much more realistic than my Grados (SR80) or Senns. Particularly impressive is the bass, which extends very DEEP, yet is not exagerated and still very tight, controlled and detailed. Also impressive is the treble- on good recordings it is incredibly clear, detailed and airy. THe soundstage is also the best of any headphone i've heard, if you close your eyes, the instruments sound clearly in front of you, an effect i have not found in any other headphone. You can clearly hear the size of the room, the position of instruments, layers of instruments, etc.
Overall, the diapham sounds as if it is very fast, effortlessly resolving details.
However, this headphone has many problems, which is why it is such a love-it or hate it type of headphone; i'd say about a dozen headwizers jumped on the deal when it was first announced a year and a half ago, but most have gotten rid of them.
The same detailed treble can quickly get annoying, as it makes the headphones very bright. It does not gently roll off the upper octave like my Grados and Senns, in fact, it may even boost them. So for the majority of my CDs, which are poorly recorded, the bright treble becomes shrill-sounding, and very sibilant. Also, the midrange is slightly recessed, and lacks the warmth of Senns and Grado. The source equipement is also very important, if you use it with a noisy or bright source, it will be painful. I think a high quality tube amp would work well with them...
Without a warm midrange, and with its highly detailed sound, the A/200's do sound very "analytical".
All of this makes it usless for most rock recordings, which have nasty treble and need a good midrange. (although Green Day Dookie really sounds impressive through them because of how well they resolve the fast drum line, and Soundgarden's Cds are mostly warm/well recorded). I mainly use the A/200's for classical and electronica, where the accuracy and detail is most important.
Quote:
| You're one of the few here who uses a higher-end Koss as his primary 'phones |
well, not exactly
While i find the a/200's have a lot of potential, they are a bit too bright for everyday listening. Usually, i use my HD-600s, which while it isn't quite as good in terms of detail, bass, treble, it has a much more "musical" and balanced sound. I rarely get time to listen to music only, i usually listen while doing homework, where the hyper-detailed sound can be distracting
BTW, about your initial comment on the KSC-35's, the surprising thing i discovered when i opened up my A/200s is that inside the large earcup is an idential-looking 40mm driver. It uses the exact same driver housing, and even has the little joint to snap into the KSC housing. MY R-80's, also use the same driver, which makes me believe Koss uses a similar approach to Grado. They use the same basic driver and modify it slightly/use different enclosures for the different headphones. The a/200 drivers look shiny and metallic, while the KSC (sportapro) driver is more dull... Nevertheless, the drivers sound very different, with the A/200's simply being a lot faster. But the overall freq response is quite similar, though the a/200's seem to avoid a boomy/exagerated bass by positioning the drivers much farther away from the ear...
