Flavor of the week: Koss Portapro

I thought it'd be appropriate to have the portapros as the first headphone to go over here, as they was the first good  set of headphones I owned. Even though I've gotten more expensive and better performing headphones, these are still pretty special to me. They come in a rather unflattering box, as most cheap koss products do.

Picture taken from the internet

Your basic plastic shell with cardboard backing. Nothing special indeed. Then it gets even worse when you take them out. I distinctly remember looking at the drivers (the parts covered in foam that the sound comes out of) and thinking "This is going to sound like shit isn't it?", or at least thinking "Man this isn't going to have any bass at all". That added with the basic construction consisting of a metal strip for the headband and interesting plastic bits  holding the drivers on, not to mention the cheap cord, makes it a very underwhelming set of headphones to look at.

But of course all of that changes once you start listening to them.

I also have a very clear memory of my first thoughts when I started listening to them. After listening for a half minuet or so, I took them off to make sure they were the same things I put on. They were, and I put them back on. I spent a good hour or so being impressed by how much bass they put out. Of course back then I didn't have much appreciation for sound quality, but I did have appreciation for "hurr lots o bass!". The portapros certainly don't fall short there. What kept me listening after that though, was the detail in the rest of the spectrum. The mids and the highs had more detail than anything else I had heard, literally a case of "Hear parts of music you've never heard before".

Of course in context of what I've heard now, things are a bit different. The midrange seems a slight bit 'honky',   the highs are nice in some parts and recessed in other, and I've heard much more (and less) as far as bass goes. They seem to focus the sound right around where the highs start, and although a bit weird if you are used to fancier headphones it's a very nice sound coming from your usual sub-par set. The sound signature does also have the benefit of not having any real weaknesses as far as genres go, just a hatred for bad quality files. You should really get rid of those anyway though. They do rank as some of the least comfortable headphones I've put on my head at times, It takes a bit of adjustment to get them comfy. On top of all of this you can always do the kramer mod, basically a technique of drilling holes in the grill first done by a person on head-fi (named kramer, obviously). Defiantly a mod worth doing.

Taken from the original 'kramer mod thread'.

So where does that leave the portapros? Well, for 30$, they are a pretty good deal. Getting good sound quality in that price range is difficult, but the portapros deliver. The only thing better I can think of in the sub 50$ range would be the KSC 75, since it's more or less clip on portapros. If you have less than 50$ to spend and don't want KSC 75s, then get these. Don't like the portapros for some reason? Comfort? Isolation? Save up and get something better then. It's also worth nothing that most koss products (KSC 75 and portapro included) have a lifetime warranty, so although they have their build quality issues you can send them back and get new ones every time they get destroyed.

I've always been one for fixing them myself though.

-HF