Review | Koss Porta Pro

Every once in a while, people come across a pair of headphones which look like the worst of the lot, only to be blown away as soon as they plug them in and turn on the music. The Koss Porta Pro, priced at around Rs. 5000 ($49.99), is one of those headphones. While I was really sceptical about ordering these headphones, and even more so when they finally arrived, the quality of music simply left me astounded and reminded me to not judge a book by its cover. Or in this case, headphones by their looks. Hence, here is the review of the wonderful little surprise aptly named the Koss Porta Pro.

The Koss Porta Pro Headphones

First Impressions

I had used a pair of Koss KSC75 earphones before I ordered this pair, and I knew that the audio quality of Koss is pretty good even though it isn't such a huge craze here in India. However, when the package arrived with these pair of cans, I was a little surprised as to what to feel. They were completely folded up into a tiny little ball which could easily fit into my palm, and I was left wondering whether I had been ripped off. As I open the packaging, I found the headphones along with the user manual, the Koss Limited Lifetime Warranty card, and a tiny leather pouch along with it.

The headphones remained in a folded state using a hook mechanism. As soon as this hook was unclasped, the headphones immediately expanded a significant bit. The ear pads were unfolded next, and the headphones were ready to use. The portability was probably the most surprising feature of the Koss Porta Pro even though it seemed to be made using really fragile materials. Looking at the headphones in my hands, I honestly did not expect them to sound as good as they did. But first impressions are first impressions, and if these headphones have taught me anything, it's to not judge anything by their looks.

The Koss Porta Pro completely Folded

The Brand and the Koss Porta Pro

This section here is for readers from India and other such countries where Koss isn't all that popular and the readers might have some doubt about the quality of the product and the brand in general. I've personally used two Koss Products, namely the Koss KSC75 and the Koss Porta Pro, and both of them left me breathless given their sound quality even though they did seem to be a bit fragile. The sound quality which they produce can easily tackle headphones from higher price ranges and certainly defeat most, if not all headphones in their own price range. Now moving onto the brand itself.

Koss is an American Brand found by John Koss in 1958 with the world's first pair of stereophones named the SP/3 Stereophone. From there, Koss has advanced by leaps and bounds and had been quite successful in their vintage days with their innovative headphones. The Koss Porta Pro was made in 1984 and is still currently the best-selling pair of cans by Koss. If you thought that these headphones looked a little funky, or retro you were absolutely correct, and the primary reason is that these headphones were designed and engineered in 1984. If a pair of cans surviving the ever-changing trends and mood swings of the consumer market for upwards of 40 years isn't a feat in itself, I don't know is. You can read further about Koss and their journey throughout the years at their official site.

The branding on either side of these headphones

Technical Specification

The Koss Porta Pro boasts quite a few impressive specs despite its looks. Hung on a shelf, you wouldn't expect these headphones to be so well equipped, let alone produce half the sounds which they do produce. Without further ado, here are the technical specifications.

Frequency Response: These Headphones offer frequency ranges from between 15Hz to 25KHz, which is quite a broad spectrum of sound to be produced.

Impedance: The Impedance offered by these headphones ranges up to 60 Ohms, which isn't that high, but not too low either. It would be better to invest in a player with a good DAC to truly enjoy these headphones even though they can play music pretty well without help in most cases.

Driver Unit: The headphones boast a 35 mm Dynamic driver unit with copper voice coils. That signals the possibility of a deep bass.

Supra-Aural: The headphones are supra-aural, or rest on your ears. This shows a few issues with noise isolation.

Open back: These headphones are open back. Combine that with the fact that these are on-ear, and you really have problems isolating noises.

However, headphones can rarely ever be judged by their technical specs. Let's head down to the hands down experience which these headphones offer.

Physical Factors

Before we head down to the sound quality of the Koss Porta Pro, let's take a look at the other physical parameters of these cans.

Looks

The Koss Porta Pro has a pretty retro look to it. It looks like an artefact from another time altogether, back when Discmans and AM Radios were all the craze. If you feel the same way about these headphones then you'd be absolutely correct, for these headphones were first manufactured in 1984. The retro look has survived with these headphones ever since, and even if it may look a little outlandish or out of place in today's world, I still have to say that it has a funkier feel to it. It can also come off as rather geeky from time to time based on the personality of the wearer. All in all, while the Koss Porta pro can be pulled off with style, it would take some effort and dress up on behalf of the wearer to do so. Apart from that, these headphones look quite flimsy.

The headphones feature a flexible, expandable headband which can surprisingly accommodate all head sizes and unravel to huge lengths. They also feature a couple of foldable ear pads which can be folded inwards to make the headphones more portable. The earpads themselves are made of thin foam which seemed to quite durable. These headphones are also equipped with a pair of flimsy wires, one for each ear. Finally, these headphones are also equipped with a foam pad which rests on the temples to relieve pressure. It also has a comfort zone mechanism which we shall talk about in the section below. The right side has a hook while the left side has a clasp for it to aid in completely folding these headphones.

The Retro Look of the Koss Porta Pro

Looks: 3/5

Plausibly stylish

Comfort

The Koss Porta Pro is really lightweight and easy to handle. It feels almost non-existent when placed on the skull and appears to be practically weightless. Since these headphones have a metal headband, there is bound to some extra pressure on your skull because of the elastic properties of thin metal sheets. However, Koss has found a solution to that problem as well with the introduction of their Comfort Zone Mechanism. This mechanism provides the wearer with a scale from light to heavy where they can adjust the firmness of the foam pads resting on their temples so they don't hurt, and remain extra comfortable without running the risk of spontaneously falling off. This mechanism seems to be operated by a set of springs and grooves and works brilliantly. All you need to do to reset them is to take the headphones off.

The Supra-Aural nature of the headphones would have provided some painful listening experiences if not for the Comfort Zone feature offered by Koss wherein the entire pressure of these headphones practically rests on your temples, and is further adjustable at that! Also, because these headphones are open back, there are zero heating issues, and you can comfortably listen to music for hours and hours on end without even realising that you have a pair of headphones on. All in all, the Koss Porta Pro is really comfortable to use, and I truly doubt whether any other headphone which can produce such great audio can ever be this comfortable.

The Comfort Zone feature on the Koss Porta Pro

Comfort: 5/5

I wanted to give it a 6, to be honest.

Portability

Koss did guarantee a completely portable set of cans when they termed these pair the Porta Pro, and they delivered much beyond expectations. Not only are these headphones extremely light, they are also capable of taking up as much space as your fist, literally. When these headphones are completely folded, they occupy less than half their normal size. I personally like to fold them and put them in their pouch which can then be carried around in my trousers wherever I go. Furthermore, these headphones are so lightweight that they don't feel like much even when carried around or worn on your head. They are practically as light as a feather. When it comes to portability, the Koss Porta Pro isn't a pair of headphones. It's a pair of earphones which look like a pair of headphones. Very few headphones can boast of such portability and such exuberant features, especially in the modern day.

Portability: 5/5
Next to Nonexistent

Durability

Now, if there's anything that may be a major issue with these headphones, it is their durability. While Koss likes to make headphones with cheaper, more lightweight materials, they do provide a way for them to be more durable. The Koss Porta Pro is essentially a tradeoff between comfort and portability one side, and strength and durability on the other. The same materials which make these headphones really comfortable and portable act like a dual-edged blade and make the product less durable and more prone to damage and breaking. All parts of this headphones are constructed with really flimsy materials and look like they might snap under too much force.

And snap they do. But here comes Koss's simplistic brilliance to the rescue. Instead of constructing these headphones using heavier, high-end materials, they simply chose to construct it using lighter materials instead and leave detachable joints everywhere all over the headphones. Most parts of the headphones can be easily detached with sufficient force, and then snapped back into place with even lesser force. And this does not affect the sound quality one tiny bit.

While that may sound brilliant and impressive to some, there is, however, one real issue with the durability of these headphones. The problem lies not in the headphones themselves, but in the wire which connects these headphones to your music player. The wire is subject to getting detached off the headphones without a way of snapping them back into place. In other words, it is really easy to pull a wire out and repairing it is no easy task. The wires can be stripped and soldered back into place, but there is no guarantee that they would work. It is a very common problem which one can face with this model, and hence, one has to be extra careful while using it. This problem becomes especially worse in places which are not covered under the Koss Limited Lifetime Warranty such as India, or other such countries. While the rest of the parts can be easily repaired by hand, the wires pose quite a bit of a problem.

Durability: 2.5/5

Sound Quality

The Koss Porta Pro sounded surprisingly sweet for both its price range and its looks, and this was the primary reason why I have never judged anything by the way it looks ever again. Let's get lost in the melodies of this amazing pair of headphones.

Before the Burn-in

The Koss Porta Pro was surprisingly good before the burn-in. There was a tiny bit of distortion in the mids and a subtle lack of clarity when it came to the treble.The soundstage was brilliant with every little sound coming from its own distinct source. The bass was deep and resonating but did not convey a lack of anything either. I began to wonder whether these headphones would even burn-in, or whether they would sound the same throughout their entire lifespan.

After the Burn-in

After the Burn-in period was over, these headphones took my eardrums by storm and plunged me into a sea of sweet listening ecstasy. I knew that the Koss Porta Pro was good, but I had no idea that they would be this good, especially at their modest price range of Rs. 5000 ($49.99).

Highs

The loss of clarity observed before the burn-in completely disappeared and it became clearer than ever before. Each and every note come off crystal clear, and all the nuances of the treble seemed easily distinguishable. There were no excess reverberation or any shrill notes. All the notes were extremely mellow and subtle, yet could be heard with pitch-perfect clarity without having to cringe whenever I could hear a flute playing, or a drummer smashing the crash. The highs were also the loudest features of these headphones. The Koss Porta Pro has apparently been tuned for Treble.

Highs: 4.5/5

Mids

The distortion in the mids went missing and it was replaced with crisp, clear sounds. Each and every beat and drum stroke could be heard easily. As for voices, they were sharper than ever, without even the slightest of distortions. The Koss Porta Pro seemed like a good headphone for both music and vocals. It is completely unbiased when it comes to the preference between the two. However, the mids weren't all that responsive to the equaliser, and therein lay a limitation of the Mids.

Mids: 4/5

Lows

I thought that the Koss Porta Pro didn't leave anything to be desired in the bass, but I couldn't have been more wrong. It was only when the headphones burned in, that the true potential of the bass was really unlocked. The lows displayed a newfound crispy punchiness to their deep resonance. The bass now sounded solid and packed quite a wallop with it. Not only that, it was quite well sustained as well given how it was able to avoid drowning out other frequencies while maintaining the structure of the music as necessary. Furthermore, they did not leave any additional reverberations and displayed a huge depth to them. The lows in these cans were exceptionally well made.

Lows: 5/5

Sound Stage

If there was anything which was the most impressive about the Koss Porta Pro apart from its portability, it was the gigantic soundstage offered by the device. Perhaps the fact that these headphones were open back contributed a lot to the dynamicity and the size of the soundstage, but the sounds simply did not feel like they originated from within a side of the headphones. Normally, when you wear headphones, there is a sort of range around your head where you can hear sounds originating from. Of course, this is an illusion, but nonetheless, there is a certain range of the origin of sounds. However, in the case of these headphones, the soundstage seemed so enormous that it felt almost infinite if that is even possible. All the sounds were not only distinct but could be easily heard emanating from different parts of the ambience. Again, I would say that perhaps the open back design played a major role in this. All in all, it sounded like the music was being played in a live performance, and not on an mp3 player.

Soundstage: 5/5

Like a live performance, just as Koss promises

Noise Isolation

However, one drawback of the open back design featured in the Koss Porta Pro is that you can hear everything that's going on in your surroundings. You can practically listen to music at full blast and still hold a conversation with another person. All sounds bleed into one and tend to sound more natural. While this isn't really a drawback in quiet places, it can be a real headache in noisy places where the all the noise can ultimately suppress the sound of the headphones themselves, and majorly affect sound fidelity. Furthermore, another disadvantage to these headphones is the lack of privacy, as these headphones bleed a lot of sounds, and anyone around you can clearly hear whatever it is that your listening to. It is essentially a set of stereo speakers placed on your ears. These headphones are bad if you live or work near noisy areas. While these may let you listen to your surroundings while you're working out, it'll certainly afford you a few stares from a passer-by if you listen to some socially unacceptable genres of music such as Metal.

Noise Isolation: 0/5

Useless without other sources of isolation

Overall Sound Quality

The Koss Porta Pro sounds deceptively good for its looks with each and every note crisp, clear, and no more than necessary while maintaining a mellow, but sharp treble, great vocals and even deeper, punchier, and resounding bass. The huge soundstage only contributes further to these frequency ranges and enhances them even further, making the entire listening experience a sweet symphony of melodies and emotions which feel like they are background music for the journey named life. It is truly a brilliant pair of headphones with the only drawback being one the features which give it its advantages: the open back model. Where it can be exceedingly pleasing to the ears in a quiet environment, it can leave you with a headache in a noisy one, and buy you some stares from people around if you listen to some socially objectionable content. In the end, it's a great pair of headphones but is highly dependent on the environment around you.

Overall sound quality: 3.7

It could've been great, but the lack of Noise Isolation brought it down

Conclusion

The Koss Porta Pro, priced at about Rs.5000($49.99), is essentially a symbolic artefact representative of a trade-off. These headphones have traded in one thing for the other no matter where you decide to take a look. While these are the most comfortable and the most portable headphones around, they lack the durability to withstand true portability. The lightweight materials used for construction do give tons of portability and comfort, but at the cost of structural strength. Even though most of the damage is easily repairable, the fragility of the wire is a real issue which needs to addressed by the designers. As for the sound, it belongs to completely different price range altogether, but yet again, what makes the sound so exciting and expressive is also the reason which makes it dependent upon the environment and has the power to make or break these headphones. The same open back model which boosts the frequencies and the soundstage to unimaginable levels, so much so that they seem to be a part of your life, like a live performance and not something being played on your headphones, also becomes the reason for its downfall as it removes all possibility of it isolating any outside noise. Sadly, while these headphones are marvels in their own rights, they are an example of primarily two things that, You cannot judge a book by its cover, and that You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Everything has its own price, and these are certainly paying theirs for all their features and enhancements. These are great headphones, nevertheless, but can only be used in a rather limited scope.

Final Score: 3.78/5

Et Tu, Brute?

In case you're interested in buying the Koss Porta Pro, you could use the following link to get the headphones at a discounted price and help us out at the same time:

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Koss Porta Pro I Prolite Stereophones