Incredibe, clear sound on this beauty.

I bought these speakers before going to Cuba when I bought my portable Mp3-Cd Player, made by Koss as well.

When I first attached the phones to the player, it seemed like the maximum volume wasn't very high and even though the bass was clear and defined, unmuddled, it lacked sufficient volume to be appreciated. As well, I found that because they have such good frequency, they showcase the mp3 format's downside - loss of quality when encoded.

I mean think about it, music sound quality has taken three steps back in recent years at the expense of more space. First there were normal cd players that played back the source, clean and pure. Next we would download the mp3s from the internet, convert them into wavs and burn 74 minutes of music from a cd-r. Now, we burn the data files which are read like they are from a pc, further lowering the quality as there are more steps that have been taken away from the original recording. There are far better formats with better compression and higher-quality audio out there (See: Windows's WMA format), but the mp3 has been the sensation as the usage is so widespread. WMA is hailed too much as a ploy from Microsoft to get their grubby hands into manipulating online audio so they can tear piracy to pieces. At least that's the theory. In reality, their software team is just better than most and as a result, created a great audio format.

Anyways, so where was I? Ahh, yes, the lack of sufficient sound quality. Well, as you probably got out of that long spiel, the mp3-cd sound quality is a far cry from the original recording, but the extra space is incredibly useful and more than makes up for the sound quality loss. On average, I'm able to fit 130-140 songs on one mp3-data disc, compared to 18-20 on a normal burned-as-wav cd.

When I attached the Porta-Pros to my headphone jack on my Altec Lansing 641 speakers, it was a WHOLE new ball game. The sound was clear and went as loud as my speakers made them go. The bass was clear and boomy, MUCH louder than I would have ever thought a piece of equipment this book could produce. And the best part was, it wasn't muddled even at huge volumes and levels. The highs were, in a word, breathtaking, further dropping my jaw.

The look of the headphones may bother some, infuriate others, and some might laugh with glee and joy. The old, early-headphones design is present with a the outer earpieces not a fully entity, but divided into two circles. The inner earpiece can be moved around the manipulated at will, with a nice light blue color to them. The inner earpieces are surrounded by a firm yet very comfortable foam padding that makes wearing these guys a joy.

There are a few problems withn the design, though. The inner earpieces are made to move around by being attached separately to the headgear by means of a loose piece attached to the base of the outer earpiece. This attachment, however, is loose and is continuing to get looser the more I move them around, and they are made of cheap plastic, so I can see them snapping right off very soon. I might have to take them back and get another pair, but they earpieces are much too flimsy for my liking.

A plus to the design, though, is the thin metal headpiece that you wear on top of your head. They are adjustable to a very small and large size and can be fitted very easily to ones head. The earpieces of the headphones can fold inwards towards the headpiece and then the headpiece can be made smaller and the two earpieces attach together and become easy to carry. It may be a little confusing at first how to hook them in, but don't be afraid to bend the metal a bit; it's very sturdy and won't break.

Overall, I think the exceptional sound more than makes up for the bad design and cheap parts. You are paying a lot of money for this pair and as a result, I would think Koss should make the earpieces with higher quality plastic, or maybe even metal throughout, provided it was comfortable.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars.