I don’t think it’s right to not mention what 15 bucks can get you, imo it’s something that everyone should try at least once (or other koss like the porta pro or kp30i (although don’t like the 30i myself)). You get actual decent staging, actual resolving power, a refined brighter leaning signature that offers lots of clarity without being overbearing, actual dynamics, basically most of the things you might want and all you could ask for for 15 ish us dollars. Can even scale with nicer amps too (within reason). Imo does better than a lot of the sub 100 buck headphones out there, and I do like them a fair bit more than a lot of the more budget iems that exist too. Basically something to blow away a ton of the consumer stuff for much less, an excellent first step into proper audio reproduction imo.
Can’t tell you how many of these things I have had and currently have to give out to people to get them hooked on decent sound lol
@M0N Ha! I have given many away as well, for the same reason. Always have a couple in the closet. I keep one with the ear clips as a portable, and another with the parts express headband (slightly more clamp improves bass) and have settled on Yaxis for comfort, as I don’t tolerate on ears well, generally. I agree with your sound asessment,especially the soundstage and the treble push, which helps offset some hearing loss. I would like this sound in another dynamic with better separation and detail, as a complement to my Sundaras…Elex or Auteur, but…budget, lol…maybe 880’s.
Yes we must show the legend some love. These things are an absolute no brainer and a fun thing to show people who are not accustomed to decent audio gear. They literally look like something you pick up at Dollar General and yet they sound unreasonably good for their price and build.
Porta Pro is actually my favorite sound out of the Koss trio. Where the KSC75 is crisp and clear, the Porta Pro is warmer with surprisingly good bass. The detail takes a hit because of this I think, but it’s a worthy trade off imo, especially for genres where bass is a necessity.
The koss ksc75 was one of my first obsessions. Did the kramer mod on my first pair and my cat ends up chewing the cables in half. Buy another pair and it happens again. My cat would hunt down the ksc75 just to chew through the cables and so ive been through at least 4 pairs.
Given some away but sadly people were more fixated on how they looked and hung on their ears over how they sound.
@SkipsMcGhee My friend had the same problem with his cat and senn. cords.
He now keeps in drawer…the cord, not the cat! PS for a little more cost I put the
KSC 75 on a parts express headband before giving them as gifts, and also give them the earclips as a bonus. Seems the more traditional look works better…so far everyone has really liked them (and, as we know, been surprised by the sound!) Great fun.
The headbands are part of their “mini stereo lightweight headphones”. Bulk from
them or about $6 on Amazon. Listen to them once to hear what Really terrible
phones sound like…then pop them off carefully and toss 'em, lol!
I decided to bring my older pair of 950 with me while traveling, forgot how fantastic these really are even with a stock energizer (with upgraded psu) for the money, considering you can get a pair from massdrop for basically 400 bucks is insane to me considering what this offers as a package, def my favorite estat under 1k without a doubt. And no I’m not using the battery pack, I didn’t want to have to lug around 6 c cells that would give me like a few hours of runtime lol
The 950 and 95X are the same? I was kinda under the impression there were fairly significant differences tbh. Side note: how do you even pritect estats while traveling?
Pretty sure they are except for build being slightly worse, different pads (honestly kinda better but you are still better off with vesper or dekoni pads), and a lot less accessories (no fancy bag, no battery pack). But the actual driver and the amp are close enough to identical. The main sonic differences come from the pads
They came with a 90s camera bag basically lol. And if I don’t want to put them back I’ve just been taking the hotel shower cap and putting it over the headphones to protect from dust lol
Adapters are somewhat available to use the Koss 950/95x earspeakers with other energizers and likewise, an opportunity to use Stax models with the Koss energizer. The wisdom I understand is that the Koss energizer is super maligned. What is the point of diminishing returns on other energizers with the Koss headphone, and is there reasonable synergy of using other electostatic headphones with the Koss energizer? Is there a better power supply to use on the stock energizer?
I own the OG 950 system. Battery pack and all. I use them very sparingly and gently because of terror about durability/dust/hair/etc. I love them though, the quick effortless mid-centric sound with great separation are special attributes. They’re impossibly light and comfortable as well. I have swapped them to Yaxi pads which has helped with comfort, uniformity of ‘seal’ and I think flattened bass extension and brought down midrange elevation some. I think the pad swapping is tremendous, I’ve no experience with Dekoni or Vesper - but I check Dekoni B-Stock weekly for the opportunity.
I think it’s pretty worthwhile to use the koss on higher end energizers to some extent, while I wouldn’t run out and grab something like a carbon cc, bhse, or wes, some of the middle tier amps out there are reasonably worthwhile
Yes exact same lol, they sometimes start buzzing and freak me out but they settle down over time and a bit of air takes care of the problem
Both vesper and dekoni are great, with vesper being what I personally use
Oh yeah I forgot to mention! Something pretty cool happened. My mom uses the Ksc75 everyday lol! I didn’t push anything into her, didn’t even recommend it but she just took my pair when she went walking and has been doing so since lol. Feels nice!
Took far too long to do this, but I decided to finally throw the KSC75s on the main chain tonight. I’ll be damned these things never cease to impress.
The Crayon likes high impedance, so 50-60 ohm is kinda the bare minimum, which is right where KSC75 and Porta Pros sit (as well as Susvara). While maybe not the ideal match, the scaling is immediately apparent. Took about two bars of Sinatra to have a ‘oh dang, this gonna be good’ moment.
Especially with less busy passages, especially without a bunch of overlapping cymbal splashes that seem to overwhelm things, the balance is right on with a little extra magic in the middle.
Jazz, Blues, and Bluegrass is where it’s at for me with these. Almost immediately had to change tracks when a Tesla song popped up in the randomized local Moode jukebox, though.
