Wow! I did NOT mean to kick a hornet’s nest. I’m going to try to address some things – maybe it will clarify things for some of you, maybe it will make things worse, I’m so sorry.
I’m not a basement dweller, I’m old enough to lie if you dare ask my age. I have some money, but I’m no baller.
Buying/Returning/Buying as part of the journey: I am not really comfortable at this point in buying used, selling what I don’t like, and buying something else to try. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I’m sure many of you know of places that you don’t have to be paranoid about buying used electronics (like Z’s yard sales) but I don’t think I’m ready to swim in that deep end yet.
The headphones being tuned to “Harmon” makes me think of what Z said about the Panda’s THX. Right? The ones he listened to were hand tuned by THX and when he paired them with ‘something’ (I couldn’t tell what it was) THX they were even more sweet?
Not to be contrary to some of you but as someone who has played piano (don’t currently have one, or I would still) and was in “school band” for some years, I DID find the charts that MaynardGK shared along with his explanation to be helpful. Beginning with the chart that MaynardGK shared showing the piano keyboard, human voice range with the red and green lines was fantastic. I’m not done with all that…
I agree MON, and think I mentioned before, I DO realize I will need to eventually just buy a pair, but I want to try to make the most informed decision I can to maybe increase the chance of hitting my target. At least if I “miss” my target by being informed I might have an idea where the next place to go might be. Does that make sense?
I have more to address all of the above but I didn’t want anyone to drown in a sea of words……
Lol. Happens in this hobby. Unavoidable after any length of time, I’m afraid. Fortunately the hornet swarms here tend to be milder than elsewhere.
I wrestled with this a lot too. I hung onto a lot of things until just this year and then went on a selling spree. There’s a lot to be said for hanging on to everything you’ve bought so you have points to compare to when you get new things. There’s also a lot to be said for selling stuff you don’t use much to finance better stuff. Personally, I wouldn’t worry about buying used until you’re more familiar with your own tastes and what gear matches those tastes. Where buying used becomes an excellent value proposition is when you start getting into the upper-middle and higher-end tiers, IMO. Ultimately, there’s really no right or wrong way to do it, just do what works for you.
Yep! Really 2 points in there, and ‘yep’ to both. FWIW, I ‘did my research’ in the early days of this hobby and wound up with Monolith M1060 and Beyerdynamic DT990 32 ohm as my first “real audiophile” headphone purchases. They ultimately ended up being…not great. BUT, I did really learn a lot from them, started to get a handle on my likes and dislikes, and even with their flaws they were big time upgrades over most headphone gear I had ever used to that point. Even with the M1060’s shouty midrange and DT990’s piercing treble, I enjoyed a lot of hours of music.
I’m as long-winded as anyone on this forum. You have nothing to worry about. Thanks for bringing us in on your audio journey and I hope you have fun!
Having the Harman target as the background grey curve is one of the options. if you get stuck, just ask away. That said, of course you took away from the above verbal avalanche that a salt shaker needs to always be at hand when using such a dangerous tool. And also, of course, you know you’ll need ears-on time to discover whether the Harman compromise is even something you’ll like.
If they weren’t “on the ear” I would have purchased a pair of the Koss - either the Porta Pros or I think someone mentioned the KSC75 (from what I saw, I actually think I might like the KSC75 a little more with a little more bass, if I understood correctly). As many of you pointed out - in their price range, why not.
Is it too simplified to ask, is there any headphones with similar characteristics as those 2 Koss but with Open or Closed back?
The UR-40 are over-ears that use the same titanium drivers as the KSC75, but are a bit bassier. Definitely needs a pad swap, but it doesn’t sound bad with stock pads.
I still like my Porta Pros the most of all the Koss 60 ohms I tried. I’m not a fan of the stock pads, but Yaxis truly are so much more comfortable since they do cover the entire area of the ear. Unless on-ear is 100% no for you, I think they worth trying if you can spare the money for Yaxi pads.
I see how the Yaxi’s cover a lot more over the ear, but they are still foam.
For the purposes of listening to 'binaural" music I guess they recommend the open back. I don’t know a lot about it, I think they mention sound stage. I’m wondering if the large foam coverage might be better actually then just on the ear - cause it sounds like they are not too thin either.
At worst you can return both headphones and pads through Amazon if you order through them. I’d give at the very least 2 days to get used to any headphone fitment. The Porta Pros felt weird to me at first because of the thin headband and temple cushions, but I find them more comfortable than my AD900x now days. May even want to stretch the headband a bit to reduce clamping.
so from what i am reading you seem to like a pretty warm sound… i think with how cheap the koss portapro are they are probably your best bet for starting out and figuring out which kind of sound you like… they are only 35 bucks and have a pretty warm sound, personally I find them a bit too warm seeing as I feel the highs aren’t as refined but maybe you might be in love with the sound. afterwards you might have to think of something like the mezes or the sivga phoenix (mezes would probably be best if you need it to be closed back), and then you have figured out at least the sound you like and instead of having to go in a black hole of testing you can just have an idea of what you want and get what is good enough
As more of a treble-lover, I can definitely say the lack of treble extension is the most disappointing part about the PP after using an AD900x for years prior. I love it anyways, because it also means I can listen to the harshest of electronic music and not kill my ears lmao. I probably would not be so harsh on the PP if it wasn’t for the Audio Technicas I had prior.
A couple of Kramer holes in the driver grill did help a tiny bit with treble extension. Still a warm sound, but I can actually hear glockenspiels now, and hi hats don’t sound like they come from a 90s keyboard synthesizer.
Actually I think you have it backwards. The Porta Pro definitely has more pronounced bass than the KSC75. The 75 leans more toward the mid and high frequencies. I love them both. I use the Porta Pro for more bass dependant genres (rock, electronic, hip hop, etc.) I use the KSC75 for more acoustic genres, however I will say I like the feeling of having a headband instead of ear clips personally, so the Porta Pro sees more use overall.
I noticed a thread on KCS75 headbands on Head-Fi when searching for an add-on headband link. The thread might contain some useful info.
Ever in search of a headphone that would do my personal version of accurate/neutral without EQ, I just tried the KCS75’s FR on my DT1990s. Not quite close enough for my needs or I’d be tempted to try them with a headband myself.
A light-clamp headband with the titanium drivers will definitely improve the bass. That’s basically the reason why something like the KTXPRO1 has reasonable bass at the cost of a little bit of treble when compared to the KSC75.
I have also tried swapping drivers between my Porta Pro and KTXPRO1, and they actually sound basically the same. Titanium does have a slight edge in treble, but most of the difference is in clamping force, pads, and distance from ear imo.
I found the Focal Elegia to be closest to the ksc75. Then the sundara as second closest to the ksc75. I feel like the elegia is the most similiar however, with great dynamic slam, treble and mids for days, decent bass and similiar tonality to an extent.
Hello all! I thought I should pop in with an update.
I’ve owned my Koss Porta Pro’s with Yaxi replacement pads (THANK GOODNESS!!!) for 14 days now. Man, if you all hadn’t told me about the Yaxi’s I’m not sure I could have worn the Porta Pro’s. I put them on first and couldn’t get them off fast enough to switch to the Yaxi’s which are Soooooo much better.
I’ve used them with my Galaxy phone & my PC. There is a definite sound improvement from the phone to the PC. I also tried both my “sketchy” mp3’s, direct off of plain YouTube, and then Amazon Music that I have bought. Again, I could definitely tell the difference between the different qualities. Which gave me confidence in the headphones.
My thoughts on the way they sound made me wonder - do you all use them with a separate amp - dac thing - especially since you have them anyway?
As far as the “therapeutic sound” program that “required” over the ear headphones - I told them to stick it…well…not exactly, but I feel like the coverage and sound I get from the Yaxi pads are enough for now.
(semi) Final Verdict: I now remember why I haven’t used headphones in so long. LOL! I hate the tether among so many many other things. No offense to anyone. I want so badly to sing along out loud and yeah - I’m not doing that - even alone with a pair of “cans” on. I’m not doing it. LOL! - -I think that should really be considered a crime against humanity…LOL!
With that in mind - I think a wireless solution would definitely work better if I still want to go with “cans”, but for sound quality and enjoyment overall it’s probably better if I try to go with a small speaker type of situation. (Which appears to be a WHOLE different rabbit whole with another section)?
small rant: I know I can’t be the only one out in the great “un-fi” masses that doesn’t want to settle for Bose or Sonos or have a AI in our Music Speaker but also is not sure about getting swept up into 15 different components…sigh…
I’m also still not ruling out eventually getting a pair of Pandas or the like for fun, but I think due to reasons listed above - I’d be better to focus on external sound…
Thank you so everyone, I’m so glad I went with the totally inexpensive Porta Pro’s first.
Versus a smartphone’s output, a dedicated amp can improve bass response. For my Porta Pro, sound doesn’t really sound all that different coming from my FiiO K5 Pro or my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - the FiiO just makes the sub-bass response a bit better. Vesus my Dell G7, an even smaller difference. Noticeable, but not $150 worth of sound improvement lol. You don’t need an external DAC and amp as long as onboard audio and such does not clip/distort at listening volumes and does not produce audible noise (hiss). Low-end DAC/amps are just handy for their connectivity, toggles, dials, switches and other features, really.
Although I don’t have a wireless recommendation, something like a uBTR or BTR3k may pair nicely with the Porta Pros. With some good cable management or recabling (if you want to mod) anything with a 3.5mm jack can be used with bluetooth.
