This is the official thread for the Koss KSC-75 and 75x. This thread is for discussion and reviews.
- ON Ear, Literally
- No Amp needed
- Open Back
HifiGuides Amazon linkReviews…
Z Reviews
MZN
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Don’t question it
Don’t think about it
Don’t look for more reviews
Just go right ahead and buy a pair of these
You’ll never know when they’ll come in handy, and because they’re so inexpensive you don’t really care if anything bad happens to them
And after a while when you’re bored with them you can do Gofspars blu tack mod, you can add a MMXC socket and make them wireless, You can swap the cable to something more fancy
The sky is the limit
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My thought on those is if you want something low budget that is “open back” those should be the answer, not the shp9500…
They are so cheap you can just replace them if they break without breaking a sweat, modding them won’t cost you much either if you fail. (I recommend custom 3D grill mod + MMCX mod)
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I bought these because of the good reviews it has and, of course, because Zeos recommends it. However with some high or female vocals it sounds distorted, I don’t know if mine have a defect or all of them sound the same. I’ve tried different amps and sources but the results are the same.
What exactly is the point of the mmcx mod? Aren’t removable cables for replacing a broken one without having to replace the whole headphone? At this price a replacement cable basically costs the same as the whole headphone, so what’s the point?
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The stock cable sucks, so rather than living with it you can have a connector and use them wired or wireless depending what you do
I know this sounds crazy but have you tried removing the pads
and using compressed air to blow off the drivers.
Hair can get through the pads and cause all kinds of strange sounds
at certain frequencies.Thought mine were FOBAR !
A few squirts of air,good as new.
You can go further and open the driver covers(VERY carefully) and remove any thing that stuck in there. I helped me couple of times when i started to hear buzzing
About headphones:
They still have most pleasant FR to listen to every genre of music(probably because i was using them the most).
They are more fun than my hd600, and are a lot better for rock/metal than takstar pro82.
KSC75 Build quality is crap. Cable after 6 months turned completely stiff. And then broke.
On KSC75x cable is a lot more flexible but its to early to say anything about durability.
They are my default recommendation when someone ask me.
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It was THESE babies that got me into headphones. I owned a pair of Bose quiet comfort II which was a decent noise cancelling phone. Found a pair of ksc 75 clip ons on the clearance rack at Sears for 6 bucks so I decided to pick them up…let’s just say I was NOT expecting the sound that came out of them.
I was shocked and amused at how detailed and wide they sounded but also kind of pissed they sounded better than by Bose to me which cost me in the hundreds.
My only issue was the clip ons but doing some research online I was not only able to find a SUPER easy and cheap headband mod, but I also find that I am definitely not the only person who appreciated just how great these little babies sound.
Still have them years later.
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Bought these as an inexpensive headphone to wear when lying in bed, as bigger cans get in the way. Can’t really fault the sound for the price, although not the most comfortable set there is for me, i prefer them over most in-ear variants though. Also, great to travel with as they are so small and light and easy to fit in a pocket…
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probably one of the highest value headphones in existence when it comes to sound quality… a good mod for those who’d shy away from replacing the grille, for example, are these pads: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foam-Pad-Almohadillas-para-auriculares-p-ej-por-Koss-Porta-Sporta-Pro-KSC75/130977486733
They slightly lift up the bass and add a lot to the midrange and trebble, making the sound more detailed and a bit wider without making them harsh either
Impressive, impressive treble. Crisp, clear, detailed, no sibilance I think. Great soundstage too. But, not much bass. I’ve been listening to Sennheiser HD280 Pros for more than 10 years, so it feels like I’m missing “half” of the songs with these. Also, I don’t like this on-ear-clip-thingy.
I don’t believe KSC75s are “worth 200$”, like Zeos said. But theeze, with more bass? Oh wow. Buying Koss Portapros soon, they’ll replace them (like, KSC75s in which you can hear bass? Holy sh**!).
portapros sound pretty much the same. if you want more bass, slap Yaxi pads on them. if that’s too much bass then, try the pads I’ve linked… pads make a huge difference with these
https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-2/graph#385/2031/472
That’s +5db more bass, to +10db more low-bass, combined with more-or-less -5db treble. But anyway, I believe the headband will make a good difference for me even if they’re the exact same drivers.
huh… never really noticed that, but then again I didn’t give either a proper listen with the stock pads… but yeah, audio-quality-wise they are both excellent for the price (and even in the sub $200 range in general)
Replace them they do not. You will get more bass at the expense of treble coverage (has holes the KSC75 doesn’t) and weight/comfort (unless you already know those clips don’t work for you no matter how you bend and shape them).
For the hybrid performance you’re looking for you could try getting the PortaPros and putting the KSC75 drivers on that headband. Or another thing people did as part of the Kramer mod was to put deeper pads on the KSC75, some model they found with a ridge that sits on your ear and moves the driver a bit farther back (but this was in the context of drilling extra holes in the front grille, so there was no loss of detail from moving them back, just some bass recovery; in your scenario you would use the deeper pads without changes to the grille).
I’ll see, I’ll have both so I’ll have fun modding if I need to. 
anyone swapped the pads out for the Yaxi or something else? just ordered the Drop edition of these and would like maximum comfort. surprised Drop didn’t include the Yaxi’s and charge a bit more 
Which sound better between the KSC75 and the KSC35?
Koss KSC35, from what I can see:
- They are a little more expensive (KSC35:44$ KSC75: 20$ as per Koss Website)
- The clip looks cheeper on the KSC35
- Looks like the KSC35 are clip on PortaPro. The back of the driver and the little box where the wire goes in looks exactly like PortaPro
I’ve been told that the 35’s are discontinued and essentially the drivers of the Porta Pro with the ear loop wear system.