LeDechaine - itās my chest 
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Bought the Drop version of the PortaPros today.
I really like their style - I wanted them primarily for when Iām on the move and using the Teaks or the Sundara is impractical.
However I donāt know if Iām convinced by their sound.
Granted, these HPs cost < $40, but people have been praising them so much.
They sound somewhat muffled to me, especially for an āopenā pair.
Iāve ordered some Yaxi pads, will they help?
Or do I need to adjust my expectations?
For me the Yaxi pads did make a difference, to both sound and even better comfort.
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Treble is quite recessed or bass bleeds into the mids too mich (dependimg on your perspective) - probably warmer than the HD500 line even. Itās a rather warm/dark tonality. If you want something with a more balanced signature, there is the KSC75 with a much more proper pinna gain region, though there is little depth to the bass.
Yaxi pads will slightly carve out the mids for a clearer sound, but nothing too drastic. You can also try EQ.
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Yaxi pads help a little clarifying the mids but they are bigger and therefore my ears get warmer.
I also use Wavelet EQ app on Android and their auto EQ for the PortaPro sounds great.
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Yaxi Pads helped. Iāve also gotten used to the sound a bit over time.
Comfort improved a lot too!
These are now my go-to ānot-sittingā HPs, as well as my main Video Conferencing HPs 
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This is a killer looking retro kit. I think I need one of those players. Where did you pick it up?
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This particular one I got from eBay.
Sony MZ-R37 Minidisc Player/Recorder.
Iāve also gotten other Minidisc hardware from Yahoo Auctions Japan, using www.fromjapan.co.jp - a proxy service.
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I swear by my KPH30i with Yaxi Pads - maybe I should check out the PortaPros at some point.
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PortaPros with Yaxi Pads on KSC75 clips are my exercise setup. A great combination of sound quality, comfort, and actually being able to hear things around you.
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Has anyone tried the new Porta Pro Utility ones out? Iām curious if there is a difference in sound. After the KPH 40ā¦ Iām hesitant.
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I have them and I am not able to hear any difference. Iām not the most detail oriented listener though. I will say that the Utility hold their size way better than any of my other Porta Pros. The headband does not slide back out as soon as you take them off. I havenāt had to readjust them once since getting them.
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If anyone is is looking for decent alternate pads, these Sennheiser ones fit well. Though theyāre ugly as hell lol. The Yaxi pads I had started deteriorating after less than a couple years of infrequent use.
you will need to put the yaxi pad or something baggy pads first then you can put Grado pads
My family got me this for my birthday - Bluetooth porta proā¦ Liking it alot! Sounds pretty great for bluetooth! I use a porta pro headset daily and love it for both work calls and games and listening to music, but this is nice wirelessā¦ super portable and looks simple and lightweight, sounds great without wiresā¦
The only issue with this that I have tried it is that those two bars - the vcontrol bar and bluetooth receiver bar look a bit wierd handing off the headset if dangling straight downā¦ They look like wierd black plastic earings lolā¦ I saw some people attach them to the headset with velcroā¦ They could work on the design of this to make the bars less conspicuousā¦ I think putting the cable behind the head helps, thinking to add a small cable clip that lets it wrap snug behind the head so they are out of the way could workā¦
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Koss PortaPros āmini-reviewā : So you want smoothness.
Koss PortaPros are smooth. First, theyāre legendary, but theyāre not āendgameā. If you already got an amp and dac, I donāt think I would recommend em for you. You want more than that. That is, more treble, more detail everywhere. But, theyāre called PortaPros. Portability. When you donāt carry your big amp and big dac with you, these make every ālo-fiā source sound better.
Straight into smartphones, for example. All the āgritā and āthinnessā and lack of bass of cheap DACs and amps justā¦ disappears. Itās like you donāt hear that half of the bits arenāt there (lol) but PortaPros just do a bridge made of honey over it. PortaPros are not detailed (and why would you want portable and detailed headphones outside when thereās noise everywhere), but the lack of detail is just exchanged for smoothness. Every dac/amp that sounds thin, flat, or got too much treble or sibilance, with this, sounds smooth. Sounds better. Way better.
Thereās a lot of bass, and a quite incredible amount of sub-bass, for open-back on-ear ādisposable-like and library-likeā headphones. Mids are also great and very āfullā, especially for the price. Again, you donāt feel like youāre listening to ālo-fiā sources when you use these. If you want sparkly, energetic treble, look elsewhere. These gotā¦ none of it. But this means you wonāt hear any sibilance whatsoever with these, even with the most horrible sound recordings.
Are these boring, then? No, not at all. No energy in the treble means that after a day of work, you can sit back, relax and enjoy all the music you want without ever being āannoyedā, electronic music included. But it also means you can headbang and enjoy the bass/drum kicks of everything energetic for hours.
Then you get home and think about all the money you spent in dacs, amps, possibly tube amps and headphones, to have that level of smoothness, fullness, or just, that level of appreciation for music. And you realize why PortaPros are still praised today.
P.S.: Thinking about all that, the PortaPros wireless are now in my cart. And these apparently got a bit more treble.
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