Koss Unveils its Next Generation of Porta Pro Wireless Headphones

[Nomad76]

Koss Corporation (NASDAQ Symbol: KOSS), the U.S. based high-fidelity Stereophone manufacturer and creator of the world's first SP3 Stereophone in 1958, celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Koss Porta Pro with the introduction of the next generation Koss Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth Headphones.

The evolutionary Koss Porta Pro Wireless combines the legendary sound and the iconic design of the Koss Porta Pro Classic headphones with the convenience and freedom of true wireless, with Bluetooth.





The completely re-designed and re-engineered next generation Koss Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth headphones feature Patent Pending innovations including an all-new dual steel headband that carries audio signals without the need for traditional overhead wires, preserving the iconic Porta Pro fit, aesthetic, and sound.

"The next generation Koss Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth headphones are remarkably similar to the Porta Pro Classic. The team's ingenuity enabled us to create new inventions which we have sought to protect by applying for patents at the United States Patent and Trademark Office," said Michael J. Koss, Jr., Vice President - Marketing & Product. "We focused on maintaining the iconic sound, collapsibility, fit, comfort, and performance of the Porta Pro Classic to celebrate its 40th Anniversary."

The next generation Koss Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth headphones feature an ultra lightweight rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can last more than 20 hours after a single charge using the included USB-C charging cord. If the battery runs low or there is no time to charge, the Koss Porta Pro Wireless has an analog bypass mode that can be enabled with an included USB-C to 3.5 mm standard headphone jack.

"The addition of the analog bypass feature and our decision to include an analog cable makes the next generation Porta Pro Wireless an incredibly versatile headphone," Michael J. Koss Jr. continued. "Almost all wireless headphones on the market stop working when their battery dies. Not with the new Porta Pro Wireless. If your 20+ hour battery somehow runs low, just plug in your analog bypass cable that comes included with the product and carry on - with what is essentially a Porta Pro Classic."

Integrated on-board controls including a microphone on the new Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth Headphones allow users to change songs, answer calls, adjust volume, and much more. Designed for maximum portability, the all-new next generation Porta Pro Wireless can be collapsed and stored safely inside the included hard shell Koss Porta Pro Carrying Case. The compact design and case enabled Koss to reduce the size of the packaging by over 50% compared to the Porta Pro Classic, which helps minimize environmental impact.

The Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth headphones are available today in the USA for $99.99 at Koss.com and Amazon.com/Koss (while supplies last). Immediate international availability is limited to certain partners and varies by territory.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[TheLostSwede]

The wired version of these used to be like $20.

 

[AGlezB]

Ugliest headphones I've ever seen.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Ugliest headphones I've ever seen.

its iconic

 

[SRB151]

I just wish they'd re-release their HV-1LC headphones. Best set of open headphones I've had.

 

[Chrispy_]

The PortaPros have always been amazing-sounding cheap headphones with polarising looks (most people dislike them) yet the looks were tolerated because of the fantastic fidelity/$ ratio.

The Next Generation really doesn't need to maintain the old '80s retro styling any more. Is it "retro" or "next generation"? As far as I understand the English language, those things are frequently antonyms, and at $99.99 they're not so cheap that the dated retro looks can be overlooked any more.

I like the classic look of many '80s retro headphones but even by that niche standard, PortaPros have always been ugly headphones with their bulbous black plastic lumps....

 

[Onasi]

The wired version of these used to be like $20.

Even 15, from time to time. The asking price of 99 on these is silly, the Porta Pros had the charm of being vintage and cheap. You can actually get decent wireless IEMs at this price.

The PortaPros have always been amazing-sounding cheap headphones with polarising looks (most people dislike them) yet the looks were tolerated because of the fantastic fidelity/$ ratio.

I would say that the most polarizing thing was always the fact that your hair could never come out of wearing them unscathed, lol. That thin metal headband always managed to claim a hair or two as a tribute.

 

[scottslayer]

About a decade past the peak of their popularity and expensive compared to the original (even with the many wireless hacks)

 

[TheLostSwede]

Ugliest headphones I've ever seen.

What are you? 16? These used to be the most popular headphones around at one point, both for sound quality, but also value for money.

The PortaPros have always been amazing-sounding cheap headphones with polarising looks (most people dislike them) yet the looks were tolerated because of the fantastic fidelity/$ ratio.

The Next Generation really doesn't need to maintain the old '80s retro styling any more. Is it "retro" or "next generation"? As far as I understand the English language, those things are frequently antonyms, and at $99.99 they're not so cheap that the dated retro looks can be overlooked any more.

I like the classic look of many '80s retro headphones but even by that niche standard, PortaPros have always been ugly headphones with their bulbous black plastic lumps....

The worst part was getting your hair stuck in the metal headband, which seems like it's been give a cost saving making over here, which will make even more hair get stuck in them...

The weird design has functional advantages though, since the pads that lean against your head allow the earpads not to sit on your ears, which can be really nice when it's hot weather.
But yeah, they could've done a better job updating the desing.

Even 15, from time to time. The asking price of 99 on these is silly, the Porta Pros had the charm of being vintage and cheap. You can actually get decent wireless IEMs at this price.

You can get decent TWS buds for half this price that most likely offer better sound quality and obviously take up a lot less space. And you can get TWS buds for a third of this price as well.

I would say that the most polarizing thing was always the fact that your hair could never come out of wearing them unscathed, lol. That thin metal headband always managed to claim a hair or two as a tribute.

I see you beat me to that comment, I should've read on a bit... Glad it wasn't just me.

 

[Onasi]

@TheLostSwede
I raise an even better deal - the Koss KSC75. It’s a weird… headphone?… that is unironically the cheapest open-back pair that you can buy that is still actually GOOD, to the point where it spawned an entire miniature modding community for cables, custom headbands for them and attaching boom mics to make it into a PC headset.
As a bonus - no band to tear at your hair.

You can get decent TWS buds for half this price that most likely offer better sound quality and obviously take up a lot less space. And you can get TWS buds for a third of this price as well.

Yup, the entire MOONDROP TWS lineup is cheaper. Well, except for Alice, but they did that thing where newer releases obsolete those, so whatever. Just get a Golden Age… or, hell, a Space Travel for 25 bucks. And that’s just one manufacturer. Koss are huffing paint with that price.

 

[colossusrageblack]

KOSS got a lot of buzz in the audiophile world over the past 7 or so years because of these headphones and another plastic retro looking set that sounded fantastic for their $25-$40 price. One problem with their headphones that I've found (I've owned 4 pairs) is that they tend to break rather easy. Especially their plastic stuff. Although these are wireless, I'm not sure I would purchase them just because of fear of them physically falling apart after a year. I'd be willing to do $50-$60 for something like this, but $100 is steep.

 

[dir_d]

I had a rewired pair of Koss KSC75 they sounded good but i gave them up because i couldn't find of comfortable ear clips. They were cheap ($25 at the time) and had the same drivers as the porta pros. Wish i would have kept them.

 

[Onasi]

@dir_d
You didn’t go far enough. Some people transplant them into a modded Porta Pro chassis and fit giant pads on them.

This is a sane and reasonable thing to do. Absolutely. Mhm.

 

[dir_d]

@dir_d
You didn’t go far enough. Some people transplant them into a modded Porta Pro chassis and fit giant pads on them.
View attachment 363595
This is a sane and reasonable thing to do. Absolutely. Mhm.

I sure didn't, wish i did back in the day.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede
I raise an even better deal - the Koss KSC75. It’s a weird… headphone?… that is unironically the cheapest open-back pair that you can buy that is still actually GOOD, to the point where it spawned an entire miniature modding community for cables, custom headbands for them and attaching boom mics to make it into a PC headset.
As a bonus - no band to tear at your hair.

I remember those and I had something similar from Audio Technica that I was given at Computex one year. They were awful, as the fit was just terrible.

Yup, the entire MOONDROP TWS lineup is cheaper. Well, except for Alice, but they did that thing where newer releases obsolete those, so whatever. Just get a Golden Age… or, hell, a Space Travel for 25 bucks. And that’s just one manufacturer. Koss are huffing paint with that price.

There are 100's of cheaper TWS earbuds out there and I would say 100's of on or over ear headphones that are cheaper, or at least doesn't cost any more, many with ANC and other features as well, plus better battery life.

KOSS got a lot of buzz in the audiophile world over the past 7 or so years because of these headphones and another plastic retro looking set that sounded fantastic for their $25-$40 price. One problem with their headphones that I've found (I've owned 4 pairs) is that they tend to break rather easy. Especially their plastic stuff. Although these are wireless, I'm not sure I would purchase them just because of fear of them physically falling apart after a year. I'd be willing to do $50-$60 for something like this, but $100 is steep.

Past 7 years?
Dude, the Porta Pro's where the most popular headphones you could get when I was like 18-19, which is a lot more than 7 years or so ago...

 

[Onasi]

There are 100's of cheaper TWS earbuds out there and I would say 100's of on or over ear headphones that are cheaper, or at least doesn't cost any more, many with ANC and other features as well, plus better battery life.

Sure, I just brought up an example where you can at least be sure you get decent tuning. A lot of cheap TWS earbuds/IEMs/headphones are absolute dogshit in terms of sound, unfortunately. Which is annoying, since while technical performance of the driver is somewhat price-dependent, good tuning is free-ish and just requires a bit of effort. A lot of manufacturers don’t even seem to be trying.

 

[AGlezB]

What are you? 16? These used to be the most popular headphones around at one point, both for sound quality, but also value for money.

Not even close. I've been divorced longer than that. As for their popularity I do certainly get that impression from the comments but the fact is I've never heard of them, probably because I don't particulary care about cheap headphones. I think you'll understand if I tell you I'm currently using Steelseries Arctis NOVA Pro Wireless and before that I used Astro A50 and before that Beyerdynamic MMX-something-something (can't remember the model).

 

[TheLostSwede]

Not even close. I've been divorced longer than that. As for their popularity I do certainly get that impression from the comments but the fact is I've never heard of them, probably because I don't particulary care about cheap headphones. I think you'll understand if I tell you I'm currently using Steelseries Arctis NOVA Pro Wireless and before that I used Astro A50 and before that Beyerdynamic MMX-something-something (can't remember the model).

Well, I bought some in my late teens, as that's what I could afford 30-ish years ago. They were the best bang for buck you could get at the time and way better than many headphones twice the price, You could also hook them together to a "ball" which made them quite portable, which I believe was another reason for their popularity.
Aren't the Nova Pro having some audio issues? The only good headphones in that list are the Beyerdynamic. I owned some Sennheiser's in my early 20's, but back then they were quite plasticky and the headband broke. I have a pair of Sony IEM's with triple balanced armatures if we're going to talk about quality stuff, but they're unfortunately quite uncomfortable, due to a very square design. I guess I've owned 5 different pairs of BA earbuds over the years.

 

[AGlezB]

Well, I bought some in my late teens, as that's what I could afford 30-ish years ago. They were the best bang for buck you could get at the time and way better than many headphones twice the price, You could also hook them together to a "ball" which made them quite portable, which I believe was another reason for their popularity.

I didn't use headphones until I began working in a shared space. Before that I had my PC hooked to a powerful amplifier and 2 big speakers that made the walls vibrate at max volume. There was a time when inviting a girl to "listen to music" was a perfecly valid justification to get her in your room and that setup got me laid more times than I care to admit.

Aren't the Nova Pro having some audio issues?

I've had a couple of minor issues but nothing I can really complain about. I had way more issues with the A50. My biggest complain with the are the L/R animated level bars on the base which are very distracting so I usually cover it with my phone or something else.

The only good headphones in that list are the Beyerdynamic.

Also the least comfortable. They've improved with later models but the one I had took some breaking in because out of the box they put a lot of pressure in my ears. Of the 3 the most comfortable so far is the A50, which also has the best range/reliability for the wireless signal. Feature-wise the Nova is the best by a long shot, although I don't like the software because last time I checked it required an online account to save sound profiles.

 

[THU31]

I'm still using the wired Porta Pro a lot. Extremely comfortable, you pretty much don't feel them on your head at all. Incredible during the summer.

Great sound stage too, but unusable without an equalizer, in my opinion. With an EQ, they are transformed from a moth into a butterfly.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Ugliest headphones I've ever seen.

These, like the Etymotic ER-4, SONY MDR, Senny HD 280 Pro have been around for decades and dominated their price to performance category in a one sided slaughter. All of them are also FUGLY. As they were designed to do a job, not look cool. But they all have cult status by now. If you have a design that's proven, has worked for 30 years, nobody has beaten, why fuck with it?

Also if you changed them people would riot. KOSS still sells a shit load of Porta Pro headphones. All the above companies still sell said products like crazy. They clearly aren't having a problem even if most of what you see now is AirPods.

 

[AGlezB]

These, like the Etymotic ER-4, SONY MDR, Senny HD 280 Pro have been around for decades and dominated their price to performance category in a one sided slaughter. All of them are also FUGLY. As they were designed to do a job, not look cool. But they all have cult status by now. If you have a design that's proven, has worked for 30 years, nobody has beaten, why fuck with it?

Also if you changed them people would riot. KOSS still sells a shit load of Porta Pro headphones. All the above companies still sell said products like crazy. They clearly aren't having a problem even if most of what you see now is AirPods.

I think it's a very good call to not change something that already has a thriving market. Making changes to an established product to suit "modern buyers" has been known to kill complete product lines because the companies loose the trust of the people faithful to the original product. Replace "product" with "content" and "buyers" with "audiences" and you get the exact same problem with TV series and movies and superheroes and you name it. It saddens me every time I hear about female astartes in WH40K because the only people that can come up with such ideas are the ones that have no interest, love or respect for the lore nor the audience and the same applies to consumer products.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Well, I bought some in my late teens, as that's what I could afford 30-ish years ago. They were the best bang for buck you could get at the time and way better than many headphones twice the price, You could also hook them together to a "ball" which made them quite portable, which I believe was another reason for their popularity.
Aren't the Nova Pro having some audio issues? The only good headphones in that list are the Beyerdynamic. I owned some Sennheiser's in my early 20's, but back then they were quite plasticky and the headband broke. I have a pair of Sony IEM's with triple balanced armatures if we're going to talk about quality stuff, but they're unfortunately quite uncomfortable, due to a very square design. I guess I've owned 5 different pairs of BA earbuds over the years.

Sony IEMs have always been hit or miss. Go over the 1k spend or don't look at them. Of course at that price point you can start looking at 64 audio or Empire Ears (I own some of these) which are going to crush the Sony option. Don't look up either item unless you feel like spending a couple grand.

At the sub 1k price point Etymotic is still the monster in the room. But they are painful to insert, and look like shit. But for 300 bucks (the ER-4 series) cannot be beaten even though they are single BA items. But as Etymotic is a hearing aid company that dabbles in audio the tuning and matching of IEMs is out of this world. As is the customer service. Plus they can point out that the band U2 uses the ER-4 for their audio editing/mastering. That's hard to argue with.

You're point about Sennheiser is fair but leaves out a big issue. Their top end stuff (which can hit five figures) is great. But what most people are buying is the the DJ set of HD 280 Pro which MSRPs for 200 but is always at 100 (this is USD) for who the fuck knows reasons. They expect them to be abused and broken and thus do not give a shit about that. They will "fix" them (aka send you a new pair for 50 bucks) and they don't ask questions.

I think it's a very good call to not change something that already has a thriving market. Making changes to an established product to suit "modern buyers" has been known to kill complete product lines because the companies loose the trust of the people faithful to the original product. Replace "product" with "content" and "buyers" with "audiences" and you get the exact same problem with TV series and movies and superheroes and you name it. It saddens me every time I hear about female astartes in WH40K because the only people that can come up with such ideas are the ones that have no interest, love or respect for the lore nor the audience and the same applies to consumer products.

Dragged into a 40k arguement.

No female astartes was always a thing as all the space marines were created by a woman who was a perpetual. She rebeled against the emperor once she saw what was going to happen but she's still alive (perpetual) and kicking. This has been cannon since the days of Rogue Trader before it was 40k. The all male stuff and her removal of the lore started in the early 2000s but she was brought back in the Horus Heresey novels as she is a major player and while not Emperor level power could give Malcador a run for his money. The Emperor was even scared of her. So it's never been out of the question since the start of Rogue Trader prior to 40k that she did create female astartes and is off doing god knows what. There is a lot of 40k lore from the earlier era that is just now ignored. Such as the Ultramarines Chief Librarian being half Eldar. The rules and model still exist. https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Illiyan_Nastase

So no, female astartes have always been a thing. They just work for someone else and like many things imperial we don't talk about it. Because blam heresey. But they have been around since before 40k was 40k.

Female custodes were also always a thing. Just as any imperial assassin or inquisitor can be of either sex regardless of guild. In fact the most powerful being the imperium ever built was a woman assassin as a test. She was so stupidly OP they decided never to do that again but only a womans body could take that level of punishment.

This applies to other factions as well. Not all Eldar Banshees are women. It's just majority women. The only other aspect that's majority one sex is is the scorpions but women do exist among their ranks.

There is no confirmed single sex faction. There has been shit like orks who reproduce through spores so who knows how that works.

I still play 40k but with the older rules. Rogue Trader 2E rules. It's much more hilarious that way.

 

[Zareek]

Koss Porta Pros were the headphones of my late teens and early 20s. They were cheap and sounded great! Regular Porta Pros are $40-50 these days, I can't see how adding Bluetooth doubles the price.

 

[AGlezB]

Dragged into a 40k arguement.

No female astartes was always a thing as all the space marines were created by a woman who was a perpetual. She rebeled against the emperor once she saw what was going to happen but she's still alive (perpetual) and kicking. This has been cannon since the days of Rogue Trader before it was 40k. The all male stuff and her removal of the lore started in the early 2000s but she was brought back in the Horus Heresey novels as she is a major player and while not Emperor level power could give Malcador a run for his money. The Emperor was even scared of her. So it's never been out of the question since the start of Rogue Trader prior to 40k that she did create female astartes and is off doing god knows what. There is a lot of 40k lore from the earlier era that is just now ignored. Such as the Ultramarines Chief Librarian being half Eldar. The rules and model still exist. https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Illiyan_Nastase

So no, female astartes have always been a thing. They just work for someone else and like many things imperial we don't talk about it. Because blam heresey. But they have been around since before 40k was 40k.

Female custodes were also always a thing. Just as any imperial assassin or inquisitor can be of either sex regardless of guild. In fact the most powerful being the imperium ever built was a woman assassin as a test. She was so stupidly OP they decided never to do that again but only a womans body could take that level of punishment.

This applies to other factions as well. Not all Eldar Banshees are women. It's just majority women. The only other aspect that's majority one sex is is the scorpions but women do exist among their ranks.

There is no confirmed single sex faction. There has been shit like orks who reproduce through spores so who knows how that works.

I still play 40k but with the older rules. Rogue Trader 2E rules. It's much more hilarious that way.

That's an awesome response, if a bit contradictory. Thanks for biting.