Koss Porta Pro Bluetooth model

https://www.koss.com/headphones/wireless-headphones/porta-pro-wireless

https://www.cnet.com/news/koss-iconic-porta-pro-headphone-gets-a-bluetooth-model/


It's almost a sin, so I hesitate to admit it, but I still haven't heard the original Porta Pro. Seeing as how the Pixel 2 XL's headphone dongle is the worst audio creation to ever see light of day, I've decided to try the Bluetooth model.

Steve's review calls it bright, something that concerns me greatly. Has anyone heard the Porta Pro, and is the treble fatiguing? Before I click the buy button, I thought I'd check first.

Also, I've heard that alternative ear cushioning is available. Is that recommended?

 

I tried the Sennheiser PX-200 pads on my PortaPros and did not care for the result. The PX-200 pads lift the midbass a bit, which isn't great because the PortaPros have a hump centered around 100 Hz. They also make the PortaPros feel sort of like a semi-closed headphone, which altered the overall presentation in an undesirable way for me (think M50x). Your mileage may vary, but I find the stock foam pads to be superior.

With respect to treble, I find them to be very smooth up top. For reference, my daily driver is the HD600. I am in the camp that finds the treble presentation of the 600 to be natural and non-fatiguing. That said, there are a couple of albums that I do find too bright on my 600. One of these is "Ella and Louis" streaming on Tidal. The horns are EQ'd poorly imo, with the upper registers of Armstrong's trumpet particularly piercing. (The recording is overly bright on my BS-22s, so it's not the cans). I was kind of bummed, until I thought, "PortaPro!" The PortaPro (KSC-75 too) has a slightly shelved-down treble response in comparison to the HD600 and neutral-ish speakers. That difference in frequency response did the trick with "Ella and Louis" without applying any EQ. I could actually enjoy those trumpet solos again. But I wouldn't call the PortaPros "dark" either -- the treble is probably roughly in line with the HD650.

Caveat: I have not tried the bluetooth version, so I have no idea if they're tuned differently.

[Link to Tyll's PortaPro measurements]

 

I am a big Koss 60 ohm on ear fan... I have some clunker 5 yo original Porta Pros, Sweaty Sporta Pros, both the Black/Gold and Beige editions, and of course these new BT version.

Soundwise, any difference Apt X is letting through wireless seems less than the realistic variation between units themselves.

The new deeper blue color is cool (matching carrying case). The BT dongle is big, they feel a bit clunkier than the wired in some ways.

They are a fun fusion of modern and new. Especially if your phone forces BT, these are a no brainer. You can't go wrong with any of the Porta Pros.

 

I thought Porta Pros were on the warm and lush side.

 

I have the Koss KSC75 which essentially are the Porta Pro but clip-on instead of headband - I once wrote to Koss and asked if the drivers were actually different and they assured me that the only difference is cosmetic i.e. the colouring. I tried different pleather pads. They all kill the sound. These units really need to sit right on the ear with nothing between you and them except a thin layer of foam to cushion you ears. If you move the driver further from the ear, or if you obscure any part of it, it just sounds terribly dull.

 

unless I'm mistaken, @Elnrik is asking specifically about the Bluetooth model , which may be tuned differently.
I haven't heard them myself and I'm curious as well.

 

There isn't much opportunity for tuning. The drivers sit right on your ears and are held in place by a headband or by clips. There are no complex enclosures, dampers, baffles, resistors etc. If you dismantle one of these you find the case exists only to protect the cable join and to offer a place to attach a headband or similar. It's hard to imagine a simpler construction.

 

KSC75 driver is Titanium coated, the Porta Pro is not. The clip variant of the porta pro is the KSC 35. Whereas the KSC 75 shares drivers with the KTX Pro (which is awesome btw). . . while I have no doubt the latter are both super similar to the Porta Pro / KSC 35 they feature a 2um Titanium coating for rigidity and I think a little extra high frequency performance. It was all the rage for Koss line in the '00s.

Both driver generations are highly dependent on clamp (both pressure and proximity) as well as enclosure (the KTX Pro and KSC 75 sound VERY different), so I think there is definite possibility to mod. That said at this price point, I just get them all instead of modding one into the other. . .

I experimented with Sennand Grado pads on my Portas, and I agree with you that in both cases the sound was less to my liking than stock. YMMV.

 

I don't think they are tuned any differently than wired, I can hear a little difference between my different wired variants, especially the older ones, but the blue tooth sounds like a prime specimen. One hopes at the higher pricepoint that Koss may be doing a bit more QC on the BT unit drivers, but this may be wishful thinking on my part.

I would be very interested to hear the impressions from other folks who have both wired, and BT versions - to my ear Koss have done a great job.

 

It's marketing. You can buy all kinds of things in different colours such as "carbon", "titanium", "gold", "platinum" and so on. In the 1980s the cool material was titanium so it was a marketing buzzword. Choose your Marantz/TEAC/Denon hi fi in black, brushed aluminium or, for just a small premium, titanium finish. I specifically asked Koss about the driver differences and they specifically stated it was a colouring difference and specs are identical.

 

I wasn't able to find full specification of supported codecs on these new BT Porta Pro, so assuming it only does basic SBC and APTX. And since Steve used iPhone 6s for testing(mentioned in review), lacking aptX or any other advanced codec above AAC, his testing is based on poor SBC codec. Which might be the reason for the difference he describes.

Also from my experience, older Portas sounds different, darker, mostly better than currently available units. Not sure if it's caused by the aging of the driver(some units I heard were 15+ years), or if Koss simply changed them slightly over these years.

 

It is referring to the material, not the color. The driver is coated (it does look cool!)

(credit to head fi for pic).

The material coating results in a more rigid driver than that used in the porta pro, which will improve the planar stability. I certainly wouldn't argue this is largely marketing, but I do find that the titanium drivers have a bit more high frequency content, and measurements (Tyl's for instance) do show a slight HF preference in the KSC75.

The same Ti driver is actually in the UR40, which is wonderful (but tiny) open budget headphone.

I love Koss support, but I am not sure how reliable they are on aspects of historicity. I have bugged them over the years for model variations and they are very patient but they are understandably sometimes inconsistent in their info.

I share your enthusiasm for these headphones, as always I encourage you to not take anybody's word for it and listen to the difference directly. The KSC 35 (Porta Pro) and KSC 75 (Ti) are nearly identical enclosure/form factor but there's definitely a sonic difference. Check it out for yourself - they are both awesome Koss headphones

 

You might be right - but colour me sceptical (pun intended). I wouldn't call the enclosures 'nearly identical' - those of the 75s have considerably more rear venting, which could account for the (widely noted) sonic difference.

 

Understood, but I know nothing about the Bluetooth version...did the use the same drivers, has that been confirmed? That's more of what I was getting at.

If someone hears them as bright/brighter and they (Porta Pro)don't have that rep, I'd b curious if something changed, or if it's what people have been saying that the older ones were darker & newer ones less so.

 

Fair point, enclosure was not the right word for me to use and I apologize. . . more 'form factor'. The headband tension seems to add a fair bit of bass vs. the clips in both cases. Short of doing surgery and swapping drivers it feels like the closest comparison - for what it's worth, the clips sound closer than the KTX Pro vs. the Porta.

I guess while I am apologizing for poor wording, I should note I should have been saying the diaphragm is coated not the entire driver assembly.

Here is a pic of the Porta Pro gen diaphragm exposed I found on Google, it's definitely not coated. . .



At the end of the day, I have no reason to doubt Koss' claim the Ti coating increases driver rigidity and affects the sound produced. Titanium drivers weren't anything new even back in the '00s. Koss released a series of Ti 'remasters' of sorts that decade (notably, Titanium coated versions of the Pro 4AA and 4AAA). While the KTX Pro and KSC 75 were not explicit remakes of the Porta and KSC35 you can see underneath the shiny coating that the elements share a TON in common.

 

OK, Percy, straight from Koss Product page:

Featuring a 2 µm titanium coating on its diaphragms, Koss KSC75s boast increased rigidity, minimized mechanical distortion, and exceedingly accurate sound quality and reproduction.

https://www.koss.com/headphones/ear-clip/ksc75

But hey, let's trust the guy who totes 'wrote a letter to Koss' (in the UK?) and they confirmed that it was just part of the trend in the 80s of offering different color headphones. . . so they coated their diaphragm in a headphone (which no one sees) released in the '00s, then lied on their product marketing, and finally added a dummy coating to fool the suckers like me that own and open the cans. . . all along perfectly sound material science lines (again Ti drivers, nothing new, sparky).

Idiot.

 

I apologise. Upon reflection and introspection I have come to the conclusion that believing marketing copy to equate to unimpeachable fact is the way to go. It also is a sure sign of a robust sense of fun and of fine manners.

I sit here not only corrected but also the proud new owner of a nugget of pure titanium. Though it does have a bit of a greenish tinge. What could it mean?

 

Geeze, the layers of this marketing scheme is even more impressive than the sound of the headphones!

Decades of falsified images on google search, dozens of sleeper agents such as myself that claim to own all these different headphones, the fake measurements that show exactly the HF preference a Ti coating would produce. . . man THIS RUNS DEEP!

Too bad, they slipped up and wrote you that letter and explained the whole thing huh?

 

It is a fact that the KSC75 are coated and the S/PortaPro/KSC35 are not. I have disassembled, witnessed the somewhat different builds and very different diaphragm appearances, measured, and found considerable differences in HF behavior between both types of drivers. Whether this is audible to you belongs in another topic.