What the heck!? A hifi headphone on Hifiguys channel... What is this? Opposite day? Entertaining to see the responses you get with your beats-audience...
I had a pair of Koss electrostatics nearly 50 years ago now! They sounded lovely but were so heavy I seldom wore them. Unfortunately the dog chewed them up. C'est la vie.
My A/250 Koss phones look almost identical to those. I've had them for over 20 years and they sound fantastic. I'm now replacing the ear pads which should have been done many years ago.
I want to connect the E-90 amp that comes with these 'phones to a DAC that outputs 2 volts RMS per channel into 10 k ohms. Is that enough power to drive these at a relatively high volume?
These headphones have some 80's feeling to them. I was always interested in them but there's not a lot of talk about them. How would you compare the sound of them to lets say the HD650/600's with a good
It comes with its own amp. You could upgrade it to a higher end electrostatic amplifier, but its not going to change much. This headphone is bright, neutral, bass light, almost fluffy. Its a very interesting can, its good. Its better than HD600, but the HD800 are still better IMO.
The best case and packaging and warranty yet in headphones and the amp is included can beat or hold it'd own to any headphone$6000 or less and it's made in America by the pioneer of the modern headphone Who would have known?
what is electrostatic? why are they so expensive? i do not understand please explain. i was looking at koss headphones because i love the life time warranty, but i do not find much reviews on these headphones soooooo i must assume they are nothing special even with this type of warranty
D K Eletrostatics are the best god damn headphones you can get, they sound exceptionally clear, I have only heard Ines made by stax though, and everything is balanced perfectly!
So, I sent Koss an email about this and they haven't responded yet, :/ (probably will reply back within a week I'm guessing, but in the meantime, I did a little Googling and found a couple of interesting things. I think Koss produced all of their headphones in the USA, until the 90's, and then turned to China for manufacturing. I found an old thread on Hifi.org that some had a box of KSC-35's from the 90's and were Made in USA. Maybe Koss kept their factory in Wisconsin to make some headphones, but I'm not sure. Koss did set up a factory in Mexico in 2014, but closed it at the end of the year and went back to China, probably because they didn't have enough money to keep it running. (I actually have a set of Portapros that are Made in Mexico...) I also found a box of Pro4aa's that were labeled Assembled in USA, so there are some Chinese parts in there, which the originals from the 70's didn't have ;) The newer Pro models headphones are Made in China, which I find kind of interesting... O.o In conclusion, I'm guessing that the ESP-950's is probably the few or only Koss Headphones still Made in USA, which is a shame because I personally like Made in USA products. Well it's also a shame that America manufacturing is so expensive that there is pressure from companies to move overseas just to compete. But hey, at least they're one of the few companies that still make headphones in America. :) Sorry I made this so long. I just had the urge to write all of this... :)
very interesting find. Thank you for sharing. Nothing wrong with China manufacturing, but I also like U.S. made audio products. Especially from a U.S. company with such rich history as KOSS. HapPy New Year! Mike
I owned a pair of these very briefly and found the sound to be very rolled off at the extremes. I did try contacting Koss tech support by phone to see if my set was defective but discovered phone support is unavailable for these. I tried contacting support using the form on their website but never got a reply. After a few days, I returned them for a refund. About a month later, I purchased the Stax SRS-3100 system for about $70 less. The Stax headphones are significantly better sounding, especially in the high frequencies. If you're looking for "economical" electrostatic headphones and are considering these, check out the Stax too. If you're in a metropolitan area, see if you can audition first before buying. I didn't have that luxury unfortunately.
My problems (freq roll off) were alleviated by using EQ. However, I shouldn't have to do that! That tells me the issue is really in the amp. I've seen a number of forum threads online that also point fingers at the amp as being the week spot for these. If Koss could take those criticisms to heart and put some effort into improving the amp, these would be awesome. Heck, if it's about the money, they could ship these in a cardboard box and do away with that silly leather carrying case.... which most folks probably just shove into a closet anyway. That should give them enough extra money to improve the amp.
the video is excellent quality. I dont see any issues with it. Although the only thing that i can see that might need improvements is microphone quality, its fairly average.
+Will sand , how exactly are headphones useless? How is taking photos particularly more useful than listening to music? Unless you happen to be a professional photographer, of course. But I'm not.
