PortaPro's little brother

Although I love my in ear Skullcandy Ink’d Smokin Buds, they are quite a fragile thing. Almost everyone I know that has bought them has bought more than one pair because they had broken their first pair. After about one and a half year of using it almost everyday, mine finally broke. So as I was in the market to get some new buds, I decided to get a portable headphone instead of an iem (in-ear monitor, eg. smokin buds). My choice was the Koss SportaPro portable headphones. It retails at $30, but can be easily bought for around $20.

*Gasp* Koss

If you didn’t know, Koss is a great manufacturer of headphones. If you know what you’re looking for. For most people Koss seems like some cheap brand from walmart or the like. Not so, they have been in the business for quite some time (read 55 years). But their history is just the beginning. Koss is the only audio company to give their product a lifetime warranty. This is one of the many reasons to go with a Koss.

Koss SportaPro Lifetime Warranty

Koss SportaPro is the little brother of the legendary PortaPro. Although PortaPro was made almost 20 years ago, many audio enthusiast still claims them as their number one. It is often compared with the newer Sennheiser PX-100. For those of you that read CNET reviews, Koss PortaPro is in the best 5 headphones list. Koss PortaPro retails at about $50, while the SportaPro retails at $30. The reason they are brothers is that they both have the same driver. Which basically they have the same “heart”. They both also contain this feature that Koss calls “Comfort Zone”. Comfort Zone allows  the pressure from wearing headphones to be distributed above the ears also. Although it sounds gimmicky, it does work. The SportaPro is one of the most comfortable headphones i have ever used.

Koss SportaPro

Features

Although they have the same heart, they are still quite different. Most people says that the PortaPro still has a better sound. Apparently this has to do with the housing of the cans (cans is a slang word meaning headphones used by audio enthusiast). The SportaPro in my opinion also have a cheaper look. Although the PortaPro does look more quirky (read unique).

Behind or over! (note: By iPhone it means the unrecessed one)

The Pros about getting a SportaPro (no pun intended) is that it was designed more for the street. The band that normally goes around the top of your head can be tilted back to go behind your head (not behind your ears). This allows the cans to accommodate for hat users and the like. Although when using it this way in actual street wear, it does feel like the headphones is gonna fall of. But when you are stationary, it works fine. In fact I like using it this way than on top of your head. When I walk with it, I prefer putting it 3/4th of the way. This allows the security of putting on top and the comfort of putting it behind the head.

Another difference is that, the SportaPro does not have settings for the Comfort Zone. On the PortaPro, the user can adjust the pressure in 3 settings. But it still works and is comfortable. Though it is not as comfortable as iem where you feel like you’re not wearing anything at all. It can be a bid uncomfortable sometimes if you wear glasses. But you can easily fix that by re-adjusting the headphone.

Quite small eh?

Form factor

The SportaPro is actually quite small. Way smaller than I had imagine. But it does open up to fit my head. But if you have a big head, you might want to try it first before buying one. Because it is a portable headpone, the SportaPro can collapse into a ball. Although the ball is quite small, I would prefer it to collaps into something flater, like the PX-100, so that it is more pocketable.

What's in the Koss SportaPro's packaging

For traveling, the SportaPro also includes a nice faux leather case. Unlike usual freebies, I think it is a really good case. It uses a pretty thick leather and  a nice string to open and close it. It has a pretty nice build quality and doesn’t seem like it is going to break easily. It feels like a tough case, and adds class to the otherwise cheap looking headphone. But I do have to say that the mouth/opening of te case can be bigger. In my experience you have to force the can into it. But once in there, there is plenty of room. For that reason, I don’t actually use it to carry the SportaPro, Instead I use it to carry my camera. But I do recommend putting the headphone in some kind of case. The two hook that keeps the SportaPro in a ball can be easily unhook without a case.

Koss SportaPro's ball hook

The cord of the phones are just long enough to reach the mp3 player in your pocket and the headphone on your head. Well, there is a wee bit left over for me. But  it’s still a wee bit too short for my taste. But it is fine and not a deal breaker. The cord does not feel sticky and is not soft touch plastic, unlike the skullcandy’s. The cord is also not binded into one tube which, if I’m not mistaken, is good because it seperates the two wire from getting in contact with each other. The little plastic that seperates the two cord near the headphone feels weak and cheap though. It’s just a small box, similar to what you would find on a free airplane headphone. Very different than the long and big seperator found on skullcandies.

At the end of the cord is a short, straight tip, gold plated, 3.5mm jack. It comes with a gold plated size converter too. By gold plated I mean it looks gold plated. I don’t actually know if it is though.

Koss SportaPro's Jack

The sound quality is great. Because it is an open headphone (there are holes on the driver housing ) It sounds like you’re listening to a speaker. In other word, it has a good soundstage. The downside to open headphones is that, in a quiet room, people may hear your music. And unlike iem, it does not isolate outside noise. This is good for me and commuters alike because it allows you to hear traffic (and listen to people’s conversation ). The headphones are rated as 60ohms. Although this is sometimes thought to be a bad thing because it means latency, it actually helps the headphone. It makes the bass sound great. This does mean that you have to pump more volume from your audio source though.

Mods

If you are a purist and think the SportaPro has too much bass, there are many mods you can do. Because many audio enthusiast like Koss, you can easily scour the web for mods. Simple ones to look out for is the quarter mod. The quarter mod is basically just cutting a hole the size of a quarter on the Styrofoam to allow high noise to pass through clearer. You can also look into Kramer mod if you feel like getting down and dirty. The Kramer mod is done by drilling specific holes in the housing of the driver. I am not sure if this ruins the lifetime warranty though. I’ve heard both stories where they will and won’t replace it.

Conclusion

Koss SportaPro's behind the head mode

All in all, I think this is a great headphone. It’s light, cheap and sounds great. I give it 8/10 stars. And if you haven’t learn anything from this post, learn that not all Koss users are cheap people who don’t care what their music sounds like. They just don’t care what they look like.

P.S

For an even cheaper great headphone made by Koss, check out the KSC-75. If you ask anyone on the audio enthusiast forum Head-fi about sub $20 cheap headphones, basically all the replies will be the same. KSC-75. And if that doesn’t convince you, it has a friggin titanium driver.

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