KossKTXPro1 Titanium On-Ear Portable Headphones, Volume Control, Ultra Lightweigt Design, Silver Black and Blue

The Koss KTXPro1 headphones have been an audiophile favorite for many years and I bought these based on many recommendations back in late 2016. It is now June 2020 and I figured it was high time I wrote a review of these - seeing as I've got plenty of time at home now, what with the Covid-19 pandemic in full swing.In a word: Fantastic.These headphones have been hard-working since I bought them, playing everything from music to watching movies (more on that in a minute) - and have delivered sonic performance I have not encountered in other similarly priced headphones which usually sound tinny and muddied. The KTXPro1's are nowhere close to the reproduction performance of a several-hundred-dollar pair of cans that a small fraction of the populace would go to the lengths to enjoy, let's just be clear about that - but they most certainly afford you a pleasurable listening experience that I honestly think is the best out there for cheaper open back headphones on the market.The Titanium drivers of the KTXPro1 offer smooth treble that is clean and free of sharp-sounding highs, a mid-range that is robust and capable of heavy crunchiness and vocals which sound full and natural, and a bass that has a good extension and can be really decent for a small set of headphones. I have enjoyed everything from classical, to pop and heavy metal on these, and honesty they have been able to produce music which is surprisingly better than other headphones I've had costing three or more times as much.The sound stage on these is pretty neutral - so unless you're doing some type of analytical listening or really need a full surround-sound effect going on aurally, these are fine.Comfort and durability is something important to mention, especially after going over what others have said about this set of headphones since I myself bought them.In 2016 my mother began to lose her hearing. Not dramatically, but it was becoming harder for her to hear things like dialogue in movies or programs on TV, which was disappointing because she and I like to watch the occasional movie together - and it was sad to me that she was struggling the hear what was going on between characters in the middle of a scene with other sounds going on around them, as example, and I wanted to try and help get some of the enjoyment back to replace the frustration she was having.I bought a TV with a headphone-out on it (see note at end of this review), a long 3.5mm cable, Y-splitter, and finally I needed two headphones that would allow her and I to adjust the volume on each headphone independent of one-another...which lead me to the Koss KTXPro1's.These use a simple up-down slider dongle on the attached cord so it is not only very easy to adjust quickly, it's also capable of any range between 0 and 100 percent. Other headphones use click-up or click-down buttons which are hard for elderly hands to operate and they may only have 8 or so volume settings so you don't actually get a nice "anywhere in-between" range like you can get on the KTXPro1's.If I had any complaint about the volume control, it'd be that I wish the slider switch itself was a different color so you could quickly tell which side of the smooth-feeling oval dongle has the slider on it. (pro-tip: put a little modelers paint on it, say, white, and let it dry. Takes care of that issue).With the volume controls of these, I can listen to a movie at my comfort level and Mom can adjust it to something a bit louder she can hear and enjoy. Grand. Makes it very comfortable to enjoy everything.Physical comfort is nice too - the headband provides a fairly easy non-slip surface so the headphones sit comfortably on your head, though if you have a really small head you may find that they can slip off a bit easier and Mom found out they are difficult to wear with curlers on.The headphones sit squarely on your ears, and if you have these on for a long long time - say, 4 or so hours at a stretch if you and Mom are enjoying a "Lord of the Rings" movie-marathon, they can develop hot-spots on your ears and you may have to take them off for a bit and go make another plate of snacks and a rum & coke to give your ears a break.It's possible if the speakers on these were able to rotate along the horizontal plane with a swivel built into the headband, that may increase comfort - but alas, Koss omitted this ability from the KTXPro1 headphones. While the speakers on these do display a range of play with the swivel on the ends of the headband, it's completely in the near-vertical orientation and can still put pressure on the back and sides of your ear after a long time being worn.For a single two-hour or so session, I have had no complaints with discomfort - but everyone's ears are designed a bit differently - your mileage may vary.I will mention that the ear cushions on the headphones I wear, one of them has torn and disintegrated mostly. After having had them for 3.5 years. Good thing I can replace them with a set of Koss replacement cushions for about $5 bucks on Amazon here. Cheap enough.For $20 dollar headphones you'll find no brushed aluminum or carbon fiber here. The construction of these looks pretty plasticky - though I hesitate to use the word "cheap". I've bought cheap headphones before that LOOK really cheap... the KTXPro1's however manage to appear a little lower price with the matte silver & dark grey plastic headband and non-braided cord, without being embarrassingly cheap and crusty looking.Sure, they creak a bit when handled but they're noiseless when worn.These KTXPro1's have served Mom and myself very well thus far. They still perform great. Sound and dialogue in movies and listening to music is a pleasure with these. The volume sliders still work fine. No problems with the cables, plugs or anything else other than that as-to-be-expected torn ear cushion. (My head's a little fatter than Moms, so that probably explains why mine went first). I'd rate the durability of these as excellent.I've plugged-in and unplugged these many times and she and I have used them to listen to things not just on the TV but also on her iPad, my laptop, we've taken them out with us on the road, and they continue to serve as her in-house / go-to headphones.I haven't felt the need to buy anything else in almost 4 years after getting these, so I think that says a lot right there. Very happy with these.END Notes:1: Being open-backed headphones, some have asked "can other people hear music coming out of these when you have them on?" - the answer is yes...but if you're listening with these on at a normal volume, they're not annoying to be sitting next to. Unless you REALLY have the music cranked up, then I guess yes, some might find it annoying. If the surroundings you're sitting in are very quiet, people around you will hear these more. What I find good about these being open backed, is that while we're watching a movie with these on together, my Mom and I can make comments about scenes if we speak aloud to one another and chuckle over stuff without having to pause the film or take them off completely. That's the trade off I guess.2: For those of you interested, I've had questions about the twin-headphone setup I did for Mom and myself.After getting these Koss headphones, it's pretty easy to find a long enough 3.5mm cable and a Y-splitter to stretch the distance of the headphones to your TV. The trick is to be sure the TV you have or plan on getting has a genuine HEADPHONE OUT jack and not just a Line Out / Line Level Out / Audio Out/ Line Audio Out jack if you are planning to hook the two headphones and long cable DIRECTLY into your TV.A Headphone Out jack has a lower impedance and can drive one or two headphones directly and you can control the TV volume reaching the headphones with the remote in most cases. The other type of jack is really designed to take the TV audio signal and connect it to a receiver which then handles the volume and allows the attachment of things like headphones.So yeah... if your TV volume is going through a receiver, you probably already have a dedicated headphone out jack on the back of the receiver. If you're planning on hooking the cable and headphones directly into the back of the TV with no receiver, best to be sure your TV has a Headphone Out jack that allows you to control the volume of the TV in the headphones.In conclusion, I've been extremely happy with these Koss KTXPro1 headphones, would recommend a pair to anyone looking for a pair of great sounding headphones costing about 20 bucks. These certainly surprised me with the good performance at such a decent price.

The headband much bigger than the khp40 so fits my big head with room to spare when fully extended. This sounds similar to ksc75, but with better more noticeably fuller bass. . No idea about durability since I just got them. I put yaxi pads on them which wasn't as easy as other koss, but wasn't that hard and they are much more comfortable.

I bought these to mod them, if you don't want to mod them don't buy them, get the kph40s or if you like the ear clip style then get the ksc75 (most similar to these in sound, same driver but different sound due to construction but still very close.) The drivers in these headphones are great, soft but clear vocals that are more forward than the instruments, the bass is surprisingly very full but its not going to shake your head if that's what your looking for. The highs fall just behind the low end and are more supporting, still very crisp though and pleasant. The sound stage is incredible, you can hear up, down, left, right, behind, just a full surround experience, honestly incredible. Overall just a pleasant sounding headphone if your willing to mod them, can't give them 5 stars however due to their inhuman shape out of the box.

This is a thoughtfully designed product and so far it works great (I'll post an update if it breaks). I'm very pleased.Sound: the sound is quite good, especially for a small, cheap pair of headphones. I am very pleased with the sound. Both bass and treble sound clear and strong and the sound seems accurate and well-balanced.Fit: I am a small person and this product fits me comfortably but at the smallest setting, with the earpieces perhaps 1/4" lower than would be ideal but still quite comfortable. I don't think it would work on a child. There is plenty of room to adjust the headpiece larger by up to 2" more, so I imagine it will fit much larger heads, too. The blue band at the top of the headpiece is maybe silicon? Something kind of rubbery anyway. It seems to prevent the headphones from slipping because it is sticky (like rubber, not like honey). Very clever! The on-ear earpieces are covered in standard black foam stuff and are comfortable. If I wear the headphones for more than an hour my ears start to feel squished but if I push the headpiece farther back on my head, so the earpieces come just a little forward of my ear (resting a little more on my skull and less on my ear) then it solves that problem.Cord, Connector & Volume Control: The split portion of the cord, coming from the earpieces to the volume control, is 16" long, so, on me, it hangs just below belly-button level, which seems like a convenient location to have the volume control. After the volume control is another 45" of cord to a very small-profile straight 3.5mm stereo jack connector. Looks like it would fit most mini-stereo applications even where space is tight. The volume control is medium-sized (about 2cm x 5.5cm) and has only a slider (for volume control - no other control buttons). The slider acts as a mute if you slide it to the far low end of its range. The slider action is smooth and noise-free. It comes with an adapter from 3.5mm stereo to standard 1/4" stereo jack, which is very thoughtful. Be advised, it comes with the 1/4" jack "installed" on the end of the connector, so if you don't need it, it just pulls off, revealing the 3.5mm jack.Packaging: it comes in a cardboard box with a couple small paper inserts: the warranty and a multilingual reminder that it is illegal in the EU to throw out electrical devices in the trash (they must be returned to "public collection points" for recycling). Nice idea EU. We should do that in the US. There are also two molded plastic pieces that hold the headphones, the clear one made of PET (#1 plastic - yeah!) and the opaque one made of polystyrene (#6 plastic - boo!). Finally, there is a surprisingly large piece of plastic just for hanging the package up in a store and it has no recycling symbol on it (boo, hiss). You would think it would be easy for the cardboard box to have a hanger on it instead. So, very nice that most of the packaging is, at least theoretically, recyclable. My only complaints are about the unlabeled plastic and the polystyrene. Many localities do not have recycling options for #6 or for unlabeled plastic, so I would prefer plastic packaging be minimized and that any plastic used could be something more widely recyclable (such as #1). And before you criticize me for being too picky, be forewarned that plastic waste is getting broken into tiny pieces and floating around in the ocean and causing many problems, one of which is that it is ending up in sea salt products (see the Scientific American article, among others), so you might ask yourself if you want to be eating the plastic later (or feeding it to your kids and grandkids) or if you prefer to recycle it properly now. Just saying...Warranty: It comes with a "limited lifetime warranty" which says, in part, that it covers "normal use by the initial user or purchaser" and warrants the product to be "free of any defect in materials". However, the terms are that you mail it to their factory in Wisconsin with a check for $9.00 and they can, at their option, refund your money or replace the unit, so that doesn't really sound like a warranty so much as buying a new one from the factory. You can check the details for yourself at www.koss.com if you want to know more. Sounds like the kind of warranty designed to encourage you to just buy a new one instead of exercising the warranty.So, besides improvements to packaging recommended above, I have no complaints about the product so far and would recommend it confidently to others.

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