Koss Plug - Earbud Stereophone

These are my third or fourth set of "Plugs", and I still can't see me buying anything else for commuting with. The Good points: Light, cheap and superb for rock music, you just need bass boost as they have the best treble response around! Classical and spoken are both nice and smooth. I'm lucky enough to have the right shape ears for them, and I've never had a problem with them falling out. The main plus point here is that with the right shaped ears, these really do shut out all extraneous sounds. The bad points are the cable and connector. I've had these with both the straight and right angle connector, and neither are as durable as I'd like, usually lasting 9-12 months. The other thing I find really annoying is the feel of the cable. Originally is was silky smooth, but recent cables have been relatively sticky. Who care's, I hear you ask? The cable sticks to your clothes, and mine keep pulling the plugs out of my ears! In all, though, these sound so good I won't give them up. They make commuting in London almost bearable.

I wanted some earphones that I could wear when riding my motorcycle. I had tried quite a few and all had their issues. I have to say these are pretty much perfect. The sound quality is good, I can turn my iphone volume down to 30% and still hear good sound at motorway speeds. This results in precious battery life savings. They go right into your ears and expand to fit, just like earplugs I would normally wear under my helmet to reduce wind noise, this means they stay in place when you put your helmet on and stay in place when you are doing pretty much anything. Finally, they cost a tenner...unbelievably good value. A couple of minor negatives The expandable foam does not last forever, and to keep a snug fit, the foam buds need replacing every few months (I wear them daily) One set of replacement buds is provided. As with a lot of cheap headphones, the wire connections are a bit flimsy, and one set has failed where the wire joins the jackplug, but the vendor agreed to replace them with no arguments. *** Update to this review April 2013 *** The cable has failed again at the same point, where it joins the 3.5mm jack. This is obviously a design flaw.

These headphones are great for casual listening of music. However, they produce a VERY different sound to what you will be used to with regular headphones of this price band. Basically, they need a little EQ to sound amazing, but work well without. Being a sound engineer, I need headphones that can produce a wide range of sound, from low end to tops. The good thing about these headphones is they do have the capability to produce that range, but you need to coax it out of them a bit, otherwise it sounds very muddy. Personally, for the main equipment I use this with, I needed to boost 40Hz a considerable amount, and also add some of the vocal ranges back in, between 2k and 7k. This produces the best sound I have ever heard out of headphones at this price, and I would say these are worth far and away more than what you pay for them.

I loved the Porta Pros, so thought I would give these a go. Honestly the sound is very disappointing. I’ve heard it can be quite bassy, but it isn’t over the top- it just sounds like it’s far too heavy on the low mids, and forgot to do anything at the top end. They aren’t that comfortable and sound very woolly. Yes, the bass response may improve with a little more breaking in, but I can’t see that improving the other issues. Edit: also for most of their life the right ear has crackled, unrelated to the music. Usually with walking, or motion. Similar to a plastic foil sound, and loud.

I decided to try these as I'm after a decent set of earphones to use on my motorbike to use with my intercom system for sat nav, phone use and MP3 playback. Decided on these after looking at the photos and it seemed from the pictures that they would go right into the ear, with very little protruding outwards - important when wearing under a helmet and for getting it on and off. However I didn't even get as far as trying a helmet on as I found that the earphones have some shortcomings... The foam earbuds expand nicely to attenuate any external wind noise - important for the bike, but I found the length of the 'sound pipe' protruding from the earphone itself is too short and doesn't go into the foam earbud very far. This means that when placed in the ear, any slight movement of the earphone allows the earbud to distort and compress the end of the bud blocking the sound...and I mean very slight movement! No matter how I tried I couldn't stop any movement from blocking the sound in some way, either partially or completely. I also found that as the diameter of the earphone is bigger than the diameter of the earbud, the plastic rim of the earphone therefore rubbed against my ear and would quickly become an irritation. Sound wise they're good for the money. I'm currently using a pair of Shure SE530's and yes it's totally unfair to compare the two but they're not bad at all. I did only try them briefly before giving them to my son to use with his iPod. He reckons they're very good for that kind of use however, which at the end of the day is what they were designed for. I know and appreciate my requirement is somewhat specialised but I thought I'd leave a review here in case any other bikers looking for earphones come across these. Here's hoping I find something soon to use instead of the Shure SE530's as I don't want to damage them through regular bike use - any suggestions?

I recieved these today and they are brilliant! I live in London and was fed up of my crappy iPod headphones on noisy streets, buses etc - you have to turn them up super loud to hear anything (especially spoken word, but music is just as bad) then a loud or high bit just crucifies your ears. With these you don't have to keep adjusting the sound to suit your environment - eg shop/street/tube - because they block out outside noise so efficiently, and you can actually hear all the nuances of the music on a busy street practically as well as if you were listening in a silent room. I was expecting them to be a bit uncomfortable and difficult to fit at first judging by the reviews on here and elsewhere but it only took a few secs to put them in and I actually found them much more comfy than the iPod ones, or any other hard plastic ones I've tried, despite my small ears, plus they don't keep falling out. These earphones allow you to have the volume turned much lower, thus saving your battery and your hearing! Edited two months later: Since writing the review, I have for the first time ever suffered (two) ear infections, the second sufficient to put me in hospital. This may or may not be due to the earphones...but I'm abandoning them. They work brilliantly but I'm not sure how great it is to be basically wearing earplugs a lot.

Have owned various I-pods over the last few years and been supplied with the standard earphones which, quite frankly, are not very good! Bought my first set of Koss Plugs at an Apple shop in Edinburgh for £12.00 and was VERY impressed! The sound quality is brilliant considering the price. I've subsequently bought a few more of these via Amazon and have always been extremely pleased. Just goes to show that 'buy cheap, buy dear' does not always follow!! Boru. Edinburgh

These are fantastic earphones for the price. Yes, there are better sounding earphones out there, but you will have to pay a heck of a lot more for them - probably five or six times as much. Meanwhile, the Koss are cheap enough that you don't have to worry about losing them or attracting the wrong sort of attention. The sound is well balanced and clear, with just enough bass and the foam earpieces are good at blocking out background noise. My Koss earbuds are also still going strong after five years of use, which says something about their durability. Downsides: the cable is very long. I suppose this could be a good thing, depending on your point of view, but for me they keep snagging on things and getting pulled out of my ears. Also the foam earpieces will start to crumble and degrade over time. Not a big deal considering the cheapness of the earphones in the first place. Highly recommended.

Great Koss never fails I recommend it

Hier stimmt einfach Preis Leistung !!!! Die Koss bieten in den Preis Segment einfach einen sehr guten Sound. Würde das Modell auch wieder kaufen

LOVE KOSS THE PLUG! Don't love that my favorite colors of it (white & green) are more expensive than the least expensive basic black (by only a couple of bucks or so). Still, it's my favorite brand. Great bass sound (if you get the real deal, not a Chinese knockoff that sounds tinny, which happened once on eBay) & if cared for decently will last far longer than other comparably-priced brands I've tried. I prefer the foam plugs of these which for me fit more securely & comfortably than plastic or silicone tips that slide out, fall out, don't maintain a seal & it gets very annoying to repeatedly adjust them in the ear canal & to constantly clean them of greasy ear wax (eww). Wax collects on the foam too but requires less frequent wiping with a soft towel (I use microfiber or tissue) & comes with replacement foam tips that can be switched out (I don't usually need to, so I've collected several extra pairs over the yrs, not to mention the foam tips aren't always as easy to replace as you'd expect, so I avoid doing it unless necessary). With good care & regular cleaning these last with frequent use for at least 1 maybe 2 years, longer if not used daily. Usually what would break on me is one ear bud (either the wire in the casing or the sound tube holding the foam would break off completely - bye bye, music), but only with rough use, usually if I wear them often in bed for sleep (which I've stopped doing). Pillows & these don't get along too well, unless my head is propped up higher with an extra cushion. Excellent sound quality for hooking up to TV - brings out every unnoticed background sound (birds, traffic, etc) which I love, & enhances inaudible whispers otherwise missed (& often omitted from subtitles). I have to say I used to love the rubber surface of the cord (it's soft, smooth, doesn't kink & doesn't create friction noise) but ever since getting my current touch-activated phone the rubber cord can actually acts as a stylus and whenever it touches the screen (which happens constantly during use) my phone responds like I'm touching it & all sorts of irritating functions & apps are activated (& accidental changes made! Not good). Nuisance! (not the earphones, it's touchscreen phones that I hate). The struggle to keep the cord from touching the screen is a constant burden & frequently a failure. Oh well. I think not all phone brands are touch activated to use, but LG phones are. It's a very good but also highly annoying feature. I still love & prefer these earphones for the quality of bass they give. I've paid as much as $50 for (used) Klipsch earphones that were good quality & incredibly durable (took 5 yrs of gym abuse before they broke) but I didn't like those better than these. I wouldn't dream of spending $250+ for Bose or Beats or Dyson or whatever high-end brand, only to probably lose them after the insane investment (story of my life). I'm happy in my relationship with Koss The Plug as long as they don't change quality or discontinue manufacture (another story of my life).

praticamente si tratta di un riacquisto. Comprate già molti anni fa ed utilizzate per lungo tempo, si erano poi deteriorate con l'uso. Casualmente le ho riviste in vendita, comprate ad occhi chiusi data l'esperienza precedente. Suono pulito, bassi presenti, gli auricolari si adattano facilmente e restano in posizione senza scivolare via. L'isolamento non e' ottimale ma si tratta di auricolari non di cuffie over-ear. Ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo, purtroppo le spese di spedizione incidono sul costo base che peraltro e' basso. In sintesi perfette per il mio Ipod Touch. N.B. per i possessori di smartphone, non hanno microfono.

Looks cheap, feels cheap and is cheaply made which is a bit sad. Sounds absolutely awesome. I do routinely listen to my etymotics, shure, sennheiser hd580 and Beyerdynamics 1990pro. So ... I would like think I know a bit about the listening experience. Positives: - Superb listening experience once you achieve a proper fit - I believe I read somewhere that these are extremely well tuned drivers and I would concur 100% Negatives: - Terrible fit. The buds are weak and lose their elasticity and plasticity very soon. - Cheap to look and and very cheap build quality Improvements: I made some improvements to its fit and post that, its audio quality dramtically improved. The audio quality of any audio bud is hugely dependent on the fit and seal that its buds can achieve and its no different for this. Use a custom mold, I used decibullz, but really you can use one from radians or just about any custom mold you can lay your hands on. Use the foam plugs from the medical stores to build your own buds. Just drill and hole into those foam medical plugs and fit them into your Koss. Add your custom molds on top of the foam tips to achieve a nice seal. NEVER EVER use the custom mold directly as they block the sound completely and have less optimal acoustic quality to your music. A foam tip is one of the best ways to add dimensions to your music. Once you are past that ... these drives give you an auditory experience on a level that is par with the best and most expensive out there. It needs some work .. but worth it.