Koss PRO-4AAT Consumer Headphones

Express Section: These are some of the best headphones I have ever heard. I cannot imagine anything sounding better or more realistic. The 'phones are heavy and make your ears hot, but the sound is well worth it. Whether you are an audiophile with a CD player and headphone amp looking for the best sound quality or simply an average Ipod owner replacing your Ipod earbuds with something a little...umm...better, these headphones are for you.

Performance: When I first purchased these headphones, I was a little weary of them not sounding good, because I read in several places that these headphones were "congested", "thin", and "required a headphone amp for sure". Fortunately, using these headphones with nothing but an Ipod (no headphone amp), I realized these other sources were wrong. Everything about these headphones is excellent. The lows are tight and realistic. You can feel the kick of a bass drum and clearly hear the discrete nuances of the acoustic bass. The vocals are lively, drawn out, and clear. While the Ipod earbuds make singers sound like computers, these headphones make them sound like they are there in front of you. The highs are very natural, and high-pitched instruments or voices will no longer hurt your ears. Violins sound like they are made of silk, not steel. The headphones are very neutral; no specific frequency range is louder or softer than it should be. The soundstage is excellent and very wide. Imaging is great, which means if you close your eyes, you can tell where the singers and instruments are on stage. Separation of instruments is also superb. In fact, when I listened to my music collection after getting these headphones, I heard instruments that I did not even realize were there before. When I listen to the chorus of many songs, I hear individual voices rather than one mashed-together chorus.

Aesthetics: The headphones look pretty good, in my opinion. Be warned that they are big, however, and wearing them in public may get you a few stares here and there.

Comfort: Here, we come to the one disadvantage of these headphones. They are big and heavy. The sealed earcups will make your ears hot after wearing them for a while. The headband squeezes your head to the point that some people experience discomfort. I am not one of these people. You cannot eat while wearing the headphones as the squeezing of the earcups will cause you be uncomfortable when opening your jaw widely. In the end, however, I think the sound quality is worth the slight discomfort that some may experience when wearing these headphones.

UPDATE 10/23/07: I just bought a new pair of these after my old ones broke (pulled out the wire, my fault), and it seems that Koss has put softer ear cushions on them that make them much more comfortable!

Noise control: I am sure you have all seen the commercials for electronic noise-cancelling headphones on TV. These headphones, however, do the same things without batteries, by providing a seal around your ears. When the music is on, you will not be able to hear the noises around you. This can greatly improve your experience when in a noisy environment. Even when not playing music, the headphones still greatly reduce background noise, so you can wear them on a stressful day when you don't want to hear the noise of the world for a while. I wouldn't recommend wearing them when you have a headache, however, as the squeezing of the earcups may make it worse.

Headphone amp: Many people told me that I would need a headphone amp to fully enjoy these headphones. I am happy to report that they sound great with just an Ipod. I have to turn the Ipod volume all the way up to get enough volume (these headphones are bigger and therefore require more power to make the same volume of sound), but at that setting, the music sounds excellent. I will be getting a headphone amp in a few weeks, and hope it will make these amazing headphones sound even better. Realize that you do not need a headphone amp for these headphones to sound great, however.

Lossless music: You do not need lossless music to enjoy these headphones. Regular Itunes music files will sound great. With these headphones, however, you will probably be able to tell that CD-quality music sounds even better. If you can, try to use lossless or 320Kbps encoding whenever possible.

Break-in: And now, we come to perhaps the most important part of this review. When I first got these headphones, they didn't sound too good. The vocals were drowned out, congested, and dark. It seemed like the bass was fine while the mids and highs were drowned out. Fortunately, all the headphones needed was a little break-in. This applies to all dynamic headphones, and I cannot stress it enough. You must break-in your headphones before they will sound good! The headphones will not sound their best until they have been played for over 100 hours. If you want to accelerate the process, play music through the headphones continuously for at least 100 hours. Alternatively, you can simply listen to them as normal and hear the sound get better and better as break-in progresses. Please, do not forget to do the break-in process. If you do, you will think these headphones do not sound good, when in fact they do sound good, they just rely heavily on break-in.

Conclusion: These are not meant to be portable headphones. Because of their phenomenal sound quality at such a low price, however, I have made them portable headphones. The bottom line is, if you care more about sound quality than ear comfort and want the best bang-for-your-buck in headphones, the Koss PRO4AAT are for you. Make sure you get the "T" version. It has titanium-coated tweeters that improve mid- and high-end response. For an Ipod, CD player, headphone amp, or computer sound card, these headphones are a great choice.