Koss Porta Pro Wireless Bluetooth On-Ear Headphones, in-Line Microphone, Volume Control and Touch Remote, Adjustable Headband with Multi-Pivoting Ear Plates, Black

This is a review of several sets of headphones that I’ve tried in attempt to listen to music while at the same time being able to hear my kids If something bad happens and to not use a speaker so that my wife, who is working in the room down the hall isn’t disturbed by the music. Basically, Pandemic headphones. I wanted to keep this purchase in the realm of one hundred bucks.There are basically two ways that you can do this, one is called ambient aware or hear through technology, different companies have different names for it, but it uses either the microphone for talking or the noise cancellation microphone to bring the outside sound in to the headphone. The other is to just use an open backed headphone. I also wanted to this to be a Bluetooth setup because I usually listen to music when I am cleaning or exercising.What I ended up finding was that many companies implement the ambient sound as a button that also brings down the volume, which doesn’t work for what I’m doing. I don’t want to push a button when I’m ready to hear things outside, I want to listen to music while hearing what’s going on around me. The other thing that is an issue with this technology is that, with earbuds and on-ear designs the ambient sound cuts out when the volume gets to about half way. I think this is because above that volume it would start to feed back and potentially damage your hearing. So the better way to do this is to use an open backed headphone.Because of this the winners ended up being the Koss porta pro headphones, the only open backed headphones I could find. They are pretty preposterous looking. But they are comfortable and they are the only open backed Bluetooth headphone under $100, the next most expensive and only other one is the Grado wireless which is $250, there is not a lot of options in this category. It took me a long time to stumble upon the Porta Pros. Apparently they have quite a cult following, the same since 1983 I think. They do sound reasonably good, I’ve read some reviews that the bass is a bit muddy, and I would agree, there are other headphones with a cleaner sounding low end. But, overall, they sound really good, no complaints. The Bluetooth addition to the headphones seems like five years out of date in its implementation, it has the same boop boop beep sound when powering up that my five-year old $35 skull candy's have, the amount of engineering that went into this part was obviously very minimal. I haven't had any trouble with the range though or them cutting out, they seem to be able to be as far away as any of the others. In closing, if you want to rock out but also be able to hear around you these are the best thing that I found. They are very comfortable, however as a bald guy, I’m going to buy a head band pad to put on them.The runner up was the Sony hear on 2, H900N. You can get these around one hundred dollars renewed from Amazon. At this price point these headphones are a very good value. The ones I got had very minimal scratches and no problems. They have many more bells and whistles than the porta pros. They have spoken word announcements when powering on and off and an app that has an equalizer and a few other sound adjustments including the 360 support. You can select the hear through mode or noise cancellation, wind noise reduction or nothing. Of the headphones that I tried with this feature, these had the clearest sounding ambient noise. The JBL live 400s were almost as good in that department but I think the Sony’s were even better. I downloaded Tidal and did the ear picture thing and tried out the Sony 360 feature. I like it. Of all the headphones I tried these created the best soundstage. You can also listen to the 360 tracks on any headphones and they still sound different and, I think, better. However, there are not very many tracks that have been made with this type of recording. Overall though these headphones had the best sound and the best ambient noise feature. But I preferred the Porta Pro’s because you can still hear more ambient noise with those, and I prefer the on ear in general, and especially when I want to hear what is going on around me.In third place I am putting the Plantronics Fit 6100. These are very comfortable over ear headphones. More comfortable than the Sony’s in my opinion. I could wear them for hours. I think the sound is very good and I found the volume is loud enough, which is a problem some reviewers have mentioned. There is app support and you have a couple of different eq preset options to choose from. The ambient sound though, is definitely not as good, it has a hiss and seems faint and in the background. You can not listen to these with a wire, there is no jack. The touch controls, they work ok, but I prefer buttons. The touch controls on these are exactly the same as the Sony’s. I didn’t have any problems with accidental inputs. These are the only headphones that are water resistant, as far as I can tell they are the only non-ear bud headphones in this price range that offer ambient sound and water resistance.Fourth place goes to the JBL live 400. These have a very crisp ambient sound, all the way up to about 60 percent of the volume, where it seems to cut out. There is support for wired listening and pretty satisfying controls. I thought the sound was very good, perhaps not quite as good as the Plantronics 6100 but still very good. No complaints in that department. My only complaint with these headphones is they are not very comfortable, the head band isn’t very soft and neither are the ear cups, the clamping force is on the stronger end. I could wear them for a while, but they end up below the other options because of that.Bringing up last place is the AKG Y500. Still not a terrible set of headphones. But for my purposes they didn’t work because the volume is capped too low with ambient sound turned on. I thought these headphones sounded ok, but perhaps not quite as good as some of the others. I found the controls to be nice to use, and I thought they were comfortable. If I weren’t looking for this specific feature I would have been fine with these.

In 1984 The Koss Porta Pro's were simply designed to be an upgraded portable open ear phone that replaced the relatively poor sounding earphones that came included with one's Walkman, or Walkman clone.Yet in doing so, Koss created a legend. Not only were Porta Pro's ridiculously comfortable, but they sounded great as well. And even if they weren't the most stylish, they certainly beat shoving a boom box to your ear. From early on, Porta Pro users didn't care how they looked, but rather how they sounded.The Koss Porta Pro has remained basically unchanged for 36 years. This is a testament to their design and sound. Oh there have been versions with an included cord mic and volume/playback controls, but the design of the actual headset hasn't changed a bit.The increasing availability of Bluetooth and decreasing availability of 3.5mm phone jacks convinced the engineers to do something pretty revolutionary. Create a wireless version of the Porta Pro.But how do do it and still maintain the sound signature that the Porta Pro?The solution is as brilliant and as inelegant as the PortaPro's themselves.Put all the "hardware" in the cord, and loop the cord together. Thus, the DAC, the charging port and the batteries are all contained in two "lumps" in the cord. Nothing was added to the headset itself.Some in audio circles have criticized this, but fail to see that even slipping a battery pack in the headset would likely affect the fit and sound signature.Nope, For the Porta Pro, to stay a Porta Pro, you couldn't modify the headset.So instead, you have a set of Porta Pro's with a looped cable between the left and right side. On the left side of the loop houses the battery. This battery gives the headset 12 hours of playtime.The right side houses the Micro USB charging port, and a multi function button setup which controls track navigation, volume, pause and play, and activating your voice assistant.The controls are quite intuitive and easy to get used to.The result is amazing. I get the same sound quality I love from my Porta Pros, but with the added benefit to be untethered from the phone.Some have complained of Bluetooth connectivity issues, but I have had none. I can walk around my entire condo without issue. The included battery provides ample battery power.The only small complaint I have is the micro USB charging port, or more specifically the rubber flap. It can get in the way and hinder charging. It would also be nice if Koss upgraded this to a USB-C connection, but these are minute quibbles in my mind.I also love the nice hard case that comes with the earsets as it keeps them nice and protected.Unfortunately Koss is unable to provide a "lifetime warranty", so your warranty is reduced to 1 year on these models because of the limited lifespan of the battery. I am hoping that Koss continues to sell this model or an upgraded model in the future, because I will definitely be wanting to pick these up again when the battery dies for good.Look. I get it. As TWS technology gets better and better, the argument for these headsets is harder to make. There are some outstanding wireless earbuds out that can stand toe to toe with the Porta Pro's. But ultimately even the most comfortable earbuds eventually can cause some level of discomfort. Something that I've never had with the Porta Pros. So while a set of earbuds may be in my pocket to enjoy while I am out and about. The Porta Pro wireless are a welcome change for when I return home, and simply want great sound quality and comfort.

If you're buying these you probably already know what you like about them. They are a classic for a reason! Keep in mind I don't have any hair so don't run into the issue of it getting caught in the sliding mechanisms but for me these are headphones you can wear all day and not feel any pain. I work from home so don't always need active noise cancellation headphones that block out all noise. These are a dream for that purpose.As far as the bluetooth update...it's good...enough :)My main reason for buying these was that my wired set tore after the main wire got caught on my desk. Won't have that issue again with these.The bluetooth functionality is actually pretty solid. Signal strength is even better than my other bluetooth buds due to the receiver being on the outside of the headphones. The only gripe I have is with the function buttons. They are mushy and hard to tell which button does what by feel alone. I hope I get used to them but right now they are rather hard to use.If you're used to advanced functionality with your wireless buds/headphones...these don't have any of those. Considering their retro-appeal, that's fine with me.Battery life has also been really good. I wore them to bed last night and they stayed on all night. This morning they still had 100% battery. I do wish they had an auto-sleep function built in but if the battery life is this good maybe it doesn't matter as much.In short, if you love the originals these are a no-brainer!