Market niche: To provide a high level of musical enjoyment at an affordable price.
Obstacles: People associate cost with quality. Fashionable name brands, aesthetics, compactness, and gimmicks (noise cancellation) command a higher priority in today's market.
I'm one of THOSE. You know...vinyl is superior to digital. Tube amplifiers beat solid-state. FLAC files only. Definition, soundstage, separation, muddy/boomy/punchy. No replacement for displacement...drivers, magnets, cone construction. Yup. Guilty.
But I'm going to say it; for pure portable musical enjoyment, I reach for these every time. They aren't "accurate" headphones. They look dorky. They leak sound. The foam muffles some of the frequencies. But at the end of the day, we listen to music to FEEL something. Nostalgia. Sadness. Jubilation. Air guitar. Steering wheel drums. Head bobbing. A heart that skips a beat. Gall-darn it...the Koss Porta Pro makes you want to pull a Risky Business and run around the house in your underwear. Or cry while you wash dishes. Or daydream while you go about your daily business. Or sing along and actually hear yourself (sorry, closed-ear phones).
The Koss Porta Pro is the guilty pleasure hamburger of headphones. If I want a 5 course meal with foie gras, Filet Mignon and Lobster tails, I'll cocoon into my Audio Technica MTX-50's. If I want a spicy thai stir fry or tasty sushi, I'll borrow my daughter's Audio-Technica MTX-30's. Nevermind the Dr. Dre Beats Solo and Bose Soundtrue II and heap of Apple earbuds stashed in a drawer somewhere around here. For pure comfort food, there is only one choice: Koss Porta Pro.
Just buy them. And shave your face, unless you like being identified as a Hipster.
Obstacles: People associate cost with quality. Fashionable name brands, aesthetics, compactness, and gimmicks (noise cancellation) command a higher priority in today's market.
I'm one of THOSE. You know...vinyl is superior to digital. Tube amplifiers beat solid-state. FLAC files only. Definition, soundstage, separation, muddy/boomy/punchy. No replacement for displacement...drivers, magnets, cone construction. Yup. Guilty.
But I'm going to say it; for pure portable musical enjoyment, I reach for these every time. They aren't "accurate" headphones. They look dorky. They leak sound. The foam muffles some of the frequencies. But at the end of the day, we listen to music to FEEL something. Nostalgia. Sadness. Jubilation. Air guitar. Steering wheel drums. Head bobbing. A heart that skips a beat. Gall-darn it...the Koss Porta Pro makes you want to pull a Risky Business and run around the house in your underwear. Or cry while you wash dishes. Or daydream while you go about your daily business. Or sing along and actually hear yourself (sorry, closed-ear phones).
The Koss Porta Pro is the guilty pleasure hamburger of headphones. If I want a 5 course meal with foie gras, Filet Mignon and Lobster tails, I'll cocoon into my Audio Technica MTX-50's. If I want a spicy thai stir fry or tasty sushi, I'll borrow my daughter's Audio-Technica MTX-30's. Nevermind the Dr. Dre Beats Solo and Bose Soundtrue II and heap of Apple earbuds stashed in a drawer somewhere around here. For pure comfort food, there is only one choice: Koss Porta Pro.
Just buy them. And shave your face, unless you like being identified as a Hipster.
