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Koss KDE250 Earphones
01 / 07
Koss KDE250 Earphones
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Product Description
If you value portability but don’t like the tight, earplug-like feel of IEMs or the loose fit of earbuds, look no further than the Koss KDE250. From an audio pioneer that’s been in the business since 1958, these earphones look like nothing else on the market, featuring a retrofuturistic metal design that’s entirely adjustable and entirely cool Read More
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Built2Spill
1
May 16, 2019
wingwing8888I am laughing almost hysterically at this in the emergency room right now. Thanks for lifting my spirits.
TiffanyPoodleslide
1402
Jul 5, 2017
WEIRDEST FIT, EVER.
Going to be a challenge for anybody with smaller ears.... and since a BIG issue with any IEMS/On-Ear monitors is about how they fit, it's what I am addressing first.
Trying to figure out just how they sit on the ears is the first trick. It's not really intuitive, and, at first, it seemed like they had the L/R set backwards. I found myself looking at on-line images of their "ear-models" wearing them, just to see that I had them on right! There are instructions, but the oddity of the design renders them a tad inadequate,a bit cumbersome,(they talk about "Home Position" and there's a lot of tweaking to be done), just plain complicated. Some photos of them on the ear would have been nice!
Deciding how to use the metal arms that hang them on your ears is also a bit tricky, (in spite of the instructions), and, if one wears eyeglasses, they may require even BIGGER fiddling. After I found what I thought was the KOSS-described "Custom Fit", using the "Custom Fit Dials" and all, I still found myself fidgeting them, over and over again,
If you have a smaller set of ears on you, you will ABSOLUTELY need to bend the arms to get them set onto your ears correctly, even after screwing them down. I don't feel like these are particularly secure on the ear...but I'm more of an Over-the-ear,(i.e. CANS), kind of listener, with my classical and acoustic tastes running my preferences to Beyerdynamic,Grado,Sennheiser. Or true IEMS, like Shure,Westone, Etymotic...
Once on, correctly, the soundstage is nice and open,(no claustrophobia here, as is often the case with IEMs...), in a quiet environment, the production and appreciation is quite pleasant.
Mine are "burning in." But the immediate sound, fresh from the box, has nice detail, all ranges are adequately present, without any one range being overbearing,thready,or shrill. As usual, a decent amp does improve detail and "heft" to the sound produced.
I feel that these will be nice for listening to acoustic and classical music while doing homework or reading...activities that have you sitting still enough to feel secure wearing these so you can forget about how they feel and hear the quite nice soundstage that these ear speakers have to offer. Because that's kind of what they are; little ear speakers aimed AT your ear canal.
I suspect that adequate burn in will offer another layer of sound quality to my experience... so I may pop back here for a more detailed comment about the sound repro after a week of playing with them.
Summary,(for now); these are a decent set of eccentrically built* ON EAR monitors that you DON'T buy for fit or looks- rather one buys them for the open soundstage offered at the portable level.But only the kind of portability that has you sitting down while wearing them,(not gonna be running in THESE!), and not stressing the fit, or the SKINNY little wires,(I too find them flimsy and lesser, as cabling goes), and using a portable amp for the fuller sound that this widened soundstage makes desireable. They sound NICE. But when you are talking earphones, full-size over-ear all the way down to the smallest, deep IEMS, FIT and COMFORT of wear are HUGE issues... if uncomfortable or wonky enough, you'll never wear them. No matter how good they sound.
Unless these develop a sound that is nothing short of divine....they will likely end up in my "curiosities" box. I'm certainly CURIOUS about what KOSS was thinking, and who's ears they were trying them on, when they designed these WEIRD ear-speakers.... 5-6 on my 0 to 10 scale....but only because they sound pretty good.
* I was actually able to place these on the ears of my fox-terrier more handily than on myself, at first go, LOL!
Mine are "burning in." But the immediate sound, fresh from the box, has nice detail, all ranges are adequately present, without any one range being overbearing,thready,or shrill. As usual, a decent amp does improve detail and "heft" to the sound produced.
I feel that these will be nice for listening to acoustic and classical music while doing homework or reading...activities that have you sitting still enough to feel secure wearing these so you can forget about how they feel and hear the quite nice soundstage that these ear speakers have to offer. Because that's kind of what they are; little ear speakers aimed AT your ear canal.
I suspect that adequate burn in will offer another layer of sound quality to my experience... so I may pop back here for a more detailed comment about the sound repro after a week of playing with them.
Summary,(for now); these are a decent set of eccentrically built* ON EAR monitors that you DON'T buy for fit or looks- rather one buys them for the open soundstage offered at the portable level.But only the kind of portability that has you sitting down while wearing them,(not gonna be running in THESE!), and not stressing the fit, or the SKINNY little wires,(I too find them flimsy and lesser, as cabling goes), and using a portable amp for the fuller sound that this widened soundstage makes desireable. They sound NICE. But when you are talking earphones, full-size over-ear all the way down to the smallest, deep IEMS, FIT and COMFORT of wear are HUGE issues... if uncomfortable or wonky enough, you'll never wear them. No matter how good they sound.
Unless these develop a sound that is nothing short of divine....they will likely end up in my "curiosities" box. I'm certainly CURIOUS about what KOSS was thinking, and who's ears they were trying them on, when they designed these WEIRD ear-speakers.... 5-6 on my 0 to 10 scale....but only because they sound pretty good.
* I was actually able to place these on the ears of my fox-terrier more handily than on myself, at first go, LOL!
BlueCrowned
5305
Oct 16, 2017
Oh but she's terrified of rodents. That's the Chihuahua side. Cats on the other hand...
HIFI778
652
Oct 22, 2019
Describe better... I have over 20 headphones including Sennheiser, Audiotecnica, Fostex, AKG, Sony and the Koss PortaPro, Koss kph 30i sound as good as any other one I own not less. The only factor is sound signiture difference among them and price (which seems to dictate also quality inside most heads). As quality of sound reproduced with not distortion if their sound signiture is someone cup of tea the Koss are the best value hands down. They rend obsolete and useless all other open cans out there which cost many times more. Once I heard the Koss line up I so understood how much companies jacked up their prices to get filthy rich. Edit: I am using a THX789 with a Topping DX7s as a DAC and Google Chromcast to feed music with Tidal premium via optical.
(Edited)
Stumpy
190
Feb 17, 2019
I could not get these to fit at all with the included hangers...
But I had an idea to used these flange earbud tips (two per side) and after a little trial and error they now fit PERFECT! I can even shake my head side to side now without them falling out.
EDIT, I also tried adding the original metal hanger back on and only one rubber flange and that also works great.
(Edited)
Yezhik
5
Mar 8, 2017
$250 MSRP. Unreal lol. These seriously are not even worth $50. I love how you can set the price at whatever, double or triple the "MSRP" and make people think they're getting a killer deal... Massdrop disappoints yet again.
evilunicorncat
121
Mar 9, 2017
YezhikExcept if you go to Koss' website you have to pay $249.99 and amazon only has them from 3rd party sellers starting at $130 plus shipping. The MSRP is legit even if Koss decided to have a sale, msrp is merely launch price.... no one even looks at that anyway.
SlowCousinPete
177
Dec 11, 2017
I'm dumbfounded by people here saying they don't like these. I have pretty high standards: the WORST headphones I use on a daily basis are HE500s, and that's only when I'm tired of my Alpha Primes and my Stax Lambda Pros. I don't think very highly of dynamic drivers in general, but the KDE250 here is one of only two dynamic driver sets I actually like (the other is a Sennheiser MX985).
These 250s legitimately compare with the TOTL Audeze iSINE20. They don't sound as good as the 20--does anything this size?--but they come impressively close. I actually sold off my 20s because the 250s are close enough in terms of overall SQ, and are actually BETTER for portable use. The iSines are really unforgiving of bad sources, they will show you all the flaws in a recording, but they scale up with better equipment beautifully. The KDEs, OTOH, sound great even from a smartphone's headphone jack. The Koss won't scale nearly as high as the Audeze can, but they do still improve pretty significantly on my desktop rig.
For reference, my desktop rig is a Schiit Mimby/Magni stack. When I'm not at home I sometimes listen just out of the headphone jack on my V20, other times I'll carry a Hifiman HM601 or an ODAC/Fiio e11 stack with me (which actually rivals my desktop stacj in SQ). I listen to EDM, hip-hop, and occasionally rock.
Honestly I question whether people like jamtato below me have actually heard a KDE250 before. I can certainly understand disliking them based on fit or comfort or aesthetics, or maybe they aren't a good match for your specific use-cases. The 250s can be sensitive about where exactly they fit on your ears, because there is a definite "sweet spot" where they sound their best, and they sometimes require frequent adjustment to keep them there. I understand all that, and those are valid concerns. They aren't appropriate at all for runners, for example.
But people are complaining about the SOUND??? It's one thing if they simply don't match the sound signature you prefer, which I suspect may be happening, where idiots confuse subjective opinions with objective performance, or contrive the latter to make themselves feel better about feeling the former. I think the HD650 sounds like complete shit, personally, but I don't go around telling people that it sucks or that it sounds tinny, because it fucking doesn't. And neither does the KDE250.
I can't help but notice that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM actually recommended an alternative that they consider better.
These 250s legitimately compare with the TOTL Audeze iSINE20. They don't sound as good as the 20--does anything this size?--but they come impressively close. I actually sold off my 20s because the 250s are close enough in terms of overall SQ, and are actually BETTER for portable use. The iSines are really unforgiving of bad sources, they will show you all the flaws in a recording, but they scale up with better equipment beautifully. The KDEs, OTOH, sound great even from a smartphone's headphone jack. The Koss won't scale nearly as high as the Audeze can, but they do still improve pretty significantly on my desktop rig.
For reference, my desktop rig is a Schiit Mimby/Magni stack. When I'm not at home I sometimes listen just out of the headphone jack on my V20, other times I'll carry a Hifiman HM601 or an ODAC/Fiio e11 stack with me (which actually rivals my desktop stacj in SQ). I listen to EDM, hip-hop, and occasionally rock.
Honestly I question whether people like jamtato below me have actually heard a KDE250 before. I can certainly understand disliking them based on fit or comfort or aesthetics, or maybe they aren't a good match for your specific use-cases. The 250s can be sensitive about where exactly they fit on your ears, because there is a definite "sweet spot" where they sound their best, and they sometimes require frequent adjustment to keep them there. I understand all that, and those are valid concerns. They aren't appropriate at all for runners, for example.
But people are complaining about the SOUND??? It's one thing if they simply don't match the sound signature you prefer, which I suspect may be happening, where idiots confuse subjective opinions with objective performance, or contrive the latter to make themselves feel better about feeling the former. I think the HD650 sounds like complete shit, personally, but I don't go around telling people that it sucks or that it sounds tinny, because it fucking doesn't. And neither does the KDE250.
I can't help but notice that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM actually recommended an alternative that they consider better.
lushkin
5
Dec 21, 2017
SlowCousinPeteI remeber when I first tried mine with the medium earhooks They DID have rather forward lower mids, it was almost too annoying. But after a while I dicieded to try the small hooks and in addition to a more secure fit the mids got considerably more in line with the rest of the range and I now find the KDE250 highly enjoyable, It's definitely a very unique earclip/earbud type of headphones.
UNW209
60
Jan 27, 2017
Can't imagine this cool earbud has caught more than 100 attractions!
Would like to see a MassDrop x Koss ESP-950 in the next drop!
Alidan
30
Jan 26, 2017
To be 100% honest, I would never consider earbuds as a headphone type I would spend over 20$ on, and after getting monks a few weeks back, hard to justify above 5$ as these will never have good bass, they are broken by design.
After getting some kz3 iems, I would honestly be hardpressed to recommend monks, as for 5$ more you trade off a minimal amount of treble and mid for decent bass, for less then 10$
you want to spend 100$ on portable headphones, iems are the only thing to consider, get a pair of monks for emergencies/backups and get some nice iems for everything else.
for actual headphones, its hard to recommend anything over 200$, as I have been exposed to a shitload of them thanks to my little brother buying everything under the sun because 'headphones are my hobby' When I have properly amped up 1000$ flagships on my head, and all I can say is 'yea, they are the best, but 800$ more then mine good but they are better'
In all honesty, Im looking at the Monolith M1060 Planar Headphones from monoprice right now as depending on what they put out, it could very well be the definitive headphone for that price range, can't wait till people I trust get their hands on it as i am looking for something that can handle bass a bit better and these look to be across the board better then what I have.
After getting some kz3 iems, I would honestly be hardpressed to recommend monks, as for 5$ more you trade off a minimal amount of treble and mid for decent bass, for less then 10$
you want to spend 100$ on portable headphones, iems are the only thing to consider, get a pair of monks for emergencies/backups and get some nice iems for everything else.
for actual headphones, its hard to recommend anything over 200$, as I have been exposed to a shitload of them thanks to my little brother buying everything under the sun because 'headphones are my hobby' When I have properly amped up 1000$ flagships on my head, and all I can say is 'yea, they are the best, but 800$ more then mine good but they are better'
In all honesty, Im looking at the Monolith M1060 Planar Headphones from monoprice right now as depending on what they put out, it could very well be the definitive headphone for that price range, can't wait till people I trust get their hands on it as i am looking for something that can handle bass a bit better and these look to be across the board better then what I have.
Alidan
30
Feb 1, 2017
Oh I get what you mean, my little brother went on a headphone buying spree, and if they cost 200$ to about 1000$ he bought them, granted ebay prices, but he still bought them. The only real area my 598's are lacking is bass that has a punch. doing tests to see what range I can hear sound in, still puts me above average, knowing sennheiser isn't the best for the top range, and having ones on my head that are suppose to be the best in that range, there is VERY little difference, so I stopped looking at that area, and started looking more at the bass. His fastex are fantastic for bass, but I don't have an amp that can properly drive then, along with when using his amp they were a very piercing high end to the point that just wasn't comfortable. His hifiman's he got that were 1000$ ones, they were better than what I have in all regards, but the price he paid for them was not better by enough to ever justify it.
I'm looking at these knowing monoprice as a company, they put out things that I have gotten that would have costed more if I had gotten them elsewhere while performing as good or better than an alternative product. This has me at least interested in their headphones and I'm watching for reviews from people who have more experience then I do to trickel in, possibly when my brother inevitably spends some money on a pair for himself. When compared to the hifiman you said, the he-400i if everything is the same, as in both headphones are equal and the only difference was how they look, I would be willing to go monoprice because I much prefer how it looks and its 50$ more. When I got my 598's I was looking at the 558's, but 2 things made me go 598. First, they acknowledged a cracking problem, were actively replacing everyone that was cracked, and for all new ones used a different blend of or just different plastic. It's been 2 or 3 years now, and they look like new beside the earpads and headband that I replaced recently. And 2 being the look, but I'm apparently weird in that way where I like the look of noctua fans for pc, not just begrudgingly use them because they are the best performing fans on the market.
As for why keep up now when a purchase is a long time down the line baring outstanding performance... Have you ever bought something, didn't need a new one, then one day down the line it breaks, it's out of warranty, you need a new one right now, but its been years and you need to sift through a crap ton if new advancements and new models? Had it happen twice to me on computers, I didn't know much about power supplies, had one blow up in my case, that was a nerve wreaking 2 days thinking my entire computer was gone as the powersupply took everything with it. Thankfully the cheap piece of crap had either a fuse or some kind of breaker inside to cut all power to the computer before it blew and nothing was damaged. Now I know there are really only 3 brands that are worth a damn, corsair as they use seasonic designs, seasonic, and superflower as superflower are I believe the best quality, but they don't make many low end models that aren't rebranded for other companies. The second was the 1.5tb hdds, I bought one because I was doing a fresh format and I always get a new one so I can't lose old data when I format, so I went to best buy, saw 1.5tb, and saw 140$... ok, that's my price range. two months later my pc died due to age, so I got another 1.5tb, this time for 90$ as it was clearance. So, one drive just started having a crap ton of errors and the boot was click of deathing, thankfully no data loss, was able to mirror it before it gave up the ghost. Replace them with rma drives, one is ok, the other literally vibrated itself to death. and a few months back the other stopped working completely. I now know that every company has horrific 1.5tb drives, but seagate, the brand I bought had a 50%+ fail rate on the drives. So I keep up with company failure rates, and seagate is still one of the best especially for high capacity drives, with hitachi leading the pack but also commanding a larger price. Had crap like this happen to me allot where something that I require breaks and I need to get a new one, but not knowing anything about it screwed me. So now I make a point to keep up with everything I use. And as I learned a LONG time ago, when it comes to audio, nothing really changes, a newer model does not make the old one worthless, but because of the newer model people get rid of fantastic equipment for very low prices. If I had to choose right now what to get, I would likely go with an ebay hd650, possibly a hd700 if I could find it for 300 or less, and order some replacement pads for it because I know the sennheiser style and know it would be both an upgrade for me, and fit very comfortably, but that monoprice has a 106 mm driver, and thats bigger than the entire can of my hd598's so its possibly an ever more comfortable wear for me, as I disqualify anything that touches my ears instantly from useable, I have never been able to find that comfortable.
I'm looking at these knowing monoprice as a company, they put out things that I have gotten that would have costed more if I had gotten them elsewhere while performing as good or better than an alternative product. This has me at least interested in their headphones and I'm watching for reviews from people who have more experience then I do to trickel in, possibly when my brother inevitably spends some money on a pair for himself. When compared to the hifiman you said, the he-400i if everything is the same, as in both headphones are equal and the only difference was how they look, I would be willing to go monoprice because I much prefer how it looks and its 50$ more. When I got my 598's I was looking at the 558's, but 2 things made me go 598. First, they acknowledged a cracking problem, were actively replacing everyone that was cracked, and for all new ones used a different blend of or just different plastic. It's been 2 or 3 years now, and they look like new beside the earpads and headband that I replaced recently. And 2 being the look, but I'm apparently weird in that way where I like the look of noctua fans for pc, not just begrudgingly use them because they are the best performing fans on the market.
As for why keep up now when a purchase is a long time down the line baring outstanding performance... Have you ever bought something, didn't need a new one, then one day down the line it breaks, it's out of warranty, you need a new one right now, but its been years and you need to sift through a crap ton if new advancements and new models? Had it happen twice to me on computers, I didn't know much about power supplies, had one blow up in my case, that was a nerve wreaking 2 days thinking my entire computer was gone as the powersupply took everything with it. Thankfully the cheap piece of crap had either a fuse or some kind of breaker inside to cut all power to the computer before it blew and nothing was damaged. Now I know there are really only 3 brands that are worth a damn, corsair as they use seasonic designs, seasonic, and superflower as superflower are I believe the best quality, but they don't make many low end models that aren't rebranded for other companies. The second was the 1.5tb hdds, I bought one because I was doing a fresh format and I always get a new one so I can't lose old data when I format, so I went to best buy, saw 1.5tb, and saw 140$... ok, that's my price range. two months later my pc died due to age, so I got another 1.5tb, this time for 90$ as it was clearance. So, one drive just started having a crap ton of errors and the boot was click of deathing, thankfully no data loss, was able to mirror it before it gave up the ghost. Replace them with rma drives, one is ok, the other literally vibrated itself to death. and a few months back the other stopped working completely. I now know that every company has horrific 1.5tb drives, but seagate, the brand I bought had a 50%+ fail rate on the drives. So I keep up with company failure rates, and seagate is still one of the best especially for high capacity drives, with hitachi leading the pack but also commanding a larger price. Had crap like this happen to me allot where something that I require breaks and I need to get a new one, but not knowing anything about it screwed me. So now I make a point to keep up with everything I use. And as I learned a LONG time ago, when it comes to audio, nothing really changes, a newer model does not make the old one worthless, but because of the newer model people get rid of fantastic equipment for very low prices. If I had to choose right now what to get, I would likely go with an ebay hd650, possibly a hd700 if I could find it for 300 or less, and order some replacement pads for it because I know the sennheiser style and know it would be both an upgrade for me, and fit very comfortably, but that monoprice has a 106 mm driver, and thats bigger than the entire can of my hd598's so its possibly an ever more comfortable wear for me, as I disqualify anything that touches my ears instantly from useable, I have never been able to find that comfortable.
SlowCousinPete
177
Feb 3, 2017
" i'm assuming its like the monks I have, just higher quality"
Right, just like how your HD598 is like the cheepie headphobes everyone gets for free on an airline flight, just higher quality! And how a Ferrari is like a Honda Civic, just higher quality!
The Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are like wooden rowboats, just higher quality! Hahahhahaaha! This is kinda fun, anybody else can feel free to chime in with examples too.
Seriously, why on earth would anybody make that assumption? Are you brain-damaged? It's wrong, and frankly it's a spectacularly stupid thing to think! I just don't even know what else I can say here, if my point hasn't been made yet, it never will be.
"the bass is there, but by design the bass is just not there,"
This is another fun sentence, but I'm not going to comment further, just going to leave this here to highlight it in case anybody missed it.
Right, just like how your HD598 is like the cheepie headphobes everyone gets for free on an airline flight, just higher quality! And how a Ferrari is like a Honda Civic, just higher quality!
The Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are like wooden rowboats, just higher quality! Hahahhahaaha! This is kinda fun, anybody else can feel free to chime in with examples too.
Seriously, why on earth would anybody make that assumption? Are you brain-damaged? It's wrong, and frankly it's a spectacularly stupid thing to think! I just don't even know what else I can say here, if my point hasn't been made yet, it never will be.
"the bass is there, but by design the bass is just not there,"
This is another fun sentence, but I'm not going to comment further, just going to leave this here to highlight it in case anybody missed it.
lbdesign
79
Jul 13, 2017
These have been burning in for 20 hours, and so far I hate the sound. They are very comfortable. Very (for me). But the highs are horribly harsh. Overdone, tinny, almost like they are being projected through a long horn.
Does it get better? Please tell me it's going to get better. Or that I'm wearing them wrong.
I've seen the advice here to not push them deep into the ears, and that helps, but no matter where I place the drivers (a millimeter of change at a time), the sound may change, but it's never audiophile-grade.
I hope it gets better...
lbdesign
79
Jul 16, 2017
lbdesignAfter a few days, it's getting better. The highs are more natural, transparent and very clear. Voices still sound a bit hollow, but I'm hopeful that will clear up as well. Ear placement is very finicky still. To adjust the sound, try rotating the emitter angle up and down, as well as using the hinge to angle it in and out of your ear.
lbdesign
79
Oct 15, 2017
lbdesignA couple months later, voices still sound a bit like they are being sung through an old-fashioned paper megaphone. The bass is good — especially good for such an open design. All the highs are there, but a bit harsh. There's a lot of detail if they are perfectly positioned in your ears, and they are very efficient — I have to turn the volume down vs my on- or over-the-ear headphones. The vocal zone is still harsh and has that "through a horn" quality that makes long listening sessions tiring (though physical comfort is fine). But I claim to have golden ears and I'm VERY picky. You may not be bothered by this. I am tending to choose other headsets over these for both casual and critical listening. They are nice in the summer, however, since there's nothing to get all sweaty.
BrZi
12
Mar 1, 2019
(Edited)
bulletim3
0
Aug 18, 2019
BrZiThis! Makes the earphones soo much more comfortable. Thank you for sharing :)
For anyone else trying this, you WILL need to cut a little gap on one side of the foam to get them on. Yes, this is destructive (to the foam), but makes a big difference in terms of comfort without impacting the sound quality.
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