Customer Reviews

Koss "The Plug" Portable Headphones (colors vary)

5 star:		(193)
4 star:		(137)
3 star:		(49)
2 star:		(51)
1 star:		(57)

 

 

NOTE: the description I saw on the Amazon page does not reflect the product I have. Above it discusses a headband and an adapter which are not part of this product. Also, the rated frequency response is 10-20k, not 16-23k. I think this is (or was) an Amazon editorial error.

My interest for this product is as a solution to listening to music, lectures, and movies while travelling, and I travel a lot. I have a set of Panosonic noise-cancelling headphones which were good (about five times more expensive than these earbuds) though bulky, but the plastic broke so they won't stay on my head now.

These earbuds are an excellent alternative to noise-cancelling headphones for the frequent traveller. I find them more comfortable for extended listening than most conventional headphones. The ability to seal out noise from the external environment is very good, and makes it possible to understand what actors are saying when watching a movie on an airplane.

The overall performance - sound quality and noise blocking - is not as good as the Bose noise cancelling headphones, but the Bose are 20 times as expensive, much less convenient to carry, and subject to damage from the rough world of the road warrior. If The Plug had an optional noise-cancelling unit (say, combined with the eq), it would be a killer combination - are you listening, Koss?).

The sound is good. Bass-heavy, to be sure; I would like them better if they had a flatter response, but the product is marketed at the portable music crowd, and many of them are looking for dramatic bass rather than golden-ears sound.
Besides, mobile sound is always a compromise, it's just a question of whether the compromise they chose works for you.

Here are some problems I've heard and the solutions:

1. "They fall out of my ear." I think an older version of this product did not come with alternative cushions; the ones I bought recently (as pictured here) came with 3 alternative cushion pairs, one of which fit well in my somewhat large ears. To make them fit well, roll the cushions in your fingers and squeeze them down, then hold them in place in your ears while they adjust the fit. Also, it is possible to fashion your own cushions (easy modification to commercially available ear plugs from pharmacy); go to google and search for "koss plug mods".

2. What about when I have to replace the cushions, they'll get waxy/dirty with use? See last sentence of #1.

3. "They sound tinny". I have a sense that the sound was tinnier on an earlier version of these earbuds, judging from comments I've read in feedback and on the koss plug mods page. The purple plugs (as opposed to the older(?) blue ones) do not sound tinny to me; they seem a bit heavy on the bass instead. Koss also makes a 3-band eq (20 dollars) for their headphones that can be used to adjust the sound some. I have an eq on order, hoping it may temper the boomy bass a bit. Of course, your player may have a way of changing the color of the sound, but my laptop does not.

4. "They're easy to lose." The price of their tiny size and negligible weight, is that you need to be careful not to lose them. I've already lost a pair. Koss also makes a carrying case which may help, or you could just put them in a 35mm film canister. But at $... a pair (compared to $... for noise-cancelling headphones) I'll just keep a spare pair around in my travelling case.

Overall I'm pleased with the price/performance tradeoff for these earbuds, and they are an essential part of my travelling kit. They sound better than any other earbuds I've used, and they remove a good bit of the ambient sound, offering more pleasure in listening. I give four stars out of five because I'd prefer a less bassy sound, though some people will really like the way they sound.

Ok the first thing about this review. I have a pair of the 'new' the Plug headphones. They are not the ones pictured here. They have no mute button and are metallic silver and purple in color not blue and yellow.

Apprently KOSS got a lot of feedback from the first version, they listened, and made a much better product. The ones I have are just fantastic. Great bass, like the original, but very good mids and lows as well. They work better as isolation headphones then anything I have used before, but apprently people who are audiophiles are not that impressed. Also they have fantastic volume ability. Because they are in your ear canal I can turn my portable equipment up really loud. I don't but its nice if you want to. Music sounds great with these headphones. Frankly best headphones I have ever used, BUT I am using the NEW VERSION not the blue and yellow ones pictured here.

OK right now what to do? I would call Amazon and MAKE SURE you are getting the new version. I never used the one they have listed here but almost everywhere I looked on the net, people say the new version is MUCH BETTER...

I heave read many of the review on this site, and I probablly would have not used my Koss earbuds to the full extend if I have not read many of the reviews. First issue is that people cannot get the earbuds to stay in their ear. I found my earbuds not needing any modification when it comes to foam, but rather they way the earbud is placed in. The first problem that I had is stuffing it in my ear, they would fall out, and the foam would look all pushed back on the stick (refering to the rubber sticking out from the headphone). YOu must firmly squeze the foam from all sides and quickly insert it into the ear. You will know if the ear bud is firmly in by shaking your head, and nothing is falling out. Do the same for thea other ear. Now you will hear the amazing quality of the sound that these pupies can give. The base is amazing, these earbuds I find better quality then my Sony Studio Monitoring headset (one great advantage of earbuds, the volume on my MD player doesn't have to be set to the max to hear any music). The sound quality is amazing, the isolation from outside is great, especially on a loud bus, unlike other earbuds. ONLY IF THE EARBUDS SET PROPERLY INTO THE EAR YOU WILL HEAR THE FULL QUALITY OF THE SOUND... I heard no distortion...I hope my review helped you on earbuds.

I have no idea what all these other people are saying. I suppose they are either retards or have deformed ears. When searching to buy some miniphones i noticed all the negative reviews, customers saying they couldnt' get them to fit, and then said they had AWFUL sound. Common sense dictates that if they aren't used the way they are designed, performance will be poor... If you don't have them in your ear the right way of course they'll sound bad... I purchased a pair of these and i guess i know how to use them because the sound is truly amazing. I didnt' think that you could get ANYTHING that sounded this good for anything near 20.00$. I use them with my sharp 722 (MD player/recorder) and the volume being only at 14 is sufficient (it goes up to 30 - which i would never dare set that high for fear of popping my eardrums). I have pushed these to the point where other phones would probably blow and detected no distortion whatsoever.

This is an EXCELLENT purchase. If you can get them in your ear - i didn't find it any challenge - then you'll LOVE 'em, otherwise go with portapros or sportapros or whatever the heck you call em (the other koss stereophones).

Here are all the pros and cons i've found:

Pros: small, light excellent sound quality (like a lil subwoofer in your ear- it can reach all the deep REALLY low bass) inexpensive for what you get efficient (the impedance is MUCH lower than most other phones, so it preserves batteries in portable equipment better) Cons: Some people can't fit them in... They can get a little uncomfortable (but the ones i got came with several different kinds of plugs/sealers of different shapes - so you can choose one that works best for you. When you're listening to somehting with a lot of bass they tickle your ears a bit (idk if that's necessarily a con though) The End.

I have read some of the reviews here, and a lot of them seem to say the same thing "i can't get them to stay in". I completely agree with this assessment. I couldn't get them to stay in .. until I realized I was using them wrong! You really have to 'rotate-jam' them into your ear canal, and when you do -- the sound is absolutely INCREDBILE! It blocks out outside noise unlike anything I've heard in a pair of headphones this size. Quite possible the cheapest, most high-quality head phones I've ever purchased.

I'll keep this concise and pertinent...

GOOD
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1. Very good sound (esp. for the price), just make sure you are not using any bass expansion/extension equalization. Even with old Sinatra, using my TDK Mojo's bass expansion sometimes causes distortion, simply because The Plug has exceptional low frequency response. So hip-hop obviously causes a lot of distortion w/ extra bass emphasis; I wonder if this is the 'muddiness' about which some have complained. Flat equalization (at least for bass) is a requirement for these headphones.
2. Excellent isolation and efficiency due to the foam sealing design. Just don't blow your eardrum turning the music up too loud, nor get run over by a bus 'cause you can't hear it coming!
3. Excellent overall sound quality; no tinny sound other reviewers have mentioned, unless The Plug is inserted incorrectly (ie - off-axis, or not "aimed" correctly).

BAD
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1. True, the black foamy material does not stay compressed very long, so you have to 'roll' it in your fingers then immediately put it in your ear. I could see that those with small ears may have problems fitting these properly; problem solved by retrofitting a standard foam-type earplug (as others have mentioned). Whether you would or should do this is another question. The packaging does include a few different styles of foam inserts to try; coned, cylinder, etc. After using the coned ones for a long time, I've switched to the cylinder-shaped ones, which stay in better.
2. The first pair of these I bought had uneven bass; the left earplug's bass was a lower sound pressure than the right; treble was fine. I verified this with both ears and then with a function generator. I exchanged them and the subsequent pair is perfectly balanced.
3. If The Plug is not inserted straight (not 'aimed' into your ear canal) the sound will lose its midrange (the 'tinny' thing some have mentioned). This would depends a lot on how your ears are 'designed.' I personally don't have an issue with this.

Overall, I think these earbud headphones are excellent, especially for the price.

I work in a jewelry studio with 7 other people, and the constant chatter as well as hammering drives me batty. I often put on headphones to drown out the sound, but I usually have to turn the cd player up super loud to avoid hearing everyone's conversations.

While these headphones are a bit awkward to put in, once you get the hang of it, they're great! I can turn the volume up a fraction of what I used to, and I can't hear all the outside chatter. And even when I am not listening to music it muffles the noise. I do worry if its bad for my ears having these things in so far...but its better for my sanity!

I kid you not. Decided to splurge (over $300) on a super set of earphones for my ipod from Shure and hated them and sent them back. Then I tried these as a temporary solution and found them actually vastly superior in sound, aesthetics and discrete form. I simply love them. As a frequent traveller, I appreciate not hearing the usual yada yada on the airplane. Highly recommend them.

If you follow the instructions and make sure you squish up the foam cushion on the earphone before inserting it will expand to form a perfect fit to your ear canal. And since they fit into the ear canal itself you get dynamite bass from them as well. Without a doubt the most comforable and best sounding earbuds on the market.

I bought a 20 gig iPod about two years ago and use it mainly for commuting on busses/metro/walking/airplanes. I also do some jogging. I have tried at least five different headphones ranging from the original ear buds that came with my iPod (which wore out rather quickly) to Phillips, Sony, et cetera. I never spent more than $50 as I don't think headphones that I will abuse should cost any more than that, if that.

These are by far and away THE BEST I have bought.

Reasons I love them:

1. They don't have that silly behind-the-head-one-side-of-the-cord-three-times-as-long-as-the-other-getting-tangled-constantly-looking-stupid cords like so many earbuds do nowadays.

I like normal headphones. I don't need any tricks to how you wear them, thank you. I don't want to have to read instructions on how to put them on nor do I want to practice in the mirror until I get it right. These, mercifully, are normal headphones. If you have ever worn ear plugs (or not) you will have no trouble fitting them into you ears. Even if nature has decided that you, like me, are to be cursed with two completely different ears that are not completely identical down to the micrometer, these will still fit great and be so confortable and light as to not really know you are wearing them.

2. They stay in one place.

I have gotten great arm excercise in my constant re-adjustment of every d**n pair of headphones I have tried. With every step the sound changed because the headphones shifted. I walk around looking like someone trying to get a spiderweb off their head because I can never get consistent sound from headphones that won't stay where I put them. Not so with these. I put them in my head and they stay where I put them. No matter how much I run, or sweat, or fall down, or try unsuccessfully to do a cartwheel on the sidewalk for no apparent reason, they stay in and everything sounds great.

3. Great bass without feeling like I am listing to music with my head buried under a pillow or suddenly found myself underwater without noticing.

I have had my iPod's EQ set to Bass Booster for months because everything sounded tinny with earbuds, or Bass Reducer because with in ear phones everything sounded muffled. With these, I can set the EQ to rock (because I do, and that's the music that appeals to me) and the bass punches and pops, and the highs sting and are sharp, and the harmony, rare as it is, gives me goosebumps. I can hear everything.

One note: I did find that I get the best sound when the cord is pointed straight down, but it is good even if you are goofy and like the cord pointing towards your mouth or the top of your head (I actually tried this to see what it would look like to the other people on the metro).

4. They are cheap!!!

Ten bucks, people. You can't beat that. And these are far, and I mean FAR better than in-ear headphones I spent four times as much on.

If you don't like these headphones, I will swear off angry, high school metal for the next three or four days. I swear it. That's my guarantee. And I don't even know how to spell guarentee.

Love,

- P