Customer Reviews

Koss QZ-99 Noise Reduction Stereophone

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

These headphones are basically a pair of noise blocking earmuffs with speakers inside.

These are NOT light, NOT small and not the most comfortable.

BUT they are the absolute best noise blocking headphones I have ever used. They are Noise blockers first, headphones second.

I use mine to listen to music while I mow my lawn, I also wear them during target practice. I would not use them for travelling or in the office but thats ok.

Every one who mows their own lawn, works in a machine shop, or works around very loud areas should own a pair of these. Protect your hearing and listen to music at the same time.

The Koss QZ-99 is a very nice product, for certain things. I would never recommend this type of product, without knowing the context. I use it for listening to books on tape, on the street or in a gym, on an old portable tape player. Since I am just listening to narration, I care much more about outside sound being blocked out than I care about sound quality. If you use Bose headphones in this context, you are going to get much better sound, but that is a drawback: you will hear the crackles and rattles and pops on the your 8 year old Walkman and the 5 year old library book-on-tape. Noise reducing headphones can be too good. If I were listening to classical music on a CD player, in an airplane, a higher quality, and/or active noise reducing product would be better. But for my situation the Koss is very nice. I did not realize, until recently, that I could swivel the ear pads as well a lengthen and shorten the band between the pads. It works very well.

I used them daily for two weeks before one ear started shorting out, that ear completely went blank after four weeks. They sure did work great those first 10 days or so.

They look tough but I doubt they could handle a weekend at NASCAR, for which I bought them for. I was using them for music and radio when they shorted out on me.

However, the warranty on them says "Lifetime, No Questions Asked!" ...So I will check that out, send them in, and see what happens. If Koss can get them back to me in a quick turnaround, I'll knock my rating back up to a 3.

BW

I sent them in to the company and got an extremely quick turn-around, back and working good. Next test - NASCAR.

B.

Overall I enjoy these headphones. I love the way the look and feel, the weight of them and the comfort factor. I have only a few complaints. 1: they are not as sound proof as I was hoping they would be. Random noises still manage to creep in and disturb the your listening. 2: Although they don't hurt at all to wear for long periods of time, if by chance, someone knocks on the ear piece you're in for a world of hurt my friend. 3: I bought a [less expensive] pair of headphones for [a few] dollars and noticed the bass and treble are slightly better than in the KOSS pair. At times I wondered if too much bass would blow them out or if they were really designed for music at all.

I'm not saying KOSS isn't a great headphone maker, but if your looking for something soundproof avoid these headphones. If your looking to block out ambient noise and the majority of sounds then these are definitely yours all the way. Very comfortable and well made, KOSS is an amazing company I was looking for total soundproof protection though. In the end I kept them and still use them for my music. I very much enjoyed this product and highly recommend it to anyone out there.

I bought the Koss QZ-99 Noise Reduction Headphones. All I can say, is that they are rad! They work just as well as normal earmuffs, maybe just a little worse, but the noise reduction is SUPER!!! (F.Y.I - there are no headphones/earmuffs/ANYTHING out there on the market that blocks out EVERYTHING.) These are the best noise reduction headphones I've ever used. The sound quality is nice and they are comfortable to wear.

The reason I knocked it down to a 4 star is because they are fairly large (I don't know actually how durable they are, didn't want to test) and I'm an eight grade student. So with all the jumbling around and crazy kids on the bus and a school that like to hit backpacks and/or steal your headphones while your listening to a good tune...well what I'm trying to say is, they don't really fit in a SAFE place in my backpack (I can put them in, but they might get squashed --- my backpack's crowded)

GET THESE HEADPHONES!!!!!! GREAT NOISE REDUCTION!!!!!! GREAT SOUND!!!! GREAT PRICE!!!!

I live in the city next to a bridge and wanted headphones to block out the noise of tractor trailers and trains crossing the bridge. I tried some active noise canceling headphones, but soon found that they're really best for blocking out droning noise like being on an airplane.

So I found these and thought they'd be perfect for my needs. They definitely block random noises better than anything else I've tried, but the sound quality is tinny bordering on harsh. As others have stated, they're heavy, but I was expecting that. But the sound quality is so lacking in bass and even in the mids, that they're tiring to my ears. Playing with the eq helps make them less harsh, but also removes detail from the music. I also bought Panasonic's RP-HTX7PP because they got such good reviews and seemed like they might be passable for blocking noise.

After using them both, I'm returning the Koss's. The Koss' noise better than the Panasonics with no music on, but once you play music through both the richer sound of the Panasonic's make them almost the equal of the Koss's.

These headphones are used for people in noisy jobs that communicate via radio, ie. the ground people at the airport. So it might be that these headphones are optimized for voice communication, which makes them terrible for music.

I'm a drummer and have been involved with music - in some form or fashion - for more than 40 years. One of my current gigs involves playing a drumset enclosed within a sound booth. Isolation headphones are an absolute necessity in this setting. My old headphones were well worn and I did do a good bit of research for a replacement pair. Most "pro" studio headphones are $150+ and I didn't want to drop that much for them. When I saw the Koss QZ-99's, read the reviews (most of which were good), and saw the price (forty bucks even - shipped - on Ebay)- I decided to give them a try. Well, they are rather suitable for my purposes - they do a fair job cutting the background noise - are decently constructed with metal supports rather than the soon-broken plastic used on most of today's headphones - and will probably hold up well. They fit snuggly - perhaps just a bit too snuggly - but, again, that is desirable for my purposes. I don't want them flying off while I'm playing. So - they do fill a need for me - and relatively inexpensively compared to most other options.

Now for the bad news - the sound quality from these headphones is mediocre at best and they can be uncomfortable to wear. Bass response is very poor - and if you try to accentuate the bass, you'll get an annoying rattle in both earpieces. Since the sound elements can't keep up, I really don't believe they would hold up long with boosted-bass settings. The treble also seems just a bit clipped... I'd characterize the sound as slightly "muddy" in general. These are by no means "audiophile" quality headphones - I've had inexpensive headphones from discount stores that could easily match - and, in some cases, exceed - the sound quality of the Koss QZ-99's. Almost all but the smallest heads out there will probably find them too tight (and a bit too heavy) for prolonged wearing without discomfort. As the Amazon description states - these might be "ideal for use with racing scanners and metal detectors" - but they are by no means for the casual and comfortable listening of music.

One thing that seriously disturbs me reading some of the other reviews here is how often these are promoted for use when using power tools and equipment. By no means should you be listening to music - or other audio sources - while operating chainsaws, mowers, power saws, etc. Doing such is simply beyond stupid and can be quite dangerous to you - and to those around you. Certainly you should make every effort to protect your hearing with passive (non-speaker) headphones or earplugs when exposed to loud equipment - but you certainly don't need your attention distracted by music.

So - I'm relatively satisfied with these for my intended purposes (studio isolation) and they would likely be a tolerable match for metal detectors and even for scanners on race day. However - if you buy them solely to listen to music and expect to have a pleasant and comfortable experience - you're very likely to be very, very disappointed..... and if you plan to use them while operating potentially-dangerous power equipment - you are a complete moron....

When I was first looking for headphones, I was running through all the ways I could block out the insanely loud (and incredibly distasteful) music that my dorm roommate was playing at all hours of the day. My first venture was through BOSE's collection of noise-cancelling headphones, which easily ran over several hundred dollars. Being a college student, I didn't have much money to spare, and I opted for the Koss QZ-99, which was only $41 off Amazon--and included free shipping for Amazon Prime customers.

So far, the sound quality is only mediocre at best--the bass is almost nonexistent, but the sound comes in with very little disruption from the outside. The headphones are big, bulky, somewhat heavy, and *very* tight on the ears, especially for big-headed people like me. The headphones are decently comfortable because they fit snugly around the ear, rather than sitting on top of the ear and squishing all of your ear parts. There is a Mono/Stereo switch about halfway down the headphone wire, which can be somewhat inconvenient if you have to squeeze the wire through a very tight spot, but the ability to switch between the two is helpful for those who like to fiddle with their sound functions. In addition, there's a sound knob on the left side, but it's unmarked, so sometimes you may forget that your sound isn't turned all the way up. Although it looks like the headphone jack is extremely short in the display picture, you can actually stretch that up to about 20 feet, if the thing you're plugging the wire into is stable enough. However, the part that I was most excited about--the noise reduction--disappointed me the most. I guess I should have expected less-than-great quality for sound blocking, since I *did* pay only $41 for these, but they block about the same amount of sound as if I cupped my hands over my ears. Sound from conversations still manage to creep into the headphones, and unfortunately, it barely even drowned out my roommate's loud music at all.

However, for quieter, ambient noises, this product blocks them all out. The past week my roommate was working on a paper--without music--and he complained to me that I was typing on my keyboard too loudly (the sounds of which were drowned out completely by these headphones).

Also, some people have complained that the thin metal is sharp enough to cut your hand with. This is completely false. While it does have flat and not rounded edges, I think it's easier to cut your hand on paper than it is to cut it on the metal on this product.

Bottom line--a mediocre product with little noise reduction capability. It might be better to shell out a few more dollars for a higher quality product.

These cut out most of the annoying noise of the lawn mower and I can listen to music. The earphones are comfortable over 45 min. They tend to be tight around the ears, but you can loosen the tension somewhat. I have sound reducing earphones that are better for the airplane, but not useful with the lawn mower.

What they got right: reasonably well made, decent acoustic isolation

What they got wrong: unacceptable sound quality

As other reviews have pointed out, the headphones are terrible. You get better sound quality out of the headphones they hand out for free on airlines. Horrible bass distortion at even moderate volume. Not just on pop music, but also on spoken word and acoustic music.

I'm not being fussy here. I'm a contractor and wanted something to protect my ears in a frequently noisy working environment. I don't need audiophile sound quality, but these are unusable.