Koss SB40 Computer Headset with Microphone

Other products by Koss

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.2 x 4.5 inches ; 1.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005ML7T
• Item model number: SB40
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #12 in	Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Game Hardware > Microphones, Earphones & Headsets
  #50 in	Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Computer Accessories > Headsets & Microphones

• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 16, 2001

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description
Enjoy quality sound and hands-free talking at your computer with the SB40 computer headset from Koss. The closed-ear headphone, or stereophone, as Koss calls it, blocks sounds from within the earcups and without, maximizing privacy and intelligibility. The boom microphone offers a pickup pattern that rejects off-axis sound, so the parties on the receiving end of your calls will hear your voice and little else from your mic. Smooth leatherette cushions and the headband's adjustable, cloth sling and provide comfort during extended use, while the headset's straight, 9-foot cord grants ease of movement at a good-sized radius from your work station.

What's in the Box
Headphones, data sheet.

Product Description
Koss Corporation is known worldwide for its high-fidelity stereophones and headphones with boom microphones and audio accessories. The SB 40 stereophone features a dynamic microphone for hands-free communication from your personal computer. The dynamic microphone offers optimized pick up pattern and the closed leatherette ear cushions - maximum isolation and deep bass.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good performance at a reasonable price, November 21, 2001

By A Customer

The SB40's over-ear cushions fit well, and are comfortable over eyeglasses. The mic adjusts easily and stays put. The wide strap headband is separate from what appear to be a pair of spring steel headband wires, giving a precise positioning of the earpieces without sitting on the tops of your ears or cutting into the top of your head. The 8' cord gives surprisingly greater freedom than the 5' that usually comes with the El Cheapos.

Acoustically, the phones have good sensitivity, able to achieve ear-splitting volume levels from my SB Live before noticeable distortion. Particularly noticeable is the very clean, honest bass which should make both gamers and amateur musicians happy.

On the downside, the SB40's split "cowboy hat" cord gets twisted easily, quickly snugging up around your chin. The clothespin headband adjusters are a little hard to set precisely but when you do get them set, they stay put. The mic is a little less sensitive than some, needing to be positioned right next to the mouth to get good volume from non-boomy voices.

All in all, the SB40 appears to be well-built, and offers a good balance of comfort and performance for both multimedia and communications at a reasonable price.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great sound, mediocre microphone, September 23, 2002

By	S. T. Harwood "DynaGlide" (Owosso, MI United States of America) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...This is exactly what I was looking for in a gaming headset. It has the big stereo headphone type earpieces, and a mic to boot. I steered away from the Plantronics headsets only because of the small earpieces that push on your ears. If you play games for as long as I do, it doesn't matter how soft the earpieces are... if they rest on the cartilidge of your ear, you're going to get uncomfortable. These Koss SB-40 headphones rest around your ears creating an all day comfortable feel. They isolate outside sound better than any other headset I've used, and they have far superior sound to any *computer headset* I've used.

The only drawback is this. They are about as good as you come on sound for computer headsets, but the microphone leaves plenty to be desired. While the mic isn't horrible, it definitely doesn't perform as well as the higher end Plantronics headsets. The sound that is produced is exceptionally tinny, or muddy... much like a poor quality MP3 file. Not that you can't understand what is being said... it's just not as crystal clear as some headsets. The microphone is plenty sensitive, and is still better than the mic on a (lower priced) headset.

All in all for the price, this is an awesome headset. You can play games all day long without discomfort to your ears. In game chat is made easy. I would recommend this headset over the Plantronics line anyday, just for the sheer comfort it provides. I wish I could rate it 4.5 stars, because it warrants more than 4, but not quite 5.

If you're looking for the best sound and rarely have need for a microphone stick with stereo headphones and a table top mic. Sennheiser makes the best. Even their worst is better that most companies best. Good luck, see you in CS, or in BF1942. {NOC}DynaGlide.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice but, December 18, 2003

By	Samuel A. Reed Jr. (Moreno Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Good clean loud if necessary sound but the headband is somewhat difficult to adjust plus the major flaw is the microphone. The mic doesn't seem to be amplified at all, low quality, whatever I had to adjust the Mic input to the max in XP to get it to pickup anything. Also I took apart the mic as well, the design is somewhat off, foam covering glued on one side, the other side had a removable foam filter covering the mic. The problem I notice was the foam was compressing the mic preventing it from picking up sound very well. I left the foam piece out. & after putting it back together the mic performance was fine. But be aware the mic signal seems to be pretty low. I tried running the mic through a Belkin KVM with nothing but static being picked up. With the mic hooked directly to the sound card along with the modifications it worked ok.