KPH40 Utility On-Ear Headphones, Detachable Interchangeable Cord System, Retro Style, Ultra Lightweight Design (Stealth Black)

I wanted a lightweight & comfortable, affordable, yet great-sounding pair of on-hear headphones to sit at my desk (not travel) with. Fortunately, Koss came up in one of my many searches and I suddenly remembered my very first pair of headphones for my very first stereo back in the late 70's. They surprisingly blew away all the competition back then, even Pioneer, Panasonic and Sony headphones. Sounded like you were right in the concert hall! So I looked at all the latest offerings by Koss, and really appreciated the long review for this pair by the top reviewer 'Ender'—comparing different models of Koss & other headphones. (I don't have time to be an audiophile, I just want to enjoy my music collection in iTunes while sitting at the computer). I immediately ordered these headphones. I knew I would also want to extend the cable, but waited until after they arrived to see the size and types of plugs they were fitted with. (The Q&A for this product in regard to that was too technical & confusing to follow.) These headphone did not disappoint! They have that great Koss sound, with a comfortable lightweight band on my head, which gratefully doesn't get snagged in my thick curly hair. Don't let the appearance of the thin foam earpads fool you— they are comfy, secured well and transmit the audio clearly. (UPDATE: I had initially tried adding a pair of Yaxi pads as suggested by another helpful reviewer, but those would not stay on, and were so thick the sound was being muffled. Stick with the OEM earpads!) Next up was to find a longer extension cable that fit. Curious that Koss doesn't offer anything—even on their website. I first noted that the tip that plugs into the cable that is permanently attached to the headphones is 2.5mm (male) and the other plug that goes into your computer, music device, etc. is 3.5mm (thicker plug), also male. Then I had to learn the difference between TRRS (3 black rings on the tip of the plug) and TRS (2 black rings). So the search was on for a quality extension cable with a 2.5mm male TRRS plug and a 3.5mm male TRS plug—which is exactly what these headphones require. I found only one such cable on Amazon—ASIN: B08MX53T1T and took a chance despite the ridiculous product name. Turns out it is of solid build and does not diminish the sound quality of these Koss headphones. Total length of combined straight & coiled cord is 51 inches, not stretched. Minimal upgrade costs and these headphones are customized for my comfort & listening pleasure! I recommend all of these parts, but probably not as a mobile on-the-go setup—I'm not sure the headphones would hold up to that, they seem too fragile for traveling with. (The extension cable would certainly hold up, though.) Enjoy, and I hope this helped!

These are Gods headphones. You won't find more amazing sound for the money than with any of the KOSS titanium driver headphones like these! Had these for a year now. They have the same exact drivers as the KTXPro1 and other Koss titanium headphones but the durable and lightweight metal headband is stronger and comfy. Feels almost like your not even wearing headphones. Because the speaker pivots in the center they perfectly angle themselves to fit your ears unlike the KTXPro1 or PortaPro. The cord can be swapped and upgraded to a USB-C version with a built in high res DAC that really improves the already amazing sound when connected to your smartphone or PC. They also now make a bluetooth upgrade module for these! The original cord was damaged when I got it caught on a door knob one day and kept walking. KOSS shipped me a new one within 5 days no questions asked. The USB-C utility cable got snagged at the gym after having it almost a year and again to my surprise KOSS replaced this much more expensive upgrade cable no questions asked and mailed it to me in just a few days. Koss provides their famous Lifetime warranty on these and will replace them with no hassle. I have used the warranty in the past on a pair of KTXPro1 headphones that were 7 years old and they actually honored the warranty. There are also awesome customization accessories available for these online. Besides the USC-C and Bluetooth upgrades I mentioned Koss also sells many different color earpads. Aftermarket companies make speaker housing replacements in many colors, speaker mod and cable upgrade kits from Hundo and even replacement metal headbands on some sites are available in both black and stainless steel. There is even a Koss modding community on Reddit.

The Koss KPH40 headphones are really good for what they are — a lightweight, budget headphone. If you ended up here after watching a glowing review by a tech influencer stating that these compete with $200 cans, you will probably be disappointed. They just don't, especially if you appreciate strong bass. Detail in the mids and highs are outstanding; no notes. Crisp, sparkly, but not fatiguing. The low end lacks any 'oomph.' I suppose that is mostly to do with how open they are. There is none of the sound pressure you feel from over-the-ear sets. If you try to force them with EQ, you get a ton of distortion. Their comfort is amazing. That is what you get in the trade for the bass, and I think the compromise is a fair one in the right usage case. I forget that I'm wearing these. They're a dream. Getting them adjusted properly is a bit fidgety, but it can be done. They're so light, the clamp force is just right, and the ear pads are soft & breathable. No noise cancellation to speak of; you will be very aware of your surroundings. Whether that is a positive or negative is up to you. Avoid using at high volumes in quiet public places, sound bleeding is significant; don't be *that* person. These are great for casual listening. Teleconferencing. I think they would be amazing for gaming. I have headphones that sound better for not a lot more money, but they're big, hot, and uncomfortable. I reach for the Koss KPH40 far more often. They are not "the best headphones under $200!!!!," but they may be the best for you during most points of the day.

TLDR: How does a product at such a low price point sound THIS good?!?! Quality: These, out of the box, look like $5 headphones from the early 2000's. But do not let looks decieve you. They are the best value in hifi. The build is reassuringly solid with the Teflon coated steel headband and the linguine cable. No complaints at the price at all. Comfort: Out of the box, they are a bit tight on my ears, but with a bit of bending of the headband they fit just fine. I would highly recommend modifying these with a few things I will mention later. Stock they are comfortable enough and I'd say you could wear them for an hour or two. Sound: Out of the box, the sound is very good. To the point that I was more surprised than I expected to be, even after reading many reviews. They have this open characteristic and sound depth that you don't expect from something that looks like this. If I were to describe the stock sound I'd say, slightly warm with a bit of bass bloat and a bit of sibalance. Great for the price for sure. Modified Sound: Now let's talk about replacing the earpads. Get Yaxi pads... just do it... I've switched back to stock a couple times to test. But man, do they really MAKE these headphones. They lose a little bit of the low-end and a bit of the highs. But the overall sound is worth it. What you get is a warm sound that you can listen to for hours without fatigue. I reach for these any time I want to just lay back and listen. Both male and female vocals just sound right with these pads. If you like electronic music, you may be missing something, but for pretty much anything else, you'll love these with Yaxi pads. Modifications: If you're like me, you'll love these for the ability to tinker. I've added a Hundo headband and I'm considering replacing the cable with a balanced mmcx one as well. There is such an aftermarket for these that you will never get bored. The headband makes them even more comfortable. I am also really considering building another set with KSC75 drivers to see what the extra treble does (I'm a beyerdynamic fan so I'm not afraid of the extra brightness). Overall: If you just want a good headphone, get these. If you like to tinker, get these. If you have $1k+ headphones, get these. JUST GET THESE! I cannot stress enough how much I like these headphones and how much they punch above their price. And if you like the sound, get into modding them. Yaxi pads will make these into something you'll reach for over WAY more expensive sets, trust me...

Very light and breathable. Sounds great with all genres of music. You can wear them and still hear your surroundings very well. This was the closest thing I could find to the sennheiser px100s I was trying to replace. I tried various “audiophile” headphones and they are normally cumbersome and a bit bland. I even prefer these over the Philips fidelity x2hr because they are way more comfortable and the sound is equally enjoyable. I like to just listen to music, and I found that the monitor headphones could have a distracting level of detail or not enough bass response. You will see so many people sing high praise for headphones in the $300 plus range, but the sound difference for music consumers is minimal and I found that the diminishing returns for money spent on headphones sort of gets silly when you compare these to the more expensive alternatives. I also don’t want to bother with an amp so these are great for just plugging into anything. I like them better than the porta pros because they are engineered better in the ergonomics department. The porta pros would clamp and yank my hair out and the ear rests adjustments were a joke as they never stay at the same setting. Both have great sound. The main negative to these types of koss headphones is that the cords are not durable and they can break easily at the driver area. I’ll just have to be careful. To me these kph40s look kind of boring like something you would be given for free on an airplane. I understand that these were made for utility so that is to be expected. Still 5 stars because they are so cheap you can just buy a new pair every couple of years. I see people putting big ear pads on to modify them, but I can wear these for many hours with no discomfort and no modifications. If koss made a more durable version of this with a cord that detaches from the driver with a standard 3.5 mm cord, and fun color options then I think they could double the price and still have zero competition. Nothing is perfect but for the money this is a no brainer. I think the cord accessories are overpriced because you can just buy adaptors if you want to plug into a lightning port or usb c for a fraction of the cost.

I was not expecting much from $37 headphones. WOW, these are shockingly good!! I have many different types/styles of headphones but wanted a simple vintage style on-ear pair to experiment with. Now I find myself reaching for them over my high end cans. They are just so well balanced, crispy and comfortable. Great job Koss! Thanks for keeping them affordable. Just ordered the Porta Pros to try as well!

So... I wanted a decent set of modern on-ear headpones with a retro style to use with some vintage Walkmans I have. The reviews gush over these KPH40s. They use all the catch words and emotional descriptors. A few do mention that they are a little bass heavy (hey, I like bass!) and that the highs are a touch "recessed". Well, let me tell you exactly what these sound like. They sound like a cassette tape recorded without any Dolby played through an early 90s Walkman with Megabass on "mid" and the Dolby B switch turned on. That's it in a nutshell. For people who have no frame of reference with that (very understandable), they have decent bass but there is a WIDE Q hump around 100 hz. The mids are alright but the treble region is something of a mess and dull. That 100 hz "bass" boost is a deal killer for me. It's nasty and overshadows the decent bit of lower bass (50 hz or so) that these are capable of. So, for use with my cell phone, running poweramp EQ with a simple parametric correction reducing the 100 hz swell and adding some upper mids and a treble shelf... I actually rather like these. BUT, I did not buy these to use with my cell phone so let's try with a few pieces of vintage portable audio... The very first thing I tried was an old Discman D-11 from ( I think 1991). I picked this because it is brutally precise. It has an old-school DAC with a brick wall filter. The bits come out as they were written, no messing about with oversampling or smoothing. Immediately I knew I was not going to like these a ton. Everything I mentioned in the previous paragraph was obvious to me. That nasty mid-bass boost just jumps out at you and never gets out of the way. Anyhow, I also tried a WM2, WM-F18/f28 and a WM-F2085 from 1990. First off, let me warn you if you try the same... NEVER turn on Megabass! Ugh. So anyhow, I will say that out of all of them, the WM-F18 actually was able to sound somewhat alright due to its old 3 band EQ. The low band is mid bass so I pulled that back a little and pushed the high band. With this setup... I didn't hate these headphones. So there is that. I guess I have a single decent vintage-style setup now. Oh, to really let it sink in, overall, I actually preferred listening with a pair of old Sony MDR-023 headphones. These were their cheap $5 headphones that they threw in with low end walkmans back then. Yeah... those were better overall to me. That's bad. Anyhow, you can find professionally done frequency response graphs for these headphones out there which I found after my initial listening test and they 100% back up what I heard. It's real. These are flawed. Take the gushing hype reviews with a grain of salt. Oh and don't fall for any of the "Oh man, just replace the pad with xxxxxxxx, it totally fixes the problems" talk. The amount the pads influence the sound is very small. I did go with the orange for the look. The sound is still a mid-bass mess.

These won my budget headphone shoot-out! I highly recommend you buy them. A very detailed review is below. I recommend yaxi pads for these, but its not really necessary. They are quite comfy on their own. I also modded it with a silicone comfort band from my KPH30i's. These are now my favorite sounding and feeling headphones. Good job Koss! --- MY HUNT FOR THE BEST BUDGET HEAPHONES: (I use my headphones for 80's Rock, 90's Alternative, Oldies, Classical, and plenty of TV and Movies) - SHORT VERSION...BUY THE KOSS KPH40'S AND SOME YAXI PADS! LONG VERSION... FIRST I HAD THE PX-100-i's for like 10 years. Loved them, but the connector broke a few years back. THEN I got the PX-100-ii's. I didn't like it as much as the first iteration. Way too much Bass! And the bass bled like crazy. They sounded super muddy. But everything else sounded like my old px-100's. Then a few months ago, THOSE broke at the connector (I'm nice to my headphones, they get plugged into my computer and stay there, there's really no reason for those connectors to go faulty, just bad manufacturing). Then I found out that Sennheiser was no longer making ANY PX-100's anymore, so I had some research to do... NEXT WERE THE KOSS PORTAPROS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00001P4ZH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 - The sound is 'soft' for the mids and uppers, and a slightly boomy bass. Very easy-listening. The bass was a little too boomy for my taste, but it wasn't bad. The high's weren't sibilant, which I loved. I missed some clarity from my px-100's, but it was worth it. What I didn't like about it was that the bass bled into the mids, which made some things sound weird. Still, I liked them better than my original sennheiser PX-100-i's which is saying something. The PX-100-i's have highs that are harsh on my ears, too much sibilance. The Bass on the PX-100-i's can be a little to boomy also, but no bleeding. It had an accurate, clear sound I loved. But overall I considered the Portapro's a nice upgrade. For those of you who have trouble with it pulling your hair, my remedy was to wrap painters tape (blue to match the highlights on the headphones) around the middle section of the headband. It also keeps the headband the perfect length so I didn't have to constantly adjust it every time I took it off. This DOES make it less portable for pocket carry, but I never used that anyway. The temple pads were giving me migraines so I ripped them off. Then I replaced the foam earpads with the YAXI ones. Now they feel great! KOSS KPH30i https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075FBRYM1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 - I didn't like the bleeding bass of the Portapro's, so I kept hunting. I tried the Koss KPH30i's next. VERY nice. I consider them better than the Portapro's. Slightly more clarity in the highs and the bass didn't bleed. The high's were only a little more powerful than the Portapro's, pretty much had the same 'soft' sound quality I liked in the Portapro's. The bass was a little underwhelming. I could tell where the bass was meant to be, which was nice, but it wasn't boomy at all. Like HEARING the bass, but not FEELING it. At first I really appreciated that, especially for classical, but after a few days I kind of missed the bass punch of the Portapro's. The biggest problem with the KPH30i's were they were uncomfortable! The earpads are huge and they press on my ears hard. Its not just the compression strength causing it, its the flat earcups that press against the entire ear. I could only wear it for 10 min before taking them off. So I tried the Grado Ear Pad mod, put it around the earcups and it was MUCH better. Warning, do NOT remove the original foam of the headphones. They tear and you cant get them back on. I made that mistake and now my KPH30i's high's hurt my ears because there is nothing between my ear and the driver. I wished I would have kept the original foam on, and THEN put the Grado pads over them. Instead I had to use the paper towel mod and now the high's don't hurt my ears. The hole in the pad still make a tunnel effect and I feel like that creates a pressure chamber that hurts my ears over time. I DO love the silicone resting band on this set. With that and the Grado pads, these became a lot more comfy, but I still would have to take them off after a couple hours, from my ears over-heating and the firm pressure on the ears. That combined with the lack of bass punch, I decided to keep looking. KOSS KPH40 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KZC94X1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - I had heard that the KPH40 was the sound 'sweet spot' between Portapro's and KPH30i's, and they were right! These are currently my favorite headphones, even more than my less-than-budget-friendly Sennheiser HD599's (see below). The KPH40's are my Goldilocks Headphones. The KPH40's sound profile are a LITTLE more V-shape than the Portapro's and the KPH30i's. A little more bass than the KPH30i's and a little more high's than the Portapro's. Perfect. The bass is just right, and very accurate. The mids are there, but not overpowering. The high's are clear but still have that 'soft', 'easy-listening' sound I enjoy from the Koss drivers. Honestly I don't think a lot of people will hear a difference between the 3 Koss headphones I tried, its very subtle. They all have the same basic sound. But the differences were enough for me to recommend the KPH40's over the others. The koss headphones I tried aren't as clear and accurate as my HD599's but I enjoy listening to music on them more. It's just more laid back while still being clear and accurate enough. It has a pleasant 'cloudiness' to the whole sound image. I think some people call this 'veiled'. That's a good description. It's just not as harsh on the ears, I could listen to them all day without pain or fatigue. I put the YAXI pads I bought for my Portapro's on them and they fit fine. Super comfy. It didn't really need it because Koss learned from the KPH30i's mistake and made these earcups small. They sit right on the ear where it needs to and it doesnt hurt. The headband is also metal instead of plastic, so you can adjust it to exactly the clamping force and shape that you want. At first, I found the metal headband too skinny, it felt like it was cutting into my scalp. It wasn't, It just felt that way. So I actually took the silicone band I loved from the KPH30i's and taped it to the inside of the metal head band. LOL, I'm not fancy. I bet you could tape some rolled up paper towel to the inside and get a similarly comfy effect. This mimics the all day comfort I always got from my PX-100's. I think any future iteration's should still keep the metal band, but maybe include the silicone comfort band from the KPH30i's, don't touch the drivers or earcups, they are great. I LOVE the ribbon style cable that doesn't tangle. I don't really need the "utility series" connector, especially when the utlity cables cost $45, so if removing that makes these headphones $30 instead of $40, please do so and make these headphones an even more ridiculous bargain! SENNHEISER HD599 https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-599-Open-Headphone/dp/B01L1IICR2?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 - At $150, I almost didn't want to mention these as budget headphones, but for those looking to become Audiophiles, I think they are the cheapest Audiophile-quality option. Some recommend the Grado SR60's or SR80's, but I don't. They have zero bass, ear canal piercing highs, and are VERY uncomfortable to wear. The earcups are flat, high compression, and unyielding. I couldn't wear them for more than 3 minutes. The sound profile of those Grado's might be good for monitoring high's and mids, but not bass, so what's the point of them? Vocals and violins only? No thanks. The HD599's, on the other hand, have a very neutral profile with a SLIGHTLY elevated bass, perfect for monitoring, IMO. The bass is present, a little punchy, but not muddy or boomy at all. While the headphones were comfy on my ears, I found that it created weird air pressure differences in my ear canal. This became very fatiguing after an hour, even at the lowest possible volume to hear the music. Probably because of the bigger, more powerful drivers. I think they started to damage my ears. After a few weeks I couldnt wear them for more than 10 minutes without my ears hurting again. The only time any budget Koss driver did that was when I had the tunnel effect going on with the Grado Cushion Mod, and even then it was at a much lesser degree. --- A NOTE ON AUDIOPHILIA... - But mostly I just recommend people don't become Audiophiles. It sucks. What a music-lover like me didn't understand was that Audiophiles don't listen to music, they monitor it. They don't absorb the entire composition, they nit-pick specific parts of it. This robs the listener of any enjoyment of the music. It kind of bother's me that they have stolen the title of "Audiophile". I think that belongs to music-lovers and music-makers. What we call "Audiophilia" should actually be called "Audiomonitoring". Calling it Audiophilia compels music-lovers like me to spend massive amounts of money on "better" headphones and audio setups to rob of us of any listening enjoyment we previously had with our $40 budget headphones, and rob our wallet while they are at it. I don't mean to insult or begrudge Audiophiles for a hobby they enjoy, I just don't like it when they are propped up as experts of the best sounding equipment. They aren't. They are experts for the best MONITORING equipment for sound engineers. If you enjoy music, I recommend you get a "consumer" headphone. I recommend you get the Koss KPH40. I like my KPH40's the best for listening to Music, TV, and Movies. Even over my Sennheiser HD599's. Its true that the HD599's have better clarity, but I enjoy music more with my KPH40's because I'm not hearing harshness or noises that the sound engineers never meant people to hear. Sometimes I felt like I was hearing TOO MUCH accuracy on the HD599's, like things the orchestra didn't want us to hear. I couldn't ENJOY my music because I was MONITORING it too much. I heard too much noise, not enough music. And I didn't have a CHOICE to enjoy the music, I HAD to monitor it. Audiophiles are nit-picky sound analysts, so take their hard-earned advice with that in mind. OK, A short message on Amp/DAC's. Don't bother. I have a Dragonfly Cobalt Amp/DAC. It costs $330. While it DOES make all my headphones sound better, it's practically negligable. MAYBE a 3-5% improvement in sound. Not really worth spending any kind of money on. The DAC on my computer is fine, same with my iphone. Especially with the Koss budget headphones. It's recommended that you have an amp for heaphones that have an impedance of 50 ohms or higher. If its higher than 50 ohms you might want an amp just so the drivers are poperly driven, or it will sound real quiet. But test it first at full volume, you might not need it. If you do, there are Amp/DAC's in the $60 range that should do just fine. You definately don't need it with the KPH40's. So unless you can get it for free like I did (VERY nice friend), then I wouldn't bother with it. What about special cables? Not needed with the KPH40's alone. I had trouble with distortion running headphones from my amp using a cheap amazon 3.5mm extension cable, so I just got a USB extension cable instead and ran the headphones driectly from the amp. Problem solved. If your still having problems with distortion, there's guides online on how to make quality cables on the cheap. But you shouldn't need them. Please don't spend more than $20, the cost-to-sound improvement ratio is the worst here. OK, rant against the heaphone consumer industry over...and thank heaven for Koss! --- THE BOTTOM LINE - So for normal people (99.9% of the population), I recommend you forget the expensive monitor stuff and get the KPH-40's for the $40. :D Other than the modifications I mentioned, you can also use the Kramer Mod to further fine tune the sound profile, but I don't think it's necessary with the KPH40's. Guides for the Kramer Mod can be found online. LINKS TO STUFF I MENTIONED - Here's the YAXI pads I used on the Portapro's and the KPH40's https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQVHX84/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1 Here's the Grado Pads I used on the KPH30i's https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TGCDHL2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Here's some painters tape for the Portapro's. It doesn't leave residue if you change your mind later, and it matches the blue in the headphones nicely! :D https://www.amazon.com/Duck-Painters-1-5-Inch-1-41-Inch-240194/dp/B0025KUSW8?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 A cheaper $7 3.5mm-to-lightning adapter so you don't have to buy the $45 one from Koss, (COUGH!) https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Lightning-Headphone-Jack-Adapter/dp/B01LXJFMGF?ref_=ast_sto_dp A popular budget Amp/DAC you don't need. https://www.amazon.com/Fosi-Audio-Headphone-Digital-Analog/dp/B07VDQQY95?ref_=ast_sto_dp If you made it to the end, thanks for listening, and enjoy those heaphones! **UPDATE 8/9/2023 I have to add a note here. Since this review I have noticed that the Koss KPH40 headphones do tend to "bloom" in the upper-mid Bass range. What does that mean? There is a mildly loud reverberation when the Bass hits a certain frequency, and ONLY that frequency. As the sound gets lower the bloom goes away. For this reason I have gone back to my repaired Sennheiser PX-100 (originals) as my main headphone. But I still love these headphones!