Koss Porta Pro Wireless review: a classic mistake

The phrase ?timeless technology is an oxymoron. Even the humble wheel is constantly undergoing change and iteration from tire companies. And yet, for one pair of inimitable headphones, time really seems to have stood still for the past 34 years. Koss on-ear Porta Pro headphones were launched in 1984, before I was even born, and theyve remained unchanged ever since. In that time, weve witnessed the rise and fall of the cassette tape Walkman, the portable CD player, MiniDisc players, MP3 players with and without hard drives, and smartphones with headphone jacks. But the latest era of personal audio is cutting the cord to the past, which has led Koss to introduce the $79.99 Porta Pro Wireless.

Ive had a pair of the new wireless Porta Pros for the past couple of weeks, and the quickest way I can summarize them is to say that theyre fundamentally the exact same Porta Pros above the wire. Thats mostly a good thing, though it does make the addition of a Bluetooth connection look and feel like an afterthought thats been tacked on.



Firstly, its worth revisiting why the Koss Porta Pro are such an iconic and enduring pair of headphones. Their design looks frightfully unimpressive even by 1998 standards, never mind our elevated 2018 expectations. There are no high-end extras like leather pads, memory foam, or chamfered aluminum edges. The Porta Pros are made of spartan plastic, bridged by a thin extendable metal band, and topped off with small foam pads. This parsimoniousness with materials leads directly to two of the Porta Pros biggest strengths: one is that theyre super cheap (typically retailing around $40), and the other, more important one, is that their minimal weight leads to faultless comfort for even the longest of listening sessions. Granted, the Porta Pro Wireless is a more expensive pair, but its comfort is every bit as good as the original wired variant.