rfman's Full Review: Koss The Plug Earbuds Consumer Headphones
When I bought my PocketPC PDA, I started using it to play MP3 and WMA and needed to get some portable headphones that I could use when walking on campus or at work. I tried a few different models that my friends had, and I decided to get the Koss “The Plug” headphones because their concept made a lot of sense to me.
What these headphones are is really an earplug onto which a headphone element is attached. Sound is heard through a hole in the earplug into which a tube part of the headphone piece is inserted. (If this is getting as confusing to you as it sounds, look at the picture, it should become clear.)
The concept really makes sense: the earplugs do a great job as blocking out outside noise. It feels kind of weird to be walking down the street and all you hear is music. No cars, no horns, no sirens. Just music. On the same line of thought, I’d also discourage bicyclists from using these, for obvious reasons.
Also, the fact of having the actual headphone element projecting inside the ear canal means that there is very little air to displace for you to hear the music. This is how these headphones achieve such good bass response. It also means that these headphones will appear to play louder that other headphones at the same volume level on the source.
So how does it actually work out in reality? Well, while the concept is great, the implementation could have been better.
For one thing, The “Plug” headphones that I bought here in Canada didn’t come with a case, which makes it a real pain to carry the headphones around. No matter how you store them, the cord will always get tangled. I fear that I will end up with a broken cord sooner than I later.
They did come with three different style earplugs, but none of them performed better for me than the ones that came installed on the headphones. And this leads to the main problem of the headphones: it’s quite difficult to get a good fit of the earplugs in your ear. The earplug material is soft rubber, and you’re supposed to squeeze them and then insert them in your ear. However, I’ve found that the foam returns to its original shape in the half-second it takes me to bring the headphone from my hand to my ear. And when I actually manage to get the headphones in place in this manner, one often falls out within 15 minutes.
I have found a way to make the headphones stay in place very well, although it takes a somewhat longer to accomplish. I remove the earplug from the headphone piece, and fully insert the earplug in my ear. Afterwards, I insert the headphone into the earplug that I’ve already properly inserted. This takes a few seconds of fishing around to find the hole in the earplug, but once it’s in place, it’ll stay put for an extended period of time, and they are just about as comfortable as having earplugs in your ears.
Once you actually get them to stay in place, the sound is quite good for headphones of this price. The bass is extremely present, so if you don’t like heavy bass, these are probably not for you. The mids and highs are not very different that what you’d get from other headphones in this price range, but some people will find that they’re slightly drowned out by the bass. Personally, I like the sound, but then again, I own what most people refer to as a “Boom Car”…
But what’s most impressive is how you hear only the music. There’s virtually no ambient noise leaking through. This lets you enjoy your music without having to turn it up too loud, and lets you hear many details that would otherwise disappear into the background noise. People surrounding you will also be spared from your music.
One of my concerns however is what would happen if I were to lose one of the earplug cushions. I’m not sure how difficult it would be to obtain a replacement from Koss.
In the end, here are my impressions of this product:
THE REALLY GOOD:
-The great bass response. Some people might find it a bit too much, but I really like it.
-Attenuation of outside noise. You really have to use them to notice how impressive this is.
THE GOOD:
-Low price. At under 25$, they’re not expensive for what they provide.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The cords are thin and fragile. Throw these in the bottom of a backpack, and you might find them in pieces shortly afterwards.
THE REALLY BAD:
-The earplugs are quite hard to fit in most people’s ears. It takes a few minutes to get them right, which is inconvenient if you’re only going to use them for a few minutes on a bus ride.
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