A little while ago I was shopping for a relatively cheap, solid pair of wired, on-ear headphones for when my wireless options were dead. After watching several videos and reading lots of comments on here it seemed like Koss Porta Pros were gonna be what suited me best, so I ordered a pair of the X variant from drop because I liked the black and got to waiting. (I’m under the impression that the only different in the X model is colorway and cable.)

I was pretty excited to receive them but when I tried them I was incredibly underwhelmed. The low end is overemphasized and very muddy, it also sits at the very front which makes it even more obnoxious and odd. I tried using them just for podcasts but they change voices to the point where it bothers me there too.

I don’t consider myself a snob or an audiophile by any means but I can definitely notice the difference between sound quality to a certain point and I find these to be pretty blatantly unpleasant.

So after hearing so many people with more discerning ears than mine praise these headphones I’ve gotta ask - am I doing something wrong? Am I missing something? Could my pair be defective? I’m listening on my iPhone 15 pro using their usb-c to 3.5mm adapter, is my phone adding a weird eq that can be adjusted? Is there a setting I have wrong? Something just seems off…

So now I’m here. Any help or insight would be appreciated, I’m hoping this isn’t just how they sound.