John Bemis
Web Producer
@bemiscourant
I’ll be the first to say it; headphones are the superior method of listening to music.
Sure, I love pumping sick jams through a stereo receiver, stacked A and B speakers, a subwoofer and sub-subwoofer (sometimes even a full on submarine), but you really can’t beat the personal-and-portable listening space that headphones provide; you can’t go on a run, walk moodily through the halls, space out on long car rides or fall asleep on a plane with your at-home stereo in your pocket.
And we live in the age of the headphone! Since I can remember I’ve only seen all brands up their game; Sennheiser, Bose, AKG, Sony, Apple, you name it are finding out how to make your music sound crisper, or heavier, or bass-y-er, or whatever-er in order to fit your needs.
Top sales-wise among this latest wave of headphonic technology are Beats by Dre, a line of over-the-ear headphones sponsored by rapper Dr. Dre and a host of other celebrities, priced anywhere from $100 to $2700.
Now, I’m not gonna bite your head off for wearing Beats, but I will let it be known that hundreds of bad reviews, blogs, audio engineers and musicians would agree that they’re not worth the money. Having tried them myself, I won’t go much further than saying that they’re really, really, really not for me. Or at least they’re not the sort of thing I would consider to sound “good”
So if not a pair of Beats, what should you buy? How can any headphone purchase be worth it if not endorsed and thus validated by a celebrity? Fear not, dear consumer, for I have found what I believe to be the pinnacle of the headphone art form in terms of sound, comfort, style, all for a mere $35; Koss Portapro’s
Indeed, what are, in my opinion, the best portable headphones that money can buy look, as one NCHS Courant advisor eloquently described, “like they came out of 1987 Radioshack…garbage”
But you can’t judge a book by its cover! Every single person who I’ve displayed these headphones to has been astonished by the disparity between their cheap, dorky, old-school look and their beautiful clarity or bass response.
To those who are so totally turned off by the basic, perhaps too-utilitarian look of these headphones, I pose an important question for your sensibilities; do you wanna wear Beats or some other popular headphone brand, demonstrating your feeble will against mass media and viral marketing? Or do you wanna be your own person, wearing headphones for the music, man, simultaneously flashing your know-how and integrity against the norm? The choice is yours.
At this point your probably thinking, “that is the most pretentious, grossly anti-establishment argument i’ve ever heard! all of my friends have Beats by Dre, John; I need them.”
Now that’s a valid point; no one wants to play hopscotch with someone who doesn’t have the sickest headphones that too much money can buy. But do your friend’s headphones do THIS?
Indeed, if the sound, look of legitimacy, and wearing-a-cloud comfort of the PortaPros are not enough of a selling point, the fact that they fold up and can go anywhere like freaking Optimus Prime should be of primary concern. These headphones are so flexible and durable that they can fit around the head of a rhinoceros or in your pocket; after years of use and abuse, my PortaPros still function perfectly and sound just as good as the day I bought them.
