I just got some $25 pair of Kosses at Best Buy, KOSS UR-19.

I listened to them at home, used the volume switch on them, made sure they were plugged in right on different sources.

They sound so bad it's ridicoulous.

It doesn't sound like headphones, it sounds like the headphones are five inches away from my ear when I have them on with my hands pushing them to my ear. They have NO BASS OR VOLUME. I've heard $70 Sennheiser 497s and cheap $20 Sony behind the ear ones on a good soundcard before so I know that this isn't how low or high end headphones should sound.

The $20 Sonys are crystal clear compared to these.

They didn't even come with a manual or anything.

Has anyone experienced this with them or similar headphones? I'm returning them tomorrow to try their $40 Aiwas(long story, I simply want to buy from a store and not an online one), and I'm opening them and trying them on my portable in the store once I get them so I can return them if they're this bad.

I've bought a $15 pair of Koss headphones which I thought were more than passable, especially considering the price. I'd check and see if I didn't have an open-box, returned, or defective product.

Got another pair.

They weren't defective. They're just simply that bad.. I hate you Koss

Get a pair of Koss KSC-50s or KSC-55s (Typically $15 - $20). Probably the best sounding headphones available for less than $40.

KSC-50 @ Headroom
KSC-55 @ Headroom

-joelmole

buy @ www.amazon.com for 13 bucks , buy 2 and get free shipping

For about some twenty years Koss headphones at any price range have never impressed me, thus I avoid them, however they are plentiful in many stores. I will go so far to say that generic store-brand headphones for a mere $3.99 - $9.99 sound better (sad but true), and last about as long since they seem to be made from the same cheap, easy to break plastic material as their name-brand counterpart.

I will however say the best sounding ones I had were a pair of Sony headphones from about fifteen to twenty years ago - although the pads would start hurting my ears after about fifteen minutes. Sadly a mouse liked them too "as a food source," and chewed the wires.

Koss is just altogether bad, mmkay?

A couple of years ago I had a Koss discman. It got whacked out of my hands at school and did not work afterwards, so I sent it in for return/exchange.

What did they send me? A brand new discman of the same model or newer? Or my own repaired unit?

No. They sent me someone else's refurbished unit, which had a major optical problem (skipped like hell without anti-skip, and was barely able to play smoothly while carrying around with anti-skip turned on).

So... just don't ever buy Koss stuff because even if it works good in the beginning, you're going to be F*ed over.

The Aiwa ones sound good (I owned a pair myself), but don't be surprised if they die on you in less than a year. I'd recommend both the Koss KSC-50 and KSC-55 instead; they sound every bit as good as the Aiwa ones do and will probably last a lot longer.

I've heard good things about the Koss PortaPros which can be had for around $50, though that still depends on what store you're at. You might want to check them out.

F*ck.

Best Buy doesn't give the two year accident warrenty on these. Damn them. They'd better break within 30 or 90 days then.

Koss, never again.

I bought some cheapo Audio Technicas a few years ago which sound horrible although supposedly the higher end Audio Technicas are very nice, perhaps some of the best dynamic headphones under $1000. So it doesn't make sense to judge a brand by one model. Sennheiser and Sony also have crap models, though both also have excellent ones as well.

By all acounts I've read the UR-19s suck. Try reading reviews on headfi before buying headphones - where you would have noticed the Koss PortaPros and KSC-35 by far are the most highly recommended "cheap" headphones.