Good Quality at a decent price.

I'd been looking for a decent set of headphones ever since my old ones started deteriorating and leaving black dust on my ears. Then there was a half price sale at Radioshack and my friend Steve got the last pair. I believe those were $100.00 (CDN) phones which were going for $50.00. Every since I'd been checking back whenever I was in the mall and finally saw another 1/2 price sale on a set of Koss R-80s. These actually sell for $120.00 (CDN) when not on sale, so I grabbed a pair for $60.00 which is about $40.00 in the US. Although I think it would be neat to have wireless, I didn't really require that as my most comfortable couch is adjacent to the home stereo and CD collection and laying there vegging out to tunes is my usual position when listening with headphones on (either early in the morning or late at night).

Thus my main requirements were the best quality phones at a reasonable price which fit comfortably and covered the entire ear. The Koss R-80s are lightweight and I found the quality to be entirely acceptable especially in terms of midrange. I'm not into heavy bass anyway so I wasn't concerned that these phones produce any head quaking bass tones, just that they be clear and crisp for treble and midrange. They deliver in quality and comfort and the price was reasonable.

An additional bonus with these phones was that they come with a 1/8" plug which fits a PC or Walkman as well as 1/4" adapter for the home stereo. The cord is a coiled 8' detachable which suits my needs for the couch or the PC.

Koss has a lifetime limited warranty on these headphones in which they'll repair or replace them at any time provided that they've only been used by yourself.

I did have a problem initially where I wasn't getting as full of a sound from one side as the other. I played around with the cable a lot and listened carefully before assuring myself that there was a problem. Radioshack was very understanding and replaced the unit with no hassle whatsoever. The replacement unit has been fine ever since.

I have found that you must be careful to push the adapter in all of the way when using the home stereo or you may get a slight imbalance, but this is more common sense than a con with the product.

A recommended set of phones for normal use around the house.