I owned the Koss Tech 2 (Tech2, Tech/2) headphones for twelve years throughout the late seventies, eighties, and early nineties, I played them over many evenings with several CD players, mixing boards, portable radios, and stereo receivers. Allow me to review the Koss Tech/2 headphones here because as they were my first pair of real stereo headphones, and since they represented such a big step up from any headphones I’d ever heard before 1979, I thought them exceptional audio listening devices, and thus, still worth discussing even though it’s been over twenty years since I’ve experienced them routinely.
I bought the Koss Tech 2 headphones from a roommate in 1979, used, for $30, who had purchased them at a flea market perhaps a year earlier. So I do not know how old these headphones were at the time. But for me, they held up very well, until the back plates on each driver came unglued. I considered repairing them. But by1991, I had developed a hankering for a new and better pair of headphones. So I replaced my Koss Tech 2s with the Sony MDR-V500 studio monitor headphones, well-satisfied and convinced that I’d indeed gotten my $30 worth from the Koss Tech2s.
In retrospect, the Tech2 studio headphones were strong on the midrange frequencies, a bit weaker on the high end, and had noticeably lacking bass response. I used an equalizer with them always, to flatten out their sound. But once this was done, they sounded terrific.
Actually, the reduced bass output made these phones good for portable CD player listening, since these players in the eighties tended to be strong on the bass anyhow. I’ve used the Koss Tech 2 headphones on lots of train trips, though they weren’t terribly comfortable. Their good sound however, compensated for their rather hard ear cushions. I’ve owned many headphones from Sony, Koss, Grado, and Apple over the past three plus decades. The Koss Tech 2 units rank about mid way up in terms of over all performance in my view. While when I owned them, I thought them my all-time favorite stereo headphones, I’ve since discovered numerous models from the other manufactures listed above that beat out the Koss Tech2s by far.
Given how little the Tech-2s cost me, I found only a tiny amount to gripe about. My biggest complaint is that the ear cushions were not soft at all and would hurt my ears after listing to several plays of Pink Floyd’s The Wall album. I never bothered replacing the ear cushions and I’m not even sure that replacements would even be available today.
But if you enjoy listening to vintage stereo headphones with lots of midrange and high power-handling capability, then I’d highly suggest the Koss Tech/2 headphones if you can find them. You get an enduring, hard-wearing pair of quality audio head gear, that works reasonably well in the studio, in transit, and just about any casual listening environment you’d want to establish.
What I Liked About The Koss Tech-2 Headphones
- The Tech/2 headphones reduced surrounding noise adequately for somewhat quiet environments, which is a useful feature of their closed-air design. A metal back plate covered the rear of the driver speaker in each earpiece, and this kept sound both in and out fairly well.
- Thus, the Koss Tech 2 headphones were a good choice to listen to when other people were near and wished not to be disturbed by my Pink Floyd.
- The Tech-2s offered a wide range of headband adjustment and came equipped with a microphone mounting screw; though I never purchased a producer mic for them.
- The Tech2 headphones looked as good as they sound; perhaps even better. They were a walnut dark brown color with a silver Tech2 logo on the back plates of each ear driver speaker. This gave them a sleek, hi-tech appearance, that matched fairly well the finish on my Pioneer SX-1000TW stereo receiver.
- The Koss Tech 2 headphones could play loud enough, with the wide dynamic range over mostly the midrange part of the audio frequency band. This suits them particularly for widely-varying musical volume levels, such as those encountered in classical music and in Another Brick In The Wall.
- While the connecting audio cable could not be unplugged from the unit, replacement would have been easy with a screwdriver, cutters, glue, and a soldering iron.
- A portable CD player drove the Koss Tech/2 headphones sufficiently.
- The Koss Tech2 headphones, perhaps owing to their rugged and quite heavy design, seemed quite forgiving of abuse. I often dropped these earphones on tables or floors at the conclusion of my listening sessions, with no ensuing problems. They were not easily broken thus, and held up well in rough listening locations such as studios, DJ gigs, and travel settings.
- The Koss Tech 2 headphones came with a Y configured audio cable, which meant that both sides left and right, had a cable attached. This enhanced their overall balance on my head, which was actually quite good, even if it did increase susceptibility of their coiled cord to tangling.
What I Disliked About The Koss Tech-2 Headphones
As I mentioned earlier, given how cheaply priced these headphones were, I found none too much to lawfully complain about in them. But here are several gripes I managed to scratch out after considerable head scratching:
- The Tech/2 headphones were quite heavy.
- Listening with them through long periods would actually bend my eyeglasses and make it hard for me to see. Thus, when finished listening to Ooooh, I Need A Dirty Woman perhaps ten times, I’d have to refashion the temple pieces on my glasses back into the correct shape for good vision. Eventually, I got into the habit taking off my eyeglasses when planning to use my Koss Tech 2s.
- The headband on the Koss Tech/2 headphones did not include any spongy padding, though this did not appear to make them much less comfortable. But I wore them so much at twenty years of age, that the constant pressing of the headband on the top of my head began thinning my hair right where the band pressed.
- Over all, the Koss Tech-2 headphones lacked comfort. I could only listen for an hour or so before my temples would hurt.
- These phones were not equipped with gold connectors; which provide the most reliable connection to the audio source. But I never had problems with corrosion or other forces to which a gold connector is immune, in the silver connectors found on the Tech2s.
- The cables were not as easy to replace as they would have been if made detachable.
- The Koss Tech2 ear cushions were liquid-filled for comfort, but not terribly comfy.
- As mentioned, the Koss Tech 2 headphones heavily favor the mid-range frequencies, and this used make my ears ring after prolonged listening to Mother Do You Think They’ll Drop The Bomb, especially before I started using an equalizer.
- The Tech/2 headphones can only be worn one way for comfort. That is: The left earphone must be positioned on the left ear, and the right earphone must be positioned on the right ear. I found that the cushions did not fit wellon top of my ears if worn the other way.
- So with these headphones, I had to make sure that my turntable, tape deck, and other stereo device connectors were not reversed, because reversing the headphones on my head was not a workable option with the Koss Tech 2s.
- My ears did not fit inside the ear cushions of the Koss Tech2 headphones at all. Thus, these phones seemed to incorporate an over-the-ear as opposed to an around-the-ear design, much like the Grado RS-1 headphones. This further decreased Tech/2 comfort, as the cushions were not soft enough for this type of design to be comfortable for long. The cushions were simply too inflexible and flat.
- Wearing the Tech/2 headphones made my ears sweat profusely.
- The ear pads were medium sized in circumference, but very shallow. Thus, the front of the driver speaker touched my ear.
In sum: I thought the Koss Tech/2 headphones a fair purchase for the money as well as a good match to my novice listening requirements as a young adult. While today I would not describe the Koss Tech 2 headphones as extremely great, they were okay nonetheless as starter headphones. I just wish they had been lighter, softer, and had sounded better, but when I owned them, I really didn’t care about that because I had no idea that anything better was out there. But today, given what I know now about the more modern and much better-sounding headphones from Sony and Sennheiser especially, I would probably not buy the Koss Tech/2s again. I’ve grown beyond them. But I’d recommend them as a good first course pair of quality headphones for anyone just starting out in high fidelity audio listening.
I’ll add any new information I discover to this post as it comes in, about these earphones.
Tom Hesley
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