Koss A550 Headphones Review
I have been editing the podcast and my own interviews for a few years now. The person who did it before, Mike, is a total audiophile and has an incredible ear for detail. Fortunately and unfortunately, he taught me enough to be burdened by the gift of understanding sound. While it’s great to have an ear now more attuned to things, it’s still rough when something isn’t right. When I am in a theater and one of the speakers is blown, my ears hyperfocus on that exact speaker until I cannot stand it. So headphones have become more of an obsession of mine because I have a better ear for what is good and what is bad. The Koss A550 headphones aren’t what I would call good; I would call them stupendous. In their craftsmanship, the sound, and the details, it’s worth every penny of the $340 price tag.
For any audiophiles reading this, I will give you the details about the Koss A550’s because, for something at a higher ticket price like this, it’s good to know for those in the know. Koss engineered the RLX44 54-ohm dynamic drivers, specially designed for the A/550, to incorporate a multilayer polycarbonate diaphragm, a precision-machined Neodymium magnet, and a lightweight copper-clad aluminum voice coil housed within a 44 mm reinforced resin frame. This advanced configuration delivers breathtaking high-fidelity audio with a wide frequency response of 12 Hz to 22,000 Hz.
Now, despite my using studio-style headphones for all of my interviews and editing, not a word of that makes any sense to me. For me, the experience is what matters and how they sound to my ears. They pick up details in music and audio that I have never heard before. It’s like going from nearsighted and farsighted without glasses to crystal-clear vision once I put my glasses on. They aren’t just a pair of headphones but a tool in my utility belt moving forward. They quickly replaced my former studio headphones for editing and quickly became my everything pair for daily work.
They aren’t just incredible sound-wise, but I think the real reason they have become my daily driver is that they are beyond comfortable. Wearing them for hours at a time doesn’t feel like a weight on my head but rather like a crown that makes me better for having them on. Because of their open design and velour headphone pieces, they never make my ears overheat. Have you ever worn headphones for hours and your ears feel like they just ran 5 miles? Well, that feeling has never come about when I use my Koss A550’s. They feel like an extension of myself, not a burden to keep on during long editing sessions or work meetings.
One smaller detail is their wired nature; the wire itself blew me away the first time I looked at it. It’s a braided, jacketed 3.5mm cable that includes a 6.3mm adapter so I can connect it to my audio box. I have seen plenty of braided wires during my tech time, but seeing it jacketed in a protective film was really impressive. It clearly is a higher-quality wire than I have ever seen before, and it blew my mind when I was first looking everything over. It’s a small detail but another reason why these are a contender for the top headphones I will ever use.
As I write this, I have the headphones on to play my writing music. I have had no complaints about these headphones or the sound they create. They have made me a better editor because I can now hear small imperfections I couldn’t before, so I can fix them. They are on the more expensive side, so I would say they aren’t just music headphones; they should be used as a tool for more than just that.
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