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By James Grahame

Bill Berry writes, "Koss headphones were the very first headphones I'd ever seen as a kid. And I remember listening to Grand Funk Railroad's 'We're An American Band' on my dad's Marantz through those headphones. While these are not the same model my dad had, I'm sure his were not as close to the top of the line, they come as close in look and feel as I'm going to find. Especially new."

Theses particular 'stereophones' are very workmanlike in construction. They're made of a particularly difficult to describe greenish khaki color textured plastic. The plastic is a kind of dense poly-whatever. These are clearly made to be Functional and Durable. In Caps.

The sound is quality, but not astonishing. Not as bass-y, as I would like, moreso with no EQ on iPhone (3G). These won't knock your socks off, but they'll probably outlive your socks. These are the kind of headphones you brandish at friends and intone, 'In Soviet Union, headphones listen to you!'

These are probably not suitable for what I purchased them for, for travel 'phones on the plane and in the airport. Enclosed headphones, 'cans', can shut out ambient noise without the bells and whistles of noise cancellation. But these phones are bulky and heavy. Maybe not something you'd like to lug around an airport."

The original Pro-4AA stereophones stayed on the market for over 15 years. In fact their discontinuation in the late 1980s caused such an uproar that they were reintroduced in 1988. They've been a foundation of the Koss line ever since. The Pro-4AAs carry a reasonable list price of $99.99, and you can find them for less without much effort (FYI, Amazon has them for $60 with free shipping).

Koss PRO 4AA Stereophones