Koss SPARKPLUG - Stereo In Ear Ear Plugs
by Koss
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List Price: Our Price: $14.99 You Save: $15.00 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $8.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Koss SPARKPLUG - Stereo In Ear Ear Plugs
Customer Review: Koss Spark Plugs Rock!
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading for several weeks about sound isolating earbuds I settled on the Koss Sparkplug earbuds with self expanding foam earpieces. I read everything from that they were ok, or junk, all the way to being the best ever. IMHO these were my observations. 1. I never could get standard earbuds to fit right or stay in my ears without one side or another constantly falling out, and if I did manage to finally get them to stay in, my ear(s) would hurt and I would get a headache after a very short period. with these because of the self expanding foam, these fit fantastic and after a while I even forget I'm wearing them! (That is a huge plus to me) by the way, Koss includes an extra set of the foam pieces. 2. despite what the naysayers are saying, these are hardly overrated, people are buying so many of them because they sound good. The sound is incredible coming from such a small device. I never have had such deep rich bass from any earbud no matter what the price, and I've owned very expensive sets. The sound I get from these rivals my full size headphones, and that is saying a lot. most any earbuds in this price range are tinny sounding pieces of junk. These sound incredible. I've read that for some folks these are too bassy and there are simple modifications such as covering the little holes on the back of them with common tape to tighten up the bass and bring out the mids and highs better. With my setup at home I have an EQ so it was no trouble for me at all to dial them right in for superb sound. For folks using portable devices without an EQ, they might want to try the simple mod or even try placing them less deep in the ear. Some folks said after experimenting with them a bit, they found a "sweet spot" for great sound without mods of any type. 3. I am a music freak, an audiophile, and a musician, and a producer for a popular radio program, and in my opinion they are awesome. What does that mean? NOTHING! why? because sound quality is subjective to each individual. To my ears these sound great, and the stereo imaging is incredible, I'm hearing things I never noticed before. I have heard before that this a common trait in Koss products. but to others they will sound different. The sound isolation for me was perfect, but people should take care using these in area where the might have to hear, such as jogging near traffic etc. 4. PRICE,- as inexpensive as these are, they sound better than ANY other earbuds I have owned regardless of price! I saw one person mention in review that even with any mods they still only sounded like 11 dollar headphones. maybe to him they did, I disagree entirely. At full retail they run about $15.00 but I have seen them higher and lower, but they are definitely worth the risk to try them for yourself and experiment a bit. I LOVE mine. If you don't, get a refund, or give them to your kid, or a friend. I guarantee someone will love them! 5. The no questions asked Koss lifetime guarantee. - if something happens to them, it doesn't matter what, stick them in an envelope and mail them to Koss with $6. and they will repair or replace them and send them back to you. So if they short out or anything, or you step on it by accident, no worries, you can get a new set for about half price forever with no limitations. you just can't beat it.
7. In conclusion, at this price point, or even at a much higher one, you'd be hard pressed to find a set that sound this good, so take a chance and find out for yourself. Don't trust my opinion or anyone else's' - you can always get a refund or give them away if they don't sound good to YOUR ears! :)
Customer Review: 20 bucks gets you more than what 300 will.
Summary: 5 Stars
wow.
very very impressive. paid 20 bucks including shipping, and these headphones put my bose, sonys(DJ and fontopia) to absolute shame....treble response drops out a little early for my liking (not hearing much of the 16+kHz range, even the 14k band on the eq has little effect, but i have yet to hear a pair of truly full-range headphones...except the shure 2 way's, you;re not gonna get it.) midrange response is very clean, bass response is actually not muddy at all....perhaps they changed something? many of the other reviews that i found helpful in making a choice mention muddy bass.....im not experiencing it at all honestly...I'm an audiophile and im a straight up prick about audio....spent thousands of dollars in my life on audio electronics (im 20)...and although it's no rocket science, im a junior in the e.e. curriculum at school, and ive managed to aquire a decent amount of know-what about what can be expected what differnt headphone designs...and i am simply amazed by these headphones. main idea is, simplicity and efficient design. number one thing i look for with ear bud headphones is shape, efficient headphones will establish an airtight space between your eardrum and the driver (speaker) of the headphones; that way, no (generally) sound energy is wasted at all. these headphones defintley do that, the music also seems considerably louder, which is expected after pulling the foam off to see that there's a tube piping the sound straight to your ear drum, i have over 4kilowatts of audio power in my car and i listen to that mighty loud, yet when i crank these headphones, they are loud, very very loud.
havent had them in my ears for more than 20 minutes but they seem like theyd be plenty comfortable to wear for many hours....
hope this review could help somone decide as the others helped me alot.
PROS:
small
awesome midrange and bass
um.....can you say CHEAP!
efficient, i.e. loud.
CONS:
i could ask for more high-end trble
thin cord im sure will be prone to tangling
you'll look like the rest of the world with white heapdhones lol
...cant think of aything else....
perhaps the foam pads will get dirty....thats always a pain with in ears 'phones...
hope it helped.
-pat
Customer Review: The best by far on a budget
Summary: 5 Stars
If you don't want to spend alot - but want real good sound in an ear bud - these are for you. I can't bring myself to buy any others - I'm hooked!
You can't seem to find these buds locally anymore; so I keep trying to buy another low-priced bud at local stores and always end up returning them. I love these Koss SparkPlugs. Crazy thing is that when I could find them locally, about 2 years ago, they were $15! Now they are only $10.20!?!! They are selling a version of these Koss SparkPlugs with a built-in mute button, but I *strongly* recommend *against* that model, because the mute button goes bad in no time - even if you don't use it! - and you end up with no sound and have to throw the buds away! Is that stupid or what??? I call it planned obsolescence! Get this model without the mute button. If you really need to mute just pull out the plug or rip off the ear buds. Simple enough?! Duh!
They have great sound and fantastic response (loud). One thing I like to do with them (and I do it immediately when I remove them from the packing) is to turn the black expanding-foam cushions around to get the ultimate tight-fit in my ears. It doesn't hurt or get sore - just makes a really tight fit which gives the best sound. There's just one trick to reversing the cushions: you have to also remove the small straw (which runs down the middle - its easy enough to do - just don't lose it as it is small) and reinsert it into the cushion in the *opposite direction*; this is necessary because the straw is fatter on the end which fits onto the post on the earbud, where it attaches. You'll see the post whenever you remove the cushion. The cushions seem to last forever (for me anyway) - so if one seems to be falling off I just glue it on to stay. What breaks on every earbud/headphone, no matter what the price, is the connecting wire. So live with it. That is what will make you buy your next SparkPlug when it comes time to. Might as well buy 3 and get the Free Shipping like I just did! Can't beat that one. Thank you, Amazon.com. (No I don't work for them OR Koss!)
They're great on the subway or mowing your lawn/blowing leaves this Fall (another favorite of mine - underneath soundproof hearing protectors! Rockin'!) If you like the price - buy 'em and enjoy. These are great buds. Period.
Customer Review: Great Value, Excellent Sound Isolation
Summary: 5 Stars
A year ago, I stumbled across the Koss Sparkplugs while seeking to replace the original headphones that came with my inexpensive RIO mp3 player. The sponge sound-isolating earpieces seemed novel, but were not a compelling reason to purchase. Basically, they were cheaper than the high-end models offered in the store. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised by both the sound quality and isolation capabilities of these headphones.
Similar to disposal ear plugs, they work by expanding into the ear canal after being compressed and inserted by the user. As the foam earpieces are not disposal and go into the ear canal, they need to be frequently cleaned. This basically turns into a maintenance issue, which is tolerable.
What is more troubling than the cleaning regimen, however, is that the earpieces can be easily lost. Moreover, there does not appear to be an aftermarket source of the earpieces. Unlike other headphones, the Koss Sparkplugs are unusable without their earpieces. Fortunately, they come with a second set but this is simply insufficient.
Now that I have upgraded to an Ipod Nano, I opted for these headphones again. In a health club setting, airplane or noisy cafe, they provide the necessary sound isolation to block out the ambient sounds. As such, they can act as regular earplugs when you simply turn off the music and leave the headphones in your ears. This is quite useful when are you are listening to music while trying to deeply concentrate on work and need to become even more focused.
Pros
Great noise isolation
Excellent bass
Great sound quality
Inexpensive
Cons
Ear pieces get dirty quickly
Losing the earpieces renders headphones useless
Bass might be a bit overwhelming for audiophiles
Replacement inserts not readily available
Customer Review: The best headphone I've ever had
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a typical teenager that ride the bus to school. The Bus, it's always so loud, with the engines and people talking, etc. I could barely hear my music with those regular earbud headphones. I decided to look for noise cancelling headphones, so I can have a better listening experience. Most of them were in the $20-$60 range. I couldn't have the Bose, because it was too big and pricey, I couldn't have the phillips because of bad reviews, and the price.
And then I read about Sound isolating headphones. I decided to look for them, and had no luck. The one's I found cost about 200-300 bucks, for "optimum listening experience".
Then I found the Sparkplug. It was 15 dollars, cheaper than regular headphones. It was well with in my budget, too. It was sound isolating, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. They were wonderful. First time I tried it, it drowned out most of the outside noise. The Bass was great, Rock, Hip-hop, Rap, anything goes with it. It fit perfectly, and didn't fall off. I was confortable wearing it for hours and hours and hours. I noticed that it was even good for earmuffs. I could put it on and go to sleep, eliminating noise.
The only thing I didn't like about it was it's design. When you put it on the little white things stick out of your ears like horns. And it has a very thin wire. And, you should clean your ear for earwax on occasion, because they do sort of build up in the foam. Not a good thing to see. :(
Pros:
GREAT noise cancellation
great fit
Confortable
BARGAIN. 15 bucks!
Cons:
Earwax
Thin Wire
conclusion: It's a great sound isolating headphone that's also cheap. Much better than those rip-off "noise cancelling" headphones.