Koss
Website:https://koss.com/
Est. year: 1953
Koss Corporation is an American headphone company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. John C. Koss started the business in 1953 as a hospital television rental firm, and in 1958 it introduced the SP/3 Stereophones, which had a privacy switch and are credited as the first high-fidelity stereo headphones. Today it is a small listed company with about 28 employees, still selling mainly budget and mid-priced headphones that have stayed in production for decades.
Range & what it's known for
The best-known model is the Porta Pro of 1984, a folding on-ear design now also sold as the Porta Pro Wireless, updated to version 2.0 in 2024, and in a Utility version with a microphone cord. Around it sit the KSC75 clip-on, the KPH30 and KPH40 on-ears, the UR and CL series, earbuds such as the KEB90, gaming headsets and communication headsets for offices. At the other end the company has built electrostatic headphones since the ESP/950 of 1990, and today sells the ESP/95X Plus and the open A/550 over-ear model at about USD 350. Many prices on the maker's store stay between about USD 10 and USD 100.
Who owns it and where it's made
Koss trades on Nasdaq under the ticker KOSS, but the Koss family controls more than 75 percent of the shares. Michael J. Koss, son of the founder, has been chief executive since 1991. Design and management remain in Milwaukee, where the company is still based. The company survived a USD 34 million embezzlement by a finance executive discovered in 2009, recovering part of the loss through settlements and auctions.
The lineup in this catalog
Headphones. A pair of Koss headphones costs between roughly USD 30 and 300.
Who it's for
Koss is for the buyer after inexpensive, simple headphones with replaceable cushions and accessories, and for people who already like the Porta Pro shape and want it with a cable, a microphone or Bluetooth. A natural path runs from the KSC75 or Porta Pro to the A/550, and for those interested in electrostatic drivers the ESP/95X Plus is the brand's top model.