Since the 1980s, the best value in portable audio has been KOSS’ on-ear headphones. If you want a good pair of wired headphones that sound pretty solid and don't break the bank, KOSS’ PortaPros, KPH40, KSC75, KPH30i and KTXPRO1 can do that for you. You can stop and end there, and entire modding communities have emerged around pad swapping, changing the drivers between headbands and soldering in ports for removable cables. KOSS hardware tests consistently well at such a low price point that few have thought to contest them until basically now.
Moondrop, the company behind the Chu that launched a thousand IEMs, is attempting to do that with the Moondrop Old Fashioned. But perhaps the more interesting set of headphones is FiiO’s EH11, a Bluetooth offering operating in roughly the same price category in KOSS’ entire line with a few features that are unbeatable at their price.
On-ear headphones operate in a very specific zone. Because they sit on top of the pinna of the ear, they can be slightly uncomfortable for certain people and do a horrible job at canceling noise, allowing for loud noises to bleed in from the outside. But if you want something airy and lightweight on your head that doesn’t blast through your awareness of the world entirely, light on-ears can be fantastic. The retro look is itself a statement: no other headphone looks quite like a pair of beige Porta Pros. When combined with an inexpensive DAP or modded iPod, you now have a solid non-phone audio setup.
Modding Culture
This is generally the way you mod your Porta Pros to have detachable cables.
Both the Old Fashioned and the EH11 attempt to go after two potential gaps in KOSS’ lineup. The Moondrop Old Fashioned attempts to do this by making the headphone enthusiasts tend to modify themselves. The first mod that many people do with KOSS’ lineup is to put in MMCX ports, a kind of hyper-specific removable headphone cable. This usually involves ordering a kit from AliExpress or Etsy, taking the drivers off of your headphones, and soldering in a few connectors and pieces of plastic. If you are trying to get into soldering you could not pick a better first project, as it’s a great quality of life improvement to the headphones and can be done in about an hour. Moondrop’s variant comes with removable cables, using a 0.78mm pin port seen often in many IEMs (although if you upgrade the cable, make sure they are not ones with ear loops.)
The second mod stems from the modular shape of the KOSS. The drivers and headbands are interchangeable, so swapping drivers and headbands is a breeze. The Old Fashioned mimics this, although the mechanism is not compatible with existing KOSS headbands. Moondrop says this is to encourage people to 3D print their own accessories, which users have already done. The last is pad swapping– people usually add aftermarket pads from companies like Yaxi to their headphones, and the Old Fashioneds not only feature comfortable pads but are compatible with the existing KOSS ecosystem.
Though the Old Fashioned is a screaming deal, they do not fully replace KOSS’ offerings here, at least not in places covered by KOSS’ distribution. Frequency response is more a matter of taste and personal biology than most people would like to admit, and the Moondrop is a bit on the brighter side compared to KOSS. The Old Fashioned is comfortable and has a solid headband, the cable is inexpensive but not of poor quality. The clear, smokey plastic is a nice choice, although I could see the Evangelion-adjacent stencil turning off some people who are not sufficiently weeby. The same headphone in other, simpler colorways would be fantastic. Still, for people who cannot get KOSS headphones (I have read that EU distribution is either bad or expensive lately), Moondrop has found a way to undercut and in some capacity improve upon several timeless classics.
Wireless competition
FiiO, on the other hand, decided to go after a different segment of KOSS’ market, the $100 dollar PortaPro wireless. KOSS’ attempt at making a wireless classic was met with a mixed response for both its price and execution (although the KPH30 Wireless seems like a step in the right direction.) Unlike the Old Fashioned, the FiiO EH11 do not attempt to ape KOSS’ design. They are chunkier, with the drivers and batteries shoved into a circular plastic housing. The clamping force is firm but not uncomfortable, and though the housing for the drivers has a small lip that is uncomfortable without the pads, the pads themselves are plush and comfortable, which FiiO includes backups for. Out of the box, the headphones have support for LDAC, a very good Bluetooth codec that iPhones don’t support, but also fallback for AAC and SBC. The EH11 is eye-catching, coming in multiple shades of transparent plastic, with bright foam and wood knobs, the one trait it shares with FiiO’s FT1s. If the PortaPros were cementing themselves firmly in the 1980s, the visual language of the EH11 is Cyberpunk by way of AliExpress that is firmly in the now.
The EH11 is not a home run at first glance. It is unfortunately Bluetooth only; the USB-C port is just for charging and it has no aux port, which is something that revisions should address. The mic quality is nothing to write home about. The controls for volume and track position are on the left and right knobs, and use a stepped rotary encoder that clicks slightly too loudly given the fact that it’s on your ear. Out of the box it sounds fine, not bad but not fantastic. So what makes it special?
FiiO EH11The great equalizer
Credit to Super*Review for his tuning, measurement, and for tipping me off to these cans.
There is a lot you can do to properly tune an imperfect set of headphones, and the FiiO has leaned into this with the EH11. Using the FiiO Control app you can tune the headphones, upload parametric EQ settings and store them directly on the EH11. Because they are stored on the device, the EQ settings will apply to any device you use it with. The app also allows you to upload and share existing EQ settings to it, as well as download EQ presets from other users. I started taking these headphones seriously when headphones reviewer Super*Review made a video about them, and I have been using his EQ settings almost exclusively. FiiO also boasts a gaming mode that is latency-optimized, but it appears as its own distinct EQ setting and I have no way of testing its latency outside of visually.
On some level that does not matter for me, because the EH11 is not for everything. For the price they’re better than they have any right to be. FiiO claims 30 hours of battery life, and while I have not timed it I can confirm it only needs infrequent charging. The ability to EQ the EH11 transforms them into a gem; that feature alone would have saved the crucially flawed Apple Airpods Pro 3 if Apple ever swallowed its pride and trusted their users with settings.
The EH11s are my puttering around headphones, lightweight and casual to be used in short bursts. I use them exclusively for music, and wear them when I walk to the cafe or wander around the house. Unlike my earbuds, they are for when I wish to enjoy music but be slightly present, and at 92 grams I can throw them in my bag and never be aware of them. With the tuning tweaked they sound alarmingly good, making up for the intrinsic shortcomings of the inexpensive design. Unlike my earbuds, I interact with the world differently when wearing on-ear headphones. The music does not actively cancel the uneven rhythm of New York City; it accompanies it and allows me to be present in the moment when I need to be. Earbuds and ANC often turn us into antisocial hermits in public, so it is nice to have an alternative in my bag for the moments when I don’t want to live like that.
Moondrop and FiiO have not ousted the king– KOSS will still have its loyal adherents. But both are screaming deals that go toe-to-toe with the originals while showing them ways they can be tweaked and improved. If you don’t live in a place where KOSS is readily or cheaply available, the calculus is far clearer. And of the two, the EH11 goes even further, cementing its own identity and, with a single feature, doing something that even Apple is too large and stubborn to do.
