Wired for sound

Today's Earworm- Candle - VAST

Had a Coles/Myer voucher. Needed 'phones that would block out surrounding office noise (often including ape-like pounding on keyboards and hard surfaces.).

I had the option of some sort of Sony cans, but I'm sort of anti-Sony outside of picture tubes... and my phone, come to think of it....

I think Sony sound gear is a bit overpriced and overrated, anyway.

So I wanted Sennheiser 202s or 212 pros . No such luck. It's Sony, Koss, or nothing at Myer.

So I saw the Koss Ur10's, and grabbed them. They're $30 Au, enclosed, padded enclosures, cheap plastic fake-silver finish, etc. All I needed were enclosed phones so I could maintain my sanity by tuning out the background noise.

Here comes the surprise - they're pretty good. They sounded a bit muffled at first but they seem to be getting better. They're clear, they don't distort, ambient noise is blocked. Metal strings sound great. Bass isn't overly boomy. Not overly bright. For some reason vocals sound a bit thin, but nothing too horrible.

In conclusion - better than Podphones (not hard!), they're cheap, co-werkers are muffled to a dull hooting, and I can't hear keyhits at all, even my own.
Disclaimers - I probably have tin ears. I've listened to stupidly expensive sound systems and my only reaction has been 'that's up awfully loud, isn't it'.
Also, I have small ears. I wouldn't recommend these phones for an average-to-large guy. Try them on if you can, which you probably can't as they're too cheap to hang on the 'headphone tree' at your local audio store.