Hey guys, I'm a sound technician and let me tell you that these little babies are well worth the price tag. They have incredible bass for portable headphones, actually very close to my old beautiful closed cup Sony. The only thing that my old Sony had better than those are the stereo image but remember, my ears are pretty damn well trained. I was actually looking for a new pair of Sony headphones when my old ones crapped out but I didn't want my phones to be bulky since I use them a lot on planes while traveling (which I do a lot). This young salesman tells me to try these Koss Porta-Pro instead. I told him he had to be kidding. When I heard them, I was VERY impressed!! Especially coming from... KOSS!!! For all of you out there, these are the pair to buy. And such great smooth powerful bass! The mids and highs are very well defined, too. Love them!!!