Koss BT539iw Bluetooth Headphones Review

Koss has been making headphones since before I was born. Their history of headphone models is rich especially in the broadcast and consumer markets. Today Koss is still going strong with headphones for music listening, broadcast and gaming applications at affordable prices. It’s been a while since I’ve used a pair of Koss but I recently had a chance to try the BT539iw Bluetooth over-ear headphones so I decided to put them to the test to see how they sound.

DESIGN

The Koss BT539iw is a compact headphone designed for portability and ease of use. It’s a one-piece wireless design with all the controls on the right ear-piece as well as the microphone and charging connection. The controls allow you to answer and disconnect calls, play/pause tracks, track advance and volume. Connecting the Koss BT539iw to my iPhone 6 via Bluetooth 4.0 was simple and had no issues. All the controls worked perfectly and I managed to get 15-20 feet away from the source without any dropouts.

The D-profile earcup design fit over the ears well with not much room to spare but for a compact design like this it’s to be expected. The comfort was decent. The padding on the ears felt comfortable and could easily be worn for extended periods of time. The headband is a minimal design to minimize weight and bulkiness but lacked a little on padding.

SOUND

The sound of the Koss BT539iw is quite impressive considering this is on the low end of Bluetooth headphones for this price range (under $100). I was able to drive the volume up without significant distortion. The bass frequencies were good, even better than expected. The mid-range was present however the high-frequencies were lacking just a little. This is really to be expected in a dynamic driver style headphone at this price and I did find that a little equalization brought out the highs a bit better. As for receiving and disconnecting calls, I had no problems and voices were clear for both. Using the optional 3.5mm audio cable improves the sound a bit but not dramatically.

SUMMARY

The Koss BT539iw Bluetooth over-ear headphone is decent for it’s price point. The single body, wireless design with on-ear controls were convenient and worked perfectly. My only complaints are in the comfort of the headband and lack of some of the high end that I like to have in listening to music. Overall this headphone is perfect wireless headphone for making calls, listening to audiobooks and listening to music with punchy low end.