I used the Peltor Optime 98's and you have to do some modifications. They are twice the thickness of the Koss headphones and also have foam padding inside.
I cut my wires and I think your idea was a lot better. If I had to do it again, I would have slit the plastic instead of cutting the wires.
The Original Koss headphones have good speakers but the actual Koss ear cup is cheap. If you look at the first photo, you will notice that there are two slots in back of the ear cup (that are behind the headband clip mount and you cannot see them when the headphones are together) that are used to dump water out when they are submerged. But those slots make for very poor exterior sound control even if you tape over the drain holes. The Peltor ear cups are about twice as thick as the stock Koss cups and offer way better sound insulation.
I had to trim the original speakers to fit inside the Peltor and used a Dremel tool with a cutting bit. I also drilled the holes in the Peltor ear cups with a drill press......you have to run the press at least 3000 rpm in plastic for a good clean hole.
The Peltors are very comfortable.....way better than the Koss and extremely quiet.....they keep out noise really well and is a huge improvement over the stock Koss headphones. And what is nice is that the speakers are still waterproof and will work submerged.....I tried it in the bathtub and they work great! I am thinking of putting the gel pads on them also. I actually like these headphones better than the Grey Ghost's that I had in the past.
Some final notes:
Cutting the wires will void your warranty. So don't. Follow Burried's idea.
Also, the shielding wire in the Koss headphones has a red coating on it and makes it difficult to solder.
Each wire has 2 wires inside of it (4 soldering points each actual cable and there are three areas that have to be cut and soldered for a total of 12 solder joints.)
Some of the wires are very thin and require extreme care in soldering and insulating. If you want to cut the wires, then I recommend doing one wire at a time and use a small clip vise to hold the wires while soldering. Magnification is necessary because the wires are so small. A fine tip solder iron is also required.
I also recommend (if you cut the wires) using Goop to seal off the holes and wires and I also recommend getting Liquid electrical tape for insulating the solder joints along with a good electrical tape. The red coated wire is also prone to rubbing against each other and shorting out the speakers and so you have to be very careful when putting this all back together. You have to seal the cut areas really well to prevent water from wicking into the control pod. Use lots of sealant. (Goop or Liquid Seal)
But then again.....Follow Burried Crap's idea and don't cut the wires.....just notch the cups. I had nothing to do this last evening and so I wanted to cut the wires and try putting it back together. Took me twice as long as it should have but what the heck.....better than watching TV.
