Massdrop x AKG K7XX Audiophile Headphones Discussions | Drop

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Massdrop x AKG K7XX Audiophile Headphones

Mar 8, 2015

My advice for buying a dac and amp... Spend a larger amount of money than $65 to $250, so you don't feel the constant need to want something more and regret your purchase with every pair of headphones you buy while owning the cheaper dac/amp.
Reselling and upgrading only to lose money is kinda dumb imo after doing exactly that myself.
A $65 to $100 dac or $65 to $250 amp isn't going to make your $200+ headphones sound like they're supposed to/capable of. $350 to $550 is a good starting point for a "mid to low-hi fi" experience. A schiit bifrost is poor price per dollar in terms of value at $500+ with it's upgrades. A Matrix Mini-i Pro (2015) offers quite a lot with an OSD, multiple i/o, AC power, asio, DSD, 32-bit over USB, balanced out, etc. Once you have money for a better dedicated amp, then the Mini-i Pro's dac isn't holding the amp or headphone back (nearly as much as a $100 modi or $65 E10K).
This is just my opinion. I'm not here to bash any product, but rather to help you potentially save some money and have a better setup. Kinda like buying a cpu or gpu. I'd recommend saving for a better cpu/gpu than buying a crappy one with the intention of upgrading later. You're only wasting money.

Mar 8, 2015

Beast_that_can_talk

Mar 10, 2015

socks_OCDI generally agree. While I'm not the most thrilled about companies that seem to be long-lived and healthy in the West moving production to China, it has resulted in the sound quality for a given price getting quite high, to where the old loudspeaker spending rules of thumb do not apply.
Most of the materials cost for a good DAC and amp are in the power supply, and signal filtering, if any. Advanced regulator ICs may allow PSUs to be much smaller, but only slightly cheaper, for a given output quality (batteries can reduce the complexity of the PS, but then they need their own care and maintenance, which makes up the cost saved in the PS itself).
If you want one to get the job done, the O2 is hard to beat. But, if you're prone to upgraditis, or want analog-side coloring to your audio, just go big to start with.

Mar 10, 2015