ryan.williamsIt could be sooner, it could be much later. That's the thing about Massdrop. Usually it's a decision between Amazon or another site that is faster but more expensive, or joining a drop that is cheaper and slower. With a Massdrop exclusive product like this, your only other choice would be to buy one from the First Edition drops used.
You could be easily waiting a month btw, but there will be updates along the way.
RocktroitJust wondering, with a good amp, like the vali, what exactly does a good DAC do to improve the audio? Also, is spending more than the 150 for a DAC really worth the cost?
ryan.williamsNot sure about that particular product and how it synergizes with other products, but better dac and amp usually improves things like detail and soundstage, with some products aiming for neutrality and some musical sound sig. Whether or not you would want the sound sign and sound quality changes from upgrading dac and amp depends on your own goals, and of course there is diminishing returns in audio equipment to consider. Imo beyond basic ~$100 amps, investing in dac and amp about equally avoids component mismatching, or in other words, avoid one component hindering the potential of the other. I havent tested akg k7's much, but from my exp and reading they can scale quite well with better upstream equipment, and may be unforgiving or revealing of flaws, so imo using the internal DAC of say a phone with a mid-fi amp may not be the best match or find the best sweet spot. In comparision, I find the k553's to have untapped potential out of an S4, match well or be at the pairing "sweet spot" with $100-200 audio gd brand dac/amp, but stop scaling so well beyond $300 dac and $300 amp audio gd brand single ended dac and amp, with the drivers sounding rather tinny and sluggish with balanced output vs more capable headphones i have (but really <3 the K553's neutrality). Plan on balancing k7xx soon after receiving since expect it to scale well with upper end balanced dac/amp. Sry if im being confusing or didnt answer question right, but in a sentence, its good to pair dac/amp/headphone well, and dont blame the k7xx or a $200+ amp if a $1 internal DAC is the bottleneck.
mwweichiThanks! Appreciate the help. I'll probably stay in the Schiit family and get the Modi 2 Uber and the Vali. According to Schiit, they say the Vali pairs very well with the K7XX
ryan.williamsIt depends how good your sound card is, or wherever you usually plug your headphones in. I personally will need one because I plug my SE215s into my desktop speakers and it sounds like shit compared to an iPod or S4.
If you have a good sound card, you may not need one.