Quaveda

Thanks for the thoughtful responses !

Thanks wgscott and rando for your replies. My current office room is large, about 25x15x7. so I can rearrange the furniture if needed. I listen almost always by myself, so I've arranged the room so my desk chair is the sweet spot. Using Emotiva 8" Stealth rear-ported monitors on wooden stands using Isoacoustic stands to isolate the monitors. The monitors are at distance from the wall that provides the bass response I prefer and the imaging and soundstage are quite good. The equilateral triangle is 5ft. (not 6 ), and my listening position is about 7ft to the front wall. I'm very impressed with the Emotiva's and the bass extension is great - I feel no need at all for a sub. I thought about projecting the computer display on the wall, but I need to do video conferencing, and not ready to radically change my computer setup. No complaints right now, but wondering about 'next steps' in upgrading... DAC, and perhaps separate amp and speakers. Could consider great headphones/amp. But don't like to be tethered. Not intending my office set up to be my ultimate listening room, but for now, let's pretend cost is not a limiting factor. Lots of choices in high-end compact DACs and amps. But speakers with a desk have me looking for suggestions. Some have said the sound wraps around the computer display well enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Probably need good dispersion. maggies too directional? or something like evolution acoustics micro's on stands (which sound amazing!) ?

I'm currently using powered studio monitors on stands between my office desk and the wall in front of me. I've worked hard to place the speakers in best relation to walls, equilateral triangle about 6 feet from me. Sitting comfortably in my chair, I can just see the full face of both speakers to the sides of my iMac 27" display. I assume the monitor has some impact on the sound but it hasn't been easy to test, and I haven't heard big differences before / after removing the computer from my desk. Considering upgrading speakers. But still concerned about speaker placement vs. monitor. I've thought about mini maggies office solution, or open baffle floor standers, or monitors on the desk next to the sides of the monitor - but that just seem too close. I'd appreciate hearing from folks who have found a superior office speaker set up.

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful suggestions !

The Behringer is interesting, with midi, but looks like no instrument inputs. Are you familiar with the Apogee Duet, SPL Creon, or Audient ID22? They should be able to accomodate digital playback and instrument input with pretty good sound quality - Better than the Cambridge? - not sure, since I can't compare them unless I buy them first.

HI Blake, re-link the photos if you can. I'd like to see your setup

Thanks for the responses above. Advice I'm getting so far is that the pacement of either passive or active speaker may be best on my office desk , slightly in front of the iMac and toed in, so that the display has minimal effect on the sound. initially, I thought of passive speakers, but within my < $2k budget, speakers, amp / dac / pre , seemed too expensive. also , powered monitors should be able to also serve my very modest needs for recording and playing instruments. I'm open to suggestions. But I did hear the Focal Alpha 80s in a stereo store (that also has Focal Utopia's). and was impressed with their sound and imaging when used with the Cambridge DACmagic Plus. I get the point about speaker makers may not be the best amp makers, but integration has its advantages : fewer cables, matched damping factors and power etc etc. always a compromise.. <sigh> suggestions? on placement or best desktop sound for < $2k , using my iMac as the source for now. ?

I would like to set up my desk/office for the best audio SQ within my budget (~ $2k), and also be able to use the monitors for music recording. My top priority is audio playback quality. At the moment, I'm considering Focal Alpha 80 powered monitors, and a DAC/pre like a Cambridge DACmagic Plus, or Emotiva's version. Or, possibly go the pro-audio route with an ADAC that accepts instrument input (SPL Creno, Audient ID22, Apogee Duet 2). Question about monitor placement. These are large monitors. If I put them on stands behind my desk, I'd need to place them about 4-5 feet away from my ears, and 4-5 feet apart. The screen of my 27" iMac needs to be about 18" in front of me. So in this config., I worry about the iMac affecting the sound, imaging etc. I have heard of people placing monitors on the desk (with isolators) on either side and slightly in front of the computer screen so the computer screen wouldn't interfere as much. This would look odd, take up useful desk space, but I could live with it, if the sound is better. The Focal user guide recommends 15" to 9' distance to the listener for these nearfield speakers, but in this config, the speakers would be 20-24" inches from my ears, and about 36-38" apart. I don't have the speakers yet, so I can't test this out, but I would appreciate hearing from folks who have experience with this.

Excuse my newbie question, but I think its relevant for this thread since I'm considering subscribing to streaming (Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify), and what it would take for me to play it through speakers as well as on our mobile phones (Iphone 6+). So I'm really trying to determine a strategy. don't want to hijack the thread so if you feel this question should be on another thread or forum, I'll be happy to post it there instead. Near Term Goals: 1. play streamed music (Tidal, other) and downloaded audio (mp3, FLAC, wav, Apple lossless, other) on my phone (while connected, or in airplane mode while traveling) 2. play through speakers at my desktop, and in another room Long Term Goal 1. Also, eventually play though high-end 2-chnl system in a dedicated listening room, will likely add a turntable. I have an iphone6+, iMac (loaded), but no DAC, speakers, or NAS. Before I start down a purchasing path, I'd like to have a strategy so my initial choices might be 'forward looking'. I won't know my budget for a month or two. I will want a dedicated digital source (mac mini? Intel NUC? NAS/server?) Of course, I will need a DAC. Sonus system is pretty amazing for what it is, but I hope to do better in terms of SQ. Before I start doing lots of ripping and storing source files should I buy a NAS and put everything on it, right from the start? or not worry about that yet, and just leave all the files on my iMac? Need to learn more about NAS + streamer/renderer (SimAudio MIND, Aurender, or possibly Linn's Exakt DS system).

I think the Linn philosophy is fascinating. I'm trying to recall an article about another company that uses a similar approach - might be BMC B.M.C. Audio. (if I recall correctly, one of their speakers uses and external crossover and is essentially digital all the way. I would *love* to hear the Ekakt. one concern I would have is being locked into the 'walled garden' as beautiful as it might be. But perhaps that would be a blessing and not a curse in the long run - just being a peace with such a fully integrated and synergistic system rather than trying to find that synergy via trial and error.

Assuming that the press conference was intended to create a strong impression and communicate TIDAL's vision, it seems the overwhelming emphasis was on pop music personality i.e. TIDAL = JayZ, Madona et al. OK. But that's not a vision that appeals to me. (btw, Interesting to contrast with PONO's vision. ) I'd pay extra for hi SQ and ease of use and huge library of all genres - including classical, experimental, jazz, indy. But that's not what I'm taking away from the promo/press/hype. To the contrary, I got the impression of prestige branding, like $250 personality-branded sneakers.

SQ would be my priority, so I would consider having the visuals on a side wall. I'll look for info about acoustically transparent projections screens - but if anyone has experience or info about those to share, that would be great

I've been wondering about possibilities for projecting video art to provide interesting visual accompaniment to high end audio. This would not be 'home theater' or DVD movies, but hi-res still images , 'slide shows', or video art. Perhaps a large 72" 4K (or even 8k) video display connected to a computer would be the quietest way. But then you have a large reflective surface, like a large window, to deal with. Maybe a hi res video projector to could put the image on a somewhat acoustically better surface would work - but then you have the heat and noise of the projector. anyone doing something like this ?

Thanks to Barry and others for thoughtful responses! I have visited some high end recording studios. It looks like the mics, and mic preamps are where a lot of their 'high end' investments are. They tend to mic everything, and use relatively little direct input from instruments. In some studios, you might see high end audiophile full range speakers farther back in the control room , as well as smaller monitors (shoeboxes) on the console bridge which can include DSP features and can cost up to $10K/pr. But as Barry and others have said, it does seem that pro audio and audiophile listening objectives are different enough that their market and products have evolved independently - despite the similarity of the technology of DACs, speakers, etc. Thus.. my original post. My personal recording needs could be met with very modest gear (e.g. Saphire interface). but as long as I need a DAC and speakers , I was wondering if I might configure an office setup that is integrated rather than independent. I know it can depend on a lot on budget, which is somewhat TBD.

Hi J dub, I understand that for recording instruments I should use pro audio gear. But my question is whether or not pro audio ADAC would sound as good for audiophile listening as a comparably priced audiophile DAC. If so, then perhaps a pro audio ADAC could serve both purposes.