Office stereo

I have such a killer office setup now that I feel lucky to have stumbled on to it. Take a look at my office space it is a disaster zone for audio. I have 9 computer screens and 2 desks. No way audio should sound good in this space, it actually sounds great. This is an old photo (need to update this)
 

Office System 2 | Virtual Listening Room

A couple of things made this work.

1) I put the speakers behind me. Yeah, yeah that is not audiophile, it is music-phile. I asked a friend who builds studio gear about me putting it behind and he was all for it. Told me to just reverse the LEFT and RIGHT XLR’s somewhere on my audio chain. I have unobstructed music to my ears which is the most important thing.

2) I am using the Magnepan Mini speakers. Maggie’s are actually rather easy to place contrary to a lot of comments I have read. They are also not affected by reflections much compared to something like the KEF LS50 Meta. In a small space this is an important consideration.

I have the Mini’s about 3-4 feet from where I sit. Depends on if I am reclining. This setup is my DIY version of the RAAL 1995 Immanis headphones.

3) You need big power even for the Mini, so I strongly recommend the Schiit Wotan amp at $2k. However, to make a long story short, I sold the Wotan, and I am using the much more expensive CODA #16 with my $1000 used Maggies. Crazy but what a setup,

4) Now to really bring this system home I have what I think is the best DAC in the world on it. The new Imersiv D-1. It is $12k so rather unaffordable, but it is incredible in this setup. No DAC is going to give this level of performance.

Next week I will likely get back the Schiit Byggy DAC that went in for an upgrade from the MIB to the Byggy (Singular). That DAC is $3500 and likely a great match for my office Maggies. However, I am selling it after I make sure it works. I used the Yggi+ OG and MIB before on this system and it was really good. Like most excellent DACs people here will recommend. However, the D-1 is spectacular, and nothing sounds like it.

I stream using fibre optic and Sonore Optical Rendu’s. Fibre streaming is a must for me.

I sold all of the following gear in the last 3 weeks so if they show up in the photos ignore them. The Imersiv DAC made them expendable (except the tuner)

Benchmark HPA4 preamp
Schiit Yggi+ OG DAC
Schiit Kara F preamp
Schiit Wotan amp

RAAL VM-1a headphone amp
MD108T tuner 
KEF KC62 sub

Thanks so much for the comments. Great leads, and totally open to more suggestions. A couple of points to narrow things down which I neglected in my first post:

1. No headphone listening. I just can't do headphones except for Airpods of necessity when I go jogging. I should have mentioned this, sorry.

2. This is a professor's office in a university. I just love the happy audiophile chaos in @yyzsantabarbara's setup but I can't go there, not at work! My Moons + WWP at home will have to scratch that itch.

3. I don't know much about active speakers so I will follow up on those and look at the options. Otherwise, I will need to get a small preamp/amp in there. Thanks for the Wiim Ultra lead (and of course the Naim remains in contention, as also a Schiit-stack). Other suggestions most welcome.

we have a perfect solution for you 

we import the amazing jern monitors from denmark 

they are tiny and work well nearfield they are made from cast iron and graphite so the cabinets are completely dead and therefore they image extremely well

then add a naim uniti atom for a miniature reference system

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/jern14-es-loudspeaker-and-rel-t5i-subwoofer/

Dave and Troy

audio Intellect NJ

@debrajray So it seems you have some sanity and do not want to go where I have.

The post above by Dave is something I considered for my small space before I took a flyer on the Magnepan Mini and then descended into an audio maze. 

I liked the idea of the cast iron speaker enclosure for a small room. You may be able to put it on the desk in front of the window. My Mini cannot be placed that way due to the dipole design (the wall of sound effect of Maggies).

that's a big budget, I couldn't spend it. I'd go with the Quad Vena II amp and Dynaudio Evoke 10 speakers.

Or ProAc or Harbeth or Monitor Audio