Advice needed: Upgrading my home office audio setup

[bultot]

I'm in the midst of setting up a man cave and need some advice on audio setup, especially since I'm considering a significant overhaul.

I'm currently using Edifier MKIII 2000 speakers paired with a Schiit Modius DAC and Schiit Valhalla 2 amp. I've also been using Sennheiser HD650 headphones. However, I'm facing a few issues that have me rethinking my setup:

1. Space Concerns: The Schiit stack is quite tall, and I'd like to mount the equipment under my desk to free up space. However, the Valhalla 2's tube design doesn't fit well under the desk.
2. Sound Quality vs. Software Solutions: I'm reconsidering the use of tube amps. It seems that software EQ and plugins might achieve similar sound enhancements without the bulk and heat of tubes.
3. Connectivity and Noise Issues: I have a ground loop problem forcing me to use SPDIF (Toslink) for the DAC, which isn't ideal. Also, there's a loud popping sound when the system starts up, affecting both speakers and headphones.

Given these challenges, I'm thinking about selling the Schiit gear and moving to something like the Topping D70 Pro Sabre and A70 Pro combo which would fit nicely under the desk like this, or possibly the Topping DX9, however that one is a bit wide. One of the appealing aspects of the Topping devices is their aesthetics; they have sleek designs and nice displays which I find quite appealing.

I have a few questions for this knowledgeable community:
- Would the Topping units address my issues, particularly the ground loop problem, or would I still need to use SPDIF instead of USB?
- Do you have any recommendations for other DAC/amp setups that might suit my needs better?

Your expertise and any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all in advance!

 

[AnalogSteph]

The Valhalla 2 appears to combine being an IEC Class I device with RCA inputs only, which (pardon the pun) is a bit schiit. The start-up pop I would assume to be the DAC's fault.

I would run the Toslink directly into the Edifiers instead (whatever they have built-in is unlikely to be a bottleneck) and look for a DAC/amp in addition. That would give you two different audio devices when it comes to system-wide EQ and such. Sinking a grand into a stack just to drive some HD650s seems a bit over the top but whatever floats your boat I guess (it's solid gear either way).

I would make sure you've got some measurement gear before exhausting the budget though, there's really no other way of addressing your local room modes and such. I've had some great results using the moving microphone method, give or take some manual adjustment of the house curve's treble slope. So I would also consider an audio interface with drivers good enough for general use instead of a pure DAC. If in doubt you can get some more than decent ones in the 100-200$ range. Or maybe just a UMIK-1 in addition to whatever else you get, it'll be generally fine if all you need is some speaker EQ.

 

[bultot]

Thanks for the insights, AnalogSteph!

After reading your suggestions, it seems the built-in DAC in my Edifier speakers should be sufficient, which simplifies things. However, I've been facing a challenge with ground noise in my current setup. To address this, I added a USB HD audio adapter between my MacBook and the DAC, which helped, but the setup feels makeshift and not ideal. Do you think there's a better approach, perhaps a single USB device that can effectively handle both speakers and headphones without introducing ground noise?

Given that I predominantly use my Sennheiser HD650 headphones (95% of the time), could you recommend a DAC and headphone amplifier combo that would eliminate ground noise issues and provide excellent audio quality?

ps: I also have a Focusrite 8i6 which I'm not using at the moment. Would this be of any help?

 

[AnalogSteph]

Do you think there's a better approach, perhaps a single USB device that can effectively handle both speakers and headphones without introducing ground noise?

Not just one, but multiple.

You could dump just the Valhalla for a Midgard and some XLR cables. Probably just about cost-neutral depending on used prices. Would that be compact enough?
If you're cheap, you could plug a Topping L30 II into your onboard output and get by just fine like that, too. (My bedside setup is like that: A HD600 on an Atom Amp+ on this with software upsampling to 192 kHz. You would not have such digital filter woes with an average Realtek, those pretty much have lower periodic filter ripple than a good few standalone DACs...)
...

ps: I also have a Focusrite 8i6 which I'm not using at the moment. Would this be of any help?

It would give you access to a bunch of XLR measurement microphones if nothing else, so the hurdles for getting speaker measurements would not be too high. Which generation? It ought to be decent enough as a DAC as well (though the older drivers for a 1st-gen unit in particular can be flaky) but that's not your main problem.