all these 'Desk setups'...?

[krabapple]

I see tons of posts on ASR from people whose listening situation seems to mainly involve a pair of speakers on a desk.
These aren't pros with a set of small speakers on their board for comparative listening, these are just normal folk using 'desk setups' as their main(?) listening.
Some such 'desk setups' seem startlingly elaborate -- expensive speakers, subwoofers, DSP,fancy DACs and electronics.....

Ok, whatever floats your boat, and sometimes you just gotta work with what you got.
But I'm curious --- how are the speakers actually being deployed? I can grok the benefits of near field listening, but...
Unless the speakers baffles are situated at the front edge of a desk, wouldn't the output be subject to considerable 'desk bounce'?
And also SBIR (which might be good) if they are close to a facing wall?

(FWIW, I'm not and never have been a 'gamer', so the whole concept of elaborate desk audio is pretty foreign to me. And yes, I've seen pics of gamers with surround setups of little speakers orbiting around their big boy captain's chair too.)

 

[RosalieTheDog]

It is interesting and without judging (because I have a desk set-up too!, what follows is introspection!) I do think this is the combined effect of
- Covid and homeworking justifying spending more (than necessary) on the place where you spend most of your day ;
- Hifi manufacturers targetting those costumers with 'desktop'-sized products (compare the size of DACs of traditional Hifi producers with the flurry of devices released and reviewed in ASR since 5-10 years).
- I suspect there is some algorithmic advertising at work as well: consumers following Youtubers who advertise/review headphones get into a certain pipeline
- A prosaic thought: younger people's place where they can freely put audio equipment might only be their desk / bedroom (as well as perhaps, but this is bordering on stereotype, married men in their midlife crisis)

As for the negatives, EQ, basic stands (even a stack of books or cork yoga blocks, as I've copied from a user here) can minimise problems.

 

[SoonToBeRetired]

I have my little Kali LP-UNF speakers perched on little stands which brings them up to the recommended height relative to my ears and off the desk. As an added benefit, the space under the stands has been recaptured for storing crap on the desk. I'm very happy with their performance, especially considering the price paid. For casual listening of streamed classical music while I am "surfing" the internet, they are fine.

 

[thegeton]

Perhaps you should look here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/your-desktop-audio-setup.12057/

 

[A Surfer]

If I'm to be honest, this seems like a way of someone saying they think these desktop setups are silly without saying it outright.

 

[Joe Smith]

The majority of my daily listening is now in my smaller workroom, where I have speakers on stands proximate to ear height, currently using KEF concentric driver speakers. Good sound and listening nearfield, I have minimal room reflections impacting speaker response. I have nice equipment, but spec'd appropriately for the small room size. Use different setups in other rooms of the house for the occasional listening there. My main system downstairs actually gets little use, mostly at parties or when we want to hear an LP downstairs.

Oh, yes, and I'm not a "gamer" - apart from a brush in the mid '90s with the Myst - Riven franchise - still have a soft place in my heart for those titles, which had some very good music and atmospheric sounds.

 

[krabapple]

I searched that 24-page , ~500 post thread for the word 'bounce' and it returned zilch. Too slangy? 'Reflection' brought up seven hits, one asking the sort of question I asked, but (at least in my very casual look) not getting any direct answers:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/your-desktop-audio-setup.12057/post-1070424

The main 'treatment' seems to be putting the speakes on risers.

Has anyone measured what is happening at the MLP in these setups?

 

[krabapple]

The majority of my daily listening is now in my smaller workroom, where I have speakers on stands proximate to ear height, currently using KEF concentric driver speakers. Good sound and listening nearfield, I have minimal room reflections impacting speaker response. I have nice equipment, but spec'd appropriately for the small room size. Use different setups in other rooms of the house for the occasional listening there. My main system downstairs actually gets little use, mostly at parties or when we want to hear an LP downstairs.

Oh, yes, and I'm not a "gamer" - apart from a brush in the mid '90s with the Myst - Riven franchise - still have a soft place in my heart for those titles, which had some very good music and atmospheric sounds.

Ha, to amend my previous claim, Myst is the only game I ever played.

 

[Joe Smith]

Not me, because I'm happy with the sound I'm getting. I have very modest Equalizer APO corerection for the KEF Qs based on their anechoic curve.

 

[thegeton]

When I work from home I spend a lot of time with my desktop system: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/your-desktop-audio-setup.12057/post-2213404

 

[waynel]

unfortunately many of us spend a lot of time at our desks, therefore we have built good desktop setups.

 

[anotherhobby]

I searched that 24-page , ~500 post thread for the word 'bounce' and it returned zilch. Too slangy? 'Reflection' brought up seven hits, one asking the sort of question I asked, but (at least in my very casual look) not getting any direct answers:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/your-desktop-audio-setup.12057/post-1070424

The main 'treatment' seems to be putting the speakes on risers.

Has anyone measured what is happening at the MLP in these setups?

Also, as somebody who works from home, and listens to music 8 hours per day, an elaborate desktop system been one of the better quality of life investments I've made in recent history. Between the iso-acoustics stands to raise the speakers and the cat-bed absorbers, desk bounce isn't an issue in my setup.

You ask for measurements?

 

[waynel]

Also, as somebody who works from home, and listens to music 8 hours per day, an elaborate desktop system been one of the better quality of life investments I've made in recent history. Between the iso-acoustics stands to raise the speakers and the cat-bed absorbers, desk bounce isn't an issue in my setup.

You ask for measurements?

View attachment 424814

How do you keep cats off your desk?

 

[anotherhobby]

How do you keep cats off your desk?

I don't.

 

[krabapple]

Also, as somebody who works from home, and listens to music 8 hours per day, an elaborate desktop system been one of the better quality of life investments I've made in recent history. Between the iso-acoustics stands to raise the speakers and the cat-bed absorbers, desk bounce isn't an issue in my setup.

You ask for measurements?
[CUT]

That's impressive results, and I like the cat beds. Put a kitty in them for even more absorption!

 

[krabapple]

I can't tell, are your ears above the headrest?

 

[anotherhobby]

I can't tell, are your ears above the headrest?

Depends on if the headrest is raised and how I'm sitting. Most of the time the headrest is down, and at 6' tall that puts the top of the headrest below ear level. Sometimes when I watch video content, I lean back, chill, and use the headrest (see below). It could definitely be argued my chair is a far more frivolous expense than the stereo. Stereo total investment with room treatments was $5500. The chair was only $500 less. It's made by Ekornes.

 

[mns3dhm]

The solution for my desktop setup was to put the speakers on 36” stands to the left and right of my desktop and angle them upward so the tweeters are pointed directly at my ears. I do think some desktop speakers have built in EQ settings that attempt to adjust their sound based on their placement - desktop, wall-mounted, etc.

 

[Zgrado1970]

“Why do you kids like your cute little toy desktop setups so much?” Not a troll post at all.

 

[krabapple]

Yes, but why do you?