Hi all, newbie here.
First off, a bit of background. I used to be a hifi nut, with a very nice Linn, Sugden, ProAc and REL setup. Since having kids, that's now long gone, and been replaced with a Naim Muso in the front room, so still a nice bit of kit.
What I'm looking for is something for my home office. Annoyingly, I don't like listening on headphones, which seems to make matters much more difficult, hence my appeal for help on here.
I recently bought a tiny pair of jvc speakers, originally from an old mini system, and a cheap Chinese Bluetooth amp, which pairs to my Android phone. For my needs, which are purely low volume, nearfield listening, I've been staggered by how good it sounds, for a total outlay of around £80. It's certainly converted me to the benefits of a small, full range driver. The speakers are on my desk, as I've no option for wall mounting or floor stands, but I've found that the proximity has actually been a good thing in terms of imaging, and Given that I'm only a couple of feet from the speakers, I don't need a hugely powerful amp, so there are many benefits.
The truth is, I actuallu enjoy it more than listening to the Naim, and it's made me wonder how much I can improve things (on a budget). I've just today managed to get hold of an upgraded version of my current JVC speakers, in a nice wood finish, with a wood cone driver.
Current thoughts/wishes are as follows:
- Listening is via Amazon Music HD, so potentially 24bit audio if I use the right kit. I'd like to have the phone charging whist streaming, so I'm toying with a USB C hub, to enable me to get a wired connection to a Dac/amp and charge the phone at the same time.
- I want to keep things as simple as possible, ie as few wall warts as I can.
- Budget is £150ish. Happy to be patient for the right kit to come up 2nd hand on Ebay.
- Nothing too bulky. It needs to be fairly small to fit on the desk.
Does anyone have a similar setup, or suggestions of kit I should look at? I'm thinking my options are something like:
- amp/Dac combined
- separate amp and dac
- headphone dac to use as a pre amp + power amp
- Wiim Mini Audio Streamer + power amp, which would negate the need for getting 24bit audio directly from my phone. From what I've read, Android doesn't always play nice when attempting this type of thing.
Thanks in advance,
Matt.
First off, a bit of background. I used to be a hifi nut, with a very nice Linn, Sugden, ProAc and REL setup. Since having kids, that's now long gone, and been replaced with a Naim Muso in the front room, so still a nice bit of kit.
What I'm looking for is something for my home office. Annoyingly, I don't like listening on headphones, which seems to make matters much more difficult, hence my appeal for help on here.
I recently bought a tiny pair of jvc speakers, originally from an old mini system, and a cheap Chinese Bluetooth amp, which pairs to my Android phone. For my needs, which are purely low volume, nearfield listening, I've been staggered by how good it sounds, for a total outlay of around £80. It's certainly converted me to the benefits of a small, full range driver. The speakers are on my desk, as I've no option for wall mounting or floor stands, but I've found that the proximity has actually been a good thing in terms of imaging, and Given that I'm only a couple of feet from the speakers, I don't need a hugely powerful amp, so there are many benefits.
The truth is, I actuallu enjoy it more than listening to the Naim, and it's made me wonder how much I can improve things (on a budget). I've just today managed to get hold of an upgraded version of my current JVC speakers, in a nice wood finish, with a wood cone driver.
Current thoughts/wishes are as follows:
- Listening is via Amazon Music HD, so potentially 24bit audio if I use the right kit. I'd like to have the phone charging whist streaming, so I'm toying with a USB C hub, to enable me to get a wired connection to a Dac/amp and charge the phone at the same time.
- I want to keep things as simple as possible, ie as few wall warts as I can.
- Budget is £150ish. Happy to be patient for the right kit to come up 2nd hand on Ebay.
- Nothing too bulky. It needs to be fairly small to fit on the desk.
Does anyone have a similar setup, or suggestions of kit I should look at? I'm thinking my options are something like:
- amp/Dac combined
- separate amp and dac
- headphone dac to use as a pre amp + power amp
- Wiim Mini Audio Streamer + power amp, which would negate the need for getting 24bit audio directly from my phone. From what I've read, Android doesn't always play nice when attempting this type of thing.
Thanks in advance,
Matt.
