Knownothing's Office Systems

by knownothing on
My desktop
Rega Brio-R
ATAudio power conditioner
Digital power source
Monitor Audio Radius 720
Conference room system

Description

System pre-April 2025: I loved this system for near-field or headphone listening.  Has been evolving over about 10 years.  Chord Mojo2 DAC is ridiculously good, and compliments the Rega amp, Wharfedale speakers, and Beyerdynamic headphones.

System update post-April 2025: moved my organization to a new building and space and put the amp and speakers in conference room for all to enjoy. I also added a Bluesound Node Nano as the fgsource.  For what this system cost me, the performance envelope is ridiculously high.  The Mojo2 is now serving as a headphone setup in my office with my laptop as a server.

In the larger space (22’x13”x9.5”) I was having some instances of the mid bass drivers on the little Wharfedales hitting their stops with noticeable “pops”at higher volumes on tracks with demanding bass lines.  The solution was to run the output of the Rega amp to the Monitor Audio sub, and the signal crossed over in the sub at 100Hz passed to the Wharfedale Diamond 12.0s.  Wow, 90+ db no sweat, clearer overall than I had any anticipation for a system at this price point.  The passive crossover components in the sub must be pretty good. Shocking how good the old Rega Brio-R and the little Wharedale Diamond 12.0s can sound when relieved of duties below 100Hz.
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Components Toggle details

    • Rocketfish 8-outlet surge protector
    Computer, monitor and DAC are all plugged into this conditioner.
    • Microsoft Surface Laptop 4
    A Surface laptop is the server for this system running JRiver Version 32.0.55 (64 bit)  Music is stored on a Seagate One Touch 2TB HD.  Cable is an Audioquest Forest USB C to USB Micro B 3.0.
    • DH Labs Mirage USB
    This is a excellent USB cable for the money.
    • Chord Electronics Ltd. Mojo 2
    Absolutely great little DAC/Headphone amp.  I am using the wall wart power supply that came with my Chord Qutest to power this DAC for desktop use, and it sounds very good.  I also have a iFi PowerX supply that I can use, but the main board fried while using that and it had to be returned for warranty repairs.  Not sure it had anything to do with the iFi supply, but so far no problems with the Chord supply.

    With music paused in JRiver, I can turn the Mojo2 volume to full output and I get absolutely zero detectable noise through the headphones.  I get the same result through the Diamond 12.0’s with both the Mojo2 and the Rega Brio-R set to full volume.
    • AudioQuest Big Sur RCA Interconnect
    Nice sounding RCA cable.  Using with AudioQuest 3.5mm to RCA adapter from Mojo 2.
    • Furutech FP-S022N
    Furutech power cable connecting ATAudio power conditioner to the wall.  Using SonarQuest Carbon Edition silver plated copper connectors.  This is a unicorn cable I assembled that is super revealing for high frequencies.  Extraordinarily clean bass.
    • ATAudio HIFI Power Filter
    Chinese power conditioner from AliExpress.  Noticeably lowers noise from office outlet.  Rega amp and Monitor Audio subwoofer plugged into this device.
    • Furutech FP-S35TC
    Furutech TripleC power cable connecting Rega amp to power conditioner.  Using carbon fiber rhodium plated connectors.  Very balanced sounding cable.
    • Rega Brio-R
    Nice little amp - fits into my office cabinet.  Didn't realize how good this amp was until pairing with Chord Mojo 2.  can go much louder than I can handle near-field.
    • AudioQuest Rocket 33
    Rocket 33 speaker cables shine in this application.
    • Wharfedale Diamond 12.0
    Nice little speakers.  They have no business sounding this good in near-field for the cost.  Paired with subwoofer they can party as well.  Using crossover in sub to relieve little Diamonds of deep bass duties - no more popping mid bass speakers at higher volumes, much greater scope for playing loud, better soundstage, better everything.
    • Black Shadow Power Cable
    This is a very clean sounding silver plated copper power cable.  Connects Monitor Audio subwoofer to ATAudio  power conditioner.
    • Monitor Audio Radius 720 subwoofer
    Twin 8" driver sub.  Needs to be well out from wall.  Sounds natural and can go pretty deep.  No one would confuse this with a REL however. Connected to Rega with flat Chinese silver plated OCC copper speaker cable and high level inputs.  Using high pass crossover for Wharfedale Diamond 12.0 speakers works quite well.
    • Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250 ohm
    Decent pro headphones works well for private listening in office.  Mojo2 has no problem driving these and sonically it’s a good match - I’m not compelled to adjust the DSP tone controls on Chord DAC. No one will confuse these with quality consumer headphones - they are a pretty no nonsense and industrial looking set of cans.
    • IsoAcoustics ISO-300
    Nice looking stands.  Sound different than using blutac to affix speakers to stands - more “air” and better disappearing act for boxes.  They change the height of the boxes, so there’s that.  Since crossing over speakers with high pass in sub, little bass below 100Hz going through Wharfedales.
    • Bluesound Node Nano
    This is an excellent budget streamer.  Sound quality streaming is good, and used as a server with an SSD drive connected via USB the sound is terrific with files from MP3/4 resolution up to 24/192 PCM.  I am using with an iFi iPowerX 5V power supply and that wipes the floor with the stock supplied charging block. Bluesound app is user friendly and stable.
    • SENGTERBELLE 50W ultra low noise r-core power supply
    Used as 5V power supply for Bluesound Node Nano.  I tried two different versions of 50W 5V r-core supplies from different venders on Aliexpress and liked this one the best.  I much prefer to stock Bluesound “phone cube” supply and slightly better than iFi iPowerX supply.
    • AliExpress Reference Speaker Cable Hifi OCC Silver Plated Speaker Line
    These are flat knock-offs of high-end American cables.  They sound good, we’ll leave it at that.  They connect the output of the Rega amp to the high level input of the Monitor Audio sub.

Comments 2

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Owner
Thanks @stereosanctity, this has been a work in progress.

knownothing

Love seeing nice desktop systems.

stereosanctity

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