[IvanE92]

Hi, all. Posting here in hopes of getting a few suggestions for how to best move my PC desktop layout to create a nice "listening corner" (as in, just a part of a room rather than an entire "listening room"). My headphone setup sounds great but its placement, for me, is becoming less and less ideal. Photo of current setup is attached.

Context: Firstly, my gear is in my basement office (triple bummer - it's in a basement room, it's my office, and I'd be sitting on my office chair). Secondly, my gear is connected to my gaming PC - forces me to pick between gaming and music. Combined, these factors create a listening environment that is distracting, and quite honestly, isn't all that engaging or relaxing.

Good news is I can find a different space for my gear, but I'm unclear how to best set it up. I use Tidal 95% of the time. So how do I best get that source to my Topping D90SE MQA --> Tube Amp --> Headphones?

I have an old windows laptop and a newer Chromebook. I also have my Android phone. Although not particularly sophisticated solutions, they're free and available.

I've researched dedicated music streamers/dedicated music servers but those seem a bit pricey. I also contemplated buying digital FLACs (instead of solely streaming)... but then I'd still have to buy some dedicated hardware as the source (presumably).

What other options are there? How do y'all have your ("desktop pc-less") listening areas setup? And how do you get the most out of your DAC hardware?

Thanks a million in advance,
Ivan

 

[HWB3]

I stream Amazon HD Music from a Toshiba laptop that is 9 years old. I have a Dragonfly Red and Black and a Schiit Modi 3+that I use for DACs and run that into an Emotiva BassX A-100 amp that I use for my headphones. A simple set up that I have a lot of fun with.

 

[IvanE92]

I stream Amazon HD Music from a Toshiba laptop that is 9 years old. I have a Dragonfly Red and Black and a Schiit Modi 3+that I use for DACs and run that into an Emotiva BassX A-100 amp that I use for my headphones. A simple set up that I have a lot of fun with.

Thanks. I'm starting to think streaming off of a laptop may be the best way to go until I fully research standalone units. Thanks for sharing.

 

[megabigeye]

I stream either local files, Apple Music, and Spotify from my phone or laptop to a Raspberry Pi running Volumio. I don't use Tidal/MQA, but as far as I understand, Volumio can handle MQA so long as your DAC can.
Both of my RPi streamers cost somewhere in the realm of $100, including DAC/digi hats. Maybe closer to $150 including a case. Now that I'm thinking of it, if you explore this route, you might make sure any Pi hats are MQA compatible, too.