[h1f1add1cted]

My fully watercooled mini ITX machine (Intel i7 3770 CPU+ GTX 1070 GPU) using Ncase M1 case:

As audio I use a very small cheap, but great combo, the USB DAC is M-Audio Micro DAC paired with Eytmotic EK-5 with custom tips, very clean, balanced monitoring sound. The Beyerdanmic DT-770 M (modded) in background is just rarely used.


Some internal shots from the mini itx machine, every millimeter counts. Very silent and cool setup (CPU OC'ed at 4.1 Ghz peak 54°C and GPU OC'ed at 2.0 Ghz peak 42°C):

 

[Letmebefrank]

My fully watercooled mini ITX machine (Intel i7 3770 CPU+ GTX 1070 GPU) using Ncase M1 case:



As audio I use a very small cheap, but great combo, the USB DAC is M-Audio Micro DAC paired with Eytmotic EK-5 with custom tips, very clean, balanced monitoring sound. The Beyerdanmic DT-770 M (modded) in background is just rarely used.


Some internal shots from the mini itx machine, every millimeter counts. Very silent and cool setup (CPU OC'ed at 4.1 Ghz peak 54°C and GPU OC'ed at 2.0 Ghz peak 42°C):

I've always wanted to do a mini itx build. Yours looks great!

 

[h1f1add1cted]

Yeah thanks, but it was a pain, I do not recommend this for water cooling beginners, it's very tough job, you need nerves of steel. Start with a air cooled mini ITX build, even this can be a real challenge, but it's great with such a small form factor to have such powerful hardware under the hood, like the new AMD Ryzen with 8 core and 16 threads, paried with a Nvida GTX 1080 Ti = amazing.

 

[Energy]

Downsized from a gaming PC to a laptop just so I can fit my audio equipment on the table as a "stack" setup.

Computer: MacBook Pro 2013 (with SSD)

Speakers: Adam A7X Limited Edition Black
Subwoofer: SVS SB-1000 Piano White (sitting on Auralex SubDude-II)

Wall Power Outlet: MS Audio Rhodium Receptacle 20A
Power Cable: Signal Cables MagicPower
Power Distributor: MS Audio 4 (rhodium plated)
Power Supply: UpTone Audio LPS-1 & iFi iPower 9V
USB Cable: iFi Mercury
USB Signal Conditioner: UpTone Audio ISO REGEN
Digital To Digital Converter: Singxer SU-1
Digital To Analog Converter: Metrum Acoustics Pavane Level 3
Amplifier: AMB Laboratories BETA 22 (build log: http://www.amb.org/forum/beta-22-build-log-by-energy-t2777.html)
Headphones: Focal Utopia

Other than making a new headphone cable and mounting up acoustic panels, not too sure if this setup will change much the next couple years.

 

[Vasiliosn]

Well, I just finished cleaning up my dorm room so I thought i would snap a few pics of my desk setup.

It consist of:
'09 Macbook Pro → uDac → Yamaha CR-620 → J Sound Lab Headphone → K702 or ESW9
OR

'09 Macbook Pro[size=small] → uDac → Yamaha CR-620 → B&W LM-1 or Genesis Physics Model 11[/size]

do you get eny fatigue with the desk set up ?

 

[project86]

This is what I'm using currently:



The Zenion music server runs Euphony OS which I use to run Roon Server. It's a totally fanless design based on a low TDP Skylake i3 (they now use Kaby Lake going forward), with a quick SSD for Roon database and an 8TB NAS in the other room for library storage.

The Zenion is powered by the massive Keces P8 linear PSU seen in the pic. It serves music to a SOtM sMS-200 which is fed by a Wyred 4 Sound PS-1 linear power supply (not pictured). USB out from the SOtM goes to the Matrix X-SPDIF 2 DDC, which is also powered by the Keces PSU (it has dual outputs). From there, signal goes out via AES or coaxial or IIS over HDMI to any number of DACs and amps and headphones.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a dedicated computer for running Roon. I can leave it on 24/7 and it's completely silent - my usual desktop rig is a quiet SFF build but still makes some noise, enough to bug me at night. Plus I don't get weird about multi-tasking.... I can stress my regular PC all I want and not worry about CPU cycles or any other factor impacting my sound quality.

 

[stuck limo]

Downsized from a gaming PC to a laptop just so I can fit my audio equipment on the table as a "stack" setup.

Computer: MacBook Pro 2013 (with SSD)

Speakers: Adam A7X Limited Edition Black
Subwoofer: SVS SB-1000 Piano White (sitting on Auralex SubDude-II)

Wall Power Outlet: MS Audio Rhodium Receptacle 20A
Power Cable: Signal Cables MagicPower
Power Distributor: MS Audio 4 (rhodium plated)
Power Supply: UpTone Audio LPS-1 & iFi iPower 9V
USB Cable: iFi Mercury
USB Signal Conditioner: UpTone Audio ISO REGEN
Digital To Digital Converter: Singxer SU-1
Digital To Analog Converter: Metrum Acoustics Pavane Level 3
Amplifier: AMB Laboratories BETA 22 (build log: http://www.amb.org/forum/beta-22-build-log-by-energy-t2777.html)
Headphones: Focal Utopia

Other than making a new headphone cable and mounting up acoustic panels, not too sure if this setup will change much the next couple years.

Impressions on the Adam A7X? I'm looking for either that or the Adam A77X as my next speakers.

 

[Energy]

Impressions on the Adam A7X? I'm looking for either that or the Adam A77X as my next speakers.

They are very good in my opinion. Transducer is very revealing but resolving with a flat frequency all the way up to 50KHz. The full range woofer extends down to 42Hz. Everything down there is still pronounced but fades off slowly the lower it gets. Due to this reason, I recommend pairing it with a with dedicated subwoofer instead of using an A77X. The reason for this is because even though the A77X has separate woofers for the mid-range and bass, it's sub only digs down to 38Hz. It would be better to use something else like an affordable SVS subwoofer that can go lower to 18-24Hz. The SVS brand subwoofers have built in DSP to help the quasi-anechoic frequency response in the lower frequencies. For example, this prevents typical fall off frequencies around 10-20Hz from sounding less loud than 30-40Hz. Because of this, you get subwoofer with a flatter frequency response thus more accurate for sound reproduction which correlates to better mixing for DJ's, Producers, or Mastering Engineers.

The DSP in short is pretty much built in hardware and software equalization. No need for a computer program unless want to calibrate your frequency response (speaker/sub) from your listening position using a calibration microphone and EQ software to a flatter frequency response. A high end speaker or studio monitor can produce flat frequency, but where you sit may not be getting a flat response which is why everything including speakers and headphones should be calibrated (equalized). Our room sizes are different. The things we put inside the room can change the frequency response of where we sit. Our ear pinna and canal can also do the same when the headphones are put on (kinda like furniture). The slight difference in seal or angling of the headphone cushion also can. Everything is unique, thus why it needs to be calibrated/equalized.

It is recommended to have a sealed subwoofer for accurate bass reproduction. Ported subwoofers are too boomy for music reproduction and better for home theaters. Ports work fine for mid-range or full range woofers as those don't carry out too much air compared to the lower frequencies thus why the A7X has them.

I upgraded to these from the Emotiva AirMotiv 6S and Stealth 8, but these are vastly superior for a small bump in price. I would recommend running balanced XLR's.
If you have a decent mid-field room size, then I don't see A77X being too bad. It's just in order to have superior sound quality and frequency extensions I think it is better to have individualized parts that perform/measure better rather than using an all in one unit.

 

[stuck limo]

They are very good in my opinion. Transducer is very revealing but resolving with a flat frequency all the way up to 50KHz. The full range woofer extends down to 42Hz. Everything down there is still pronounced but fades off slowly the lower it gets. Due to this reason, I recommend pairing it with a with dedicated subwoofer instead of using an A77X. The reason for this is because even though the A77X has separate woofers for the mid-range and bass, it's sub only digs down to 38Hz. It would be better to use something else like an affordable SVS subwoofer that can go lower to 18-24Hz. The SVS brand subwoofers have built in DSP to help the quasi-anechoic frequency response in the lower frequencies. For example, this prevents typical fall off frequencies around 10-20Hz from sounding less loud than 30-40Hz. Because of this, you get subwoofer with a flatter frequency response thus more accurate for sound reproduction which correlates to better mixing for DJ's, Producers, or Mastering Engineers.

The DSP in short is pretty much built in hardware and software equalization. No need for a computer program unless want to calibrate your frequency response (speaker/sub) from your listening position using a calibration microphone and EQ software to a flatter frequency response. A high end speaker or studio monitor can produce flat frequency, but where you sit may not be getting a flat response which is why everything including speakers and headphones should be calibrated (equalized). Our room sizes are different. The things we put inside the room can change the frequency response of where we sit. Our ear pinna and canal can also do the same when the headphones are put on (kinda like furniture). The slight difference in seal or angling of the headphone cushion also can. Everything is unique, thus why it needs to be calibrated/equalized.

It is recommended to have a sealed subwoofer for accurate bass reproduction. Ported subwoofers are too boomy for music reproduction and better for home theaters. Ports work fine for mid-range or full range woofers as those don't carry out too much air compared to the lower frequencies thus why the A7X has them.

I upgraded to these from the Emotiva AirMotiv 6S and Stealth 8, but these are vastly superior for a small bump in price. I would recommend running balanced XLR's.
If you have a decent mid-field room size, then I don't see A77X being too bad. It's just in order to have superior sound quality and frequency extensions I think it is better to have individualized parts that perform/measure better rather than using an all in one unit.

Thanks for that honest review. I do think the bass will be fine on the A77X (and most likely the A7X) and if I need a woofer, I'll get one eventually. Not sure that's a necessity for me. But definitely I see at least one of these in near-ish future.

 

[BucketInABucket]

Finished my custom loop!

 

[Energy]

That looks fantastic! Would love to use something like that for DSD encoding.

 

[WoodyLuvr]

 

[Hyp0xia]

PC SPECS
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
Motherboard: ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9S
RAM: 32GB (2 x 16GB) Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz CL14 1.2V
Video: Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X (Pascal)
Boot Drive: Intel 730 Series 480GB
Storage Drive: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB M.2
PSU: Corsair SF600
Case: NCASE M1 V5 (silver)
Side Intake: Cougar Vortex HDB 120mm (black)
Rear Exhaust: Noctua NF-A9 FLX

PERIPHERALS, ETC.
Desk: Ikea Galant w/ T-legs
Monitor: LG 34UM88C-P
Monitor Arm: Ergotron MX
Keyboard: Magicforce 82 w/ Cherry MX Browns
Wrist Rest: Royal Glam resin and ebony
Mouse: Cooler Master Storm Spawn
Mouse Pad: Corsair MM300 Extended
DAC/Amp: Schiit Jotunheim w/ balanced DAC module (possibly to be replaced by a Schiit Gungnir Multibit and an OTL tube amp in the near future)
Headphone du Jour: ZMF Atticus in padauk, though I also really enjoy my Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro and have an Eikon in camphor on the way
Speakers: Micca MB42X
Speaker Amp: Topping PA3 in silver (not hooked up when I took the photo)

 

[Baird GoW]

Moved from CA to AK. This is my 8'x10' room for the next 2 years till I move back.

PC:
CPU - i5 6600k @ 4.0ghz
GPU - EVGA 1080TI FTW3
Mobo - Gigabyte Z170MX-Gaming 5
SSD – Samsung EVO 960 M.2 NvMe
RAM - Corsair Vengence 16GB
PSU – Corsair HX750W
HSF – Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3
CASE - Raijintek Styx

Video:
Monitor – Acer Predator X34 3440x1440 Gsync
TV – Samsung 65” KS8500 4k SUHD Quantum Dot

Audio:
DAC/Amp/Preamp - Audio GD Reference 10.32
Headphones - Hifiman HE-6 Custom Modded
Speakers – Adam A7X
Mic – Audio Technica AT4033
Mic input – Roland VT-3 (hidden in photo, in drawer)
Acid – Roland TB-3
Synth – Access Virus TI
Keyboard – AKAI MPK25

Laptop:
Razer Blade UHD 1TB w/ GTX1060

DJ:
CD Player - 2x CDJ-2000NXS2
Mixer - DJM-900NXS2
Effects - RMX – 1000
Heaphones - Ultrasone Pro 900

Gun:
Sig Sauer P226 MK25

 

[Jason Van Patten]

Instead of pics, I made a video explaining the system and then whipped up a blog page to outline all of the hardware in it. The blog page has a link to the vid:

http://www.jvpvideoproductions.com/index.php/gaming-rig/