I find myself spending considerable time at home office. My music / Roon needs currently are served by a single Sonos speaker sitting at the distant corner of the room - not very satisfactory. I have seen a lot of people however, having a secondary system setup on their desk and I am looking for ideas. Obviously I would not want to spend crazy amounts of money (I did that for my main system…). It would be nice if you include apart from the mandatory picture(s) and a description of your system and approximate(?) cost…
You need to give a budget as you can build one from a few hundred quid to a few thousand depending on what you want from it. Mines an old set of Celestion F1 speakers I had unused, a Raspberry pi 3b and a Hifiberry Amp hat.
You can buy a good set of powered speakers like the Qacoustics M20 and add a Pi to that as a source for just under 400. Or add a better DAC to the same comb. I have their earlier BT3 speakers in my 2nd dining room and they are great. Will be going for M20s when I have some spare funds.
Of you could get the Kef LSX for about a grand, not Roon Ready onky Roon tested but work well by all accounts.
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Audioengine 2+ and a pi is a good combo.
Lots available 2nd hand.
You can use the inbuilt dac to start and then add a dac board to the pi to up the quality later.
Thank you for the suggestion. How is the bottom end of the Audioengine 2+? Would you need a sub to complement or is it “respectable”?
They are small desktop speakers so not true depth. For more you need to go bigger.
Speaking of which – here’s my little home office on the third floor:
It’s small and minimal, but hey – there’s a window that opens – and on the back there’s a nice little rooftop terrace.
And since I’ve spent way too much time over there in the last two years, the audio quite serviceable as well, with a pair of KEF LSX along with a Kube 8b subwoofer. Out of the picture a pair of AirPods Max and a little Mac mini for HQP/NAA and Roon Bridge – and to control the Ortho remote (left of the keyboard) for volume and play/pause. And underneath the desk is a little USB-to-optical bridge, connecting with a CCK on the iPhone for lossless/highres Apple Music.
It’s a miracle I get some actual work done every now and then… 
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MacBook Pro
RME ADI-2 DAC fs
Adam A5X
iLoud MTM
Sennheiser HD800S
Sennheiser HD660S
Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro
Apple AirPods Max
Apple AirPods Pro
LG Ultrafine 4K
Wacom Intuos Pro
Ableton Push 2
Soundrise Monitor Stands
Rain mStand
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If you nearfield not sure you will need a sub. I certainly don’t in my setup. No your not going down as far as full range but for working environment it’s just not necessary.
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The LSX s are not Roon ready. How do you get them connected to Roon then? (excuse my ignorance)
They are Roon Tested (in a special way – Roon accommodated connectivity labeled ‘KEF Streaming’):
It offers full playback functionality (including volume control), but is not RoonReady – ie. they cannot be grouped with RAAT (RoonReady/Roon Bridge) endpoints.
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While it is not being used as a desktop system but rather as a guest bedroom system the concept is basically the same. Audioengine HD6 Wireless speakers with a Squeeze Touch (a Squeezebox Duet is shown in the photo). The Touch is connected via optical to the Audioengine and will play up to 24bit/96kHz. Sounds lovely.
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This is my more casual desktop.
Apple 12.9” iPad Pro
Raspberry Pi 4 + Ropieee XL
JDS Labs Element II
Sennheiser HD800S
Sennheiser HD660S
Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro
Apple AirPods Max
Apple AirPods Pro
Sonos One SL x 2
Rain mStand
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Always looks so messy in a photo! (no comments please) I’m a stand up guy (at my desk anyway).
AURALiC POLARIS using pre-outs to Dynaudio XEO 10 powered speakers on isoACOUSTICS stands (ISO-130). Simple.
My father’s artwork above. 
I am amazed at the quality of the XEO’s and the amount of bass they produce for small guys. Impressed enough that I bought a pair of Dynaudio Focus HD 20’s for my main system! 
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Great system! As I have one Sonos One myself, I guess a solution would be to get another one and create a stereo pair…
Given that Sonos are Roon ready, can you please explain how you use / connect the Raspberry Pi4+ Ropieee XL?
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I guess to drive the JDS DAC headphone amp
I notice non-stock power supply there 
why and which model?
Also, have you tried to power Anubis over ethernet (POE+) ?
Nice artist there btw. See one of my pics:
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I’m using iFi iPowerX 12V for easy carrying and also friendly with 2-pin outlet.
I just got a Cisco CBS350 with PoE recently. Will try it when get home later this week. 
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