Here’s my 2021 battlestation
Not too many changes. But to list the gear pictured above:
Headphones
DAC/Amps
Portable
Speakers
Absolutely.
After some searching for a vertical solution that was desk mounted, I came across these: 16080 Headphone holder | König & Meyer
They are about 10 GBP on Amazon UK, more expensive in the USA.
They suggest usage of up to 30mm diameter poles. I found the Duronic brand poles I use for my monitors (32mm diameter) to be just fine. Duronic poles can be purchased without any monitor mount, just the pole, from Amazon in lengths of 61cm, 80cm and 100cm. For reference, I am using the 80cm pole.
Just want to say your setups all look amazing, and I envy everyone with the desk space for both a 2 channel speaker setup and a headphone station. Living the audiophile quarantine dream! 
Some really great looking Battlestations in this thread. I just don’t have the room to have a permanent listening spot at the moment. Keep those inspiring pictures coming because I, for one love to look at them.
@Jsim is that a pure silver cable on the Empy? I’ve been on the fence about these for some time. Everyone seems to love them but I’m so skeptical that it makes any real difference…
Not pure silver, it’s Meze’s own silver-plated copper upgrade cable. I bought it just because the stock cable was getting on my nerves from the very moment I first used the Empy at home.
The cable made a huge difference though, made me enjoy the sound a whole lot more. Fascinating how a cable can mess with your mood when it gets in the way all the time haha.
On a more serious note though, I’ve had moments where I switched cables and thought I was hearing a difference, but I really don’t know. Don’t care much either, as it sounds good to me with either cable haha. So I can’t really give you an answer, if you want to find out if a pure silver cable can make a noteworthy difference, it’d be ideal to just try it out for yourself if you’re able to.
Here’s a shot of my pandemic-required second (micro) listening station. It was tough fitting even this much in my work area, as we had to suddenly rely on two home offices. Photos are nearly impossible.
… is this poor little guy reacting to what’s smashed under the glass or the disturbing image on the screen ??.. 
Actually, I think this pic is an awesome, meme worthy one. Always makes me laugh
Edit: @Resolve and his purdy pink maxes that is.
Did you also notice that the orange pair in the screen image is matched by the two firm and perky tubes on the right? It’s a dark, dark, dark world for poor little Smashy Porg. Someone ought to alert @Resolve to all of this, and @TylersEclectic for his daily dose of purple.
I thought this was the purple, no?
Andrew is quickly becoming a bit of a Babe magnet. What with all his pictures floating about. It’s nice to see that I aren’t the only one with his and of course Tyler’s picture adorning my home. Lol.
Pictured is my humble bedside rig, the centerpiece being Schiit Loki Mini sitting atop a Douk Audio passive RCA splitter. The playback source is a ZiShan DSDs digital audio player connected to the Loki via the ZiShan’s dedicated line out 3.5mm port.
The splitter has one input and four outputs. All outputs can be used simultaneously. That way, if I want to go crazy, I can have four amplifiers and headphones connected at the same time. Shown connected are the Schiit Magni 3 (solid state) and Vali 2 (tube). For those interested, the Vali 2 is sporting a sweet sounding Electro-Harmonix 6CG7 / 6FQ7 EH Preamp Tube.
Parked nearby are my Fostex T60rp and Sennheiser HD6XX headphones. These sound great with, and are driven well by, the Schiit amps.
I can use any DAP as a DAC that supports line out with this setup, so why the primitive ZiShan DSDs? It has the AKM AK4497 DAC, which somehow sounds noticeably better when paired with these amps and phones.
Sometimes I bring my Shanlings over. The M5s has an AK4493, which is also great. The Q1 has a Sabre DAC. The problem with these DAPs isn’t so much sound quality, as it is the lack of a dedicated line out physical port.
You have to choose line out in software, and if you forget to deselect line out when you disconnect, and then turn the DAP back on and start playing music, you will find the volume set to maximum and panic trying to turn it down, or remove your head set. Damage to equipment is possible. Yikes!
So that’s it for my show and tell of my bedside rig. Cheers!
Doesn’t that degrade the sound compared to signal straight from source to HP amp?
The secret to not compromise the sound on multiple runs are to keep them short. I have run up to fifteen amps on one dac using one foot or shorter interconnects. The sound was still good. I had excellent quality sound and did not detect any degradation.
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Perhaps if I did an actual A/B comparison I might find something out. Hmmm… now you have me curious. I think I hear an A/B comparison in the near future.
Can’t say as I know anything for sure. It sounds great to me, though.
I do believe this is a universal human trait…
Just reconfigured the HP Battlestation.
2015 Mac Book Pro > Roon > Matrix X SPIDIF 2 > Exogal Comet+ DAC > Eddie Current Studio B / SPL Phonitor X / Decware CSP2 / KOSS ESP/95X
Speakers in use are Decware Tiny Radials w/ BIC America Venturi V1220
That Studio B is beautiful! I want one haha
What do you think of the WE 300B? Any comparisons to other 300B? Studio B looks like a beast compared to my Studio Jr even though it’s the same internals! That large chassis is just so imposing, in a good way actually.
