I have two playback systems that I use for serious listening, one in my home office and the other in a dedicated, tuned listening room. The Listening Room system is very much my reference system in that no compromises were made in setting the room up for the best possible sound. My Office system makes concessions for the functionality of my workspace and thus has some flaws in terms of room acoustics that make is somewhat less optimal for serious listening. That said, my office system still permits good judgements on smaller ensemble works, solo instrumental and chamber music, for example. Typically, I will reserve full judgment on a recording until I’ve listened to it on my full Listening Room system.
So on to the systems….
My Office system:
Speakers: Harbeth P3ESR (stand-mounted, sealed box, two-way mini monitors), REL T7 subwoofer (sealed box, single active 8″ driver, 100w class A/B solid state amp)
Amplification: Music Hall a15.3 integrated amplifier (50wpc class A/B solid state)
DAC: Schiit Bifrost Uber USB (24/192)
Source: iMac 27″ running Roon 1.4 (upsampling to 24/192 for 16/44.1 and 16/48 content only, DSD rendered using Roon’s real time conversion, all other material played at native resolution, filter mode: minimum phase)
Cables: Shunyata Venom power cables (Schiit and Music Hall), Kimber PBJ interconnects (Schiit to Music Hall), Blue Jeans Cable Canare 4S11 speaker cable with locking bananas (Music Hall to Harbeths)
Room Treatments: acoustic foam at first reflection points.
The Listening Room system:
Speakers: Harbeth Monitor 30.1 (stand mounted, ported, two-way monitors), REL T9i subwoofer (sealed box, one active 10″ front-firing driver, one passive down-firing driver, 300w class A/B solid state amp)
Amplification: Cayin A-70T tube integrated amplifier (55wpc ultra-linear, 35wpc tri-linaer, class A/B, using 4 ohm taps, tube complement: 4 KT-88 power tubes, 2 12AX7 and 2 12 AU7 driver tubes [all Genelex Gold Lion] and 1 5AR4 rectifier [Mullard reissue])
Source and DAC: Sony HAP-Z1ES high resolution player (24/192 PCM and 5.6 mHz DSD, DSD upsampling active, filter mode: precision)
Cables: Shunyata Venom power cable (Sony), Signal Cable power cable (Cayin), Audioquest NRG-X3 power cable (REL), Kimber Hero WBT interconnects (Sony to Cayin), DiMarzio M-Path speaker cables (Cayin to Harbeths)
Room Treatments: 4 17″ X 48″ X 2″ DIY broadband absorbers (covered in burlap, filled with ROCKWOOL bats) placed along side walls at first reflection points, 6 24″ X 24″ X 2″ DIY broadband absorbers (covers in burlap, filled with ROCKWOOL) stacked in corners of back wall as bass traps, assorted acoustic foam at various locations as needed.
As can been, Harbeth is spoken here. I feel they do acoustic music uncommonly well. I also am a tube fan, although my Office system offers a solid-state counterpoint.
The Cranky Audiophile 