Joe, you just waded into a swamp of pitfalls for audiophiles. I'm a reformed audiophile (all my big system gear is in storage) who now does listening on a desktop system &/or headphones. It's a different world. I've done a lot of research and discovered a few painful truths:
1 - Most of the equipment people treasure in desktop audio, particularly speakers, are either actual studio systems "voiced" for flat, accurate monitoring (and thus pretty miserable for recreational audio); or they're shoddy, wannabe imitations of same. There are very few truly audio-centric desktop systems--ie, that have no "monitoring" agenda, overt or covert.
2 - Most of the people searching for & buying desktop audio equipment lack an audiophile background and/or music appreciation history (ie, having logged time listening to at least some live, unamplified instrumental music, as well as amped/processed music)
There are always exceptions. There are always some who gravitate towards good sound. And there are desktop systems that satisfy. They're just hard to find.
My primary advice to you would be read as many user reviews as you can find for anything you're looking at. If it's powered speakers, for example, search for those speakers on Amazon, NewEgg, Sweetwater, and 2-3 studio/audio supply houses. Read & read 'til you can suss out the DJs (irrelevant to you), the studio producers (irrelevant to you) vs the music lovers looking for speakers that please them (totally relevant to you).
I can tell you the powered speakers that made the cut for me (Swan M200 MKIIIs--musical, spacious, "real"; plus SVS SB-1000 sub); and powered that really interest me--Adam A7X top that list--but so what? You still have to find your own way.
Conventional audiophile vendors mostly will be no help. There are exceptions (ie, Focal). But most of the names that matter in desktop audio are different. And to be honest, the sound one strives for in the desktop environment is realistically rather different, too: less emphasis on soundstaging & imaging (less material in nearfield listening; but just as much concern w/tonal accuracy, timbre, etc.
1 - Most of the equipment people treasure in desktop audio, particularly speakers, are either actual studio systems "voiced" for flat, accurate monitoring (and thus pretty miserable for recreational audio); or they're shoddy, wannabe imitations of same. There are very few truly audio-centric desktop systems--ie, that have no "monitoring" agenda, overt or covert.
2 - Most of the people searching for & buying desktop audio equipment lack an audiophile background and/or music appreciation history (ie, having logged time listening to at least some live, unamplified instrumental music, as well as amped/processed music)
There are always exceptions. There are always some who gravitate towards good sound. And there are desktop systems that satisfy. They're just hard to find.
My primary advice to you would be read as many user reviews as you can find for anything you're looking at. If it's powered speakers, for example, search for those speakers on Amazon, NewEgg, Sweetwater, and 2-3 studio/audio supply houses. Read & read 'til you can suss out the DJs (irrelevant to you), the studio producers (irrelevant to you) vs the music lovers looking for speakers that please them (totally relevant to you).
I can tell you the powered speakers that made the cut for me (Swan M200 MKIIIs--musical, spacious, "real"; plus SVS SB-1000 sub); and powered that really interest me--Adam A7X top that list--but so what? You still have to find your own way.
Conventional audiophile vendors mostly will be no help. There are exceptions (ie, Focal). But most of the names that matter in desktop audio are different. And to be honest, the sound one strives for in the desktop environment is realistically rather different, too: less emphasis on soundstaging & imaging (less material in nearfield listening; but just as much concern w/tonal accuracy, timbre, etc.