Best Desktop Speakers under $500


Will be used mostly for listening to music/podcasts while I work. I will not be getting a sub right now since I'm in an apartment so that is something to keep in mind.

I enjoy nice aesthetics so if they look nice or come in a color other than black, that is a plus for me.

manishkob
The Vanatoo Transparent Zeros are quite nice. Stands would be recommended to get them up off the desk.
I have the Vanatoo Transparent Zeros and for the price I don't think you can do much better.  The smaller Audioengine and Kanto powered speakers look nice but they really need a sub to help with the lower frequencies.  The Vanatoo's really have an advantage with the passive bass radiators. Highly recommend.
Find a used pair of Adam A5. Active. Ribbon tweeters. Better than all of the others I have had (lots of computer speakers, home audio monitors {Polk, Dynaudio, ...}, Monsoon planars, Audioengine, Swan M200 various versions). Each of the above did good things.

The Adam A5's do a lot of good things. The bass is very good and the ribbon tweeters are oh so good in a nearfield desktop system.  They can also play loud enough to fill a small room if you are not at your desk. 

Use an external DAC if this is a computer based system