my quest for computer desktop speakers

I have a Peachtree Nova in my office. I used to use it with B & W 601S2s that were from my first mid-fi system (plus Rega Planet 2000, Adcom 545MKII, and a Parasound Preamp, later replaced by a Rega Brio) but those are just silly looking sitting on their stands on either side of my desk.

I bought a pair of Audioengine A5+ powered speakers for my desktop. Are they as good? No. But they are close.

All that would be fine except that I was hoping to use a uDAC-HD from W4S for my headphone amp and DAC. I'll be on headphones most of the time so that matters. I use Audio-Technica ATH-W1000X Grandiosos (a big step up from my Sennheiser 600s).

I like my W4S DAC-2 in my upstairs system a lot and I thought this would be a great move up from the Nova since the DAC-2 is slightly better than my Cary Xciter which was a significant move up from the Nova.

But to my surprise the uDAC-HD just doesn't cut it. Not enough bass, not enough soundstage. Time to send it back and move on.

My hunch is that the best way to go is to keep the Peachtree box. It's big, but it's free. I can get about $700 for it I suspect (I also have a Decco and more efficient speakers might be ok with that unit). Now I could just hook the pre out to the Audio Engines, but that seems like a waste.

So, given an amp that is anemic with speakers like the 601s, what would you recommend that would be roughly the size of the A5s? 10.75" high x 7" wide?