Best small, desktop speakers, $500 or under (new or used)

I've chased this for years. I decided internal amplification for computer/desktop was the way to go, then improve the source: high res music files, good soundcard or DAC, Amarra, etc. I started early with new Altec Lansing ACS48s - loved them. Then B&W MM-1: excellent and fun but, like Audioengine and my Adam Artist 5s, all sounded accurate but slightly processed to these ears. A pair of used Swan M200 Mk II arrived with damaged internal amps but sound terrific with external amplification. I love our sublime Totem Arros and other small Totem designs have that magic but I'm not tempted by the sound of the self-powered Kin Play. My keepers: 1) Decware DM944s (now DM945) - I used then nearfield for awhile but they deserve more room – and tubes. This brings me to 2) Vanatoo Transparent Ones - the knock-out punch. Music leaps and thunders out of them. Jaw-dropping yet very musical. Miraculous. The Zeros are smaller, and perhaps cooler design-wise, and equally astonishing for their size - I've heard them at length and in conversation with one of the owners. For context, I always buy used; myroom-sized systems have included Klipsch Quartets and Klipschorns; Merlin, Mirage, Allison, Canton. Omega 7 XRS Alnico, Tekton OB4.5. My keepers are all full-throated, balanced, transparent and tonally rich to my ears: Klipsch Epic CF-3, Decware DM944s, Totem Arros – and for desktop use, the Vanatoo Transparent Ones.

+1 For Audioengine A2+ with their DAC. That is my office system. 

ADS l300s

Another vote for Vanatoo Transparent Zero, incredible speakers from a very responsive company. You must use their interconnect between speakers, it is NOT a regular ethernet cable. Excellent sound from a tiny set of speakers.

Thanks for the many additional ideas. I like the idea of a very efficient speaker, if only because I’d be curious to try driving it with a small tube amp someday rather than my Adcom. I agree about the Atoms. Dull. The JBL and that Vanatoos still sound interesting. There really is too much out there!

These are too much, but the seem like a good, more expensive desktop option— Decware Trapeziums