Building The Lian Li DK-04X Gaming Desk

[FormatC]

I will NOT post any pictures of my living room, it is my private decision, what I bought and what I own. We were speaking about a gaming table, nothing else. This rig is on a gaming table totally oversized...

What's about my preferences? I use since years Nubert products, because this guy is also an (old-school) enthusiast and started in a garage. And you can be sure, that my cables are not such a golden crap for so-called audio-experts, but high industrial standard. I spent a lot of time and money in these things and the result is not bad. But this is a complete different discussion

 

[bit_user]

I will NOT post any pictures of my living room

I never posted a single picture of my home. My stuff looks pretty average. I just focus on how well it works. Plus, I prefer the understated look.

If you want to see impressive pictures of people's setups, go to an A/V site.

 

[cryoburner]

Yes, it's difficult to convince others that audio hardware has the extreme range of quality and the reason someone would pay thousands for a single silver crystal speaker cable. At a certain point sound quality- as for computer performance follows a pattern of diminishing return for the cost but careful hardware selection can make important subtle differences to timbre, pace, and imaging.

People also need to keep in mind that there's an extreme range of massively overpriced nonsense in the audio hardware industry as well. "More expensive" does not necessarily equal "better". Some of these audio cable companies also sell $9,000 1 meter usb and HDMI cables, despite them being digital connections, meaning there will be no performance difference between one of those and some $2 off-brand cable from eBay. Analog audio cables can see some actual benefit from being overbuilt, but many of them will likewise have massively marked up prices and questionable benefits over much lower-priced products.

To an extent, better audio hardware will naturally cost more to manufacture, but when people get into the mentality that "more expensive products are better", it just enables companies to use that logic to convince them to buy unnecessarily overbuilt equipment with extreme levels of markup.

 

[bambiboom]

cryoburner,

I agree with everything you said. Audio is so extremely subjective, and many enthusiasts are insecure and/or not very technically minded. Here's an example: Machina Dynamica's Brilliant Pebbles "Brilliant Pebbles is a unique and comprehensive system for tuning the room and audio system based on special physical properties of highly symmetrical crystal structures." It's a bag of polished rocks for $60 and that firm has been in business for quite long while.

In audio, as for many things, more expensive is definitely not always better. There is on the other side, some reasonably prices gear that does quite well. bit_user mentioned Blue Jeans Cable and there's an example of a firm with good cost/performance engineering.

At the top end, there are some engineers that have designed cables that while outrageously expensive do produce results. I've heard some amazing Wilson Speakers- really incredible- and incredibly expensive. One memorable event was spending some time with Ray Kimber in 2006 when he demonstrated some prototype Beryllium cables that he said would cost $80,000 retail- the whole system was about $200,000- and these cables had characteristics that were tuned to a discrete 4-CH digital recording configuration of his invention- Iso-Mike- and that system was just astounding. It's based on very high phase coherence in the recording that is duplicated on playback. The listening position in effect duplicates the 4- microphone position. The imaging is palpably real. One of the recording I heard included audience applause and I could aurally place every person applauding on every side. I've never heard it's equal since, but that did depend on the recordings being played back on essentially the output of the recording device.

There is a lot of snake oil and placebo and the users have to delve into the technically to sort it out as well as refine their taste. Audio seems to me to be more far difficult by far to get right than computing and, so far, computing and audio are still not ideally combined.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[FormatC]

If you want to see impressive pictures of people's setups, go to an A/V site.

This is exactly the reason why I show nothing. It is my very private decision to buy selected audio hardware for the price of a car. I'm an enthusiast and not a poser. And my living room is a restricted and non-public area, only for me and my family, The office pics are a totally different story, because it is my job.

 

[R3v01v3r]

Love the concept, but I wouldn't have a clear glass top as i agree with other people the lighting especially when gaming would be over powering. The pro is that it gets the PC off the floor and in a much better place, because honestly I have been looking at these tables on-line as they would be ideal for a small apartment like i have but I would like to have a wooden desktop.

 

[bit_user]

The pro is that it gets the PC off the floor and in a much better place,
...
but I would like to have a wooden desktop.

So, just take a tower case you like that matches a table you like. Then, drill some holes in the top of the case and in the table. Now, drive some screws through the top of your case, so it's hanging down from the table, to the side of where you put your legs.

Problem solved. Case is off floor (but not cluttering table top) and desk surface is wooden. Bonus: much $$$ saved (unless you like expensive wood).

 

[R3v01v3r]

The pro is that it gets the PC off the floor and in a much better place,
...
but I would like to have a wooden desktop.

So, just take a tower case you like that matches a table you like. Then, drill some holes in the top of the case and in the table. Now, drive some screws through the top of your case, so it's hanging down from the table, to the side of where you put your legs.

Problem solved. Case is off floor (but not cluttering table top) and desk surface is wooden. Bonus: much $$$ saved (unless you like expensive wood).

Yeah it's just a pity my case is a Obsidian Series 700D Full-Tower Case and my water cooling radiator fans are mounted to the top of the case, but good idea though

 

[bit_user]

Yeah it's just a pity my case is a Obsidian Series 700D Full-Tower Case and my water cooling radiator fans are mounted to the top of the case, but good idea though

Yeah, I meant to acknowledge that obvious caveat.

Well, you could get adventurous and cut a case-sized hole in your table. Find another way to support the case and poke the top through the hole so it sits flush with the tabletop. It's a little bit silly, but the point is: be creative!