The only one that fits your range are the KEF but they are discontinued so you would have to go Q150 or buy used. Also the s2000pro but it’s active and i think there is better stuff out there for your money.
there’s a bunch in that $500 price range that is good though. I’m sure somebody can make some recommendations that have more hands on experience.
It’s a bit pointless in my mind.
MiniDSP HD takes digital signal, fiddles with it returns it as analog signal.
Kinda pointless running dac → minidsp.
I mean you can use digital signal out from dac to minidsp but signal should remains the same/unchanged, no point in that, unless the dac has some other meaning.
Some like to dac a dac and dac a dac, cause they can, but original signal might degrade at some point so less sound quality, usually dacker’s don’t use highend dac’s anyways.
If you just run speakers amp and headphone amp, hook both to minidsp.
Fiddle with signal if needed or wanted, think the same signal can be used with different output setting, so plenty to tweak and change.
Minidsp sounds great for a 2.1 listen/livingroom setup.went back and forth on just getting yet another cheap AVR but building a component setup has its benefits. Guess not so much when you are going for audiophile.
