@mep
Glad you made it to the end. You think it was hard to read? It was very hard to write. The technical section was very well-received by some readers, and by others, obviously less so.
Because jitter is the key issue in making digital source well, in my experience, that's the reason for waxing prolix on the topic. What was in the article is a summary of several scientific and technical papers, and was an attempt to educate the readers and cut through the marketing fluff.
The room is actually reasonably big, about 12 x 20 x 10 ft. What you see is everything pushed together as a set for a photo shoot. Normally the listening position is several feet farther back.
The notion that small speakers are somehow inferior to 500 pound per side behemoths is one of audio's better-known myths. Sure, big speakers have tremendous bass, in some rooms, sometimes, but then there are all the other issues that the bass causes.
My system is set up primarily for reviewing equipment, so transparency, uncluttered by bass problems, is important. These are the Usher Be-718s, with the DMD "diamond" tweeters. I'm interested in the speaker as a transducer, not as furniture, so to speak.
Now, that being said, the Wilson Sashas are being shipped next week, so let's see how they do in comparison.
The laptop and external hard drive are used because they're the best digital source available. Once you have bit-perfect out, you're done. Sure, a purpose-built music server may offer a better UX, but the output won't be any different. The QSonix 205 is coming in a couple of weeks, possibly the Soolos as well.
My audio preferences are based on listening, and I've been quite surprised by cheap stuff that sounded great, and expensive stuff that didn't. I just go by my ears. BTW that external hard drive is 1.5 TB, from Seagate, and has a 5 year warranty. Oh, it cost $80 at Costco on Maui.