I recently upgraded my headphone audio and its turned out great nothing to extreme or that expensive just some Philips X2's, I never had speakers but its the only thing my desk really requires now, wanted some for the past year but never had the money.

I Was thinking of the Adam's T5V or something similar the budget is around €400 however I'm not sure if I want to get active or passive speakers which ever make gets the best result.

I've mainly been drawn to active as I wouldn't need to split the budget up as much with getting an external amp/dac however I think I would want a Pre Amp if I got active to be able to control the volume unless the ones I get actually have a volume knob on the front.

I know the Adam's are good speakers but was wondering if anything better for the price, however I can't go too big the Adam's are about the biggest I could most likely fit on my desk. Also since the Adam's do take balanced if possible it would be nice to use however not really necessary if it too expensive.

Sorry for such a long post to read just trying to explain my requirements.