Speakers: The PC Part You Forgot

Sure, GPU upgrades are great and buying a new monitor is obvious, but it's time to replace your cheap speakers. Your ears will thank you!

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[ryandunnison]

I'd love to see a longer form video showing 'the ultimate pc audio setup' or just a how to guide for different audio options since there's a lot of them and it's not always clear what you can do with your motherboard and when you should look to invest in a sound card or if you can get an external amp instead etc.

[badbits]

Protip: Acoustically treating your room with sound absorbing foam and/or bass traps can be so significant in a small room, that it'll feel like you've upgraded whatever speakers you already have. The placement and angle of the speakers in relation to your listening position and the room's dimensions can improve things as well. It can actually be mathematically calculated for optimal performance.

[theAessaya]

Getting a pair of solid studio monitors for my PC was the best decision ever. And I've helped a couple of friends convert as well. All of them commented on the sound "it's like having headphones on, but without all the head pressure or wires".

There also is another consideration for choosing speakers for PC that wasn't mentioned: the designed field distance (i.e. what is the intended distance from speaker to listener). Many bookshelf/home theater speakers are designed to be mid- or even far-field, making them suboptimal for use with PC, where listener is usually very close to the speakers.

Studio monitors, on the other hand, are usually designed as near-field, with wider angles of accurate reproduction off the axis, meaning your sound will not be as affected by the position of your head as it would be with mid- or far-field speakers, whose sound cones are narrower.

[techtt]

Many great options out there, for every budget something. Jusy don't buy the gaming stuff, that's usually crap.

[vdfritzz]

1:55 people have no idea HOW FUCKING INSANE studio speakers sound, you literally have to stand in front of them and listen to understand
it's not about the volume, it's not how low the bass goes, they sound so damn clean, a small pair of sudio speakers sound BETTER than standard speakers, even better than quality bookshelf speakers on a good receiver

doesn't matter if you listen to high quality flac files or watch this youtube video on it, they are just great

[Sircliffe]

17 year old Logitech Z-5000 represent. Works like a charm still. Only issue is the LCD backlight has gone dim.

[MrWitheridge]

Glad to see you threw Edifier a mention - they are great!

[reddragonsmaw]

So I have been using my home theater receiver to power my audio from my PC since before HDMI existed. As such I'm fairly confused why we would completely ignore one of the most compelling use cases for HDMI 2.1's capabilities, that modern graphics cards provide. One of the few sources that can even take advantage of the high bitrate audio, Pre-amps, and recievers support, is the HDMI port on your video card! I understand most people are not gaming on their 75" tv from their PC, but some of us have been trying to unify our entertainment solution to a fewer devices, since the days of the "All In Wonder" cards of great antiquity... It's disappointing though, that the home theater HDMI option was left out of the video all together. Amplifies come in many forms also, and MOST actually use the XLR connector, in the audiophile world. I'm sure Linus and James are quite aware and familiar with this given their previous videos showing them utilizing these setups. So then why nyx the option entirely? Even still, love the video, and hope to see more audio related content in the future!

[Preske]

I have these 20+ year old pc speakers from cambridge soundworks and they still work like a charm. Compact too, they fit right under my monitor, which is handy, as I don't have much useable deskspace.

[fredjohan]

A longer video on this subject would be nice with some testing and showing some more speakers to choose from... etc etc I use pioneer S dj60X speaker for my music pc, and use a pioneer Pioneer DJm 700 as amp. Sounds great with gaming too. Greetings from The Netherlands.

[SeanKillmaster]

"The PC Part You Forgot" @0:01 - The IO Shield, obv

[JoeBob]

Nice to finally see some audio stuff here!
I have an Atmos receiver for my PC audio, 5.1.2, connected with HDMI, but it's a pain to set up because you have to tell Windows that you have a second display connected, when you really don't; and so you end up with a second non-existent, but still existing, display at the side or the corner of your screen, and it can be a black hole for the mouse, or some files or folders if you end up moving them into the void accidently.

[TigerClaw]

In regards to PC speakers, There are some that give you 5.1 surround, The back of a soundcard would have outputs for the front, surround, center and the back speakers, They also have outputs for using an optical cable to get 5.1 surround as well, It really depends on your setup, If your someone who watches movies or game in 5.1 surround sound.

[Mr.Morden]

My suggestion is a video with Linus and 50 Alexas all talking to him at once, then they begin to talk to each other, then they become sentient and they take over the world. But then after they take over the world it actually turns out pretty nice once the apocalypse enthusiasts stop freaking out.

[Zuriki]

I went through this whole rabbit hole recently. Ended up picking up some active Edifier speakers. I'm not an audiophile, I just wanted something better than the crappy PC speakers and an external amp was just too much additional crap I'd have to buy.

[josenunez]

I remember my first pc speakers. Altec Lansing, they sound great and they're still alive after 20 years

[personal-stream-studio]

Totally agree! That kind of things that I've always tell my clients.
But I think external DAC + active speakers generally speaking will be better than passive speakers + amp plugged directly in motherboard.

[peppa]

0:10 - to be fair those 'head clamps' don't necessarily have to be uncomfortable. There are enormous difference between models and manufacturers.

[aloniumbonium]

You're really good at making an expensive setup sound like it's not actually that expensive

[Scotty]

Still rocking my legendary Logitech Z-5500 system, owend them 16 years and still awesome.