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Ask HN: How do you make sound come out of your desktop?

by kough on 9/6/18, 1:05 AM with 10 comments

• by beerbaron23 on 9/7/18, 6:58 AM

  If you are going amplified computer speakers (or any speakers for that matter) make sure you buy a set that enables you to hear all the sounds in your music. You can even indulge, spend a bit more then you would as there is a good chance these speakers will be with you for life!

  I personally use the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 computer speaker set. These are quite famous for being the best speakers you could get that were targeted/designed to be hooked upto a computer machine. I've had them for about 12 years or more, still work amazing and I've had 6 different people over hear them and listen in for a bit, in turn all of them went out and bought themselves a set as well.

  They look great, small profile but made of very heavy solid plastic and they heavier then expected when picked up. I believe they are ~30 watt RMS each, with 3" long throw speakers cones and 3/4" Horned Tweeters each. It comes with well built, ported 6 1/2" 150watt wooden sub.

  For amplified computer speakers I have never heard better, to get better quality you are going to have to go with the amplified reciever/bookshelf speaker set-up.

  Goodnews is, is that Klipsh still sells them new to this day. But be aware this set is cheaper and by the reviews seems they don't sound identicle to the originals. But if you don't want to spend more then 150$ these should hit the sweet spot.

  https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certified-Computer-S...

• by mrdependable on 9/6/18, 5:39 AM

  If you're looking to play music from your computer there are a lot of options. Just find a device that has a Bluetooth receiver, Airplay, or can have either of those added to it easily. What to buy depends on how much room you have and if they are supposed to double as your computer speakers. You don't want to have the sound from your computer coming from some weird angle, I've done it before and it drove me nuts.

  A good set of book shelf speakers or studio monitors are probably what you're looking for. Careful how much you spend because if you've never had quality audio equipment before you might find yourself with an expensive new hobby.

• by Endy on 9/6/18, 7:13 AM

  I will admit that I don't have a "desktop" as such, I have a laptop. Whenever I'm not worried about privacy (i.e. in the privacy of my own room with the AC, air filter, etc running, I run the built-in system speakers at about 10% volume. Otherwise, I have a $5 set of headphones I jack in everywhere and every time I'm worried. They're retrofitted with a layer each of electrical tape and black duck tape on the outside of the earpieces, and I've "tested" them by blasting sound at 100% through them, and I can't hear them from 36" away.

• by accrual on 9/6/18, 1:47 AM

  I'm in a downsized configuration and alternate between Klipsch S4 earbuds at home and Audiotechnica ATH-M50s at work. I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770s which are excellent but in storage.

  My normal desktop setup is an Indeed class D amplifier powering a pair of Emotiva XRM-4.1 monitoring speakers, connected to an Asus Xonar sound card. The speakers are great but I'd like to upgrade the amp and add a dedicated DAC in the future. I've also had a great experience with Emotiva's Airmotiv line for home theater applications.

• by caspervonb on 9/6/18, 1:25 AM

  Downsized in my old age so nothing special, just a pair cheap of Pebble speakers (https://amzn.to/2wJBMR3) which sound okay, not great but okay.

  If i was going to run it to an amp I'd probably run it via a long jack, there are these fancy wireless things available these days for a couple of bucks but meh, good old wires for the win.

• by keerthiko on 9/6/18, 2:15 AM

  I switched from speakers to this soundbar (http://a.co/d/3vQr3Dc) which is high quality audio, good for movies/TV/games/music, but also minimal when it comes to cable, space occupation, setup, packing, etc (it's large but conveniently shaped). Best hardware optimization of my desktop.

• by mirimir on 9/6/18, 2:03 AM

  My media machine has a decent video card and DAC, with a 1920x1200 monitor. For audio, I have a pair of rebuilt JBL L96s, driven by a B&K preamp and 100W/channel amp. The machine runs Debian, with PulseEffects (a high-pass filter being essential to avoid launching the L96 woofer cones).

• by mitchbob on 9/6/18, 2:05 AM

  I'm getting very enjoyable sound from my Dell XPS 15 laptop and a pair of Sennheiser HD 590 headphones. I'm pretty fussy about audio quality, and I was quite surprised at how much fun it is to listen to music from YouTube and other online sources with these.

• by phakding on 9/6/18, 4:30 AM

  Either Bose SoundLink speaker or wireless headphones. I hate wires, so I prefer wireless solutions.

• by kevinherron on 9/6/18, 2:29 AM

  Spotify + Sonos system