
Ask HN: How do you make sound come out of your desktop? - kough
Hey HN, I&#x27;ve just moved out of my dorm and into an apartment of my own, finally! I was curious, how do you play your music from your computer? Do you have a home theatre amplifier, and run speakers to that? Do you have powered computer speakers? What do you recommend I do?
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beerbaron23
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...](https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certified-Computer-
Speaker/product-
reviews/B000062VUO/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_4?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=4)

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mrdependable
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.

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Endy
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.

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accrual
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.

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caspervonb
Downsized in my old age so nothing special, just a pair cheap of Pebble
speakers ([https://amzn.to/2wJBMR3](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.

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keerthiko
I switched from speakers to this soundbar
([http://a.co/d/3vQr3Dc](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.

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mirimir
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).

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mitchbob
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.

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

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kevinherron
Spotify + Sonos system

