A good pair of computer speakers is a must if you spend any of your working life from home or in an office with the door closed. Your soundtrack can help you focus or better your mood.
Long story short - skip the internal speakers anything that might be included and go for a great pair of computer speakers to make your workday all that much better. For starters, the people in your Zoom meetings will actually sound more like they do in real life.
Computer speakers can also serve a dual purpose if your desktop is near your listening area. They can become your source of great stereo sound for entertaining.
There are over 1,000 models of computer speakers on the market today. Most of them are an upgrade from the tiny speakers in your computer, but we decided to focus on the ones that sound as good as speakers you would want to put in a home audio system.
To make the cut, these needed to have a very easy way to connect to your computer and be simple to control. We felt like the speaker system needed to have a super simple USB connection. The USB connection makes volume control extremely easy. All of the computer speaker models we suggest have a USB DAC built-in for an easy connection.
First and foremost, they needed to sound great with music and have good vocal clarity with an audio quality that would not tire out your ears after an hour or so. We wanted you to be able to play any of these all day and still love their sound. While most of these will fit easily on a desktop, we made a couple of exceptions for some that can really rock the house when you kick back after work.
Finally, we gave out bonus points for some connection options that might enable them to serve more as your primary audio speakers too.
We will start our list of computer speakers at the bottom end of their price range and work our way up. With the home office being more important than ever, we are going to talk about some models at the upper end that can easily rival separate audio components.
Also, you might be reading this and already own some computer speakers but want better sound from them. We will have some suggestions at the end on how to improve any computer speaker.
In terms of aesthetics, it’s hard to beat the Kanto YU2 desktop computer speakers.
With their four distinctive color choices, they can either hide away or stand out on your desktop! We love the silk dome tweeter and its smooth top end complemented by a 3” composite woofer.
The bass output is excellent for a $230 pair of speakers, so these will be a huge improvement over the speakers in your laptop or desktop. They actually can play pretty loud too, but the little 3” woofer will start to break up if you push them super hard. But there is no question, for under $250 a pair, these are fantastic and very musical.
Kanto YU2 Powered Desktop Speakers - Pair
We fell in love with the new Peachtree speakers the very first time we heard them. The Peachtree team is a group of veteran audiophiles who have also designed some amazing-sounding DAC’s and amps, which happen to be an integral part of powered speakers. No other company on this list makes both separate amps and DAC’s, which gives Peachtree a leg up. These have bigger and better speaker components than the competition and the best array of inputs we had seen.
The Peachtree M24 sports a 1” soft dome tweeter with a 4” woofer with a rear-firing tuned port. These have far more bass than the 3” models above and are just slightly larger. You will not find a better-sounding computer speaker for their price — nothing comes close! These are also available in Gloss Black and Bamboo.
With the M25 computer speakers, we get into a speaker system that can rival the sound of some great stereo speakers. With the audio heritage behind the Peachtree team, you can tell they put everything they know about building amps, DACs and speakers into the M25. With this even bigger and better sound, comes a bigger speaker. The Peachtree M25 has a soft dome tweeter with a 5 ½” woofer. The woofer alone is wider than the boxes on some of the smaller models on this list, so as you might expect, the cabinet size gets bigger.
But, that bigger woofer and cabinet deliver far more room-filling bass and impact than anything near their price. If you are looking for a speaker that can serve as a great audio system too, the M25 should be at the top of your list. These were designed by audiophiles, and you’ll know this when you first turn them on; they just sound fantastic! They are also available in gloss black or bamboo.
The Kanto TUK is a compact powered speaker with serious audio technology built in. The TUK uses an air motion tweeter (AMT) for super clear highs and a 5 ¼” aluminum woofer for fast deep bass. These are among the most engaging and dynamic speakers we have ever heard in the sub $1,000 price point with sound that reminds us of separate components.
The AMT tweeter will make jazz cymbal brushes sound like they are right in the room with you. As a matter of fact, every type of music we tested on the TUK came through with an incredibly realistic character we normally hear on much more expensive speakers.
We love one upgrade option they have where, if you add a subwoofer, the TUK can engage a built-in crossover to take the load off its woofer. Many powered speakers with a subwoofer out just give you a mono output, but taking that deep bass away from the TUK opens it up even more. These are available in matte black or white. If you position these properly, you will have a desktop system that rivals a separate amp and high-end speaker combination.
Kanto TUK Powered Speakers - Pair
KEF is a British speaker company that has been around since 1961 and is famous for their Uni-Q speaker driver. Unlike the other speakers on this list so far, KEF makes some very high-performance and higher-priced powered speakers. They took what they learned in those and added it to the amazing LSX II.
Their Uni-Q driver has the tweeter sitting in the middle of the woofer. This time-aligned system not only has incredible accuracy, but they can produce an image that fills the room from just about anywhere in the room. These are also the first ones on our list to have separate discrete amplifiers for each of the four speaker drivers. This does mean you have to connect each one with a power cord. If you have ever heard any of the larger KEF speakers, you know why music lovers around the world respect their sound quality. They are just so natural. The LSX II is just like those, but in a smaller, all-in-one package that you can easily fit on any desktop.
With their High-Res audio DAC built-in, you can play almost any type of High-Res music file. They even come in a great variety of colors to suit any decor. Like the Kanto TUK, these also have the ability to add a subwoofer and cross it over, but they take it much further with the great KEF app that will let you fine-tune all kinds of aspects, including the exact frequency when you add a subwoofer. These are serious music speakers that produce a sound to keep your toes tapping throughout the day.
KEF LSX II Wireless HiFi Speakers
The JBL 4305P tops our list of recommended computer speakers, and yes, they are the largest and most expensive here. However, we love them so much that we had to include them for those of you who really want your office to rock!
Like the KEF’s, these require a power cord for each one, as there are two power amps in each one. These use the legendary JBL 2410-H compression driver mated with the HDI horn and a 5.25” cast basket woofer. If you know JBL, you know they have serious in-house engineering capabilities which really shine through on the 4305P.
The 4305P computer speakers sound simply amazing. We do not think you can find a speaker anywhere near its size that can produce the dynamics of live music as well as these can. Plus, their flat frequency response results in such a natural and effortless sound you can listen to them for hours on end. While you can add a sub, they go so deep you will not even need one for full-range sound in most rooms. We also recommend the Iso-Acoustics stands we talk about below for this gem of a speaker.
JBL 4305P Powered Bookshelf Speakers - Pair
Consider adding a subwoofer if you want to get an even bigger sound from your computer speakers. Our recommended models have a subwoofer out so you could put the sub under your desk and greatly improve the bass performance. All you do is connect a single cable from the computer speaker to the subwoofer.
We’ve got a great tips and tricks guide on how to upgrade the sound of your powered computer speakers.
Besides getting them in the right position, which is free with a little work, an easy and fairly inexpensive upgrade is a good pair of speaker stands.
Speaker stands serve two purposes. They can point the speakers more at your listening position and reduce the resonances the cabinet they are sitting on can cause. Many of these models have their own dedicated speaker stands.
Peachtree has some dedicated stands for their two models.
Kanto has a large selection of desktop speaker stands with enough choices that you should be able to find one for your current speakers.
Our favorites are the ISO 130 stands from ISO Acoustics. These are made for the larger speakers on this list and definitely perform the best.
Kanto S2 Desktop Speaker Stands
We hope this guide will help you upgrade the sound of your office system so those days at work are a lot more fun and productive!
We spend hours in our lab testing many speakers and we are confident you will be impressed with any of these options. If you’re still unsure after reading this, reach out to our team of experts via phone, email, or chat.
We’re here to help!
Audio Advice has been in the industry since 1978, and throughout the years, we’ve developed a team of professionals who live and breathe all things audio and video. We spend countless hours testing and reviewing every product we sell to be sure it stands up to our extremely high-quality standards. With our state-of-the-art home theater audio lab, we can become experts in our products and provide our customers with in-depth, honest feedback.
When you buy from Audio Advice, you’re buying from a trusted seller since 1978. We offer Free Shipping, Free Returns, Lifetime Expert Support, and our Price Guarantee. We look forward to serving you!
Kanto YU2 Powered Desktop Speakers - Pair
Kanto TUK Powered Speakers - Pair
KEF LSX II Wireless HiFi Speakers
JBL 4305P Powered Bookshelf Speakers - Pair
Kanto S2 Desktop Speaker Stands
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