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.

Bonus Points — Beautifully finished, subwoofer out, tiny size.

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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.

Bonus Points — Phono Input, Bluetooth, subwoofer out, optical input, remote control included.

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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.

Bonus Points — Phono input, Bluetooth® 4.2 aptX™ HD connection, second analog input, optical input, brilliant subwoofer out, remote control included, ability to flip right and left channels for connection convenience.

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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.

Bonus Points —Phono input, Bluetooth® 4.2 aptX™ HD connection, second analog input, optical input, brilliant subwoofer out, remote control included, ability to flip right and left channels for connection convenience.

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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.

Bonus Points — Fully wireless with Chromecast, Airplay, and many music services, Roon Ready, HDMI in, optical and analog in, Bluetooth, amazing app to tailor the sound.

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The JBL 4305P tops our list of recommended computer speakers for 2023, 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.

Bonus Points — High Res Audio Capable, Analog and digital inputs,  Google Chromecast, Apple AirPlay2, and Bluetooth built-in.

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