The computers developed a lot in the last decades and now they include some very high technologies integrated in small components and devices. You can do so many things on a computer such as working, watching a movie, playing a video game or listening to your favorite music. For almost all of these actions you will need some sound. So that's why the people made the computer speakers. Many years ago there were just some small speakers integrated on the main board, but now everyone is using external speakers. When buying a new computer probably you will get some small and standard stereo speakers. These are ok for listening to some quiet music or for other relaxing activities, but if you really want some good audio quality it is recommended to buy some new speakers. There are a few types of computer speakers to choose from. First you can get a 2.1 system. These are made of 2 small speakers and a subwoofer. So the only difference from the speakers you had with your computer is the subwoofer, and maybe some extra power. That's it is much better to but a surround system, such as a 5.1 (5 speakers and a subwoofer) or a 7.1 (7 speakers and a subwoofer). With these kind of systems you will definitely have some cool audio experiences whenever you will play a game or watch a movie. There is nothing better than the feeling of bullets flying over your head or someone attacking you from behind, and you can get these kind of feelings just with a surround system. Also with a surround system you will get the cool feeling of being in a night club, especially because of the subwoofer.

Many of the speakers from the big producers are also high definition speakers. That means they will have a great sound quality and will be able to give the full spectrum of sound frequencies (the high, the mids and the lows).  The sound quality of a hi def speaker will be nice and clear even at bigger volumes. But to benefit from all the power and quality of your computer speakers, you will must have the appropriate sound card and sound drivers.

But even if you don't have a very good sound card, there are some softwares that will help you with this problem. An example is the "Intel High Definition Audio". Intel has developed a technology for the integrated sound cards to deliver the features and performances of an add-in audio card. Intel High Definition Audio is capable of playing more channels at higher quality than previous integrated audio formats. Besides that, it has the technology needed to support the latest and powerful audio speakers.

The AC' 97 (which was the previous version from Intel) was initially made for stereo speakers. But in time the audio technologies developed a lot and people are using more and more the full surround systems, with six or eight speakers. The AC' 97 tried to keep pace, but it was needed something new. So that's why they made the Intel HD Audio, designed specially for the high quality and high definition computer speakers. Many users are moving the computer in the living room, to enjoy digital music and movies with the help of sophisticated cinema surround systems. Also many of them are asking for the possibility to play two different audio streams on their PC at the same time. Probably they want some music in the kitchen or in the back yard, and also a movie in the living room. All of these things were not possible with older audio softwares, but they are now due to Intel HD Audio.

While the AC' 97 can only support six channels at 48 kHz / 20 bit, the Intel HD audio can support eight channels at 192 kHz / 32 bit quality, which is a big difference. It also has a special feature to prevent the occasional glitches and pops that you may hear on your speakers. Like we said it allows you to send two or more different audio streams to different locations at the same time, from the same computer. For example you can hear the sound from a game on your 5.1 audio system, while hear the internet chatting sound in your headphones.

The system also brings a much better quality when using a microphone, giving accurate speech input. By increasing the size of the array microphone, users can get incredibly clean input through and better noise cancellation. It also has a technology which will detect any new device plugged into an audio jack. It will determine what kind of device it is, and will even detect if it's plugged into the wrong jack. For example if you place the microphone into a speaker jack it will recognize this and will change the jack to work as a microphone jack. This way users won't need to worry about getting the right device plugged into the exact audio jack.

Now let's take an example of some good hi def speakers. We will choose the "B & W Zeppelin computer speakers in High Definition Capability". These are pretty interesting looking speakers and they act as a shrunken pair of high definition speakers. They have a good setup and will deliver the full spectrum of sounds. One of the most discussed aspects of these speakers is the fact that they can be connected only in the USB port. Many users already have all their USB ports busy, so they may not like these speakers. But for the other people, these are good speakers and they can easily be used with your laptop or with your computer, in a small office or room.