Get better sound from your PC

Digital music, movies and games have never sounded so good. However, if you are watching or listening on a PC then you won’t get the full effect unless you have a decent pair of headphones or speakers.

The right speakers and headphones can turn your PC into a real-life adrenalin experience for games and DVDs and a mini-concert stadium for music. In this feature we will look at some of the issues to think about when getting the best sound out of your computer.

PCs use a soundcard to generate the audio through speakers or headphones. In the majority of PCs, the card is a section of the motherboard, although some still have a separate card that plugs into the motherboard.

The sockets from either the main circuit board or the card protrude through the PC case, commonly at the back for desktops and at the side for laptops, so you can connect output devices such as speakers and headphones and inputs such as microphones, headsets and hi-fis.

Some soundcards also support surround sound, which splits sound into various channels and then relays them to a number of speakers so sound appears to come from different directions. Common versions include 2.1 and 5.1.

Discover your sound
The simplest way to check the audio features your card supports is to look at the back of your PC (some PCs now also have them on the front). Here you will see a range of different coloured ports that are attached to the internal soundcard.

Typically these are pink for connecting a microphone, lime green for the main stereo signal (front speakers or headphones), brown for a ‘Right-to-left speaker and orange for the subwoofer.

If you have just the lime green and pink sockets, you can connect stereo speakers and headphones, and headsets, but not surround-sound equipment.

You can find out more about your soundcard in Windows; go to the Start Menu and double-click the Control Panel. Selecting Sound and Audio Devices will display a dialogue box.

Click on the Hardware tab to view all the sound drivers and devices on your PC. The soundcard will be the second option in the list here.

Double-click on this to see an overview of the card; the General tab informs you if the there is a problem with the device and whether its driver is up to date.

The Sound and Audio menu can also be used to adjust the sound to ensure you get the best possible sound from your headphones or speakers.

To do this click on the audio tab and select the advanced feature on the default device option. Use the dropdown box to pick the best matched product to the one you have.