How to Get the Best Audio Quality From Your Computer

The inside of a computer is noisy and affects sound quality. You can improve the sound by upgrading your computer's sound card, adding external speakers, or connecting your computer to your stereo system.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Upgrading Your Equipment

1. Buy higher quality computer speakers. (See the Related eHow "How to Buy Computer Speakers.")
2. Get a better sound card, particularly if your current sound card uses the ISA, rather than the PCI, bus. (See the Related eHow "How to Buy a Sound Card.")

Connecting to Your Stereo System

3. Get a long cable with a stereo mini-jack on one end and a pair of RCA plugs on the other end.
4. Connect the mini-jack to your computer's sound card.
5. Connect the RCA plugs to the auxiliary input of your stereo amplifier, receiver or mini-system.

Tips & Warnings

• Sound cards range in price from $40 to about $200.
• Most stock sound cards provide 16-bit audio - the same as standard CD - while most upgrade cards provide 32- or 64-bit audio.
• Some more expensive cards contain RAM.
• Check to see if your modem is integrated onto your sound card. If you replace your sound card, you'll need to replace your modem, too.
• Some older computers may not have sound cards. Check with the computer manufacturer to find out if you can bypass the sound chip on the motherboard.
• Audio-system speakers are not magnetically shielded and will cause interference on your monitor. The magnets in your computer and monitor may also cause audio interference in the speakers. Consequently, you must keep stereo system and speakers far from the computer, even though this will degrade sound quality.

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