If space is at a premium, or you’re trying to save a bit of money when buying a monitor, you might wonder if you can buy a monitor with inbuilt speakers. The answer is that yes, you can buy speakers that have speakers inside, doing the job of providing sound as well as stunning visuals.
The more appropriate question is whether you should buy monitors with inbuilt speakers. Are they really up to the job or do gamers need both external speakers as well as monitors if they want high-fidelity audio?
How Important Is Audio For Online Games?
For a lot of games, sound plays a huge part. We all know that playing certain games can be enhanced by the sound, which may give an extra edge to the ambient sounds. Creepy sound effects can make a scary game much more impactful, for example.
Casino Game Audio
One of the most common forms of online gaming now takes place at online casino sites, where people play a lot of slot games as well as table games.
The sound is important for these games. When someone plays live dealer baccarat at a secure online casino, they may want to hear the sound effects clearly to know what is going on during the game. Sound effects include cards being dealt and chips being moved to bet on either the banker or the player. These sounds can also represent new cards being drawn or the next hand being drawn. The audio certainly makes it easier to understand what is happening during baccarat, poker, and other table games, as well as adding to the atmosphere of the game.
Text-Based and RPG Game Audio
There are games where the sound isn’t that important. There are a lot of text-based games, and games where the audio is secondary. Big games like Stardew Valley even use text boxes for the communication between characters, a bit like the old-school Pokemon games.
So you can see that the type of speakers you choose is likely to depend a lot on the types of games that are in question.
Are Inbuilt Speakers High Quality?
The inbuilt speakers that you tend to find on monitors are usually not the best quality.
A couple of things impact the quality:
- Price. Low price usually equals cheap components, and in the world of audio, this will mean that the quality isn’t necessarily there. High-quality components don’t degrade the audio signal as much, low-price and low-quality components do. Spending more on speakers usually yields better results (with exceptions).
- Size. Of course, monitors don’t tend to leave lots of room for speakers. Small speakers struggle to recreate some of the sounds needed for the highest-quality audio. To produce bass sounds and accurate low end, the speakers need to have a larger surface area to provide more power, and usually, an amplifier provides plenty of power. It is usually the bass sounds that don’t sound good on small speakers.
Inbuilt speaker quality varies, of course. Technology is improving, and some compact speakers do a pretty good job. A lot of the inbuilt speakers found on monitors aren’t made for music or the kind of sound needed to enhance some games.
Inbuilt speakers are best for things like video calls (you don’t need amazing bass sounds when you’re just listening to someone’s voice) and notifications, but some of them are good for playing games and watching videos.
Speakers can rarely provide you with audiophile quality. If you are looking to get the absolute best sound possible then this may not be the answer for you.
Alternatives to Inbuilt Speakers
We’re not just going to say that the alternative to inbuilt speakers is external speakers. That much is obvious. It is safe to say that if you are considering inbuilt speakers as an option, you’re looking to save space. How can you do this and still enjoy excellent audio clarity?
One of the alternatives to inbuilt speakers is to buy something like the Razer Nommo Chroma speakers. These are still relatively small and can sit nicely to the side of your monitors without getting in the way.
The Razer Nommo Chroma models have an extra bit of power that is often missing in smaller speakers. Despite having pretty compact drivers, they can pack a punch at the low end.
A soundbar can be another option. These have a little more space for the speaker cones to provide a bass response, fixing one of the key issues with inbuilt speakers. They’re also compact, and many of them are small enough to neatly sit underneath your monitor anyway, so they don’t cost you a lot of extra desk space.
Conclusion
Inbuilt speakers are one of the many options, and if you aren’t too worried about audiophile-level sound then they can work pretty well.
For basic games and games that don’t necessarily rely on their soundtrack or sound effects, the sound from inbuilt speakers is often enough. Games like this include casino games and text-based games.
For games designed to be played with surround sound or relying on high-quality sound effects, the inbuilt speakers may be limited, so for those who have the space it might be worth getting external options.
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