Specialized sound card. Why do you need a sound card in a computer?
Almost every novice musician has encountered the problem of choosing a sound card. Long gone are the years when everyone had the same sound card - Sound Blaster! Today the range of equipment is simply huge, but choosing from this variety the right option sound card is not an easy task.
A little history.
Previously, most computers did not have a separate sound card, and many did not even think about outputting sound from a PC. Others could buy the only model on the market in those early years - the same SB from Creative. And the map really looked like a map.
Years have passed and now sound cards look like boxes various sizes with a bunch of different “spinners” that look almost the same to an inexperienced user.
Today we will learn to understand this diversity, select equipment in relation to your tasks, and buy what you really need.
Kinds sound cards
Let's divide sound cards into conditional categories (this will make it easier for us to understand them), look at who each group is intended for and what basic functionality it has. This will help us determine what equipment is needed to perform exactly the tasks that you set for yourself.
1. Let's start with perhaps the simplest category of sound cards. These are devices designed to replace the circuit breaker built into the motherboard in laptops and personal computers. They usually have a fairly small housing, often with a USB cable that is not disconnected. The main task of these devices is to output sound from the computer. Optionally, there is the ability to connect a microphone/guitar, headphones. The quality of these devices is far from professional, but they are superior to the notorious AC97.
Such devices will help if the sound card in your laptop suddenly fails, or if you need to output sound to an external device with quality and delays superior to RealTek.
Examples of such sound cards are the UCA series cards from Behringer, U24XL and UGM96 from ESI.
External sound card for computer BEHRINGER UCA222
2. The next category is larger in size and has wider functionality. These sound cards already have on board a microphone preamplifier (often with phantom power), a high-impedance guitar input, and a headphone jack. Can provide Direct Monitoring, etc. However, these are still portable devices that can be taken with you, for example, to the park to play music outdoors. They do not need external power, and the functionality is more than enough for most electronic musicians, aspiring rappers and independent composers. This group of devices will also be of interest to YouTube bloggers, because most of them hardly need to connect more than one microphone. The quality of the converters of these devices is a step higher, and the presence of a microphone preamplifier with phantom power will allow you to achieve a more transparent sound of vocals and more intelligible speech recording.
Pictured is a Steinberg UR12 sound card for connecting one microphone
3. The third broad category consists of two-channel devices, which have 2 inputs and 2 outputs as standard. This group includes both budget and much more expensive sound cards. In fact, they differ slightly from the previous group. The presence of two full inputs (often on combined connectors) allows you to record simultaneously 2 microphones, or 2 guitars, or a synthesizer/piano in stereo. Some devices in this group have not 2, but 4 outputs, which allows you to connect 2 pairs of monitors in a small studio or send sound to an external effects processor. Also interesting are devices that have additional digital S/P-DIF connectors that can be used to connect external devices, excluding conversion to analogue.
M-audio M-Track, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2/2i4, Behringer UMC202/UMC204, Steinberg UR22/UR242, Roland Duo/Quad-capture - popular and beloved devices by many that are perfect for a small home studio or for musicians who need to write 2 channel at the input simultaneously.
In the photo - a small home recording studio
4. We have come to the most functional, most powerful category of ZK. These are multi-channel interfaces, most often made in a rack or half-rack housing, with a bunch of different buttons, lights, knobs, and from a distance they look like an airplane control panel.
This category has both budget devices, for example, Behringer FCA1616, M-audio M-Track Quad, Tascam US 4*4/US 16*08, Focusrite Scarlett 18i8, Presonus audiobox 1818vsl, as well as professional audio interfaces from RME, Universal Audio, Avid, Prism sound, allowing write about 12–30 channels at a time. The cost of such equipment can reach hundreds of thousands of rubles, so these devices are mainly chosen by professional studios. Devices in this class are equipped with high-quality microphone preamplifiers that provide transparent and neutral sound. Such devices are characterized by low latency when working with audio. If you are a professional musician, if you need to write a live drum kit, choir, ensemble - these devices are just for you.
Professional sound card TASCAM US 16 x 08
Additional functions.
Now that we've dealt with device groups, let's look at what additional functions they may have, the presence or absence of which will help you decide on the choice of interface:
Not all devices are equipped with mic preamps with phantom power, so if you plan to use a condenser microphone, having one is a must;
Not all devices are equipped with an instrument input, if you record only vocals, if you are a video blogger or a rap artist, this may not matter to you. For guitarists, this input is vital;
Some devices may have not one, but two headphone outputs, which will be very useful when recording vocals.
For some musicians, devices with a built-in DSP processor can be very useful. This processor will allow you to apply some effects without connecting an external processor. The list of possible effects is usually limited to a couple of reverbs, a compressor and an equalizer, but this is often enough.
Separately, I would like to note the Universal Audio Apollo devices, which have up to four DSP processors on board, with the ability to use various plug-ins. In the UA store you can purchase high-quality reverbs, equalizers, compressors, tape emulators and other effects processors. They work on these cards with virtually no latency, allowing you to enrich the sound of your work.
Apollo 8 Thunderbolt 2 audio interface
Finally.
Summarizing the above, when choosing an interface you need to decide on the following parameters:
Number of inputs/outputs. Do you need to write your loved one or the choir?
- Their configuration. Are we recording with a condenser microphone, a guitar, or both?
- Availability of separate controls for the main mix and headphones.
- Multiple headphone outputs.
- Availability of digital inputs/outputs, MIDI interface, S/PDIF, ADAT.
- Ability to work without a power supply.
- Availability of DSP processor.
- Convenient drivers, additional software.
By answering these questions, you can easily choose a sound card that best suits your requirements and has all the necessary functionality for this moment and maybe even has some reserve for the future.
There was a time when the question of needing a sound card was not raised at all. If you need a sound in your computer that is a little better than the grunting of the speaker in the case, buy a sound card. If you don't need it, don't buy it. However, the cards were quite expensive, especially while they were being made for the prehistoric ISA port.
With the transition to PCI, it became possible to shift part of the calculations to CPU and also use RAM for storing music samples (in ancient times, such a need was not only among professional musicians, but also among normal people, because the most popular format music on computers 20 years ago was MIDI). So soon sound cards entry level became much cheaper, and then built-in sound appeared in top-end motherboards. It's bad, of course, but it's free. And this dealt a severe blow to sound card manufacturers.
Today, absolutely all motherboards have built-in sound. And in expensive ones it is even positioned as high quality. That's straight up Hi-Fi. But in reality, unfortunately, this is far from the case. Last year I collected new computer, where I installed one of the most expensive and objectively best motherboards. And, of course, they promised high-quality sound on discrete chips, and even with gold-plated connectors. They wrote it so well that I decided not to install a sound card and make do with the built-in one. And he got by. About a week. Then I disassembled the case, installed the card and didn’t bother with any more nonsense.
Why is the built-in sound not very good?
Firstly, the issue of price. A decent sound card costs 5-6 thousand rubles. And it’s not a matter of manufacturers’ greed, it’s just that the components are not cheap, and the requirements for build quality are high. A serious motherboard costs 15-20 thousand rubles. Is the manufacturer ready to add at least three thousand more? Will the user get scared without having time to evaluate the sound quality? It's better not to take risks. And they don't take risks.
Secondly, for truly high-quality sound, without extraneous noise, interference and distortion, the components must be located at a certain distance from each other. If you look at the sound card, you will see how unusually much there is on it free space. But on the motherboard there is only enough space for it, everything has to be placed very tightly. And, alas, there is simply nowhere to do it really well.
Twenty years ago, consumer sound cards cost more than a computer, and they had memory slots (!) for storing music samples. In the photo, the dream of all computer geeks in the mid-nineties is Sound Blaster AWE 32. 32 is not a bit depth, but maximum amount simultaneously playing streams in MIDI
Therefore, integrated sound is always a compromise. I have seen boards with seemingly built-in sound, which, in fact, hovered from above in the form of a separate platform connected to the “mother” only by a connector. And yes, it sounded good. But can such sound be called integrated? Not sure.
For a reader who has not tried discrete sound solutions, the question may arise - what exactly does “good sound in a computer” mean?
1) He's simply louder. Even a budget-level sound card has a built-in amplifier that can pump up even large speakers or high impedance headphones. Many people are surprised that the speakers stop wheezing and choking at maximum. This is also a side effect of a normal amplifier.
2) The frequencies complement each other, and do not mix, turning into mush. A normal digital-to-analog converter (DAC) well “draws” the bass, mids and highs, allowing you to very accurately customize them using software to suit your own taste. When listening to music, you will suddenly hear each instrument separately. And the films will delight you with the effect of presence. In general, the impression is as if the speakers were previously covered with a thick blanket, and then it was removed.
3) The difference is especially noticeable in games.. You'll be surprised that the sound of the wind and dripping water doesn't drown out the quiet footsteps of your opponents around the corner. That in headphones, not necessarily expensive ones, there is an understanding of who is moving, where from and at what distance. This directly affects performance. It simply won’t be possible to sneak up/drive up to you on the sly.
What kind of sound cards are there?
When this type of component became of interest only to connoisseurs of good sound, of which, unfortunately, there are very few, there were very few manufacturers left. There are only two – Asus and Creative. The latter is generally a mastodon of the market, having created it and set all the standards. Asus entered it relatively late, but it still hasn’t left.
New models are released extremely rarely, and old ones are sold for a long time, 5-6 years. The fact is that in terms of sound you can’t improve anything there without a radical increase in price. And few people are willing to pay for audiophile perversions in a computer. I would say no one is ready. The quality bar is already set too high.
The first difference is the interface. There are cards that are designed only for desktop computers, and they are installed into the motherboard via PCI-Express interface. Others connect via USB and can be used with both large computers and laptops. The latter, by the way, have disgusting sound in 90% of cases, and an upgrade certainly wouldn’t hurt it.
The second difference is the price. If we are talking about internal cards, then 2-2.5 thousand Models are sold that are almost similar to built-in sound. They are usually purchased in cases where the connector on the motherboard has died (alas, a common phenomenon). Unpleasant feature cheap cards - low resistance to interference. If you place them close to the video card, background sounds will be very annoying.
The golden mean for built-in maps is 5-6 thousand rubles. There is already everything here to please normal person: interference protection, high-quality components and flexible software.
Behind 8-10 thousand The latest models are sold that can reproduce 32-bit sound in the 384 kHz range. This is right here top top. If you know where to get files and games in this quality, be sure to buy them :)
Even more expensive sound cards differ little in hardware from the already mentioned options, but they acquire additional equipment - external modules for connecting devices, companion boards with outputs for professional sound recording, etc. It depends on the actual needs of the user. Personally, I have never needed the body kit, although in the store it seemed like it was needed.
For USB cards, the price range is approximately the same: from 2 thousand alternative to built-in sound, 5-7 thousand strong middle peasants, 8-10 high end and beyond that everything is the same, but with a rich body kit.
Personally, I stop hearing the difference at the golden mean. Simply because cooler solutions also require hi-fi speakers and headphones, and to be honest, I don’t see much point in playing World of Tanks with thousand-dollar headphones. Probably, every problem has its own solutions.
Several good options
Several sound cards and adapters that I tried and liked.
PCI-Express interface
Creative Sound Blaster Z. It's been on sale for 6 years now, in my different computers It costs about the same and is still very satisfying. The CS4398 DAC used in this product is old, but audiophiles compare its sound to CD players in the $500 range. average price 5500 rubles.
Asus Strix Soar. If everything in the Creative product is shamelessly geared towards games, then Asus has also taken care of music lovers. The ESS SABRE9006A DAC is comparable in sound to the CS4398, but Asus offers more fine tuning parameters for those who like to listen to Pink Floyd on their computer in HD quality. The price is comparable, about 5500 rubles.
USB interface
Asus Xonar U3– a small box, when inserted into a laptop port, translates the sound quality in it to new level. Despite the compact dimensions, there was even room for a digital output. And the software is simply surprisingly flexible. An interesting option to try is why you need a sound card at all. Price 2000 rubles.
Creative Sound BlasterX G5. The device is the size of a pack of cigarettes (smoking is evil) and its characteristics are almost indistinguishable from the internal Sound Blaster Z, but there is no need to climb anywhere, just plug the plug into the USB port. And immediately you have seven-channel sound of impeccable quality, all sorts of gadgets for music and games, as well as a built-in USB port just in case you don't have enough of them. Having space made it possible to add an additional headphone amplifier, and once you hear it in action, it’s hard to get out of the habit. The main functions of the software are duplicated by hardware buttons. The issue price is 10 thousand rubles.
Play and listen to music with pleasure! There are not so many of them, these pleasures.
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Sound card(or board) – a device responsible for sound reproduction. This is an essential component of any modern computer, because without it even the simplest actions such as listening to music, watching a movie or video, or playing the sound of any computer game are impossible.
When starting to choose a sound card for your computer, you should know that they come in three forms:
- internal integrated;
- internal discrete;
- external.
Integrated sound cards are the most budget option. This is a separate chip soldered into the motherboard. Usually, better quality motherboards are soldered onto more solid motherboards. sound chips, A motherboards simpler ones contain an inexpensive chip (for example, Realtek).
However, saving on the purchase of a sound card is justified only if no high demands are placed on the quality of the reproduced sound. It should be noted that the sound chips themselves can produce quite a lot high quality sound, however, after soldering, external factors begin to influence the result of their work. First of all, these are electrical noises that inevitably arise on system board and affect the characteristics of the analog part of the audio signal.
In addition, the built-in sound adapter does not have own processor. Accordingly, the load on the central processor increases, which in some cases can lead to a delay in the sound signal or “stuttering” of the sound. Don't forget that integrated cards are not designed to connect powerful high-end external devices. They can only work with inexpensive headphones and microphones, as well as multimedia acoustic systems.
Discrete sound cards
Discrete sound card It is an independent board that is installed in a free PCI slot. This is the most ancient type of board - it was their use that at one time turned silent computers into multimedia computers. Discrete cards have sound processor, which performs the functions of audio processing, mixing audio streams, and so on. This makes it possible to reduce the load on the central processor, which certainly increases computer performance and improves the quality of audio signal playback.
Such boards provide more decent sound compared to integrated ones. As a rule, when using them, there is no interference or sound delay. You can use more powerful external devices - quality speakers or headphones, it is possible to connect the system " home cinema" Typically, a disk with software is supplied with a discrete sound card, which, among other things, allows you to process sound in automatic mode. Manual setting, as a rule, is performed through an audio player installed on the computer.
External sound cards
Installation required for high quality professional sound external sound card . Of course, it must be a good expensive device. Cheap USB cards do not provide high-quality sound. External sound cards have appeared quite recently. They look like small plastic or metal boxes equipped with a certain number of inputs and outputs for connecting external devices. Some boards are additionally equipped with various tuning controls. Such sound cards are connected to a computer when USB help or WiFi interfaces.
External boards are much more functional than internal ones. They allow you to use the entire wide range of capabilities of high-quality audio equipment. In addition to the audio output function, they also implement a recording function. sound signals– the case has inputs for connection various types microphones.
Every external sound card comes bundled with software. As a rule, this is a package of applications that allow you to configure output devices for the most comfortable sound. In addition, they provide automatic driver updates, which is quite convenient.
Results
To summarize, it should be noted that when choosing the type of sound card, first of all you need to focus on the required sound quality and the level of acoustic equipment that you plan to use.
The main task of any sound card is to convert digital data into simple data that can be transmitted to headphones or speakers. All motherboards produced now already have built-in and required quality sound they provide.
But some sound cards do not have enough functionality to run all programs; for example, they cannot simultaneously play and record sound. Therefore, to expand playback capabilities, a separate sound card is used, for example a sound card USB card, and for little money the sound quality can be improved significantly.
Another advantage of such a sound card: it can slightly relieve the computer processor. The fact is that the standard card shifts many of the sound processing functions to the processor, in addition to occupying a certain part of the memory. So an additional USB sound card is a rational purchase in any case.
Based on the connection method, three groups of cards can be distinguished:
- Through PCI connector or PCI Express. This connection is made through connectors located directly on the motherboard. Such cards are somewhat cheaper than similar external ones. But in terms of quality and functionality, they usually lose to them.
- External USB sound card - connects via a USB port, suitable for any laptop or versatility is one of its advantages. A modern USB sound card can immediately output sound when recording,
- External FireWire cards - connect via FireWire. These are the highest quality professional sound cards and are resistant to interference. To connect them to a laptop you need a PCMCI - FireWire adapter.
When buying a sound card, pay attention to the number of inputs and outputs it has. The more there are, the better. There must be a MIDI input and a MIDI output. They are intended for connecting a MIDI keyboard. By connecting it, you will receive good synthesizer. It's good if there are SPDIF optical outputs. Optical interface SPDIF provides the highest quality, clearest sound. To record music from instruments, you also need the appropriate number of inputs/outputs to connect the required number of devices, although you can record them one by one.
You should also look at the number of microphones and the sound card can be supplemented with special inputs for synchronization for multi-channel recording and additional monitor outputs.
Today, the variety of market offers makes it easy to find a card of the desired quality and price. By paying a modest amount for the purchase, you can significantly improve the sound quality of your computer, expand functionality. Even a simple USB sound card can provide this.
A high-quality card can become the basis for a home sound studio; it comes with its own software for ease of use, but this card is very expensive. Such devices are used by professionals in their work; for the common man, an additional internal map to get high-quality surround sound to accompany games and watch movies.
At first, the signal played the role of a reminder or warning. Subsequently, the developers began to create music for the first computer games, in which signals of different pitches and durations were used. However, it bore little resemblance to real music.
Fortunately, the audio capabilities of computers increased significantly in the 1980s, when several manufacturers released expansion cards designed to control audio. Modern computer with a sound card it can do much more than previous tweeters. It is capable of creating 3D audio for gaming or surround sound when playing videos. It can also capture and record audio from external sources.
Of course, expect fantastic sound from headphones connected to the sound card and simple columns It’s not worth it, it’s another thing to be in a stadium, where a linear sound array of CLA-8A modules like , creates a sound of incredible power that the voices of the fans are simply drowned out.
In this article, you'll learn how a sound card allows your computer to create and reproduce real, high-quality sound.
Analog and digital signals
Sounds and computer data are significantly different. Sounds are analog - they are made up of waves that travel through a medium such as air or water. People hear sounds when these waves cause their eardrums to vibrate.
But computers exchange information in digital form using electrical impulses corresponding to logical zero or one (0 or 1). Like a video card, a sound card converts digital information from the computer into analog information from the surrounding world, and vice versa.
The simplest sound card is a printed circuit board that contains four main components for converting digital and analog information:
Analog-to-digital converter (ADC);
Digital-to-analog converter (DAC);
ISA (obsolete), PCI or PCI Express (the most modern) interface connector for connecting the card to the motherboard (MP);
Input and output connections for microphone and speakers.
Instead of separate ADCs and DACs, some sound cards use an encoder/decoder chip that performs both functions and is called a codec (formed by the combination of CODER-DECODER).
X-FI
One of the latest developments in the field of sound cards is X-FI technology (short for Xtreme Fidelity, literally “high precision”), embodied in model range Sound Blaster X-Fi well-known manufacturer of sound cards Creative.
Main features of X-FI
Architecture active modes(Active Modal Architecture), which allows the user to choose one of three modes of operation of the card: gaming, relaxation or music creation, optimizing it computing power to perform a specific task;
Latest processor digital processing signals (eng. digital signal processor, DSP), contains 51 million transistors;
Several hardware and software processors, each of which performs certain operations with sound;
24-bit Crystallizer technology, which is designed to counteract certain losses in sound quality that occur during the 16-bit audio recording process.
ADC and DAC
Imagine using a computer to record your voice. First, you speak into a microphone connected to the sound card. An ADC converts the analog waves of your voice into digital data that a computer can understand. To do this, the ADC digitizes the sound by making precise measurements of the wave parameters at short intervals.
The figure below shows a simplified example of an ADC that periodically measures the amplitude of a sound wave and converts it into a set of digital values (bars) of equal duration, the sequence of appearance of which resembles the original continuous wave:
The number of measurements per second is called the sampling rate and is measured in kHz. The higher the map's sampling rate, the more accurate the reproduced waveform is (that is, as the frequency increases, the digital waveform becomes smoother and more closely resembles the original audio waveform).
If you play the recorded recording through the speakers, the DAC will perform the above basic operations in reverse order. Thanks to the accuracy of measurements and high frequency sampling, the reproduced analog signal will be almost identical to the original sound wave.
However, even high sampling rates cause some degradation in sound quality. The physical process of transmitting sound through wires can also cause distortion. Manufacturers use two metrics to describe this degradation in sound quality:
The coefficient of nonlinear distortion, THD (Total Harmonic Distortion, THD), is measured as a percentage;
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is measured in decibels (dB).
A low SOI value and a large SNR indicate high quality sound system. Some cards also support digital input, allowing you to store digital recordings without converting them to analog.
METHODS OF SOUND CREATION
Computers and sound cards can use several methods to create sounds. One of them is synthesis using frequency modulation, FM synthesis (Frequency modulation synthesis, FM synthesis), in which a computer combines several sound waves(layers them one on top of the other) to get more complex waveforms.
Another is wavetable synthesis, which uses fragments of recorded sounds of real instruments (called “samples”) to reproduce music. This synthesis often uses multiple samples of the same instrument at different pitches to achieve a more natural sound. In general, wavetable synthesis reproduces sounds much more accurately than FM synthesis.
Other components of the sound card
In addition to the basic components required for audio processing, most sound cards have additional hardware or input/output connections, such as:
Digital Signal Processor (DSP)
Like GPU video cards, the DSP is a specialized microprocessor. It partially offloads the central processing unit (CPU), because it independently performs calculations for analog and digital conversions. The DSP is capable of processing multiple sounds or channels simultaneously. Sound cards that do not have DSP use the CPU for such calculations.
Memory
As with a video card, a sound card can use its own RAM for more fast processing data.
Input and output connections
Most sound cards have microphone and speaker connectors. But some contain so many inputs and outputs that external units (other names: remote panels, front panels, reobass) are created for them, which are often installed in a free section system unit computer, designed for optical drives (thus, all additional connectors are conveniently located on the front panel of the system unit). Among these compounds are:
Numerous connections for 3D audio and surround sound;
S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) - digital audio interface from Sony companies and Philips is a digital audio forwarding protocol. Uses both coaxial (RCA, BNC) and optical (Toslink) connectors for two-way exchange of information with the sound card.
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a digital interface for musical instruments, used to connect synthesizers or other electronic musical instruments to a computer;
FireWire and USB connectors are designed for connecting digital audio and video recording devices to a sound card (voice recorders, DVRs, video recorders, etc.).
MODERN SOUND TECHNOLOGY AND API
Game developers use 3-D sound technology to create moving, dynamic sound that changes depending on where the player is in the game. In addition to using multiple sound sources, this technology also allows for realistic sound reproduction that avoids or passes through various obstacles.
Surround sound technology also uses multiple sound sources, but the sound does not change depending on the listener's actions. Surround sound is primarily used in home theater systems.
Like a video card, a sound card uses software to improve its interaction with application programs and other components of the computer. Such software contains both drivers for the card itself, which allow it to interact with operating system, and applied software interfaces(Application Programming Interface, API), which are sets of standards or rules for performing certain tasks that make work easier application programs with a sound card.
The most common APIs:
Microsoft DirectSound;
Creative: Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) and Open AL;
Sensaura: MacroFX;
QSound Labs: QSound (QSo).
Other ways to control sound
Not every computer is equipped with a sound card. Most modern motherboards have a built-in audio processing subsystem. An MP with its own DSP can simultaneously process several data streams. The built-in audio codec can even support 3D (positional) audio and Dolby surround sound. However, despite such capabilities, most reviewers agree that individual sound cards provide best quality sound.
Laptops, as usual, have audio subsystems or small sound cards built into their motherboards. However, given the small volume (in portable devices lack of free space) and the need for tight temperature control (effective cooling is key to building portable equipment) the creation and production of high-quality miniature internal sound cards is impractical to say the least. Therefore, laptop users can purchase external sound controllers that connect via USB or FireWire. Such external modules can significantly improve the sound quality reproduced by laptops.
Selecting a sound card
There are many factors that affect the performance of a sound card and its ability to reproduce clear, high-quality sound. Before purchasing a sound card, pay attention to the following characteristics:
The capacity of the ADC and DAC is measured in bits;
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD);
Amplitude-frequency response, frequency response, determines the sound volume of the card at different frequencies;
Sampling frequency;
Number of independent channel outputs (for example, 5.1 or 7.1 configuration);
Supported application program interfaces (APIs);
Certifications including Dolby Master and THX.
Anyone who invests in a sound card high class, should also have high quality speakers. Even the best sound card cannot compensate for the poor quality of the speakers.