Best USB Computer Speakers With Good Bass

USB Speakers With Decent Bass

Shopping for better audio from your Mac or PC laptop or desktop computer? USB bus powered speakers aren't generally known for delivering much low-end frequency response or high volume. But with careful evaluation, you can find select speaker systems that don't require separate AC wall power, but deliver enhanced audio playback from the limited power that's available from a computer's USB port.

USB Speaker Digital or Analog Connectivity

USB Digital Computer Audio or 1.8" Analog Device Inputs

Creative T6 AC powered USB-C Speakers

Deep, Low Bass Down To 20HZ

Best USB Powered Speakers With Sub-Woofer

With USB 3.0 and USB-C ports delivering more amps of power, newer USB bus powered speaker systems can be free from past limitations and louder than ever. Power to drive well designed speaker cones up to 4 inches, and deliver full-frequency deep bass than previously possible. 3-piece 2.1 speaker systems can take your Mac desktop's audio playback quality to the next level.

Creative Labs USB 2.1 Loudspeakers

2 Orb Satellites and SubWoofer

Here's another low-cost USB bus powered subwoofer loudspeaker system with a lot of oomph!

Highy-Rated USB 2.1 Speaker System

4" Down-Firing Woofer

2.1 USB Powered Woofer Speakers

Center Subwoofer + 2 Satellites

Here's some other USB powered computer speaker systems with good bass that can take your music, movie soundtrack and computer audio experience to a deeper level.

2.0 Desktop USB Speaker

3 Inch Driver Cones : Free Lavalier Microphone

Above, a 2 wire analog USB speaker set with separate mic and headphone jacks at the back. Below Creative's great sounding USB-Powered analog Sound Bar speaker with Bluetooth and MP3 playback via USB flash drive.

Creative Labs USB-Powered Sound Bar

Great Bass, High-Quality Speaker Cones

   

Edifier 2.0 Desktop Speakers Large 70mm Driver Cones

2.1 USB Speaker System Mini Subwoofer + Satellites

Bigger Driver Cones Better Bass Response

If you're looking for good bass reproduction you'll generally need to look at 2 or 3-piece desktop USB speaker systems. Many other's are designed as loudspeakers for portability such as use with Apple MacBooks, UltraBooks, Netbooks and other PC laptops. So tradeoffs in low-frequency response are made with small driver cones and a compact, portable enclosure for easier travel. With USB desktop speaker systems, the drivers and enclosures can be much larger allowing for enhanced bass.
   

USB Desktop Speakers Side Bass Resonators

Gemini USB Desktop Speakers High Quality Driver Cones

Limitations Of USB Powered Computer Speakers

Several factors limit just how big and loud a computer loudspeaker can be that's attached to a USB port. The Universal Serial Bus device specification has long standardized on 5 Volts of power on a port. The Ampherage available is generally 500mA. The amount of wattage available is calculated by multiplying the Voltage times Amps. So 5v X 500mA = 2.5 Watts. That's enough for room-filling sound - but not much more.

Louder USB-C Connected Speakers

Computer speakers powered by USB-C (and Thunderbolt) can be much louder because USB 3.1 ports can deliver more milliamps of power to drive the cones.

New: USB-C Only Pebble V3 Speakers

Best Sounding Compact USB-C Speakers

Speaker Frequency Response Range

As such, the SIZE, QUALITY and SENSITIVITY of the speaker's engineering plays a huge part of how much volume and bass a USB powered speaker can reproduce. For low-frequency audio signals, a large driver cone is needed to move alot of air for bass you can feel. The low-end signals below 100 Hertz (Hz) need to pull and thrust the cone a greater distance than the microscopic shifts needed to produce high frequencies. Better speakers will have rubber or foam suspension rings around the speaker cone to allow greater distance in the throw. Large or small, woofers need to move in a free but controlled manner to keep the audio reproduction clean, tight and accurate.

Recommended Computer Loudspeakers

The reasonably compact speakers here feature driver cones in the 2 to 4 inch range (approximently 50mm to 100mm) to deliver better bass than many others. Contrast these to more portable USB notebook speaker systems which typically only have driver cones in the 1 to 2 inch range (25mm to 50mm) and make tradeoffs in size to enhance portability for mobile computing use.