I have to get new speakers for my desktop computer, since my cat thought it prudent to run into my water pitcher in a wild cat chase and dump it all over my desk, killing my speaker. Speaker on my desktop is the only way I can hear recorded media for iNaturalist. I got ten-dollar pebble speakers when I got my new monitor earlier this year.
I had always had a monitor with internal speakers that worked fine but apparently new monitors no longer have speakers installed. So the store recommended those cheap speakers. But I never liked them for listening to bird sounds that I recorded.
There is always a howling wind/roaring traffic sound when I listen to my bird videos. This didn’t happen so bad with the speakers on my old monitor so I know there are much better speakers. But I can’t pay a thousand dollars or even half of that.
I record with my camera (Lumix DC-FZ80), download onto computer, then play the video. That’s the technology I have so I use it. The water dump killed my remaining speaker–the one from which the cat hadn’t chewed off the cable.
So now I’m looking for wireless speakers that let me hear my bird recordings clearly and also listen to music and to lectures on YouTube and hear my own recorded voice when I make YouTubes. They have to fit on my very crowded desktop. Sound quality and budget are top priority.
As you suggest the speakers to be wireless, you should check the available ones by JBL in your area. They usually have high-quality speakers in an affordable price range. The preference of sound quality coming from the speakers very much depends on your own liking, though, so the best idea is to visit a store where you can test the product in advance and see what kind of sound you like best. (This said, I always use headphones for listening to bird recordings so as not to miss any subtleties that I may not pick up with a surround system or speakers.)
After thinking about this, I’m looking at headphones but what kind would you recommend for listening to bird recordings? I keep reading about over ear and on ear, etc. I see listings for $20 and #30 CAD, and here’s one called SENNHEISER HD450BT Around Ear Wireless Headphone on special for $129.
I do not have a specific brand or model to recommend, but I was about to ask if you have tried using headphones instead of speakers.
My laptop speakers are tolerable for my own bird sound recordings, because I optimize them as bird sound recordings. But I have to plug in my headphones in order to be able to even hear many of the recordings that people upload to iNaturalist, much less hear them well.
In my experience, the first thing with headphones is to figure out what styles you can tolerate. Anything that goes in my ear will start to hurt sooner rather than later, so it’s over the ear or nothing for me.
Thank you for this reply. I have now been wearing these headphones for an hour or so and they feel very comfortable so far. I forget I’m wearing them. I can hear the clock tick but the sound from the headphones is also very good.
I can definitely hear my recordings better than with the former speakers. I really needed help since I didn’t even know which end of the computer to plug them in. I was unable to get sound and had to take the computer in to the store so they could help me. The first thing I noticed was that they plugged it in the front of the computer. Yeah, I felt stupid alright, but I share it so you know how much I am starting from scratch.