The Best Computer Speakers Under $100

If you’re looking for the best sound for less than $100 and aren’t interested in huge bass or extreme power the Edifier R1280T could be the right choice. These bookshelf speakers represent times of yesteryear, without subwoofers and fancy features. Times when a quality pair of bookshelf speakers were all you needed to fully enjoy the music.

First of all, the sound’s great. Not a single part of the spectrum takes over the scene, with the default settings offering quite a neutral sound. Luckily, these speakers feature three knobs on the right speaker’s side panel where you can adjust volume, bass, and treble levels. After boosting the bass a bit the sound becomes slightly warm, with detailed lows and pleasant mids and highs that we very much like.

Overall, the sound’s amazing. You can adjust your preferred bass and treble levels, which doesn’t change the sound signature in any dramatic way. You just get a bit more (or less) low and high punch in the sound signature, while leaving the base sound rich and without distortions. Bass can get thunderous on higher volumes, with the sound staying clear as a mountain river, which is great to hear on a pair of budget speakers. And they can get very loud without introducing distortion. They will get distorted, but only at the highest volume levels.

These speakers also look amazing. Wooden housing combined with metal on the top and gray cloth grilles looks slick and can be combined with many different setups. You can connect up to two audio sources to these speakers, which is another plus. The Edifier R1280T are some of the best budget computer speakers you can get right now. They can match speakers selling for double or triple the price, at least when it comes to the sound. And for many users, that’s all that matters.

The Bose Companion 2 Series III is a great pair of budget speakers for anyone who needs quality sound while they are working on their PC. These are small but powerful and with pretty good sound quality. The design isn’t anything special. Just two black boxes that look similar to many other PC speakers. But once you start playing some music, you’ll find that these sound better than most other compact PC speakers.

The sound is a bit warm, with a detailed and punchy bass and clear mids and lows. Overall, it’s solid for music and spoken word, with movies and TV shows sounding much better on speakers with a standalone woofer. You can hear some distortion at highest volume levels but that’s fine because you’ll rarely use these speakers at the max volume. And when talking about loudness, the Bose Companion 2 Series III are pretty loud for such small speakers.

Other than the classic design and solid sound signature, these speakers also offer two 3.5mm jacks for connecting them to two sound sources at the same time, along with the headphone jack found on the back. These speakers are great for occasional music listening sessions and watching movies, but they aren’t made for users who want to fully enjoy their music. For something like that, a pair of quality bookshelf speakers or some nice 2.1 system is preferred.

The Creative T100 are classic PC speakers. They feature an unobtrusive design that includes black coloring, soft edges, and inconspicuous rectangle design seen on thousands of other speaker units. But these pack so many features in such small housing, showing again that looks can be deceptive. But before that, let’s talk about the sound. In short, it’s very good, much better than on most other PC speakers.

The low-end spectrum is rich but not as powerful as one found on large bookshelf speakers or speaker systems with a dedicated subwoofer. Mids and lows are noticeable. They are clear and without distortions. The sound image is dynamic and rich in details but it lacks just a bit of bass to be considered excellent. But for the price, this is amazing. Also, these are very loud for such compact speakers. You won’t turn them up to the max unless you organize a party. And even then, distortion can be heard only at the absolute maximum volume.

While they sound great for the price, the Creative T100 also pack a ton of extra features that make their price tag even more justifiable. For instance, you get a USB port allowing you to play music from a USB Flash drive, which is cool. There’s also the Bluetooth connection, which allows these speakers to connect to any sound source featuring Bluetooth. You also get a regular AUX (3.5mm) jack to connect to a sound source but these also feature the optical-in port to connect your game console or something like that. A huge plus for the plethora of ports on the back.

You also get a nice remote that contains every function you need, leaving the right speaker with only the volume rocker placed at its top. Overall, the Creative T100 is an exceptional pair of compact PC speakers. They offer excellent sound (a bit more bass would be great), a ton of connection options, great remote, Bluetooth connectivity, and all that for less than $100. A great deal if you ask us. Just note that audio can lag over Bluetooth, making movies unwatchable.

If you like moving around while listening to music and like to change the location of your speakers throughout your house a lot, the Logitech Z407 wireless Bluetooth speakers are a great choice for you.

These are 80W speakers that include a 20W subwoofer and 2x 10W satellites. Since the Z407 speakers have a wireless range of 20 meters you can have a wide variety of placements depending on what you are doing allowing for a more diverse listening experience.

The great part is that it comes with the main control button that allows you to do everything from one place. You can choose to power on/off your device, change the volume, skip tracks, and more all from one place.

If necessary the Z407 can also be used with a 3.5mm cable or a data USB cable for playback. Although the sound quality is not exactly stellar since these are wireless speakers, for casual listening and gaming these are perfect considering the asking price.

If you would like a minimalistic design for your speakers the KEiiD Bluetooth Speakers will fit right in with your preferences since they use an aluminum housing to give them a subtle look. Looks are not the only thing these speakers can do because overall they sound pretty well, including punchy bass for music listening and an intense cinema movie experience. With the touch controller that comes with the speakers, everything is within reach and can be changed with the press of a button.

Besides being Bluetooth 5.0 the speakers also can be used with a 3.5mm cable that connects to your smart devices. With the KEiiD you can also benefit from 3 EQ options for gaming, movie watching, or music.

Overall these are sleek and well-built speakers that can be used for casual media consumption without any issues.

The Creative Labs GigaWorks T20 Series II is a pair of compact PC speakers that sound much better than what you’d think. While they are packed inside small casings that include a small woofer in each case paired with an even smaller tweeter, the end result is impressive. The sound is booming and rich in bass along with clear highs and okayish mids (a bit muddy but present). It’s not overly bassy and is great for listening to music, playing games, and watching movies. As for the distortion, it’s there but only at the highest volume levels.

These speakers are pretty loud (for smaller and medium rooms at least) and the omission of a standalone subwoofer isn’t hurting them. The bass is there, it’s punchy but also detailed. Overall, great sound for such small speakers. Look for 2.1 system only if you need thunderous bass for movies or if you’re only listening to bass-heavy music. As for the design, there isn’t much to it. Simple cases that include removable speaker grilles coupled with bass, treble and volume knobs on the front looks nice and can be paired with any PC setup.

Overall, these are small speakers with pretty good sound. They could’ve been a bit louder but you won’t notice them lacking in volume unless your PC resides in a huge room or if you use these speakers in a large living room. Build quality is great but the speakers are too expensive for what they offer. You only get a single 3.5mm port on the back, there aren’t extra connection options or wireless connectivity. Also, the cables (power cable and cable for connecting the two speakers) are short and can be an issue on larger desks where speakers are far away from one from another.