Today’s video will show you ten easy ways to improve the sound quality on your Windows 11
PC or laptop. The video will be divided into two with the first five methods showing how to
improve sound quality on output devices, such as headphones or speakers and the second five methods
will focus on input devices like microphones. Feel free to use the chapters to navigate to
the section you are most interested in. As always if the video helps remember to
leave a like and feel free to subscribe for more helpful videos, let’s get into the ten methods.
Method one to improve your sound quality is to check within the Windows settings for
customization options. To do this, open the main settings page. You can get there by searching for
it in the search bar. In the settings, click on system from the options on the left. In the system
settings, click on sound from the list of options. In here, look for your headphones in the output
section and click on it once to customize some of the settings. Within here, you can change things
like the quality format, which could potentially improve the quality if you increase it.
You can also edit the main volume and the volume for the left and right channel separately.
There might also be other settings to customize in here like the option
to turn on enhanced audio or spatial sound. Stay in here for the next method.
The second method is to look for additional customization settings. If you’re still in the
sound settings for your device, head back to the main sound settings page and scroll down.
Look for an option called more sound settings. This should open a new window.
In the new window, head to the playback tap and double click on your sound device.
There will be various tabs in here that will allow you to change more settings,
but this will differ depending on your headphones. The levels tab allows you to change the volume and
the enhancements tab which may or may not be there depending on your headphones could include things
like the bass boost. There will be other tabs that will have more ways to customize the sound.
There might even be an equalizer which will be a good way to fine tune the audio quality.
Method three is to try and update the device drivers. There’s a chance that the correct
drivers aren’t installed, and we can check for any driver updates too. To do this,
we need to go to the device manager. You can get there by searching for it in the search bar.
In the device manager, look for the section called audio inputs and outputs and double click on it to
expand it, it should be near the top. In here, look for the headphones or the sound device you
want to update the drivers for. Double click on its name to bring up the properties window.
Now go to the driver tab, which should be the second option. In here, find where it says
update driver and click on that if you can. Now choose the automatic option, which should be the
top option of the two available. If there are any drivers that Windows finds, it should install them
automatically. However, it might say that the best drivers are up to date. Drivers or software might
also be available on your device manufacturers website so have a look on there as well.
The fourth method is to check the sound settings of the games or apps you use.
In some apps, especially games, there might be audio settings that allow you to customize things,
for example by enabling Dolby Atmos or surround sound.
The fifth and final method for output devices is to get a third-party sound equalizer or audio
enhancement app. If you don’t feel comfortable installing additional software on your PC
then you can skip this method if you want. There will be plenty of equalizer apps to choose from
and most will work in the same way. It might be best to research a few and look at which you think
provides you with the customization options you want. An example of this sort of software would
be Equalizer APO. I’ll leave a link to it in the description, and you can install the version you
need for your PC from there. After installing it, you will need to restart your PC. After this load
up the editor application. This will be located wherever you installed the main file to and in
here there are plenty of options to customize the sound. The default graphic equalizer allows you
to play around with the sound channels and once you save your preferences, you should be able to
hear the difference. You might be able to select surround sound too with the options at the top.
That covers the methods for headphones and output devices.
We’ll now focus on microphone sound quality. The first method for microphones is to check
within the Windows settings for customization options. To do this, open the main settings
page. You can get there by searching for it in the search bar. In the settings,
click on system from the options on the left. In the system settings, click on sound from the list
of options. In here, look for your microphone in the input section and click on it once to
customize some of the settings. Within here, you can change things like the quality format,
which could potentially improve the quality if you increase it. You can also edit the input
volume for just this microphone. Reducing the microphone input volume might help reduce any
background noise that it picks up, so try a few different levels. I highly recommend
trialling all of the options, especially for the quality format to see if it improves sound quality
and of course, some will be down to personal preference. Stay in here for the next method.
The second method is to look for additional customization settings. If you’re still in the
sound settings for your device, head back to the main sound settings page and scroll down. Look for
an option called more sound settings. This should open a new window. In the new window, head to the
recording tab and double click on your microphone. There will be various tabs in here that will allow
you to change more settings, but this will differ depending on your microphone. The levels tab
allows you to change the volume and might include an option to boost the sound. Have a look to see
if there are any other tabs that let you adjust certain settings that could improve the quality.
Method three to improve mic quality is to use a piece of software called Audacity. There are
other similar options when it comes to software like this, but Audacity is widely used and its
completely free. Click the card onscreen now for a video of mine that will show you how to safely
download and install audacity as well as set it up so that you are ready to record. Once you
have audacity set up with your chosen mic, you can simply hit record to start the recording and then
stop once you’re done. One of the most valuable tools in Audacity is the noise reduction feature.
Click the card onscreen now for my video showing you how to remove background noise from audio
in Audacity. After removing background noise, some of the other things you might find helpful
are a few of the other options in the effects tab. Things like the compressor, bass boost,
treble boost and the limiter are some of the tools I use to improve the quality of my microphone.
There are also plenty of other options within audacity in the effects tab to fine tune the
quality of your mic. Have a play around to see what suits your voice or sound the best.
The fourth method is to try and update the device drivers. There’s a chance that the correct drivers
aren’t installed, and we can check for any driver updates too. To do this, we need to go to the
device manager. You can get there by searching for it in the search bar. In the device manager,
look for the section called audio inputs and outputs and double click on it to expand it,
it should be near the top. In here, look for the microphone you want to update the drivers for.
Double click on its name to bring up the properties window. Now go to the driver tab,
which should be the second option. In here, find where it says update driver and click on that if
you can. Now choose the automatic option, which should be the top option of the two
available. If there are any drivers that Windows finds, it should install them automatically.
However, it might say that the best drivers are up to date. Drivers or software might also
be available on your device manufacturers website so have a look on there as well.
The fifth method for boosting mic quality is to focus on the physical elements of your mic.
For example, you could use some sponge or an old sock as a pop filter for
the microphone to help reduce wind noise. Those are my ten easy ways to improve sound
and audio quality on a Windows 11 PC or laptop. Thanks so much for watching, if you found the
video helpful remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe for more tips in the future.
Click the card onscreen now to watch a video of mine showing you ten easy ways to speed
up your Windows 11 device! Thanks again for watching and I will see you in another video.