In this video, I’ll be showing you ten easy ways you can improve the audio quality on
your Windows 10 PC or laptop. We’ll be splitting the video into two halves, with the first
five methods focusing on improving the sound quality of your output device such as speakers
or headphones and the second half of the video will focus on the recording quality of your
microphone. Most of the methods should be simple to follow, but if you have any questions
or run into any problems then let me know in the comments below. Now it is important
to mention that none of these methods will dramatically help as that is simply not possible,
but hopefully they will make a noticeable difference even if it’s just in the short
term until you get a new device. Remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe
for more tips if the video helps. Let’s get into the first method to improve our output
sound quality! The first method to boost the quality of our
output device is to increase the quality settings in the sound control panel. If you’ve never
changed this before, there is a chance that we can improve the quality with a simple setting
change. To check, first go to the main settings page by clicking on the cog icon within the
start menu. In settings, click on system and then choose sound from the options on the
left side. Now click on the blue sound control panel link which should be on the right side
of the page. This will open a new window and in it, make sure you are on the playback tab.
Now is a good time to make sure you have the correct output device selected and enabled.
Find your output device from the list and then double click on it. Head to the advanced
tab next and in here you should see the drop-down box which allows you to change the quality.
If its greyed out then unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to edit it. You could
try using another port on your PC though if this is the case. Choose the option with the
highest number of Hertz for the best chance at the highest quality and remember to click
apply. Leave this window open for the next method.
The next method is to change and turn on some of the other settings within the device’s
properties window that we used to change the quality. These can be personal preference
but there should be a few options that might improve the sound quality of our device. The
first few options can be found by going to the enhancements tab. In the box, you should
see at least a few options to turn on. You could turn on bass boost by checking the box
to the left of it and to change the settings of any of these options, click on them once
and then choose settings. For example, for the bass boost, I can change how much it boosts
it by. There might be some other options such as headphone virtualization or loudness equalization
that might make the sound quality better for you. Try them out and remember to click apply
once you are happy with the changes. Let’s move on to method three and again its worth
leaving this window open for this. The third method to improve sound quality
is to change the equalization settings of your device. The method to do this will differ
depending on the type of device you have, and the port it uses to connect to your PC.
I’ll be showing you three different ways you can do this. The first way is to head
back to the sound control panel and back into the enhancements tab of your output device.
In the box that we used before, look for equalizer and click on it once. Now find the three dots
button next to where it says setting to bring up the equalizer. Feel free to change the
sliders in here or choose one of the presets until you are happy with the sound quality.
By changing just one of the sliders you’ll be able to tell the difference in the sound
and this is all personal preference. The second way to try this is if you find the small up
arrow towards the right side of the taskbar and click on that, there might be an icon
that looks like a speaker and called something like Realtek HD Audio Manager. Open that and
there should be the enhancements and equalizer to change in there. If you are unable to access
the equalization settings using the two previous methods, the third way that you might be able
to change them is to download software that allows you to do it. I’ll leave links to
some software in the description that can do this. Follow the instructions on the website
to install and set it up and if you have any questions then let me know. Let’s move on
to method four. For the fourth method we’re going to try
troubleshooting the sound device. This will allow Windows to automatically check for any
problems with our device. It should also try and fix them too or at least make the problem
known to you. To troubleshoot your sound output device, go to the main settings page, again
by clicking on the cog icon within the start menu. In settings, choose update and security.
Now choose troubleshoot from the options on the left. On the troubleshoot page, scroll
down until you find the option called playing audio. Click on it and then choose run the
troubleshooter. Allow Windows to automatically look for and fix any problems.
The final method to improve the quality of our output device is to ensure that we have
the latest drivers installed for it. The first way to check is to go to the device manager.
You can get there by searching for it. In the device manager, find the option called
“audio inputs and outputs” and click on the arrow to expand it. Find your headphones,
speakers or output device from the list and double click on it to open a new window. Head
to the driver tab and find where it says update driver and click on that. Choose the automatic
option and then allow Windows to search for driver updates. If it finds any, it will install
them automatically too. If Windows couldn’t find any updates, try looking for driver updates
on the manufacturer’s website. There should be a drivers page and you will need to know
the model name or number of your sound device. Download and install the latest driver from
there but just make sure you are getting it from the official website.
So those are the methods for sound output devices. Let’s now move onto the five methods
to improve the quality of our microphone. These methods will be similar, so you should
be able to speed through them. The first method is to run the recording audio
troubleshooter this time. This will quickly check for any obvious problems that could
be causing your mic to sound bad. Go to the settings page again, then update and security
and then choose troubleshoot from the options on the left. Find the recording audio option
on the list and click on it and then select run the troubleshooter. Allow Windows to automatically
look for and fix any problems. Let’s move on to method two.
The second method to improve mic quality is to check that our microphone drivers are up
to date. Out of date device drivers could cause problems so it’s best to keep them
updated. The first way to check is to go to the device manager. You can get there by searching
for it. In the device manager, find the option called “audio inputs and outputs” and
click on the arrow to expand it. Now find your mic on the list and double click on it.
Now go to the driver tab and find where it says update driver and click on that. Choose
the automatic option and then allow Windows to search for driver updates. If it finds
any, it will install them automatically too. If Windows couldn’t find any updates, try
looking for driver updates on the microphone manufacturer’s website. There should be
a drivers page and you will need to know the model name or number of the microphone to
get the latest driver for it. Download and install it from there but again just make
sure you are getting it from the official website.
For the third method, we need to go back to the sound control panel. The method to get
there was settings, then system, then sound, then into the sound control panel. This time
go to the recording tab. Now double click on your microphone and there should be a few
things we can change in here to improve the quality. First, go to the advanced tab. In
here, there should be a drop-down box that will allow you to change the quality that
your mic will record at. You can increase the number of Hertz to improve the quality
of the microphone. Click on apply once you’re happy with the selection. Now go to the levels
tab. In this tab, we can change the sensitivity of the microphone with the microphone slider.
If your microphone is quite loud, decreasing the level of this slider should improve the
quality by reducing the amount of background noise picked up. It’s difficult to recommend
an exact number for you to use but I would suggest playing around with this slider to
see what gives you the best quality. The fourth method to boost the quality of
our mic is to try changing the recording quality in the app that you are using. This method
will differ slightly within each app, but you might have the option somewhere in the
audio settings. For example, if you use the Xbox Game bar feature to record footage in
Windows 10, you can do it in the Windows 10 settings by going to gaming, then captures
and then by finding where it says audio quality. Increase that if you can for that example.
The final method 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 mic. There are also plenty of other options within audacity
in the effects tab to fine tune the quality of your microphone. Have a play around to
see what suits your voice or sound the best. It is possible to edit the sound of your microphone
live with some software, but this is a little more complex. I’ll leave links to some of
the software that can do this. Follow the instructions on the websites to learn how
to install and setup the software. And so those are my ten easy methods to improve
the audio quality of both your output and input devices in Windows 10. I really hope
I was able to help you today, remember to leave a like and feel free to subscribe if
the video helped. If you have any questions, then let me know in the comments below. Click
the card on screen now to watch a video of mine showing you ten easy ways you can speed
up your Windows 10 PC or stick around to see some of my other videos that you might be
interested in. Thanks so much for watching and I will see you in another video!