For laptops, MacBooks and desktop PCs, good audio can often seem like an afterthought. It’s hard to get quality sound from built-in speakers, which have to be crammed inside a hyper-thin chassis ...

This shot from Universal Audio shows the Apollo Twin Duo audio interface in action. Photo: Universal Audio If you want great sound out of your computer setup, you need excellent speakers, of course.

If you’re in the market for a new speaker system and are on a limited budget, you should seriously consider getting a quality stereo (2.0 or 2.1) system instead of a cheap, but compromised, surround ...