Internal Monitor Speakers vs. External Speakers: Which Is the Better Deal?

To answer that you have to be honest with yourself. Do you want good, hassle-free sound at no extra charge or are you a dedicated audiophile who craves the very finest aural experience? If you answered the latter, then we won’t fool you. Of course a standalone, pricey hi-fi surround system beats the speakers you get with a monitor. But it also costs many times more than your monitor and involves complex setup. Do you really need something like that? For most people, many of today’s monitors have speaker arrangements that deliver more than enough sonic quality.

If we look at monitors like the BenQ EX2870Q, we find dual 2W speakers plus a powerful 5W subwoofer. That’s genuine 2.1 channel sound, and for someone sitting at a desk for work, entertainment, or gaming, it’s more than enough. That kind of sound can easily fill a room, so good monitors obviously have headphone jacks for times you don’t want to disturb anyone.

Let’s quickly review some of the main advantages of integrated monitor speakers.

You want to keep your work and play spaces as neat and logical as possible. External speakers invariably mean more cabling, more power connectors, and more hassle. A dedicated hi-fi system requires its own area and comes complete with a whole slew of cabling and setup issues. Consider whether you want that, or the simplicity and neatness of speakers that are already in your monitor (which you need anyway, clearly). Built-in speakers don’t impose additional cables or connectors, don’t run the risk of incompatibilities, and don’t take up any space as they’re inside the monitor’s footprint.

If you want to reduce clutter and prevent cables and wires from taking over your space, internal speakers make a world of sense. 

You control monitor speakers with ease, especially if your monitor has a remote control. One point of control covers all audio functions, so making changes on the fly becomes simple and quick. External speakers need their own control interface, which can range from fiddly knobs to yet another remote control. Either way, by adding external speakers you’re also adding more steps to user control and ergonomics, so think of that. Do you want mute or volume changes to take less than a second, or are you OK with spending upwards of a minute on one of those basic functions? 

Since monitors now ship with multiple video inputs, many people use the same monitor for their PC, consoles, and set top streaming boxes. If that monitor has good speakers, audio from all of those devices gets a quality boost and can be enjoyed in one place. Also, controlling audio for different devices becomes simpler if it all passes through the monitor. No need to make adjustments on each source, but rather only on the monitor. 

Doesn’t matter if you’re a gamer or content creator or whatever, in pretty much any scenario choosing a monitor with good speakers beats forking over money to get external speakers. The only exception would be music and sound professionals. For everyone else, internal speakers are highly recommended.