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That Time Microsoft Released Speakers From The Future
In 1998, Microsoft was mostly known for the Windows operating system and their suite of Office productivity software. The original Xbox hadn’t yet entered development. Flight Simulator was their biggest game title, receiving updates every few years. And “Microsoft Hardware” consisted mostly of the Sidewinder(TM) game peripherals and a few decently-reviewed mice, as it would be another year before the IntelliMouse Explorer launched and crushed the mouse ball into the halls of irrelevance with its optical tracking technology.
All of that provides the context for how weird it is that in late 1998, Microsoft decided to release a powerful digital desktop speaker system called the Microsoft Digital Sound System 80. It debuted at E3 that year, and its marketing push targeted PC gamers. Unlike other computer speaker systems of the era, it didn’t require an analog connection to your sound card. Instead, it had its own DAC and amplifier built-in which received pure digital audio data directly over USB.
This sort of sound transmission is common in 2020. Almost mundane. Even budget gaming headsets often come with a USB DAC/amp dongle in the box. But in 1998? It was weird, different, and mind-blowing. Now any computer with a…
