system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: what's the difference between controlling the volume on the PC and controlling the volume on its speakers?

Is there a difference if I have the volume set at 1 on the audio source (PC) and at 100 on the audio output device (in this case, the speakers), and vice versa?
gpt
The difference is the signal to noise ratio you end up with.  Keeping the PC volume low and then cranking up the speaker is like recording someone speaking softly outside and then amplifying it: all the background noise gets amplified too.  Keeping the PC volume high and turning down the speaker is like recording someone speaking loudly, and playing it back quieter: their voice was loud compared to the background, so it sounds better.

You can't straight up max out the PC output because it's designed to be able to power headphones and small speakers on its own, so it can be turned up "too high" and cause distortion.  You want to turn it up as high as you can without getting distortion on loud sounds, and then adjust your speakers to taste.

This sort of volume control is really important in areas like... oh, electric guitars, where the sound is overdriven, and distortion is often desired.  Loud amp, quiet guitar vs loud guitar, quiet amp makes very different sounds.