Creative Pebble 2.0 USB-Powered Desktop Speakers with Far-Field Drivers and Passive Radiators for PCs and Laptops (White)

When I replaced my monitor my new one didn’t come with internal speakers, only a headphone jack. I am accustomed to using airpods to monitor sound when I am editing and I’ve gotten into the habit of using them whenever I listen to anything on my computer, which actually other than editing isn’t very often. But a lot of websites are making increased use of videos which means to listen to them having a set of old fashioned speakers sounded like a good idea. I didn’t want (or need) super expensive speakers just to listen to a news clip or a social media clip so I started searching for a pair of small, attractive computer speakers and was dismayed that most of the cheap one were unattractive and barely above using a tin can in terms of sound quality. I stumbled on these hidden several pages in during my search, which is a shame because Creative practically invented the first small cheap computer speakers. I bought these more on how they look than anything else and had very low expectations how they would sound for a price well under twenty bucks. When they arrived I was impressed. The presentation was typical of Creative Labs, which is to say top notch. The documentation is superior and the look and feel is much better than expected.SOUND QUALITYBe realistic, you can’t reinvent physics and there is only so much you can do with a speaker this small. Typical of this company, rather than try to dazzle with phony equalizations that have an initial wow factor then sound tiresome and hard to listen to they have opted to have these sound natural for the content that comes out of most computers. That’s something that’s not easy to explain but don’t expect them to rock the room with bass or break glass with sizzling highs. Instead they just “sound good” and personally I am very happy with that sound. Part of that equation is they understand that the typical user of this pair will be sitting only 2-3 feet from the speakers, that required an entirely different approach to how they sound compared to speakers that are at the other end of a room. I didn’t believe my ears, I can’t imagine them sounding any better.HINTS1. Per Creative not all computers have enough juice to power these speakers to their full volumepotential. They suggest, and I agree, that if you can, rather than using one of the USB ports on your computer instead plug these into their own dedicated power transformer (the same kind you use to charge your phone or other USB device). For me doing that about doubled the sound volume.2. Where should you plug the mini audio cable into? Creative is kind of vague on that. With a lot of computers you might have more than one option, for example in my case my computer has both an audio line out jack, an audio headphone jack and an audio jack for headphones on my monitor. The last one is the least desirable because almost all monitors these days are using HDMI connectivity which is probably going to digitize and re-digitize an audio signal several times and try to optimize it for headphone listening. To a slightly lesser degree the headphone jack on your computer may try to output sound optimized for headphone listening. Your best choice if possible is to use the line level output. These are amplified speakers and they can deal with the kind of output from a line level jack, which is likely the purest and cleanest sound your computer is capable of outputting. Many computers autosense what’s plugged into a jack or will pop up a setup screen to let you choose how to use that jack. It turns out my computer (an HP workstation) offers a very sophisticated setup to fine-tune the speaker output even better than a graphic equalizer. The difference between using my monitor’s headphone jack and my computer line level jack was night and day, they made these speakers perform to their absolute fullest potential.3. That soft springy disk on the back of the speaker is called a passive radiator. In simple terms what it does is to act as a non-powered loudspeaker by capturing the vibrations of the actual speaker and replicating them in synchronous harmony and generally improving the bass performance. You can utilize these passive radiators to their full potential by experimenting a little how far away you place the back of the speaker from the wall behind your desk (if your desk is free-standing this doesn’t apply). While there isn’t a hard and fast best solution, I’ve found that with these a distance of about 8-10 inches sounds the best to me. By the way, the passive radiators are delicate and can be ruined if pressed on too hard or the rubber ring has a hole poked into it. Keep your fingers away from that area.ONE SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTCreative Labs is a very old and successful company and I am hardly qualified to tell them what to do, but there is one small thing they overlooked, possibly because no one has ever told them about it. It’s not major and certainly not a dealbreaker but it could have been designed slightly better. The issue is that the speaker is a sphere and the volume control is mounted at the lower lip of a crater on the face of it below the loudspeaker. When I put my fingers around the volume control to adjust it gravity causes the sphere to slightly tilt over toward the front, it has to because of the placement and angle of the volume control. Aesthetically I can’t think of a better location for the control, it looks beautiful where it is, and the current location is absolutely easy to reach for and adjust and I wouldn’t want to change either of those things. If I were in their design studio I would probably choose to counterbalance that tendency to tilt forward by putting a little weight inside toward the rear of the base, I don’t think it would require much.YES NO MAYBEI don’t consider tendency to tilt a flaw, just a minor issue. Moving beyond that these are beautiful, they sound great, they are well-made and they cost a fraction of what they’re worth when compared to the no-name junk in the same price category. When the true meaning of five stars is (and should be) a product that is best in class and near flawless in execution, these earn that rating hands down.

For under $25, it is just ridiculous how good these little speakers sound, Creative absolutely nailed it with this line. These were purchased for a teenager who just loves them. One thing I would recommend is to plug the USB A connection into a wall type power adapter, I recommend one of the older Apple USB A power adapters, it will give these speakers the power they need, and the 3.5mm cable is your only audio source with this model to plug into your computer, phone, etc. I also just got the Pebble Pro which are really a step up (2.25" driver compared to 2" driver for this model), have USB and Bluetooth audio, optional USB Power Delivery, and RGB lighting, they definitely put out more bass and volume.The next purchase for me will be the Pebble X, which is a step up from the Pebble Pro, with 2.75" drivers. The best bang for the buck out of the line is probably the Pebble V3, which is basically the Pebble Pro without the RGB lighting and currently going for around $40, but I'm telling you, even this little $25 pair of speakers will make you smile, they are perfect for small desk spaces, and sound good with music and dialog, they are very clear and not boxy or tinny like a lot of smaller speakers. Keep in mind, a 2" speaker is absolutely going to have its limitations, you will be able to distort them at the top of their volume range depending on the audio source, but you can get plenty of volume before that happens. I have really been impressed by these and will be gifting a pair to a lot of family and friends in the future.

These are great small desk speakers for a PC setup. They sound good, have good bass, and don’t take up a lot of space!I particularly like them because they are inexpensive for basic use listening to music or YouTube videos while connected to the computer.Even though they are small (about the size of a medium human fist) and can fit into a small bag or backpack, they are not so great for travel speaker’s because the bass and treble cones are vulnerable to damage from a random object hitting them. There is no grille on either side to protect the cones from damage. Which is why I’m only giving them 4-stars instead of 5.As long as you put them behind your monitor on a permanent desk setup, they will sound great and stay protected from accident damage.My clients love them because they’re cute small speakers that get the job done at a very reasonable cost. Especially if you don’t want to spend more than $50 on speakers. Most people spend as little as possible on speakers these days unless they are using a headset.