Creative T100 2.0
PC speakers make for sound investments
Decent PC speakers for watching films and listening to music in small rooms
PC SPEAKERS ❘ £100 from Creative www.snipca.com/35065
SPECIFICATIONS
2x 20W RMS 2¾in drivers • 3.5mm audio input • Toslink optical audio input • USB input (max 32GB flash storage) • Bluetooth 5 • Infra-red remote • Each speaker 130x93x208mm (HXWXD) • 1kg • Two-year warranty www.snipca.com/35065 These powered stereo speakers aren’t of the kind that come in fancy shapes with LED lighting, but the black plastic units are neat enough to put either where you’ll see them or where you won’t. You’ll want a line of sight for the included infra-red remote control, though. As well as bass and treble controls, it gives you preset equaliser options for games, music and films, while the volume up/down buttons are duplicated on the top of the right-hand speaker. At the rear of this are e a connector for the supplied mains powe er r adapter, a 3.5mm audio input jack, and a Toslink optical port for advanced sound cards and home entertainment boxes.
There’s also a USB socket, but this isn’t a digital audio connection for your PC. Instead, the idea is that you plug in a memory drive full of your favourite MP3, WAV or FLAC music tracks and play through them using the remote.
This is a frankly bizarre concept, not helped by the requirement to format your USB storage as FAT32, limiting the capacity to 32GB. A desktop ipod Shuffle really wasn’t the audio innovation we were looking for in 2020. Still, if you fancy buying a multi-pack of cheap USB sticks, filling each with a playlist and plugging them in to listen, like you’re in one of those 1990s sci-fi films that didn’t predict CDS being replaced by the internet, the option is there.
Unlike most PC speakers, these can also connect via Bluetooth, so you can use them to output from your phone or tablet, or connect your laptop whenever you’re at your desk without having to plug anything in.
We didn’t really miss aptx support for enhanced quality – it’s unlikely that you’d hear the difference with a mid-range product like this – but there was a noticeable delay, so you’ll want to stick to wired operation for videos and games. Each speaker contains just a single 2¾in driver, producing solid mid-range and clean high-end. We found dialogue was clear and volume more than adequate for a smallish room, and Creative’s Basxport technology gives the low end a bit of kick, even if you wouldn’t mistake it for a subwoofer.