Creative Pebble Plus Great stereo sound for your Mac at an affordable price
What was surprising was that complex tracks didn’t sound like a muffled set of instruments
For around the cost of a meal out, Creative is underselling and overdelivering with these criminally cheap 2.1 stereo speakers that cost around £35. Surprisingly at this price point, the speakers actually come with a subwoofer (hence the Plus’ in the product’s moniker). The sub could be a bit sturdier, but there’s a 4in down-firing driver inside which is capable of pumping out 4W of bass.
There’s a slight slant to the speakers themselves, which is a relatively minor – yet still significant – move. Often, computer speakers either face straight ahead or offer a slight angle. Here, both speakers have been set to a 45° angle, pointing them towards your ears. Not only does this give the Pebble Plus a more unique look, but it helps with sound direction, too. Each speaker houses a 2in mid-range driver and provides 2W of audio.
In terms of connections, you get the audio connector for the subwoofer, plus a 3.5mm aux-in and USB plug. The Pebble Plus has no mains adapter and instead draws power from its USB-A port.
Setup is fairly simple but all the cables run through the right speaker, so it can be a challenge to lay things out in a neat way. There are four cables – one to the sub, one to the left speaker, the USB power lead and the 3.5mm audio jack. It’s a fair bit of wiring to try to hide. The right-hand speaker also has a gain switch underneath and volume dial at the front.
Keep in mind you don’t get any wireless capabilities here, so forget Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
AirPlay 2, Chromecast or any other protocol that saves you from wires.
Sound expectations
Like most other inexpensive speakers, there was an obvious tipping point before distortion set in. It did vary depending on the track we played, but be prepared to hear it if you go all-out. We could discern muddier mids with R&B and hip hop tracks. While the bass sounded more distorted when the song itself had heavy bass in it, the real sacrifice was in the mids, and to a lesser extent the highs.
That said, when we played a bit of hard rock, we noted a balanced sound signature. It didn’t replicate the sound quality of something 10 times the price, but we never expected that anyway. What was surprising was that complex tracks didn’t sound like a muffled set of instruments. Pianos, saxophones, guitars – they all had some life to them.
Gamers won’t find much to be impressed with here, though that’s hardly the crowd Creative is angling for. When viewing movies and shows, or simply browsing through an array of YouTube clips, we came away hearing a relatively crisp level of sound.
The speakers definitely have a sweet spot. For example, if your computer is angled on a desk rather than facing you head on, try having one speaker facing straight forward and the other angled towards where you’re sitting. It’s worth playing around with the position to get the best configuration for you.
Going in with measured expectations, we were impressed with the overall value of these 2.1 computer speakers. There are Bluetooth speakers that cost much more than this but don’t offer stereo sound – this setup does, and while they don’t stand-up to a hi-fi setup, their performance is better than you’d expect.
Creative also sells the Pebble without a subwoofer. But the Plus version is only £12 more, and the subwoofer means it’s absolutely worth splashing the extra cash.
If you’re on a budget but want decent audio for your Mac, you’ll get your money’s worth with the Pebble Plus.