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Pros
- Good audio performance with wide stereo image
- Angled drivers for better audio delivery
- Built-in RGB lighting
- Support for 3.5mm, Bluetooth, and USB-C playback
- Affordable
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Cons
- Limited Bluetooth codec support
- Separate adapter needed to plug directly into wall outlet
Creative Pebble Pro Specs
Bluetooth | |
Built-In Voice Assistant | None |
Channels | 2 |
Physical Connections | 3.5mm |
Physical Connections | USB-C |
The $59.99 Pebble Pro speakers, the latest in Creative’s budget-friendly lineup, don't stray far from their excellent predecessors, the $49.99 Pebble Plus. They offer upgraded drivers, customizable RGB lighting, and support playback via a 3.5mm input, Bluetooth, or USB-C. Most importantly, they produce impressive stereo sound for the price. As such, they easily earn our Editors' Choice award for affordable computer speakers.
Lots of Ports and Lights
Creative mostly nails the design details here. The dark green, spherical speakers stay put thanks to their rubber feet and their drivers are angled upward to meet your ears. Both the left and right units measure 4.8 by 4.8 by 4.7 inches (HWD), but the right module is slightly heavier at 14.4 ounces (vs. 12.8 ounces for the other). Both have cutout panels, à la the Death Star, for gold-metallic drivers on the front and reflective circular passive radiators on the rear. The volume knob was somewhat crooked on my test unit and the mirror-like surface of the passive radiators seemed to collect little dimple-like dents during testing, but neither flaw is a deal breaker given the price.
The 2.25-inch drivers deliver a frequency range of 80Hz to 20kHz with 10W root mean square (RMS) or 20W peak when you power them via your computer, which is how they were designed to run. Alternatively, you can use a separate 30W USB PD adapter (Creative sells one for $19.99) that boosts output to 30W RMS or 60W peak.
For reference, the Creative Pebble Plus speakers ship with a subwoofer that acts more like a midrange woofer. Both those and the original $24.99 Pebble speakers lack Bluetooth, rely on smaller drivers, and come with fewer accessories.
As for connectivity, the Pro speakers support Bluetooth 5.3 but work with just the SBC codec. Other Bluetooth speakers in this price range, including the $79 Anker Soundcore Motion 300, support a broader range of codecs (AAC, LDAC, and SBC), but Bluetooth connectivity is more of a bonus feature here than a core function.
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The speakers connect to each other via a generous 5.9-foot cable, which means you shouldn't have any problem getting stereo separation. On the downside, the long cable is somewhat difficult to hide.
The right speaker houses all of the controls and connections. A power/volume knob sits on the front, with a Bluetooth pairing and LED button just to the right. Note that the Bluetooth button cycles between Bluetooth (blue LED), aux (green LED), and USB (purple LED) playback modes. The right side of the right speaker has a recess with a headphone jack and a 3.5mm microphone input. A cutout on the back houses a 3.5mm input, a USB-C port for PC audio, and a USB-C PD port for extra power. This panel also includes the input for the hardwired audio cable that connects the two satellites.
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RGB LEDs glow from the base of the speakers. By default, they change colors gracefully, fading from pink to blue to green to red as you listen. Press the LED button to switch between the available modes: Cycle (fades through all colors), Pulsate (a single color fades in and out), Solo (a single color glows steadily), and off. To choose the color for the Pulsate and Solo modes, hold the LED button down for two seconds and then use the volume knob to select your preferred hue.
Creative includes USB-C-to-USB-C and USB-A-to-USB-C cables for power and a 3.5mm audio cable. Since the speakers are primarily designed to draw power from your computer, there's no brick for a wall outlet. The main advantage of getting the optional 30W USB PD adapter is the increased power output.
Note that Creative offers a companion app for Windows devices only and it includes basic customization options.
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Clean, Loud Sound
I tested the speakers in both Bluetooth and USB modes, but since SBC-only transmission isn't ideal, the below impressions are over a USB connection to a MacBook Pro.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the Pebble Pro speakers deliver a palpable thump. Their enclosures vibrate heavily at top volumes, but never to the point of distortion. The drivers focus more on the lows and low-mids than the sub-bass, but that's expected given their size.
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Unsurprisingly, the speakers can’t reproduce the sub-bass at the 34-second mark of Kendrick Lamar’s “Loyalty.” I hear the slightest hint of some sub-bass notes in the progression, but they mostly disappear in the mix in favor of the bass-boosted drum loop. The various vocals on this track come across crisply. If you want true sub-bass power, you must spend much more for something like the Harman Kardon SoundSticks 4 ($299.95).
Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with far less deep bass, better reveals the audio signature. The drums receive a decent amount of thump but never sound overwhelmingly heavy or powerful. Callahan’s baritone vocals get the most focus, with excellent richness and clarity. Meanwhile, the higher-register percussive hits and acoustic strums seem a bit bright.
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Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get similar sculpting. The lower-register instrumentation sounds more full-bodied than I expect from speakers of this size, but the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals retain the spotlight. Purists might not like the attention-grabbing highs and the rich lows, but it's an engaging audio signature overall.
What impressed me most about these speakers, however, is that they don't distort even when you push them to their limits and they deliver true stereo separation at room-filling volumes. Sitting between the two speakers and listening to classic or pop music with lots of panning is a sober reminder of how most of today's all-in-one systems sorely lack true stereo separation.
Budget Speakers Don't Get Much Better
The Creative Pebble Pro speakers are winners in terms of both price and performance. In particular, we're fans of their wide stereo imaging, and loud, distortion-free audio. Angled drivers that project sound upward toward you and fun RGB lighting are just icing on the cake. They easily win our Editors' Choice award for budget-friendly computer speakers in a category that's light on competition.