Creative Pebble Pro review: A luxe upgrade to budget speakers

We had been smitten with the Creative Pebble from the beginning, for good cause—the petite audio system sounded nice, but value solely $25 at launch.

Since then Creative has launched a number of iterations of the Pebble, considered one of them being the Pebble Pro, which hit retailer cabinets late final 12 months. It’s surprisingly feature-rich whereas providing improbable audio, and a worthwhile whereas step up from purely fundamental audio system.

Further studying: This evaluation is a part of our roundup of budget computer speakers. Go there for particulars on competing merchandise and our purchasing recommendation.

Pebble Pro design and measurement

When you pull the Pebble Pro out of its field, you’ll discover two issues instantly. First, it seems identical to the opposite Pebble gadgets—glossy and rounded—with related proportions. The audio system take about as a lot room every as a mean grapefruit (4.8 x 4.8 x 4.6 inches), and are a pleasant complement to the boxiness of displays and PCs, softening the perimeters on a desk setup. On the underside of every speaker is a spherical rubber pad for traction, ringed by a skinny LED strip that may glow in rainbow colours. You management the three accessible gentle patterns (and colour) via the suitable speaker’s controls.

Second, these audio system include fairly a number of ports and jacks. On the rear of the suitable speaker, you’ll discover a typical USB-C port that may carry each the audio sign and energy, a USB-C Power Delivery (PD) port that may amplify the speaker output (however can’t carry an audio sign), and an 3.5mm auxiliary-in jack. Also on the again is the hardwired cable connecting the 2 audio system. On the facet of the suitable speaker you’ll discover two 3.5mm jacks—one for headphones, and the opposite for microphone passthrough. You get Bluetooth 5.3 assist as nicely for pairing with PCs, smartphones, and different gadgets.

The button for switching between these totally different connection varieties may be discovered on the entrance of the suitable speaker, immediately subsequent to the quantity knob. Pressing it switches between USB, Bluetooth, and aux-in modes; an LED gentle to the left of the quantity knob will change colour as you cycle via (purple, blue, and inexperienced, respectively). 

How does the Pebble Pro sound?

No matter which connection methodology you choose, these audio system sound improbable. High-frequency parts come via crisp and clear, and also you get sufficient bass for balanced audio. The Pebble Pro reproduces vocals, TV and film dialog, and telephone name chatter with correct element, and extra impressively, it does so at its highest volumes. Normally, distortion is commonly a problem with price range audio system, however not these.

And the Pebble Pro can actually fill a room with sound, partly because of its 2.25-inch drivers with 10-watt RMS ranking. (The authentic Pebble was rated at 4.4 watts, and the present Pebble V3 at 8 watts.) That’s even whenever you’re drawing energy from the usual USB-C port, which works for any of the three connection modes. But you’ll be able to juice up these audio system by switching to the USB-C PD port and utilizing the aux-in or Bluetooth modes. (Creative recommends its 30-watt energy adapter, however you should use any related one you may have readily available.)

Creative

Doing so will squeeze much more quantity from these petite audio system—however most fascinating is that you simply don’t simply get a better most quantity, however a rise in loudness at decrease settings, too. In our very casual testing (a sound meter app on our telephone, held 10 inches away), the Pebble Pro clocked 74 decibels over a typical USB-C reference to Windows 10 cranked to 100 p.c quantity. On Creative’s 30W energy adapter (related through USB-C PD and aux-in for audio), the typical was 80dB.

But the soar in loudness was greater at 40 and 60 p.c quantity—a rise of about 20 p.c when utilizing the USB-C PD port and energy adapter. That means you’ll be able to hang around at decrease quantity percentages and nonetheless get loads of sound. No must crank till you may have a celebration, at which level you’ll be able to dial it up and fill your complete front room.

Plugging in 3.5mm headphones sounds simply pretty much as good as when letting the audio system do their factor, although what headphones you employ will affect your expertise. Be warned: The quantity knob on the audio system impacts headphone quantity, so when you’ve got it absolutely cranked, dial it down earlier than placing in your cans. You can by accident (and painfully) blast your self with sound in the event you’re not cautious.

What concerning the Pebble Pro’s microphone passthrough?

Creative

The Pebble Pro has a nifty trick—you’ll be able to move the feed from a 3.5mm microphone via them when in USB mode, which helps you to use Creative’s software program for computerized muting/unmuting throughout calls, in addition to filtering out undesirable noise.

The noise cleanup characteristic works remarkably nicely—and it applies to each incoming and outgoing audio. Creative says the noise canceling is greatest at eliminating static background feels like followers, vacuum cleaners, and even garden mowers, permitting you to talk or hear with out these distractions. Our testing exhibits that it additionally works nicely on feels like mechanical keyboard typing whenever you’re not speaking. The recording we took of nonstop typing was nearly lifeless silent, with only a few seconds of sporadic bleedthrough clatter.

Should you purchase the Creative Pebble Pro?

You might spend $35 or much less on glorious audio system, like one of many Pebble Pro’s much less full-featured siblings. But in the event you’re searching for extra premium options, these audio system supply pleasing, crystal-clear sound with loads of quantity and sensible extras that may improve your PC expertise. Plus, the RGB lights are enjoyable to have a look at.