Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware and Software
It has been a while since we have reviewed computer speakers in this format. In fact, the most recent Creative speakers have both been soundbars, including the Stage Air V2 and Sound Blaster Katana V2X. Instead, we must look back to 2021 with their SBS E2900. Based on our experience, you can see Creative is no amateur in this market, but Pebble X Plus is a bit different in styling. It tries to be a bit more modern with its orb-shaped tweeters. From the front, it almost looks like an egg, but I can assure you it is spherical. Instead, the cuts at the bottom and front are angled so the driver points at a 45-degree angle. Its black enclosure is plastic and contrasted with the large gold and copper driver in the middle. Creative has added some colorful elements with some rainbow lighting around the edges of the tweeters. This will not really show until the unit is powered, as the sides are translucent and allow the lights to shine through.
From the front view, the left and right satellite speakers are similar in shape, but with some notable differences. Both of them feature a 2.75" driver in the middle of an enclosure measuring 139.5mm in width, 136mm in height, and 145mm in depth. Each speaker weighs 575g or 1.27lbs, which makes both sides compact and light. The subwoofer has a 3.5" flat-cap subwoofer driver, with two passive radiators on the sides. The cabinet is made of MDF wood measuring 156.4mm in height, 158.5mm in height, and 156mm in depth. It is rounded on the sides to fit in with the circular speakers. It weighs 1.7kg or 3.75lbs, and it only feels a bit heavier because of its compact body. According to Creative, the subwoofer enclosure has walls of 15mm thick, which also contributes to the weight.
All the controls and inputs of the Creative Pebble X Plus can be found on the right-side speaker. At the front, we have one indicator LED light, one knob, and two buttons. The knob is used for changing the output volume. Pressing it will mute the output. The next button has a small Bluetooth logo on it, which is used to cycle between the three different inputs. This will be indicated by the LED light. When connected over USB, the light will glow pinkish-purple. Over the 3.5mm audio cable, the light is green. Finally, over Bluetooth, the light is blue. It blinks while it is pairing, and glows once connected. Finally, the last button has a small sun on it to show it is used to cycle between the different RGB LED lighting modes. There are a few preset modes it will rotate through, but you can change it in the Creative application, as you will see shortly.
Flipping to the back side, you can see the inputs of the Creative Pebble X Plus powered speakers. The first is labeled AUX, which is for the 3.5mm audio connection, followed by two USB Type-C inputs. These are different from each other, as the one near the 3.5mm input is used for transferring the audio signal, while the one marked with a red ring is used for providing extra power to the Pebble X Plus. This is also denoted by a "USB-C PD" label. As the name indicates, you can connect a second USB Power Delivery connection to increase the output power. Unfortunately, Creative did not provide any USB adapter out of the box, which means you will need to supply your own. You can blame a certain fruit company for setting this trend, but I think Creative should have included one.
There are two more plugs on the side of the right speaker, which are a pair of 3.5mm audio jacks. This is used to plug your own headphones or microphone into the Pebble X Plus, which is an interesting addition. The headphones input also works with a TRS or TRRS plug, which means we can connect headphones that terminate in one or two audio plugs. Underneath each speaker, Creative has placed rubber padding to provide stability to each side. There is also a standard 1/4-inch mount, so if you want to mount the speakers onto something, you can do so without needing non-standard hardware. Finally, there is a pair of cables leading out of the right speaker. One is a fixed connection between the left and right speaker measuring 1.2m in length. The other is a 1.75m cable to connect to the subwoofer, terminating in an RCA connection. I think both connections are a bit short, although they are usable. I would have preferred to see a 2m connection between each unit for additional flexibility. In addition, because these wires are fixed, we have quite a few cables here. This is further compounded when you add the USB Type-C PD power connection and any wired input cables.
Internally, the system can output a total of 15W RMS and 30W peak. However, if you add an additional USB-C PD input, this increases to 30W RMS and a 60W peak. Altogether, the system has a frequency response of 45 to 20,000Hz. This is typical for a speaker set of this caliber. Creative claims the signal-to-noise ratio is >93 dB.
Taking a closer look at the side and back of the subwoofer unit, the Creative Pebble X Plus is simplistic. You can see one of the passive radiators that is mirrored on the other side. At the back, you can also see the RCA connection that connects to the speakers. Underneath, there are four pads of rubber to keep the whole unit in place.
Wirelessly, we can connect to the Creative Pebble X Plus over Bluetooth 5.3. Protocols supported over Bluetooth include A2DP. For Bluetooth audio, only the SBC codec is supported. SBC, or Subband Coding, is the default Bluetooth audio codec with good audio quality and low processing power requirements. I wish aptX and AAC codecs were supported for better audio quality.
When connecting to your computer, you can use the Creative App to change different settings, including lighting, equalizers, and their proprietary Acoustic Engine. This can be downloaded from Creative's website and comes in the form of a 77MB executable installer. This is only for Windows operating systems.
From the primary page, you can see all the different settings available for the Pebble X Plus. The Sound Mode is an overall drop-down profile selector that lets you choose multiple effects at once. Under Acoustic Engine, you can toggle on and change the degree of the virtual surround, Crystalizer, bass enhancement, volume leveling, and vocal enhancement. Equalizer is where you can change the sound equalizing or select between a large set of presets. Lighting is where you can change the effects of the lights around the speakers.
Around the Creative App, you can also update the firmware of the speakers, which is something I did immediately after installing the utility as well as the audio drivers. You can also reset the device to factory settings. Finally, you can update the application separately. Overall, the Creative App is a smooth operating utility that works as you might expect.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware and Software
3. Subjective Audio Analysis
4. Conclusion
