CREATIVE LABS Pebble Modern 2.0 USB Desktop Speakers Black

Pros: – Bass response that is naturally widened rather than artificially loud, thanks to rubber-padded drums and dome shaped interior. Some have said that the bass is too strong, but I feel like that’s more due to acoustic design than aggressive built in EQ. – Great sound quality for the price – Very attractive, compact aesthetic Cons: – Exposed drums make it dangerous to travel with; Front drum on the right speaker of my unit came slightly chipped in shipping. Not a big enough issue to RMA over, but these are definitely not a pair of speakers I’d travel with due to how easily they seem to be damaged – too much pressure on a drum, and the rubber will break leaving you with a busted speaker. – hard wired USB and 3.5mm cables mean that if they break, you can’t change them out. – Requires both a USB and 3.5mm connection, presumably to get more power to the preamp. That means these things can get pretty good volume, but they demand at least two ports on your PC to work at all. Overall Review: I’ve listened to quite a few pairs of budget desktop speakers. Audiophile quality is great and all, but very few people are going to pay upwards of $50 after dropping $500+ on a PC build. At the price point these speakers are placed at, you’re getting overall good audio quality and great acoustic design. It’s hard to place it, but the sound quality from these feels “fuller” than most speaker pairs, or even headsets, I’ve used, and even though the audio quality isn’t technically very astounding, the acoustics make up for any shortcomings on that front, in my opinion. The sound from these things really fills the room. For people who take their computer and/or sound system on the go a lot, I would recommend a more durable solution. But as the builder of a new PC, these were a perfect fit for my needs, and I would easily recommend them to anyone else in the same use case. GNU/Linux users will be happy to know that this peripheral worked flawlessly for me out of the box on several different distros.

Pros: Easy set up No power outlet needed, USB powered Fairly small size, desk looks cleaner Decent sound for small, usb powered speakers Cons: None, I knew what I was buying Overall Review: Bought these to replace speakers at work. Old speakers had one “blown” speaker that made listening to music while working annoying. I work in an old building, electric outlets are at a premium so freeing up one with usb powered speakers was a good thing. When I 1st plugged in the speakers I thought I would be RMAing them. They hissed, popped, music was distorted. It was awful! Rearranged some of the usb cords on the pc, voila! Sound! Once the hissing and popping stopped I fired up google music and threw on some tunes. If you’re an audiophile, these aren’t for you. But, for the average listener I think you’ll be impressed with how these sound for small usb powered speakers.

Pros: -Price $25 -Bass in tiny space Overall Review: Surprised by these and now I want to buy them for all my friends. Cool bass from the rear. Easy choice.