Creative Pebbles V2, V3, Pro, X and Nova

[Twinik]

Hello, everyone. My name is Kostya I'm working at company that manufactures professional acoustic systems in position of acoustic engineer for 6 years.
For my PC I wanted to buy small speakers that will have decent audio quality and Creative was one of the brands familiar for me for their sound blaster cards.
So I ordered five types of speakers from Creative and made basic measurements for them:
Creative Pebble V2 - further V2
Creative Pebble V3 - further V3
Creative Pebble Pro - further Pro
Creative Pebble X - further X
Creative Pebble Nova - further Nova
Measurements were made in semi-anechoic room(free field) with Earthworks M30 measurement microphone located on the axis in 0,5m with reference speaker sound pressure level of 88db (Peak Sine) at 1kHz (for all measurements unless otherwise stated).
Let's start from V2:
this is cheapest option - basic speakers if u don't have any other options, sound quality on perception - low, with a dominant midrange and a lack of low frequencies, increasing volume make sound overloaded and distorted.

Measurements: THD-orange, 2nd-harmonics - green, 3rd-harmonics - yellow

Spoiler: V2

Creative Pebble V3
Slightly better sound quality because of increased speaker power handling, sound quality on perception - low, with a dominant midrange and a lack of low frequencies
(last photo size comparison V2 and V3 - bigger):

Measurements:

Spoiler: V3

V2 - red(THD-green) vs V3 - cyan(THD-purple)

Creative Pebble Pro
decent sound quality, great leap from V3's especially when comparing side to side. Best choice for quality/price!
Recommended equalization: -3(-4)* db high shelf from 2kHz. *depending on your preferences
Pro and V3 same size

Spoiler: Pro

when powering from suitable power distributor(PD) speaker activates separate preset increasing bass(red curve) drawback is correspondingly increased distortion

distortion without PD

V3 - red(THD-green) vs Pro - cyan(THD-purple) compare (without PD)

Creative Pebble X
Sorry forget to make side to side photos of Pro and X, but X distinctly bigger( 40% in volume) from Pro, and I wouldn't recommend them for travel setups(take Pro)
Sound quality on perception: slightly noticeable quality gain from Pro's, better low's(sometimes too tiresome) and due to increased speaker cone mass+area resulting in shifted peak(10khz) and dip - very(too much) pronounced sibilants
Equalizer that come with software "Creative App" have low adjustment accuracy, which doesn't allow to easily adjust the SPL curve. Same for Nova.

Spoiler: X

PD(red) vs USB(green)

distortion without PD

Pro - red(THD-green) vs X - cyan(THD-purple) compare (WITH PD)

Creative Pebble Nova
Great sound quality - it's the best sounding Pebbles of all time, their sound range extends from 50Hz up to 20kHz, speakers have a decent amount of power(60W) that will be enough for casual use in medium room size. I would like to highlight a few points:
1. Speaker has rubber on the bottom as all of Pebbles, but you can't use them without a stand, because they will move on the surface - they produce a lot of bass.
2. Nova requires a power distributor to be powered on(all previous Pebbles can be powered on from USB power).
3. Bass coupling due to proximity to wall, table or other surfaces will require bass EQ(you can see it later in measurements) - ideally manufacturer need to include this type of preset in their preset list.
4. Directivity - all of the measurements that I made are on axis, but this can't describe fully speaker quality of sound reproduction. On axis measurement of full range speaker shows 4-6kHz and higher frequencies, but it will suffer from poor directivity that's will be related with cone area and wavelength of specific frequency, because of this, even small movement from axis of a speaker, will result in significant changes in sound quality(we can call this narrow "sweet spot")but even if we stay in "sweet spot" this will lead to poor sound perception(flat sound). Nova has two speakers that divides the reproduction range of speaker and tweeter leading to better directivity and overall sound quality(except narrow range of crossover frequency).
(last two photos size comparison Nova and X)

Spoiler: Nova

Nova-red(free field) vs Nova-green(near wall and table)

distortion with PD (THD-orange, 2nd-harmonics - green, 3rd-harmonics - yellow)

Nova - red(THD-green) vs X - cyan(THD-purple) compare (WITH PD)

P.S.: I kept Pebble Nova for use, my recommendation for price/quality will remain Creative Pebble Pro also best speakers for travel.
P.S.S. for manufacturer: add presets for Nova for bass coupling near surfaces, develop new two-way Pebbles but with 150$ price tag.

 

[Twinik]

The article is complete.

 

[Twinik]

Hello. Today bought Creative Pebble Nova, so in January article will be updated.

 

[Conscious]

Wow i was looking forward to the Pebble Nova. Eagerly waiting for your impressions.

 

[JeffS7444]

I wonder if they'd all sound significantly better if bandwidth-limited at 9 kHz?

 

[Twinik]

I wonder if they'd all sound significantly better if bandwidth-limited at 9 kHz?

No, all Pebbles don't have significant problems with high frequency reproduction, spikes at 12-15kHz is not that crucial for casual use. Except Pebble X, spike at 10kHz really noticeable I recommend to EQ it.
P.S.: must receive Pebble Nova next week.

 

[Twinik]

Hello, I’m ready to publish all information about Pebble Nova. But I can’t edit my post, I wrote in pm to admin but he doesn’t answer. What should I do?

 

[Doodski]

Hello, I’m ready to publish all information about Pebble Nova. But I can’t edit my post, I wrote in pm to admin but he doesn’t answer. What should I do?

For the edit feature to work one must be a donor.

How to Support Audio Science Review

ASR is relies on goodwill of the visitors and members of the site to cover its expenses and enable testing of more products. There are no sponsors and no ads on the site as you may have noticed. If you are interested in supporting us using donations, you can use one of the following four...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Penelinfi]

Hello, I’m ready to publish all information about Pebble Nova. But I can’t edit my post, I wrote in pm to admin but he doesn’t answer. What should I do?

I mean, you _could_ just post it down here

 

[Twinik]

For the edit feature to work one must be a donor.

How to Support Audio Science Review

ASR is relies on goodwill of the visitors and members of the site to cover its expenses and enable testing of more products. There are no sponsors and no ads on the site as you may have noticed. If you are interested in supporting us using donations, you can use one of the following four...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I don’t have 25$ for year and I don’t need it, if there was plan for 1 month that’s will be good.

 

[Twinik]

I mean, you _could_ just post it down here

I have corrections to previous post and I want to it to be convenient all information in one instance

 

[staticV3]

don’t have 25$ for year and I don’t need it, if there was plan for 1 month that’s will be good.

You can donate an arbitrary amount once and keep Donor status forever.

 

[Twinik]

You can donate an arbitrary amount once and keep Donor status forever.

Send 5$ donation to PayPal ASR, let’s see if this will work

 

[Conscious]

Send 5$ donation to PayPal ASR, let’s see if this will work

Looks like it worked

 

[Twinik]

Topic updated, waiting for feedback

 

[Scootypuff]

This is really cool, thank you for posting it. I have a pair of the Pebble Pro on my desk at work. It might be cool to buy a pair and EQ them on my home PC.

I realize this would be difficult to measure without using an external amp.. but do you know the efficiency of these speakers?

Also it looks like there is a Pebble X Plus, that includes a "subwoofer". Would be interesting to see a measurement comparison with the Pebble X.

 

[Penelinfi]

They seem like a reasonable option for minimalist streamers/gamers. I'm guessing at the price point you start getting into some powered monitors, which may be bigger and more boring looking, but may offer a better sound?

 

[whazzup]

Wow, that rising treble.....
But at those pricepoints, I guess users are just looking for something that can produce 'louder' sounds than their notebook speakers....

 

[oldskool1]

Hey Kostya, thanks for posting your findings! I love my Pebble Plus for producing music in one of my studios. I have the early ones with subwoofer. I have 3 rooms that I work in with a wide range of speakers, from Genelec 1031a, NS10, NS1000x+2x7070a, etc. These Pebbles which I paid $40 for are my final QC speakers for every mix, it's immediately obvious on these little things when elements of the mix are off. Things I can't hear on my $6000 system pop out on the Pebbles. I was about to upgrade them to Pebble Pro's, but thanks to your article I'm going to uppp to the newest Pebble Nova.

Is that dip at 530Hz due to the crossover? Creative states that these roll off at 50Hz, but in your graph it looks more like 100Hz. So I will still need to use a Genelec F Two subwoofer with them, or do you find that they can produce the fundamental low E of a bass guitar, which is at about 40hz?

I posted pics of my rooms, because I know it's ridiculous that these $40 speakers are so good. Or maybe I'm just deaf. :-D Sorry the pics came out dark, I'm not a camera guy.

 

[oldskool1]

ok I was looking at the wrong graph. Now I see that the Nova's do seem to extend down to "50Hz" without a subwoofer. In actuality from your graph the -6dB point is more like 75Hz. So I may need to band-limit the Genelec subwoofer to a high frequency of 75hz instead of the default 85Hz. Have you tried pairing the Nova's with a subwoofer yet?