10-year-old me would have loved these Star Wars-esque computer speakers — and adult me absolutely loves the powerful sound quality

Remember when you were little and you had those little round computer speakers with a Creative logo on the front — that didn’t sound particularly great? Turns out that Creative’s longstanding Pebble speakers are actually sonically powerful now, as proven by the Creative Pebble Nova that I’ve been testing for a week — and they look better than they ever have.

The Pebble Nova look like two droids from Star Wars, thanks to their sci-fi design and integrated RGB lighting. Aside from looking fantastic, they sound incredible too. The bass is warm while the treble is crisp and vibrant, and the sound is consistent and well-balanced across a range of genres. If you want to tweak the sound profile, there are two companion apps available too.

But are they perfect? Not entirely, as the frustrating setup and the lack of a subwoofer out port may be frustrating for some. To find out if these are the best computer speakers for you, read my full Creative Pebble Nova review.

Creative Pebble Nova review: Specs

Creative Pebble Nova review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A pair of computer speakers sporting a sci-fi design
• Who is it for? Anyone who wants Star Wars-esque aesthetics and refined sound quality
• How much does it cost? $265 / £239
• What do we like? The design, powerful bass, crisp treble, and two companion apps for audio enhancement
• What don’t we like? The frustrating setup and lack of a subwoofer out port

Creative Pebble Nova review: Price & availability

Creative’s lineup of computer speakers is quite extensive, catering to all budgets. You’ve got cheap speakers, like the Creative Pebble SE ($27), and mid-range ones, such as the Creative Pebble Pro ($69). The brand’s most expensive speakers are the Creative Pebble Pro, retailing for $265 at B&H Photo / £239 at Amazon U.K.

The Pebble Nova are priced similarly to the Audioengine A2+ ($269) but the former are certainly more compact, and aren’t designed like traditional, boxy computer speakers. The only difference is that the A2+ can be connected to an external subwoofer, while the Pebble Nova can’t. While I found the Pebble Nova’s bass plentiful and powerful, you can get the Creative Pebble X Plus ($119) which come with a compact subwoofer — but then you’d be missing out on the Pebble Nova’s uber cool sci-fi design.

Creative Pebble Nova review: Design & controls

• The stands and the speakers are very well-built
• They look like they’re out of Star Wars
• Straightforward touch controls

The Creative Pebble Nova wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Star Wars, thanks to their sci-fi design. Creative has gone all-in on that intergalactic look and feel, even with its marketing material, where the speakers stand against a starry background on the official product page. The Pebble Nova also “emerges from the stars to redefine your auditory experience.” Make of that what you will.

This is all to say that the Pebble Nova don’t look like your traditional speakers — or even other speakers from Creative itself. These round speakers sport mesh grills on the front, with bronze accents complementing either white or black. The speakers are certainly more compact than the likes of the Audioengine A2+ or the Edifier G2000 Pro ($199), with each speaker sitting atop metal stands and measuring 6.02 x 5.93 x 5.87 inches.

But because of the metal stands, these speakers are heavy, weighing 8.32lbs together. With the metal stands attached, they aren’t exactly portable, but they can be used without the stands too, similar to the Creative Pebble Pro. The heavyweight does mean, though, that the Pebble Nova won’t get unintentionally knocked about or fall over — and it gives a sci-fi touch to your space. Similar to the Pebble Pro, customizable RGB lighting emanates from two rings at the bottom of the speakers, adding to the Pebble Nova’s gamer-y aesthetic.

Unlike the Audioengine A2+ and the Edifier G2000 Pro, the Pebble Nova don’t feature any physical buttons or dials. Everything is controlled via the touch controls located atop the right speaker. These enable you to adjust the volume, swap between Bluetooth and wired playback, and change the RGB effect. I found them responsive in my testing, with my touch commands being registered instantaneously.

Creative Pebble Nova review: Connectivity

• Setup is a little finicky
• Bluetooth 5.3 wireless and USB-C wired playback
• 3.5mm aux is available too

One thing I really appreciated about the Creative Pebble Pro when I was testing them was just how straightforward and quick the setup was. I wish I could say the same for the Creative Pebble Nova. You see, to attach the stands’ stems to their respective bases, you need a screwdriver — and a screwdriver isn’t included in the box, so you must find one of your own. I feel like this could have easily been avoided by opting for a design that required an allen wrench instead.

Once you’ve assembled the stands, you need to align the holes on the base of each speaker with the protruding bits on the stands. Then, push the stands into the holes. Sounds simple enough, but thanks to a tight fit, it took me a couple of tries to manage. I can see why Creative has opted for such a system, as the speakers don’t fall off the stands, but it’s still a little frustrating and complicated.

But once you’ve got them all set up, you’ll notice that there are a few ways to connect the Pebble Nova to your smartphone or laptop. The Creative Nova are compatible with macOS and Windows, so you can plug them into your machine’s USB-C port (or 3.5mm port) and start listening to music. A 65W power adapter is also included in the box so the speakers can be plugged into a wall socket to free up the USB-C port on your laptop.

If you want to play audio wirelessly from your computer or smartphone, you get Bluetooth 5.3 with support for the SBC codec. SBC is the most basic codec, and they don’t support AAC or aptX Adaptive/Lossless, which the Audioengine A2+ do. This isn’t that disappointing, though, as the Pebble Nova are designed to be used while plugged into your computer. They’re desktop speakers after all.

Similar to the Pebble Pro, the Pebble Nova also feature two dedicated ports for plugging in headphones or an external microphone. The headphones port is useful for those who want to avoid ducking under their desk or unplugging other cables, while the mic port is great for Twitch or YouTube streamers. Neither the Edifier G2000 Pro nor the Audioenginer A2+ feature such ports.

It’s important to note, though, that the Pebble Nova don’t feature a subwoofer out port, so you can’t connect an external sub to the speakers to amplify the bass. This is surprising as even the cheaper Creative Pebble X Plus feature a sub out port… and they come with a compact subwoofer too! I’d recommend either those or the Audioengine A2+ if having an external sub is important to you — but even without it, the Pebble Nova pack respectably punchy bass.

Creative Pebble Nova review: Sound quality

• Bountiful bass
• Refined mids and highs
• Fantastic for spoken word too

Similar to the Creative Pebble Pro, the Creative Pebble Nova are angled at 45° to ensure audio travels in the direction of your ears when you’re sitting at your desk. Attaching them to their stands gives them some height and helps the speakers create room-filling sound, and I found listening in this way quite immersive.

The Pebble Nova are well-endowed too, featuring two 3-inch drivers and two 1-inch tweeters with passive radiators, which deliver “pure, unadulterated audio,” according to Creative. And to their credit, the Pebble Nova indeed make music sound beautiful, with bountiful bass and refined mids and highs. To test the speakers, I listened to my favorite testing songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for hi-res audio, over a wired connection.

I’ve been listening to Of Monsters and Men’s discography on repeat as I’m seeing them live soon, so naturally, I listened to ‘Television Love’ through the Pebble Nova. This track proved to be a great test for the speakers’ soundstage, as it features multiple layers. The palm-muted guitar plucks at the beginning didn’t feel boxy or thin, and the speakers provided plenty of instrumental separation. In the chorus, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir’s high vocals and Ragnar Þórhallsson’s lower ones didn’t sound muddled and they sounded harmonious, with the latter’s voice featuring a unique grain against the former’s soprano soaring over the top.

I then tried ‘Rock and Roll Thugs’ by Icon For Hire, an aggressive and densely packed track, and the Pebble Nova managed to keep their pace with it. It proved to be a great test for the speakers’ treble, and they did a fantastic job at ensuring Ariel Bloomer’s ‘s’ and ‘t’ sounds didn’t sound too sharp or shrill, and they felt energetic instead, just as the band intended. The bass sounded warm too, with plenty of low-end impact and without sounding wobbly or booming.

Alt-J’s ‘Every Other Freckle’ didn’t sound unbearably scratchy through the Pebble Nova either — and this is a naturally scratchy track which a lot of speakers and headphones can easily mess up. Through the Pebble Nova, the instruments never overpowered the vocals, and the transitions between Joe Newman’s hum-like “ooohs” and high-pitched “aaaahs” felt very clean.

Lastly, I played ‘Welcome to the Internet’ by Bo Burnham to see how the speakers handled a track that’s mostly spoken word with a touch of tonal neutrality. Bo’s vocals were crystal clear with each word pronounced and heard clearly, with some oomph to them to deliver a hard-hitting message. The backing keyboard didn’t sound dull or recessed either, providing a great backbone to the track. His laugh towards the end of the track sounded startlingly real too, traveling from one channel to the other to create an immersive listening experience.

Listen along to my review with the Creative Pebble Nova testing playlist:

Creative Pebble Nova review: App

• Finally, a proper companion app
• Two companion apps, actually
• Available on Windows and iOS

One of my biggest issues with the Creative Pebble Pro, when I reviewed them, was that they were compatible with the Creative app but the app didn’t give you much control over the speakers’ settings. The Creative Pebble Nova are also compatible with the same app, and thankfully, the app gives you plenty of control and customization options on these speakers. It can be downloaded for free on Windows, iOS and Android.

The smartphone app gives you access to many, many EQ presets, such as bass boost, acoustic, classical, R&B, and so on. You can tweak the equalizer band as well. You can adjust the RGB lighting too, as there are plenty of patterns and colors to choose from. The speakers’ firmware can be updated via the Creative app too.

There’s a second companion app too, known as Acoustic Engine, which can be accessed from within the Creative app on Windows (no app on macOS, sadly). This sub-app gives you some more control over the Pebble Nova by allowing you to enable the virtual surround sound, which boosts the volume for left- and right-panned sound effects. There’s also a Dialog+ tool which enhances voice clarity — great for spoken word, podcasts and movies. I like the Smart Volume feature too, which lowers the volume of sudden loud noises in its Night mode, so you won’t get startled by high-pitched jump scares, for instance.

Creative Pebble Nova review: Verdict

If you want to give your deskspace a sci-fi touch, the Creative Pebble Nova should be right up your street. These speakers wouldn’t look out of place on the set of The Mandalorian, and the RGB lighting rings light up your desk quite nicely. With plenty of wired and wireless connectivity options at play, the Pebble Nova are versatile too.

The Pebble Nova excel at reproducing warm, meaty bass with plenty of low-end impact as well as crisp and bright treble that doesn’t feel overzealous. I love how balanced and consistent the sound quality is across genres, and there’s virtually nothing to fault the Pebble Nova on in that area.

As long as you don’t mind the lack of a subwoofer out port and the frustrating setup, the Pebble Nova are the only computer speakers you need to elevate your space’s sound system.