Creative Technologies’ Pebble series has enjoyed almost universal praise as some of the best budget-priced computer speakers you can buy. With prices as low as $50 for a Buy at Amazon two-speaker setup, plus a subwoofer, it’s easy to see why. So it will be interesting to see if Creative’s new Pebble Nova will receive similar recognition given their vastly different pricing: At $280 and boasting 50 watts of power, the Pebble Nova put Creative in unfamiliar bookshelf speaker territory, which has been dominated by brands like Audioengine, Kanto, and Edifier.
Despite their higher price and bigger footprint, the Pebble Nova retain many of the ingredients of their smaller siblings. You still get the familiar spherical shape with 45-degree up-angled drivers, passive rear radiators, and customizable LED lighting, but Creative has revamped the acoustic architecture considerably.
Gone are the single-cone drivers, replaced by dual drivers arranged coaxially — the same approach taken by KEF in its LS Series speakers. Creative says the new design achieves “flawless coherence and precision across the entire sound spectrum.”
Like other Pebble speakers, you have a choice of 3.5mm line-in, Bluetooth, or USB audio, but where the Nova distinguishes themselves as standalone speakers is with their included USB-C PD power adapter, freeing them of your computer’s USB output for their power needs. Sadly, Bluetooth connectivity only supports SBC codec connections.
The Nova also have their own mic and headphone jacks, though for some reason, these won’t be active until Creative releases a scheduled firmware update.
You can place the Nova on any flat surface using their integrated bases, or you can elevate them with the included stands.
In the past, Creative’s app for controlling Pebble speakers’ EQ and RGB settings has been Windows-only, but the newest version is now Mac-compatible too. You can choose from Surround, Smart Volume, Bass, Dialog+, and Crystal Voice modes.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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