TheRetroArcade
Veteran
Posts: 9,426
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
The XF1 offers mighty sound in a small package, with robust connectivity and some great presets. You naturally have to make compromises for compact speakers, but Creative has done a creative job of picking the best ones.
PC Gamer's got your back
Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.
I've slowly come to the realisation that, for computer speakers, once you get past the mid-range price point it becomes all about diminishing returns. There are some really solid budget picks (with Creative's Pebble Pro being our budget speaker of choice), but the $100-200 range is where you get the most features and the best price-to-value ratio. Go beyond that and you're spending a lot of money for only incrementally better sound and some non-essential luxuries.
And nothing quite proves that better than the Creative XF1, a set of compact yet incredibly useful speakers with a whole host of neat extra features. And they even come with two cork stands to prop the speakers, which can go entirely unused if you like your speakers flat, but It's still plain neat that they come in the box for no extra charge.
Naturally, the more compact you go, the less room you have to jam speakers full of large tweeters and woofers, and as such, the balance with the XF1 isn't just where to cut costs in each unit, but just how small you can condense them down before the sound starts to take a hit.
And Creative, for the most part, has nailed that balance, with a set of speakers that are small enough to fit on my desk, but loud enough to shake it.
✅ You're running out of desk space: The XF1 are a small and understated set of speakers that felt at home on my admittedly pretty small desk.
❌ You want high-end sound: Though sound replication is very strong for the price and size, you aren't getting audiophile-level quality.
The XF1 offer mighty sound in a small package, with robust connectivity and some great presets. You naturally have to make compromises for compact speakers, but Creative have done a creative job of finding the best ones.
Frequency
55 Hz - 40,000 Hz
Drivers
2 3-inch woofers, 2.75-inch tweeters
Weight
2.6 kg for both
Dimensions
6.10 x 3.93 x 7.52 inches (each)
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0, USB Type-C, Aux
RGB
Lighting Status LED for connectivity, no addressable RGB
Price
$180 | £140
Creative XF1 is loaded with great little design decisions. For one, it has a robust set of connectivity options, with it working via USB Type-C, aux, and Bluetooth. And that Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity even supports LDAC wireless, so it retains a high level of quality no matter the connection.
The single button on the front of the right speaker can not only be spun to adjust volume, but also clicked to swap between the connectivity modes. This means swapping from my gaming PC to my phone or laptop requires no more than a mere button press. And, in practice, this works really well too. With my default audio setting being the speaker, I can click to connect to Bluetooth, and my rig swaps to my plugged-in headphones, which is effectively a poor man's version of the NZXT SwitchMix (and being much cheaper, 'poor man's' is apt).
It's a pretty simple set of speakers otherwise. Simply plug it into the mains, connect it to the left speaker, plug it into a device and start playing sound. One neat feature that comes in the box is a set of cork stands. Without clicking into place or requiring any tools, you merely place the speakers on top and can elevate the speakers at a 15° angle. Generally speaking, being able to elevate the speakers, and therefore elevate the tweeter and woofer, means that it directs the sound more towards you. You may not use the stands, but the fact that they come in the box for free is a solid extra.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
The XF1 sp...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
PC Gamer's got your back
Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.
I've slowly come to the realisation that, for computer speakers, once you get past the mid-range price point it becomes all about diminishing returns. There are some really solid budget picks (with Creative's Pebble Pro being our budget speaker of choice), but the $100-200 range is where you get the most features and the best price-to-value ratio. Go beyond that and you're spending a lot of money for only incrementally better sound and some non-essential luxuries.
And nothing quite proves that better than the Creative XF1, a set of compact yet incredibly useful speakers with a whole host of neat extra features. And they even come with two cork stands to prop the speakers, which can go entirely unused if you like your speakers flat, but It's still plain neat that they come in the box for no extra charge.
Naturally, the more compact you go, the less room you have to jam speakers full of large tweeters and woofers, and as such, the balance with the XF1 isn't just where to cut costs in each unit, but just how small you can condense them down before the sound starts to take a hit.
And Creative, for the most part, has nailed that balance, with a set of speakers that are small enough to fit on my desk, but loud enough to shake it.
✅ You're running out of desk space: The XF1 are a small and understated set of speakers that felt at home on my admittedly pretty small desk.
❌ You want high-end sound: Though sound replication is very strong for the price and size, you aren't getting audiophile-level quality.
The XF1 offer mighty sound in a small package, with robust connectivity and some great presets. You naturally have to make compromises for compact speakers, but Creative have done a creative job of finding the best ones.
Frequency
55 Hz - 40,000 Hz
Drivers
2 3-inch woofers, 2.75-inch tweeters
Weight
2.6 kg for both
Dimensions
6.10 x 3.93 x 7.52 inches (each)
Connectivity
Bluetooth 6.0, USB Type-C, Aux
RGB
Lighting Status LED for connectivity, no addressable RGB
Price
$180 | £140
Creative XF1 is loaded with great little design decisions. For one, it has a robust set of connectivity options, with it working via USB Type-C, aux, and Bluetooth. And that Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity even supports LDAC wireless, so it retains a high level of quality no matter the connection.
The single button on the front of the right speaker can not only be spun to adjust volume, but also clicked to swap between the connectivity modes. This means swapping from my gaming PC to my phone or laptop requires no more than a mere button press. And, in practice, this works really well too. With my default audio setting being the speaker, I can click to connect to Bluetooth, and my rig swaps to my plugged-in headphones, which is effectively a poor man's version of the NZXT SwitchMix (and being much cheaper, 'poor man's' is apt).
It's a pretty simple set of speakers otherwise. Simply plug it into the mains, connect it to the left speaker, plug it into a device and start playing sound. One neat feature that comes in the box is a set of cork stands. Without clicking into place or requiring any tools, you merely place the speakers on top and can elevate the speakers at a 15° angle. Generally speaking, being able to elevate the speakers, and therefore elevate the tweeter and woofer, means that it directs the sound more towards you. You may not use the stands, but the fact that they come in the box for free is a solid extra.
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
The XF1 sp...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?