Creative GigaWorks T20 II review

Gallery

Verdict:

For the money, you'll have to look hard to find a better sounding pair of speakers to connect to your Mac.

Review Date: 13 Feb 2009

Price when reviewed: (?52.17 ex VAT)

Reviewed By: Kenny Hemphill

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Creative's GigaWorks T20 II is an update to its popular T20 stereo desktop speakers.

The most noticeable change is to the case. The gunmetal grey finish has gone, replaced by a matt black housing with glossy black front facia. The silver control dials are now shorter and fatter, which we found made them slightly less easy to operate.

Other than that, the T20 II's are visually identical to their predecessors. The black foam grille is easily removable, revealing the glass-fibre woofer cone and cloth-domed tweeter on each speaker. Connection ports are the same too, on the right-hand speaker there are sockets on the back for the power supply, 3.5mm in/out jack and a connection for the cable from the left speaker. On the front, beneath the control knobs, there's a 3.5mm headphone jack and auxiliary input to connect, say, an iPod.

While the look of the speakers reflects the current trend in consumer entertainment kit - just go into any electrical retailer and you'll see row after row of glossy black LCD TVs - the old silver and grey scheme works better next to an iMac. In terms of audio quality, there's no denying that the T20 IIs sound great. Acoustic guitar strums are picked out in detail, bass notes have just enough oomph, and the ability to adjust the balance between bass and treble means that you can fine-tune the output to get it just how you want it. Our only real complaint is the power supply; it's big and bulky, and comes with the power cable fixed to it. We'd prefer an integrated plug and power supply.

At £60 for the pair, the GigaWorks T20 IIs aren't cheap. They are, however, well-constructed and sound great. If you already have a pair of T20s it's not worth upgrading, but if you're on the look out for a pair of speakers to connect to your Mac, these T20 IIs are hard to beat.

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