Inspire T10

Creative's Inspire T10s are a pair of stereo speakers, designed for PC and MP3 use. Their musical performance is quite respectable, but ultimately let down by weak bass. Nevertheless, their excellent midrange redeems them quite a bit, making them a suitable choice for a broad variety of PC-related applications. An attractive design and affordable RRP rounds them out quite nicely.

As mentioned above, the weak point for the T10s is bass reproduction. The addition of a BasXPortTM port on top of the speakers does give them the ability to handle deeper notes without the need for a subwoofer. Unfortunately, however, the bass still manages to sound relatively weak, and lacks a defining presence in the music. At times we noticed that it almost became separated from the mid-range, which made music sound disjointed. Although the mid-range is quite clear, it often drowns out more subtle basslines, overpowering them and making the audio sound much more one-dimensional. That being said, the treble is quite respectable. It tends to become slightly shrill at the very highest ranges, but nevertheless maintains a good presence throughout the music and complements the clarity of the mid-range very well.

Although the T10s are capable of producing a fair amount of volume, we did notice that music tended to drop noticeably in quality above around 75 per cent volume. For regular use this shouldn't be a problem, but the T10s are not ideal for use during parties or other such events. The BasXPortsTM are capable of producing a good amount of rumble with lower frequencies, but as mentioned earlier, the bass often fails to mesh effectively with the other frequencies.

The T10s have an interesting design, primarily the fact that they're considerably deeper than most speakers on the market right now. This is presumably to make space for the BasXPortTM on the top, and necessary to give the speakers enough room to generate the air flow required for the lower frequencies. The front panels are roughly rectangular in shape, with a large driver in the centre covered in a metallic mesh situated below a smaller tweeter. A volume and tone knob are situated below the driver on the right-hand speaker, which also houses headphone and auxiliary jacks on its side, as well as power, PC, and left speaker connections on the rear. The shiny black plastic casing gives them a pleasing aesthetic that should match most modern desktops.

Overall, the Inspire T10s are quite a decent set of speakers, considering their price. Their strong mid-range and treble performance makes them quite suitable for a variety of tasks, including music and movies; however, the sub-par bass might leave certain users better served by a different pair of speakers.