Razer Leviathan V2 Soundbar Review – Is This Gaming Soundbar Just A Waste Of Money?

First Impressions

Normally, when purchasing a soundbar, the box makes it look like you’re carrying along a golf set, skis, or something of the sort. That’s why I was taken aback by the relatively minuscule packaging for the Razer Leviathan V2. 

To think that there’s even a subwoofer inside is just ludicrous.

As usual, unboxing a Razer product is a tailored experience much like Apple’s. This customer-centric attention to detail is part of the company’s charm and one of the main reasons why they’ve managed to retain their popularity over the years.

Fitting It Into The Setup, Design, Inputs

Finally getting the soundbar in my hands, it didn’t come as a surprise when I discovered that it’s mainly constructed of plastic. Despite this, the Razer Leviathan V2 still feels like a high-quality material due to its heft and how solid it feels in the hand. 

Be around tech long enough and you’d get a general idea of an item’s build quality just by touching and holding it for a bit. This soundbar doesn’t give off that “toy-ish” aura at all.

Adding to the understated vibe is the blacked-out front grille. It’s forged in a honeycomb design that exudes sleek, sophisticated vibes all around. At its center is the Razer logo, while backing up its cinematic repertoire is a THX spatial audio badge on its right side. Hard flex right there.

The same design philosophy carries over to the subwoofer. It’s a boxy silhouette constructed with the same plastics as the soundbar, but knocking on it reassures you that this isn’t hollow.

It’s filled to the brim with hardware and fires all its power at the floor and upfront. Thankfully, it doesn’t get messy since only one wire comes out of this accessory to connect to the soundbar. That also takes care of its power needs.

Also included in the box are detachable magnetic rubber feet that allow the soundbar to be propped at various heights and angles. It’s a welcome addition since it greatly increases the number of setups this soundbar will work well with. 

Personally speaking, propping it up to the highest setting allowed the Razer Leviathan V2 to clear my monitor stand but just barely sit below my monitor itself. Since my configuration isn’t height-adjustable, this arrangement was like a match made in heaven for my little media corner.

Looking behind the soundbar, there’s just a minimalistic array of ports and inputs. Starting from the leftmost side, you have the power input, a USB-C port for PC use, and the port that connects straight to the subwoofer.

The most alarming omission here is the 3.5mm headphone jack – indicating that this was engineered for use either with a computer or wirelessly. I would’ve been elated to find the headphone jack here, but it’s slowly been phased out of mainstream tech in the past years.

That’s just a reality we have to accept.

These inputs are sandwiched by a pair of exposed passive radiators. As expected, they’re soft and rubbery, much like other audio equipment out there.

Meanwhile, on top of the soundbar are buttons that toggle the most common controls you’d need for operating this device. There’s the Source button, a Bluetooth pairing toggle, the Power switch, and controls for increasing or decreasing the Volume.

I can’t conclude this design segment without discussing its onboard Razer Chroma lighting technology. There’s just one light strip that runs across the soundbar’s underbelly, providing gentle illumination to the area directly underneath it. It provides a nice accent to any setup. 

In its default setting, the light will pulsate across an array of colors and the patterns are configurable with the Razer Synapse software on PC. I’ve kept it on the stock setting during my entire period of ownership and had no issues.

User-Friendliness

The Razer Leviathan V2 is pretty much plug-and-play. 

To prevent too many wires from cluttering your setup, the subwoofer sources both its audio inputs and power from one cord connecting to the soundbar. Similarly, the soundbar then only has a single cord that feeds it power from the wall.

Once the soundbar was paired to my PC setup, it never required another unpair/repair sequence. I just turned it on every time the PC was switched on and it connected within seconds. 

Yes, I mostly used the Bluetooth option in my use cases since I wore headphones while gaming, anyways.

With movies, shows, music, and the occasional gaming session, the Razer Leviathan V2 displayed minimal latency with wireless playback. This is a huge reason why it kept being my daily driver and continues to fill that role to this day.

From time to time, the “source” button will go haywire and the soundbar won’t be able to find my PC for some reason. When that happens, a quick unplug and replug of the soundbar from its cords is all it takes to get it working again.

Sound Quality for Music

Here it is, the moment of truth. How does the Razer Leviathan V2 soundbar perform in terms of music playback? For the sake of transparency, I tested this both with the wired and Bluetooth connectivity options.

Let’s get this out of the way: if you’re looking for a spine-tinglingly technical listen, then you’re better off somewhere else. The Leviathan outputs an undoubtedly-warm sound signature. It’s catered to mainstream consumers who have bass as a priority.

Razer decides to double down on this assumption by providing a subwoofer that exponentially enhances the low-end. With it turned on and functional, the vibrations are now enough to shake the dust off a small room.

What’s nice about the bass thump here, though, is that it doesn’t bleed into the music and make it all muddy. It’s a clean strike that doesn’t linger in the music for longer than it’s supposed to. As a result, the rest of the range is also given an opportunity to shine.

Surprisingly enough, the mids and highs aren’t completely overshadowed here. Based on my own listening experience, the mids are a tiny bit recessed, but they are still very much present in the music. 

Vocals, however, are mostly able to power through this shortcoming. Sharp female vocals cut through the veil of bass, while deeper male voices (such as Michael Buble’s) can reverberate within the lower ranges.

Admittedly, I’m a vocal-focused listener so it took some time to get used to but other people wouldn’t notice it as much. 

Perhaps these deficiencies can be mitigated through some EQ tuning on the Synapse program, but I haven’t bothered trying it out yet. I find the quality out of the box to be satisfactory.

Although soundbars are physically limited in terms of separation unlike bookshelf speakers, there is an ample sense of soundstage here. We played around with some online demos and were able to tell apart the distinct instruments in an orchestra. 

Of course, headphones naturally perform better than earphones in these scenarios, but the Leviathan V2 exhibited enough proficiency to warrant a pass from me.

Sound Quality for Movies and TV Shows

While the Razer Leviathan V2’s bassy characteristics may work against it music-wise, that all turns around when it comes to movie playback. 

The rumble from both the soundbar and the subwoofer is unmatched. With optimization for cinematic use by THX Spatial Audio, it’s clear that a holistic experience when playing movies and TV shows was the primary focus.

I was just supposed to watch snippets of Avengers Endgame and Top Gun: Maverick for the sake of testing but I ended up finishing both films. That’s how much additional immersion and subsequent enjoyment the Leviathan adds to the overall experience.

It doesn’t falter when it comes to everyday sitcoms either. It’s the ideal mesh of clarity and bassiness, so it’s a wonderful Netflix-binge audio setup for just about any occasion.

Final Thoughts

The Razer Leviathan V2 surely packs quite a bit of kit.

The size is just right and the inclusion of a subwoofer makes it ideal for setups that have the space for one. Plus, it injects some life into any tabletop arrangement with its RGB lighting.

But even more than that, it also features above-average audio quality that surprised even me. Sure, the warm, bassy sound signature won’t send audiophiles running to stores to pick up one of these, but they wouldn’t be disgusted by how it sounds, either.

To conclude, this soundbar is for people who want a cool-looking soundbar that carries a well-known brand name and won’t mind paying extra for it. 

In terms of music, people who listen to EDM and rap as their top genres might favor the Leviathan V2 over other options that have gained more “respect” in the audiophile market. If you’re a movie addict, though, then this is almost a no-brainer.

Its most significant weakness, however, is the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack and other outputs. This means you won’t be able to connect this to your TV, unless you do so wirelessly, which most people may not prefer given the inevitable connectivity and latency issues.

If you can look past those niggles for the price, then go ahead.

This post was last updated on 2025-01-17 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.