Razer Leviathan review

Razer has been steadily expanding from its core business of gaming mice and keyboards for years, but just because it now caters for consoles and the living room, it doesn’t mean the company has forgotten about dedicated PC gamers. The Leviathan is something of a crossover product; a budget soundbar that could give your TV a welcome audio boost, but one that’s also compact enough to sit beneath a monitor on your desk.

Design and build quality

Thanks to an all-black design and silver embossed Razer triple-headed snake logo, the Leviathan is almost understated – a far cry from the LED-illuminated peripherals we’ve seen from the company previously. A row of LED indicators on the top of the unit shows which sound mode is currently in use, but the lights aren’t overly bright and shouldn’t prove distracting when gaming in the dark.

The sound bar itself is 50cm long and will sit comfortably under most desktop monitors. Two sets of interchangeable feet either angle the sound bar directly forwards or upwards, depending on whether you’ll be using it with a TV or a PC monitor. You can also wall-mount the sound bar if you have the space, although you’ll have to take cable length into account; the power adapter cable is just 1.5m long and the subwoofer cable is about the same length, and all the soundbar’s inputs are on the back. Unless you have a way to hide the cables, wall-mounting could end up looking rather messy, as the wires are too short to give you much cable-routing flexibility.

The subwoofer doesn’t require an external power source, so only has one cable running to the sound bar. A 260mm square base and 220mm height means it’s compact enough to sit comfortably under a desk or to the side of an AV cabinet, but you may struggle to squeeze it behind a sofa.

INPUTS AND CONTROLS

The soundbar has 3.5mm analogue and digital optical audio inputs, so it’s easy enough to hook up a PC, TV or games console, but the addition of Bluetooth and NFC makes it simple to connect a compatible smartphone or tablet. We had no trouble manually searching for the Leviathan and pairing an iPhone, either. Bluetooth range was impressive, and we were able to maintain a stable connection at 10m distance and even with several walls between phone and speaker.

All the controls are located on the soundbar, and as there’s no remote control you’ll need to keep the soundbar within arm’s reach if you want to switch inputs, change sound mode or adjust the volume. This is fine in desktop use, but a pain if you plan on using the speaker with a TV. There’s no built-in IR receiver, meaning you can’t use universal remotes or smartphones with an IR blaster, either.

With no controls on the subwoofer, and no option to adjust the balance between sub and sound bar, you’re limited to the three sound modes (game, music and movie), and the Dolby Virtual Speakers preset, when it comes to tweaking audio.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound bar has two 60mm full-range speaker drivers and a pair of 19mm tweeters, which have a combined maximum 30W output. The accompanying subwoofer’s 130mm downward-firing driver also produces 30W. That adds up to impressive volume levels given the Leviathan’s size, to the point that our next door neighbours could clearly hear our test tracks at two-thirds maximum volume. The black speaker grille held firm and showed no signs of reverberation or rattle during our testing, even at high volumes.

We were impressed with the level of clarity when listening to music or watching films, as the mid-range and high-end were clear and precise. More delicate acoustic tracks had plenty of detail, and effects like breaking glass sounded sharp and delicate.

The Dolby effects even did a reasonable job of mimicking surround sound, to the point that we could tell when an enemy was approaching from the side in a heated game of Counter-Strike. It’s no replacement for a 5.1 speaker system or surround sound headset, but the soundbar is a definite improvement over basic stereo speakers or headphones.

However, there’s no doubt that the Leviathan is incredibly bass-heavy. Rock and electronic music sound devastating with the volume turned up, with the subwoofer creating a serious kick that will quickly grab the attention of anyone else in the house. It doesn’t quite overpower the mid-range in film and game modes, but it comes close. Music mode is slightly more forgiving, but bass is still overly dominant.

The extra bass arguably works well in games, giving gunshots and explosions real presence, but some might find it a little overpowering for films and music. In our original review it wasn’t clear how to adjust bass response, as there was no dedicated dial on the soundbar or the subwoofer, but we’ve since been informed that holding down the Dolby effect button and pressing the up and down volume controls adjusts bass accordingly. This worked perfectly when we re-tested the Leviathan, making it a much more enjoyable experience listening to subtle acoustic tracks or watching live TV. While it is possible to use the sound bar without the subwoofer attached, it effectively loses all bass presence, so adjusting it manually is definitely the way forward. We’ve since adjusted our review score accordingly.

CONCLUSION

The Leviathan is reasonably priced at £165, which is roughly what you’d pay for a high quality 2.1 speaker set like Corsair’s SP2500, and that system doesn’t include Bluetooth support. We loved the Leviathan’s flexibility and ability to pump out a seriously loud sound, and now we’ve discovered how to adjust bass response to pull back from its low end-heavy tuning out of the box, it’s usable for much more than just gaming. If you want your room to shake every time you boot up a deathmatch, this is a worthy alternative to a set of desktop speakers.

Have a read of our guide to the best soundbars for more alternatives.