Razer Leviathan V2 Review: Sounds Great, Less Ports, More Expensive

Now it’s definitely not often that I review audio products on this channel but not too long ago, Razer launched a new gaming soundbar, the Leviathan V2. As someone who bought the original Leviathan as a gift for a friend, I was certainly looking forward to a revision to a product that was kind of neglected for quite some time now. So here it is, and we’ve had it for almost a month now. For those of you who don’t want to watch the rest of the review, here’s a short quick summary. It performs and looks great, but you’re going to lose quite a bit of ports and you’re going to be paying more. With that said, let’s talk about this.

We start off with the design and simplicity is the name of the game here. The soundbar doesn’t look that much different compared to the original, it has simply been refined. Overall, it’s still going to be primarily made out of plastic in their signature black color and it’s more boxy all around. In terms of logo placement, if you’re concerned about that kind of stuff, all you get is a silver Razer logo right in the middle and a small little THX logo on the far right.

Honestly, really simplistic and it would definitely fit almost any kind of setup without much issues. Just like before, Razer has also included a pair of additional feet that are interchangeable. This allows you to angle the soundbar to provide a better audio experience from a standard sitting or standard position at your desk.

In terms of buttons, you get a total of 5. From the left to right, you have your source button which toggles between PC or Bluetooth, a Bluetooth pairing button, the power button which also has a small notch below it so you wouldn’t mistake it in the dark and of course your volume adjustments.

To accompany the soundbar, there is a subwoofer included and this has also received the same simplistic refinement in design just like the soundbar. It’s basically and literally a box, though perhaps just slightly not as clean looking as before since the port has been moved from the bottom to one of the 4 sides. Though that did allow for a slightly larger sub, coming in 5.5-inches (140mm) compared to the previous 5.25-inches (133mm). It is however still a wired subwoofer, so this has to connect to the soundbar in order to receive power and connectivity. No wireless option here unfortunately.

Which brings us to the unfortunate side of things with this new soundbar. Razer might’ve taken simplicity just a little too far. The Leviathan V2 only has three ports. The power port, a Type-C port and a subwoofer port. That’s it. You don’t get optical, you don’t get 3.5mm aux, you don’t get HDMI Arc or eArc support.

Honestly I’m confused, and I still am. Even more so when you consider the fact that the original Leviathan has optical and 3.5mm aux, and actually to add on, it even has AptX support along with NFC, all of which is not present here in the Leviathan V2. And if you’re talking about HDMI Arc, the ever popular Sound Blaster Katana V2 from Creative has that. With it as it is right now, it actually perplexes me more than anything.

The inclusion of Type-C is nice, no doubt about that. But to have that as your only source of input means this is technically an all digital soundbar and it’s mainly for your PC and PC only. If something were to go awry, you will be limited in your troubleshooting options and if say, there is something wrong with that Type-C port, you’re dead of luck. The entire soundbar will be unusable at that point and there’s nothing you can do. And like I just mentioned, the Leviathan V2 is really designed to be used for the PC, but even then, it’s more restricted to desktops. Razer includes a Type-C to Type-A cable, which isn’t of issue for most desktop users. But if saym you’re a laptop user, you have to make sure that you have a Type-A port on your laptop which is actually quite the concern considering that more and more laptops just don’t have that.

Of course, you can go ahead and purchase a Type-C to Type-C cable and use it that way, but on a laptop, you're going to basically waste a Type-C port that’s going to give you that bandwidth for high-speed peripherals or accessories. Even more so if it’s Thunderbolt 3 or 4. A simple 3.5mm would make it that much more versatile and bringing back optical will make it usable with TVs as well, especially if HDMI eArc is out of the budget.

But I think we all knew where that budget went.

So honestly with regards to the I/O, it is quite the disappointment. But putting all that aside for now, let’s talk about what’s new, some of the nifty features and ultimately, the good stuff.

To complement the new and refined look, Razer has of course added their splash of Chroma RGB in the form of a thin strip below the length of the soundbar itself. If you like your RGB, this looks pretty stunning because it’s indirect. It’s out of the way, it’s nice and diffused and does get plenty bright. This will 100% match any of your other Razer peripherals and you can sync them all up using Razer Synapse, especially with Chroma Studio.

Synapse is also where you can toggle between standard Stereo and THX Spatial Audio and a bunch of EQ presets and access to custom settings. You can also adjust the volume here, but I find it kind of meaningless considering the fact that it’s a digital connection. Any adjustments here will reflect in Windows itself and vice versa. It’s not like you can have a separate volume for the soundbar as opposed to Windows itself like you would with an analogue input like a 3.5mm aux. But it is what it is.

One nifty function that the Leviathan V2 does have however is a quick toggle feature between two PC audio devices. So if you have a headset attached, you can simply hold on the Source button on the soundbar itself and it’ll switch. Definitely a nice workaround compared to having a headphone jack on the soundbar.

Now if you aren’t at your PC, or perhaps your PC isn’t on. You can also access the Chroma RGB using your phone via the Chroma RGB app. But to access all the other basic functions, you would then have to use the Audio app. Definitely not ideal for now, but Razer is supposedly working on a unified app so we’ll have to wait and see. Till then, this juggle between two apps for the same device is what you get.

But we now come to the good stuff, the sound quality.

The Leviathan V2 is honestly just a really good sounding soundbar. The soundbar itself comes equipped with two Full Range Drivers and two Tweeters in the front and two Passive Radiator Drivers in the back. This is of course paired with that 5.5-inch down-firing ported subwoofer. Razer does state 65 watts of power, but is this just the soundbar alone or the whole setup, and is it RMS or Peak, we have no idea.

But in any case, it does sound good and pretty well-balanced. The highs are pretty clean and crisp, with strong mids and does have a bit of thump in the low-end thanks to that subwoofer. I enjoyed it for pretty much anything. From watching videos on YouTube or binging on Netflix and of course, gaming. Games like Genshin were just downright enjoyable, especially when listening to the fantastic soundtracks in the overworld, while games like Valorant were equally addictive as well, and even competitive to a certain sense. I could definitely hear the sound of footsteps and the gun mechanics of my enemy.

It can also get quite loud, surprisingly, with enough volume to comfortably fill a decently-sized room for sure.

Honestly, in terms of just pure audio quality and experience alone it’s been fantastic. It delivers great sound in a compact package. This is the best part about this soundbar and it definitely is the most important. But that’s all there is going for it, because if we’re talking about price, it isn’t that great as well.

Compared to the original Leviathan, this is now $50 more expensive, surprisingly in both USD and SGD, coming in at about 380 Singapore Dollars (379.90 SGD) or about 250 US Dollars (249.99 USD).

Now it is still more affordable compared to the Sound Blaster Katana V2 from Creative, but that does offer much more versatility and can also reach a higher volume output. But even if we don’t take that for comparison, the Leviathan V2 shouldn’t cost more than the original. The addition of THX and Chroma RGB shouldn’t justify the uplift in price especially when they are in-house features.

Like we said at the start, it performs and looks great, but you’re going to lose quite a bit of ports and you’re going to be paying more. That’s essentially it.