Last year, the gaming brand Razer added another one to its Leviathan line of gaming soundbars – Razer Leviathan V2 X. The “X” note hints that this is the most affordable version of the entire series. But with a nicer price tag and simpler specifications, Leviathan V2 X has decent functionality to improve the sound of your PC. It also has a proprietary backlight with many effects and the ability to customize it via software either from a computer or a smartphone.
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Razer Leviathan V2 X is the third and most affordable gaming soundbar in the Leviathan line. The classic Leviathan V2 is complemented by an external subwoofer and costs about $250. The Pro version has become the most advanced in the series, with a subwoofer, an AI algorithm for tracking head position, a signal direction function, a 5.1 speaker format, and a price tag of as much as $400. So, V2 X, in turn, offers basic functionality, does not come with an external subwoofer, but is also very reasonably priced at about $125. Let’s see what this most budgetary speaker of the series can do.
Leviathan V2 X arrived in a nice branded box, which contains the soundbar itself in a textile transport case, a sturdy Type-C-Type-C cable and accompanying literature.
On the wire, one of the connectors is angled – it is placed directly in the speaker, and the other, straight, is already connected to a laptop or PC. The connectors also have plastic caps that protect the ports from damage during transportation and storage.
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Razer Leviathan V2 X is a rather compact soundbar, which is designed not to take up much space between the monitor and the keyboard. Therefore, the speaker measures 40.0×7.1×7.7 cm and weighs 845 g.
The case is made of high-quality matte black plastic, and the front panel has a textile surface – as in most PC speakers. In the middle, you can see a small flattening on the case and a neat brand logo in the form of three intertwined snakes.
Let’s look up and see the control panel, which is represented by 5 buttons. The power button is located in the middle, and the two on the right are responsible for volume control. The first button on the left allows you to select the sound source (soundbar or laptop speakers), and the next one turns on Bluetooth and puts the soundbar in pairing mode.
Behind the back we see two speaker cones and a barely noticeable “USB” inscription in the center. This is where the Type-C connector is hidden, so that everything is neat and aesthetically pleasing. There is only one connector here and it is responsible for both power and sound transmission.
Turn the speaker upside down. The LED strip stretches along the entire device and shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow. There are rubberized legs on the sides, the shape of which allows you to slightly raise the front panel to direct the sound to the user. And we didn’t forget about the technical labeling.
The Razer gaming soundbar does not have a battery, so the first thing you need to do is connect it to a power source. Using the included cable, it can be connected to a laptop or PC, so you can get both power and sound. With such a connection, you can not only send sound via a wire, but also via Bluetooth from another device. Or you can simply take the cable with the power supply, connect to the network and use the device as a Bluetooth speaker.
To connect to a PC, you just need to connect the speaker to the computer with a wire, turn it on and output sound to it. To connect a smartphone, you need to connect to the network directly or to a PC, turn on the soundbar, then hold down the Bluetooth button on the control panel for 5 seconds, wait until the speaker enters pairing mode, find it in the list of available Bluetooth devices on your smartphone and connect.
As for the software, Razer has gone all out with it. In a good way, of course. You can control the speaker through the PC application, or from your smartphone. It’s a very convenient thing, which we’ll take a closer look at later.
Leviathan V2 X is part of the large family of Razer gaming devices, so you can configure the speaker on your PC through the Razer Synapse program in the Audio section. Here we have three tabs, let’s go through each of them.
The first is “Sound”. As the name implies, you can find sound settings here:
Next comes “Ligtning”, where you can adjust the brightness of the backlight, the mode of shutting down when the screen is turned off, and, of course, many settings for the backlight itself. You can also not bother and use Quick Effects (static or some interesting backlight with effects – waves, pulse, etc.). This is convenient when you have only one Razer device so far. And if you’re an avid fan of the brand, then welcome to the advanced backlight settings in Chroma Studio. Here you can already zone the backlight to your liking (14 zones in total), set different effects for each zone, and synchronize the backlight of a bunch of Razer gadgets in a single style.
The last tab is “Power”. There is nothing special here except for enabling the power saving mode and switching the speaker to standby mode after 15, 30 or 45 minutes of inactivity. For desktops, this may not be very relevant, but for laptops, it’s a good feature.
The Razer Audio app partially duplicates the functionality of Razer Synapse and allows you to use most of the features directly on your smartphone. You can install the app from both the App Store and Google Play.
It has playback controls (volume, rewind, switch between Bluetooth and USB, shutdown), backlight effects, but more modest than the desktop program, a backlight synchronization mode with music, and an equalizer. As you can see, there is almost everything that is provided in the “big” software. In general, the ability to control either from the desktop or from a smartphone is a very convenient thing that does not actually limit the user.
Leviathan V2 X has two 2×48×95 mm wideband drivers and a 2×48×105 mm passive radiator. The combination of these speakers provides truly high-quality and surround sound.
Let’s start with the main thing this soundbar is designed for – games. During virtual battles, it seems as if shots, footsteps, movement of equipment and other typical game sounds are happening right in the room. The sound is three-dimensional, lively, and detailed, and you can tell from the sound where you’re going to be attacked. I don’t know if your family or neighbors will appreciate these sounds if you live in an apartment building with cardboard walls, but the sound in games is impressive and gamers will definitely enjoy it.
But not only games. When it comes to watching movies, especially action movies with low-frequency explosions, rattling cars, and all that “Hollywood” sound, everything is fine here too. Background sounds are not mixed with the voices of the characters, each track is perfectly separated by ear and there is no sound “mush”. No built-in laptop audio system, no matter how the audio industry masters tweaked it, is capable of producing such an atmospheric sound. This is a solid five.
There’s nothing to complain about here either, but it depends on what the sound source is. Yes, there are no issues with wired sound transmission at all – it’s high-quality, clear, clean, voluminous, and generally very cool. But when connected via Bluetooth, the sound quality is noticeably reduced by 30-40 percent. These are purely subjective figures, but the loss of quality is obvious. This is especially noticeable when you check on the same track from different sources. It is not surprising, because the signal over the “air” (and even with support for only the SBC codec) will lose in comparison with the wire. So, if you want high-quality sound, you need a cable, and your smartphone will come in handy when you’re too lazy to turn on your PC.
The Razer Leviathan V2 X is capable of pumping up the sound in your PC, not only in games, which is what it was designed for, but also in music and movie watching. Thanks to two broadband speakers and a low-frequency radiator, you get a really high-quality, voluminous, detailed, and clear sound for the money.
It is impossible not to note the pleasant design, well-chosen size of the soundbar, which does not take up much space on the table, and bright backlighting with flexible settings. The possibility of Bluetooth connection and well-designed software available for both PCs and smartphones are a very successful and convenient solution. Taking into account the price, sound quality and functionality, Leviathan V2 X is a good choice for multimedia entertainment not for all the money in the world and in a more original format than boring computer speakers.
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