Are you looking for a budget upgrade to your PC setup that could change the way you listen to audio from your PC, taking your gameplay experience to the next level, by making you feel like you’re actually in the game that you’re playing, and adding some RGB lighting into the mix, then you should try the Razer Leviathan V2 X.
The Razer Leviathan V2 X is a compact soundbar designed for gamers who want a simple and affordable audio solution for their desktop setup. It’s the budget version of the Razer Leviathan V2 and V2 Pro, which both have a subwoofer and THX Spatial Audio support.
While V2 X does not have these features, it still offers decent sound quality, easy setup, and of course that RGB lighting.
It’s also compatible with Bluetooth devices, so you can stream music from your phone or tablet.
This is going to be ideal for beginners who want to enhance their gaming and media experience without spending too much money or it taking up too much space.
The housing on this sleek soundbar consists of a black plastic chassis with a fabric grill on the front and a Razer logo featuring prominently in the centre. It’s slightly narrower than a full size keyboard and small enough to be able to sit underneath your monitor between it and your keyboard. Underneath that fabric grill, the Leviathan has two full-range drivers and two passive radiators that produce the sound.
If like me, you don’t know what a full range driver is, well it’s a type of speaker that can reproduce the entire audible frequency range, from low bass to high treble, without the need for a crossover or other drivers, this soundbar has a frequency response of 85 Hz to 20 kHz and a volume output of 90 dB at a distance 1m, so at it’s loudest, it can pack a punch.
The leviathan has a passive radiator because it does not have a voice coil or a magnet, but instead relies on the movement of air from an active driver to vibrate and produce sound, to enhance the bass response of a speaker.
Knowing what they both do, the 2 full range drivers and the passive radiator, work together to allow soundbars and speakers like this to be designed so compact, while enabling the efficient speaker design to be able to deliver that dynamic and high-fidelity audio.
While I’m not an audiophile, the sound produced by this small soundbar, at full volume can only be described as a big. The sounds from different styles of audio are always very rich and you’ll always be able to differentiate between those different layers of sound.
Despite it’s size, at times you’ll still get a little bit of bass, which if you customise the audio frequencies in the Razer synapse app, you’ll be able to get some additional artificial bass, which depending what you’re listening to, can make it quite bassy at times. But, while this lack of natural bass may be a downside for some, the V2 and V2 Pro versions, both come with a dedicated subwoofer, but obviously at the added cost.
The soundbar has five buttons on the top: a source button, for selecting between your connected devices, a Bluetooth button, a power button, and two volume control buttons. As a little quirk, when it’s powered on and off, you’ll get a very techy powering up and down sound, and when it’s searching for devices, you’re see the LEDs at the bottom light up scanning like a beacon, similar to the knight rider car, if you’re old enough to understand that reference.
The leviathan is powered by the ever familiar USB-C, the port is located on the back for power and wired connectivity to your pc. To other devices it wirelessly connects via Bluetooth 5.0, which allows you to pair it with your PC, if you don’t want to connect it wired, a smartphone, tablet, or any other bluetooth compatible device.
Switching between your connected devices is easy, and when connected you’ll get a visual representation of what type of connection is currently active, green light for the PC wired mode and a blue light when connected via bluetooth.
While this has a good sound coming out of it for its size and price, it does have some limitations. Unfortunately, It lacks an optical or aux input, so if you want to connect it to your TV, games console, or other devices that use optical audio, you’ll not be able to.
While it produces that big sound, it is only confined to a very narrow soundstage, you’ll get the best benefits being right in front of it, if you’re looking for a soundbar with hoping that the sound it produces could fill a large room, then with this version at least, you’ll also not be able to do so. but as mentioned before things that can be solved with the Leviathan V2 and V2 Pro.
There are 14 lighting zones that can be customised to produce an array of different colours depending on your preference and mood.
If you’re not used to RGB changing apps with different modes, then using the synapse app for the first time can be a bit daunting, especially with all of the modes and lighting effects that are available and what you can actually do with them.
But if you have a play about with the effects, you’ll be able to see what effects those lighting styles can have on the leviathan and be a bit creative and mad if you like. From the Razer Synapse software as well as the Razer audio and chroma RGB apps, you can customise all of the leviathan’s controls, from the way it sounds, what it’s connected to and for the lighting you can customise the brightness, it’s power saving settings and what we’ll move onto, the advanced effects.
Via the chroma studio there are 11 different lighting effects currently available:
- Ambient awareness — which will allow the leviathan to reflect the main colour within a selected segment on your screen
- Audio meter — where the LEDs will light up to a range of your choice depending on the audio level of whatever sound is playing.
- Breathing — where the LEDs will fade in and out of a selected colour
- Fire — where the LEDs will mimic the motion of flames
- Reactive — the LEDs will light up depending on what happens on the screen and stay lit in either short, medium or long mode before fading.
- Ripple — the LEDs radiate the selected colour from the centre of the soundbar outwards
- Spectrum Cycling — the LEDs will cycle between all of the 16.8 million colours
- Starlight — each LED will fade in and out at random times
- Static — the LEDs will remain lit in your selected colour
- Wave — where the LEDs scroll in the selected direction
- Wheel — the LEDs animate a display of rainbow lights in a continuous circular motion.
With all of these different lighting effects, you can choose whatever colours and patterns you desire, and if you wish to have different profiles maybe for different users or moods, then you can create separate profiles and personally tailored chroma effects for individuals, allowing you to keep your colour and pattern scheme personal to you.
The best part about the lighting on this, is that, as well as been able to react to sound and colour on your screen, they also interact with certain games, giving you that increased immersion with the game your playing.
It these little things, that make playing games on your PC so much more immersive and enjoyable, just by doing a simple thing such as making it sound better and adding lights that react to what’s actually happening in game.
The RGB lighting adds that nice touch of flair to your setup, but if you’re conscious on the amount of electricity you use, this does consume a lot of power, which may not be to everyone’s taste.
The Razer Leviathan V2 X is a good PC gaming soundbar that offers good sound quality, RGB lighting, and Bluetooth connectivity for a reasonable price.
It’s easy to set up and use, and it works well with most PC games, movies, and music. And if you’ve got other compatible Razer chroma devices and accessories, then you’ll be able to synchronise the lighting on both devices using the Razer Synapse app, just like I’ve done here with Leviathan and Razer Ornata keyboard.
The V2 X is the most affordable and compact member of the Razer Leviathan family, which also includes the Leviathan V2 and the Leviathan V2 Pro.
While this one is aimed at gamers who want a simple and budget-friendly soundbar for their desktop setup, without compromising on sound quality or RGB lighting.
You’ll have to remember those limitations compared to its siblings, such as the lack of a subwoofer, THX Spatial Audio, and that better even more immersive sound.
Therefore, the V2 X may not be suitable for those who are looking for more immersive and powerful sound, but it does sit perfectly within its family in terms of offering a different option for different needs and preferences, but it also has some room for improvement, which can be forfiled by paying that extra money for the V2 or V2 Pro.
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