Closer Examination and Build Quality

The Razer Leviathan V2 soundbar is exceptionally compact. With a width of a mere 50 centimeters (19.7 in), it doesn't look out of place even underneath a monitor as small as 24 inches. You don't need a lot of height clearance either; even with the angled feet attached to it, the height of the soundbar doesn't go above 10 centimeters (3.94 in). All sides are covered in matte black plastic, except for the front, which is entirely covered with a metal mesh.


There's an attractive Razer logo in the middle of the soundbar. Close to the right edge, you'll find the THX Spatial Audio badge.


Since the Leviathan V2 is supposed to sit below your monitor, it doesn't come with a remote control. The idea is that you control it by using the five buttons on its top. Here we have the source, Bluetooth, power, and volume controls. The source button alternates between the USB-C and Bluetooth inputs, but if you press and hold it, it will switch you to any other playback device you've selected in the Razer Synapse 3 software driver. It's a great feature to have to quickly switch between the Leviathan V2 and a gaming headset. When you're playing music via Bluetooth, the Bluetooth button is used to pause it (single press), jump to the next track (double press), or go back to the previous one (triple press). The described control scheme is intuitive and intelligent, although slightly hindered by the firmness of the buttons. They should be much easier to press.


There are only three ports found on the rear of the soundbar: a power input, USB-C input, and proprietary subwoofer output. An optical input would go a long way in making the Leviathan V2 pairable with TVs and consoles, but it appears Razer wants us to exclusively use the system in the nearfield.


The soundbar is supplied with two pairs of feet: straight and angled ones. Because of the directional nature of high-frequency sound waves, you generally want to angle its front-facing drivers toward your face, so using the angled feet will be a better choice in most situations. With that in mind, it's somewhat surprising that the flat ones are factory-preinstalled.


Along the bottom of the soundbar, there's an 18-zone RGB lighting system. The LEDs are placed behind a milky white bar, which does a great job of dispersing the light and making the individual LEDs indistinguishable. I don't have strong feelings about RGB effects, but when they look nice, I'll happily use them. During the two months I spent with the Leviathan V2 on my table, I kept its lighting system on. I found it very nice to look at and, just as importantly, not distracting during nighttime.


The subwoofer measures 22 x 22 x 24,15 centimeters (8.67 x 8.67 x 9.5 in), so it doesn't take up much space under the table. Since it is equipped with a 5.5" down-firing driver, it should be placed on a stable, solid surface or a thin carpet. Thick and hard pile carpets aren't a good choice, as they'll interfere with the speaker driver. A 4.25" bass-reflex port is located on one of the sides of the subwoofer.


The cable connecting the subwoofer and the subwoofer output on the soundbar is affixed to the subwoofer. Razer uses a proprietary connector, so potentially throwing a different subwoofer into the mix isn't an option.


The supplied power brick connects to the soundbar, powering the entire system.