User Experience

While the Razer Leviathan V2 is a soundbar, it falls into that category primarily in terms of its form factor. In every other sense, it's a compact PC speaker that cannot be connected to anything other than your desktop PC or laptop through USB or mobile devices via Bluetooth. It turns on and off together with your PC, but you can make the RGB light bar stay on even when your PC is off, should you want it to illuminate your table at all times.

By pressing and holding the source button, located on top of the soundbar, you can switch the playback device to anything other than the Leviathan V2. This feature greatly improves the everyday functionality of the soundbar, as it becomes trivial to swap between it and, for example, a gaming headset plugged into a different sound card.

One bad aspect of the user experience is the inconsistency in sound quality between USB and Bluetooth sources. I already explained the problem earlier in the review, but if you skipped the software section, here's a quick recap. The Leviathan V2 sounds best when the THX Spatial Audio is activated in the corresponding app, and one of the sound profiles, preferably Music, is selected. However, after switching to Bluetooth mode and selecting the Music profile in the Razer Audio mobile app, the sound signature of the soundbar changes significantly. While I wouldn't necessarily call it bad, it's certainly worse than what you can get from the Leviathan V2 in USB mode. For a deeper insight into these issues, do check out the previous two pages of this review.


Not sure if this falls under the "user experience" category, but I'll mention it regardless. When listening to bass-heavy music with the recommended settings, the soundbar would sometimes move around the table. It would make the trip from underneath my monitor to the upper edge of my keyboard before the end of Rhythm & Sound's song "King in My Empire." I narrowed the issue to a layer of dust on the rubber covering the supplied feet. I was able to address it by cleaning the feet and my wooden table with some water and a clean wiping cloth.

Sound Quality

The Razer Leviathan V2 is equipped with two front-facing 2 x 4-inch full-range drivers, two 0.75 inch tweeters, and a pair of 1.7 x 5.3-inch passive radiators, with the latter located on the back. The subwoofer has a 5.5 inch down-firing driver. According to the product box, the system's total power is 65 W, which doesn't sound like much, but rest at ease; there's plenty of power on tap. I didn't ever feel the need to move the volume slider past 60%, and most of the time, I had it sitting below 50%. When considering the power output of the Leviathan V2, one thing to keep in mind is that you're likely sitting very close to it. It realistically needs much less power than if you were using it while sitting at your couch.


In case you skipped the software section of this review, allow me to reiterate: to get the Leviathan V2 to sound as good as it can, regardless of what you're using it for, you need to install the Razer Synapse 3 software suite, as well as the THX Spatial Audio app that comes along with it. You can do some basic configuration of the soundbar through Synapse 3, but as far as sound goes, make sure you select the THX profile in the Audio Equalizer section of the Sound tab, which is entirely flat. This equalizer didn't work for me, but it would sometimes randomly spring back to life, so you want to keep it flat to avoid ruining the sound quality when it does work properly. Then move on to the THX Spatial Audio app, which will have you select the Speakers (THX Spatial) as your primary playback device. In there, choose Razer Leviathan V2 (Speakers) as your output device and turn on the THX Spatial Audio. Finally, I recommend going to the EQ tab within the THX Spatial Audio app and selecting the Music profile, which really opens up the Leviathan V2 and makes it sound energetic and fun. Don't touch the Bass Boost slider, as even minor corrections make the bass overwhelming and the overall sound muffled. Sound Normalization makes everything sound boxy and should also be avoided, and you definitely don't need Vocal Clarity either since the Leviathan V2 is pretty midrange-forward by default.

Let's get one thing out of the way: if you're after a neutral, hyperdetailed, audiophile-grade sound, you're looking in the wrong direction. A sound system like the Leviathan V2 should sound engaging and exciting, and that's exactly what we're achieving by configuring the Leviathan V2 as described. The Music profile thickens the bottom end and makes the subwoofer do a bit more work without overwhelming it. The subwoofer is generally surprisingly subtle in what it does and, as such, well integrated into the system. At the same time, the soundbar is capable of reproducing lower frequencies, too, so you really don't get any of that nasty separation between the bass and midrange, which could ruin the listening experience.


The midrange is quite pronounced and pushed forward in the mix. That definitely helps with vocal intelligibility, although it can lead to some shoutiness in some instances, especially at higher volumes. By default, the entire 1-8 kHz region is far too subdued, causing the Leviathan V2 to sound wooly and muffled, but that's precisely where the Music sound profile kicks in. It almost seems like it was created by someone who listened to the system after it was already done and then decided to fix its glaring flaws. You see, gradually opening the aforementioned part of the frequency spectrum is exactly what the Music profile is all about. It makes a huge difference in tonality, significantly improving the width of the sound and vastly increasing the level of detail retrieval. Finally, as I already mentioned, it simply makes the Leviathan V2 sound more alive and fun. Everything sounds better on Razer's system with the Music profile active, so definitely don't skip on using it, or some slight custom modification of it.

THX Spatial Audio

On the virtual surround sound front, the Razer Leviathan V2 leans into the THX Spatial Audio technology. It is marketed as an "advanced 7.1 surround sound technology with superior positional accuracy", and the list of supported games looks respectable, especially if you're into multiplayer first-person shooters. I spent most of my time testing it in Battlefield 2042, a game whose sound engine I'm very familiar with and know what to expect from various virtual surround sound technologies.


Firstly, I can't say I felt the "superior positional accuracy", but that's not something I expected anyway; if positional accuracy was what I was after, I'd be playing the game with a nice headset, not a soundbar. What I did get, though, was increased immersion, especially when using the so-called THX Environmetal Mode, which you can select in the THX Spatial Audio app after running a compatible game. The THX Environmental Mode does a good job of seemingly expanding the soundscape of Battlefield 2042, bringing even more chaos and tension to virtual warfare. I like that the bass remains deep and oftentimes quite cinematic, without going completely overboard and ruining the intelligibility of everything else happening around you. Don't get me wrong, the directionality of the audio doesn't disappear when the THX Environmental Mode is being used, just don't expect it to be better than what you'd get from a decent gaming headset in stereo mode.

There's also the so-called THX Competitive Mode, which reduces the bass response in an attempt to make more subtle sound cues, such as footsteps and reloading, easier to hear. I didn't care much for it though, as it sounds hollow and much less immersive than the dramatic THX Environmental Mode, without bringing anything special to the table; once again, surely you won't use a soundbar for competitive gaming.

With that in mind, if you're playing a game that supports it, the THX Spatial Sound is definitely worth trying out.