The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is an extraordinary gaming soundbar that can create 3D sound without the need for a surround sound speaker setup. It offers a cinema-grade audio experience at an amazingly reasonable price.
Main function
-
3D audio:Deliver 3D audio without the need for a surround sound speaker setup. -
Subwoofers and bundles:A subwoofer is bundled with the soundbar. -
RGB lighting:It features 30 RGB lighting zones that can be customized in the Razer App.
prologue
Surround sound speakers are great for making gaming more immersive, especially if you don’t want to wear a gaming headset. However, placing speakers around the room can take up a lot of space and may not be possible depending on your setup.
The new Razer Leviathan V2 Pro promises to fix this problem, offering the immersive 3D audio that surround sound systems offer, but packed into one soundbar.
That sounds silly, right? But Razer managed to achieve this feat by launching the world’s first beamforming soundbar with Head He tracking AI. By detecting the exact position of your head, the Leviathan V2 Pro can create the illusion that your surround his sound setup is blowing audio from multiple locations.
We were given the chance to get hands-on with the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro at CES 2023. Here are my first impressions.
design
- Sondbar comes bundled with a subwoofer
- Buttons on the top allow easy switching between settings
- Uses IR camera to detect head position
The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is a soundbar with a bundled subwoofer. Surround sound usually requires additional speakers in this setup, but that’s not the case here, thanks to clever beamforming technology.
The soundbar is fairly long and chunky, but should easily slide under the monitors you own.
There are five buttons on the top of the Leviathan V2 Soundbar. The giant button in the middle is for power, and there’s a dedicated button for audio profiles, Bluetooth, and a Chroma lighting toggle to switch between some eye-catching effects.
Thanks to these buttons, switching between settings was very easy and quick: I was able to disable the 3D sound effects with the press of one button. Also, it was very easy to change the source from my computer to my phone via Bluetooth.
There’s also a clever light panel on the front that lets you know which audio profile you’ve switched to and what’s blocking the sensors. If something blocks the front camera, the soundbar won’t know where your head is and won’t be able to deliver 3D audio.
Also, the sensor uses an infrared camera instead of face tracking technology, so it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a mask or the lights are off.
audio and performance
- Cinema-grade 3D audio without additional speakers
- Can work with both movies and games
- Work with only one person at a time
As I sat in front of my Razer Leviathan V2 Pro soundbar, the Razer team launched a THX video demo with 3D sound.
The demo showed off some impressive effects, such as the flapping sound of a wasp hovering near your right ear. It also demoed a robot that sounded as if it was walking around me, with several bass boom explosions blaring behind me.
It felt like I was watching a video in a movie theater, but I was in a hotel room with only the soundbar and subwoofer producing sound. It was an incredibly impressive experience.
Razer then showed off a Cyberpunk 2077 demo. I haven’t been able to play this myself, but I’ve seen gameplay footage where you can hear gunshot booms in several different directions. It was a similar experience, but I got room-filling sound instead.
I was able to switch between different sound modes and compare them to the sound of a standard soundbar: stereo mode, headset mode with only directional audio from the side, and the main attraction: room-filling 3D. there is.
However, using the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro instead of a decent surround sound system has one major downside. 3D audio does not work properly when two people watch a movie. In such cases, it is better to turn off 3D sound completely.
You also have to sit fairly close to the soundbar’s sensors for it to work properly. This means the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro isn’t an ideal option for your living room TV, but rather a real asset to your desktop PC.
First impression
The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is a clever soundbar that works its magic. The ability for him to create 3D audio with just a soundbar and subwoofer is excellent, and very useful for those who are too lazy to place speakers around their desktop PC.
And it’s surprisingly affordable considering you get both a soundbar, subwoofer, and room-filling 3D audio. It will be.
Before making a final judgment, we need to test this speaker in a full review to make sure the 3D audio sounds just as good at home, and for any technical issues that might spoil the experience. But from what I’ve seen (or rather, heard) so far, the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is an outstanding device that promises to deliver a cinema-quality audio experience.
a “Hands-on review” Just a first impression of the product. Not a complete test and verdict. Our writers must have spent time with the product to give you an early sense of what it feels like to use the product. . However, these are not always graded and no recommendations are made. See our review policy for more information.
