As an avid PC gamer, I take my peripherals very seriously, and since I tend to play a lot of FPS (first-person shooter) games, the importance of directional audio means I game almost exclusively while wearing a high quality gaming headset. I struggle to imagine how anyone plays games like Counter-Strike 2 or Apex Legends with speakers. Even in a game where directional audio is more about the joy of immersion than winning, like The Last of Us, I still wear my Razer BlackShark V2 Pros to get the most out of any games that support directional or surround sound.

The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro soundbar seems designed almost exclusively to change my mind. Each of its features promises to deliver the best of immersive audio, alongside the ease of use that comes with a soundbar. After all, it does get pretty tiring to wear my headset for long stretches, and it's frankly unnecessary when I'm just watching a movie or TV show. The Leviathan V2 Pro sets out to achieve the best of both worlds, offering beamforming sound delivered with head-tracking AI. It also pairs with a subwoofer to deliver a range of frequencies and bass intensity that no gaming headset can replicate. I kept an open mind and spent some time testing out this smart PC soundbar.

About this review: Razer sent me the Leviathan V2 Pro for the purposes of this review. The company had no input into its contents.

Pricing, availability, and specs

The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro was released in February 2023 and retails for $500. The Razer soundbar tries to meet the lofty expectations of its high cost with support for THX spatial audio, five full-range 2-inch drivers built into the soundbar, and a booming 5.25-inch down-firing subwoofer driver. The Leviathan V2 Pro supports audio playback via Bluetooth or via a USB connection to your PC. It’s currently available from Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Razer’s website.

What's good about the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro?

Booming sound that fills the room

The Leviathan V2 Pro offers four distinct audio modes, each befitting a unique purpose. When I wanted to enjoy a movie or watch YouTube, I set to Stereo, which, when paired with the subwoofer, offered an incredibly full sound that shook the collectible shot glasses on the shelving next to my desk. As far as PC soundbars go, this is the best I’ve heard, although for $500 it had better be.

The real magic comes in the three audio modes that leverage the Leviathan’s beamforming technology, which, if I’m being totally honest, had me worried that it would be little more than a parlor trick. But once I started experimenting with the spatial audio modes, I was actually quite impressed. First, I played some rounds of Counter-Strike 2, with the Leviathan V2 Pro set on Virtual Headset and watched as the indicator lights all gently blinked at me, indicating the soundbar was tracking my head. The experience was uncanny. It mimicked the sensation of two small speakers sitting 1 inch from each ear and sounded like I was wearing an open-back headset.

Setting the soundbar to Virtual Speakers was a similarly surreal experience. Here, the THX Spatial Audio simulates a 7-speaker surround sound setup and beams the audio all around the room for enveloping sound. Games like Spider-Man Remastered and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order both support 7.1 audio and showcase the best this setting had to offer. While you can find some titles on streaming services that support 7.1 audio, 5.1 or Dolby Atmos are far more common. When playing audio that wasn’t 7.1, the effect was still very cool but somewhat muddied.

Finally, the Room Fill mode is designed to beam the audio all over the room and is intended for multiple listeners, like when other people sitting with you to watch a movie or a game. I don’t see this mode being used too much, and I found it to be the least impressive of the lot.

What's bad about the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro?

Almost zero interoperability

Razer was smart here, and I can’t fault a business for looking out for its own best interests, but the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is almost entirely locked down to its sole advertised purpose of being a soundbar and subwoofer setup for your PC. You might think that I’m stating the obvious, but hear me out. As someone with a heavy interest in speakers and all things audio, when I spend good money on a set of speakers, whether passive or powered, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi enabled, I can choose whether to use them for my turntable, my TV, my projector, my PC, or even my laptop if I was determined enough.

The Leviathan V2 Pro uses a combination of USB-C, Razer Synapse integration, and rare auxiliary cable sizes to almost ensure that you can’t hook the soundbar or even the subwoofer up to anything else other than your PC. The soundbar I can understand, but I found it frustrating that for a $500 setup, I couldn’t even connect the subwoofer to the audio receiver in my living room. While the Leviathan supports Bluetooth, that isn't the same as truly being able to connect either of the speakers to any other device or system. This is just one of those things that Razer could have easily made possible but chose not to.

Should you buy it?

The Razer Leviathan V2 Pro is unquestionably an impressive piece of peripheral hardware. Its spatial audio must be experienced to be fully understood, and it brings an absolute powerhouse of sound to your desktop setup. While its price tag and walled garden functionality might hold it back from the budget-conscious, it’s a worthwhile investment for PC gamers who want to ditch their headsets in favor of a more all-in-one soundbar setup.

You should buy the Leviathan V2 Pro if:

• You enjoy gaming out loud on speakers, or often use your PC for movies or TV.
• You find gaming headsets uncomfortable but still want to take advantage of spatial or directional audio in games.

You should NOT buy the Leviathan V2 Pro if:

• Spending hundreds of dollars on a PC speaker setup is not your cup of tea.
• You expect cross-functionality when investing in quality audio equipment.