Verdict
0.5 star: Complete garbage not even worth taking home even if it's free
1 star: Crap that you shouldn't be using unless absolutely necessary
2 star: Is worth <=50% its price when compared to other best-in-class products
3 star: Is worth ~75% its price when compared to other best-in-class products
4 star: A decent choice alongside other strong competition; worth 100% of its price when compared to other products
5 star: Unmatched; worth 100% of its price (and more) and you have no choice but to get this
- Good subwoofer implementation
- Generally ok and acceptable sound
- Can let you tune the sound somewhat to suit your preferences
- Dolby (Virtual Speaker) counters the problem of having speaker in the center and lets it generally sound bigger than other speakers in the same situation
- Accepts 5.1 sound and actually processes it as 5.1 (or tries its best to do that)
- But ultimately, overall sound vs price... well this is where I need my paragraphs to give my verdict
Now, one problem with giving the verdict this time, is the definition of "best-in-class products". Which other products should I be comparing the Leviathan to?
If we are talking about for-computer soundbars, the only alternative I know is Creative Katana, and that isn't even from the same price range. Shows how empty this market segment is. And I feel the reason for so is valid.
But now, the question: Do you really need to buy a for-computer soundbar?
The reason for buying a for-computer soundbar is mostly just, "it saves space". And even that I want to challenge.
Yup, when you don't have any space on the sides of your monitor, a soundbar may look like the only solution. But seriously, do you really have that much trouble generating more space somehow? What happens if you want to upgrade your screen to a bigger size next time? You can't do that either?
You can save space by putting the soundbar below the monitor. Yea. The below of my monitor can't fit a soundbar because it has this thing called the base. It is even worse when the buttons to operate the screen are on the base.
Use one of those aftermarket monitor mount that can free up the space between the screen and the table? Yes, you can fit a soundbar there now. But you can also fit a lot things underneath it, including, I dunno, other speakers with 2.5-inch woofers? And they don't have to cluster at the middle of the screen.
Use a monitor stand? Same. And the soundbar blocks you from reaching the space behind it.
Put it in front of the screen? I dunno, my Ikea table is 60cm deep and I am finding my mouse movement constrained with the soundbar. Also the soundbar blocks the monitor's buttons.
5.1 surround sound support is good. But it is virtual surround. And when I played Sudden Attack (a Counter-Strike clone) many years ago, it already supported 3D positioning sound on 2.0 speakers, and it was effective.
So, I can think of situations where you are forced to use a soundbar. But for most of us, naaaah.
In this case, the alternatives to the Leviathan become... just about any thing out there.
And if you really need to use the Leviathan, you won't be steered by this review anyway. Because there is a lack of alternatives.
Ok, the verdict, right
I would say, around $200. It would be a bit too sad to rate it lower than $150, but Swan M10 exists, and I am really interested to see how it compares. $200 is already after taking into consideration personal preferences and that you can tweak the sound to your personal preferences, which is what I consider valid performance advantage.
I bounced between giving it a favorable rating vs an unfavorable rating.
Yes, it has all the positive points mentioned above, and I can see that it is trying its best to satisfy the user, but the quality of the sound that is reproduced... is just not there. Lots of effort in design and tweaks, but the parts quality is just not there. Drivers still sound like the drivers in cheaper speakers. (As in cheaper than $300) Sound is still coming from middle of screen.
On the other hand, every time I am about to give it an unfavorable rating, I find a song that it does better than R2000DB in. But then after a while find it worse at other things. And even when it does better it is not without flaws.
And reviewing this speaker wasn't something that could be done quickly - I tested different Dolby / subwoofer settings with different songs, and my conclusion is - Each setting can perform well in some situations, but none can perform well in all situations. When it performs, it can fight with R2000DB. But when it doesn't perform... well it doesn't perform. For each setting the chance of losing seems to be higher than winning however. And each setting, needless to say, comes at a cost of another aspect which shows up in other situations.
And finally, I used a tried-and-tested testing method - Listen to speaker A, switch to speaker B, see how much I dislike the sound of speaker B. Then, listen to speaker B, switch to speaker A, see how much I dislike the sound of speaker A. The conclusion solidifies what I have always thought - Leviathan may give better first impressions, but R2000DB is better.
So, how do I rate this thing?
It is worse than the better $300 speakers, but by how much?
I almost wanted to give it a close score due to personal sonic preferences. However I remembered I also like how Bose Companion 2 sounds, and that thing is SGD$200. And I think I might like how Bose Companion 2 sounds more. See, it's the same thing - the Bose performs worse than the Leviathan in many aspects, but I like the Bose's sound more, so it wins; the Leviathan performs worse than R2000DB in many aspects, but I like Leviathan's sound more, so it wins. If that's how I do it, Leviathan would be worth less than $200. So I'm not going to do it.
I mentioned R2000DB a lot, because it was used for direct comparison. Leviathan has a few more competitors tho - M50W which is a top-class 2.1, we also have the famous Promedia 2.1. Aego M is currently SGD$299 (And it actually saves space). Even Creative's Katana is just slightly more expensive right now.
But Leviathan's concern isn't those, Leviathan's concern is cheaper speakers that may sound better. Because Leviathan is clearly a class lower than those alternatives at the same price range.
And I cannot put Leviathan's price just a bit below those alternatives because it sounds just a bit worse. Because if I find cheaper speakers that sound just a bit worse than Leviathan, do I price the cheaper speaker just a bit lower than Leviathan, or do I price Leviathan just a bit higher than the cheaper speaker? And I don't decide the price of the cheaper speaker, so...
The appropriate approach would be to price the Leviathan according to the distance it has from both better and worse frames of reference. But I don't have a best-in-class 2.1 or 2.0 $100+ speaker to do comparison with, so this is going to be a guess. So I would say $200. Which puts it at 2.5 to 3 star range. For how it handled the bass, and for the positive effects of Dolby Virtual Speaker, I'm going to round it up.
So in conclusion,
3 stars - It tries its best to satisfy the user, but is simply a class below best-in-class $300 products. Sound signature and adjustable sound signature may give it advantage when it comes to personal preferences, but when that advantage doesn't work... And anyway you should try other speakers to know what you're missing out on.
Some of the disadvantages come from the fact that it is a soundbar form factor. And it still provides usable performance if you need that particular form factor. (Includes the 5.1 support)