Razer has never struck me as a go-to brand for audio equipment. While I would consider their mice as some of the best in the market (the DeathAdder rocks, I don’t care what anyone else says), the company’s audio offerings such as the Tiamat, Kraken or ManO’War has never managed to catch my attention. That said, the Leviathan Mini is the first time that I’ve actually dabbled in Razer’s audio department, and after spending a week with it, I can safely say that I’ve underestimated the speaker, but would still give the device a pass. Let me tell you why.
Design
As the name implies, the Leviathan Mini is a miniaturised version of Razer’s full-sized Leviathan soundbar-subwoofer combo. In terms of design, the Leviathan Mini shares similarities to other portable Bluetooth speakers such as the Ultimate Ears’ Boom, the JBL Pulse or even the Beats Pill. However, the key difference is that where those speakers or cylindrical, the Leviathan Mini is a rectangular block.
Much like the Leviathan, the Leviathan Mini is constructed out of carbon fibre. The top of the speaker is occupied by the volume buttons and the multi-purpose button, while the right side of the speaker features the ports, power button and the Bluetooth button. Underneath the speaker is a rubber base that props the speaker up, giving the unit some between itself and the surface.
Performance
So what makes the Leviathan Mini roar? Firstly, the Leviathan Mini comes with two 12W speakers, each of them driven by a 45mm neodymium magnet. It has a frequency response rate of 50Hz to 20KHz, and an impedance of 4 ohms. Located at the rear of the speakers, you will find a pair of 40mm x 70mm passive radiators.
For the portable part, the Leviathan Mini comes with a 2,600 mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery that gives it an estimated 10 hours of play time. It takes around 4 hours to fully charge the device.
Usability
Have you ever had a device that you have little to no expectations for somehow managing to surprise you? Because the Leviathan Mini manages to surprise me in two different areas. The first one has to be the volume. Small though the Leviathan Mini might seem, the amount of sound that this thing can generate is no joke. This little device could generate enough sound to rival my aging Edifier speakers with ease. If you were to stick this little thing in a room full of noisy people, I can safely say that the volume of the Leviathan Mini would be able to drown out most of the room.
The second part that surprised me was the bass. The Leviathan Mini is capable of generating bass that I didn’t expect of it. While the device can’t really compare to a subwoofer in terms of bass, it still doesn’t change the fact that the Leviathan Mini is the bassiest of all portable Bluetooth speakers that I’ve tried so far. For gaming purposes, this translates well towards action games such as FPSes or RTSes where explosions and gunshots are common place. Action movies and electronic music genres will also work well with the Leviathan Mini.
There is no denying that the ridiculous bass of the Leviathan Mini is what makes it unique. That said, the bass is also the reason why the Leviathan Mini may put off a lot of people. You see, the Leviathan Mini’s bass is overpowering at times, which leads to it drowning out the highs and mids. This causes the Leviathan Mini to output “muddy” sound, thanks to the suppressed highs and mids. You can of course tune the equaliser on your playback device of choice, but if you’re not a fan of tweaking the sound settings, this would seem like unnecessary busy work.
But perhaps the biggest dealbreaker that the Leviathan Mini has, it would be its asking price. At around RM749, the Leviathan Mini is not something that I would consider affordable. While the price is comparable with some of the other portable Bluetooth speakers around, it still does not change the fact that it is on the upper end of the pricing table.