Best speakers for PC gamers 2022
(Pocket-lint) – If you’re not a fan of gaming headsets and want to fill your room with the sounds of gunfire and engine roars, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve been testing out PC speakers of all shapes and sizes in order to compile this useful guide to the best ones you can buy to enhance your gaming experience. Some of these speakers are multi-source capable and they all deliver excellent sound and fantastic quality that will make an awesome addition to your desk.
What are the best PC speakers?
- Razer Leviathan V2
- Harman Kardon SoundSticks
- Creative SoundblasterX Katana soundbar
- Hecate GS5000
- Logitech G560 Lightsync speakers
PC gaming speakers: Best overall
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Razer Leviathan V2
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For
- Subtle slimline design
- Great quality
- Convenient switching controls
Against
- Lighting is underwhelming
If desk space is a premium, the Razer Leviathan V2 is a sensible choice for your PC speaker needs.
This is a multi-driver gaming soundbar and subwoofer combo that’s designed to fit nicely in your space and tuck under your gaming monitor. It’s designed to deliver impressive high-fidelity sound backed up with THX Spatial audio for an immersive gaming experience.
This is a 65W soundbar with a dedicated subwoofer, two 95mm full-range drivers, two passive radiators and two 20mm tweeters.
It’s surprisingly loud but also well thought out. One of our favourite things, for example, is the ability to set another audio source in Synapse so that when you pressed the source button it’ll switch to that device.
Perfect if you need headphones at night but speakers during the day but don’t want to mess about in Windows sound settings.
The Leviathan V2 also has 18 lighting zones with Razer Chroma support, though we found this part of the setup underwhelming apart from at night or in a darkened room.
Best PC gaming speakers we also recommend
We’ve tested a fair few PC speakers during our gaming sessions – so, if you don’t like the look of our top recommendation, you’ll find a selection of others below that we’d also heartily recommend checking out.
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Harman Kardon SoundSticks
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For
- Quirky design that really stands out
- Dual-connectivity
Against
- Very expensive
If you’re after something unusual that makes your desk stand out from the norm, while delivering some spiffing sound, then look no further than the Harman Kardon SoundSticks. There are several iterations of these SoundSticks and they are seriously nice looking speakers. At a glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that these speakers are made of glass, but rather they’re a well-constructed plastic.
The setup is made up of two satellites and a beautifully crafted subwoofer. Each of which has some hefty rubber feet to reduce vibration and ensure the sound remains sublime. This 2.1 system connects to your PC via a simple 3.5mm connection and delivers an impressive, loud and rich sound that we thoroughly enjoyed.
Another highlight is the dual-connectively with Harman True Stream wireless technology providing an easy Bluetooth connection to other devices. This means you can, for example, easily connect your phone to the speakers at the same time and get audio from both as well. Playing Spotify or YouTube on your phone, while gaming on your PC is a breeze.
Fantastic audio, convenient controls and great looks too round off an epic package we’d heartily recommend.
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Hecate GS5000
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For
- Large and imposing sound
- High-quality hefty finish
- Hi-Res sound
- Multi-device compatible
Against
If you prefer a more traditional-looking speaker setup but still want something with plenty of punch and RGB lighting then this might be a good option. The Hecate GS5000 are crafted by Edifier and offer 88 watts of power with Hi-Res (24bits/192kHz) audio sound and a host of connection options. You can connect to a PC via USB but also have the option of aux 3.5mm, optical connection for console and Bluetooth 5 too.
We found these speakers have some nice punch and a great range of sound, highlighting wonderful detail in your favourite sounds and games. It has various modes too, with EQ presets for music, movies and games. These speakers also have 11 different RGB lighting modes, so they add eye-catching lighting as well as sound to your gaming space.
All rounded off by an impressively solid build design and high-quality finish.
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Creative SoundblasterX Katana soundbar
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For
- Compact enough to fit under your monitor
- High-quality brushed aluminium finish
- Dolby compatible
Against
If you’re looking for a speaker upgrade for your gaming area, but don’t have much room or don’t want to fill up your desk with hefty speakers, then a soundbar might be the way to go. But a soundbar doesn’t have to be a compromise, because good things do come in small packages. That is certainly true of Creative’s SoundblasterX Katana.
This is a stylish looking, slimline soundbar that packs some serious presence. It’s also all-singing and all-dancing in a number of different ways. It’s cleverly designed to fire sound up towards your ears while you game and it also features Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and various inputs including 3.5mm and optical that make it multi-device compatible.
There are various customisation options that allow you to tweak the audio, EQ settings, lighting, Dolby Dynamic Range Control and more. It’s rich-sounding, vibrant and has an excellent range too. The accompanying subwoofer gives you a nice dose of bass without upsetting the neighbours and the RGB lighting makes the Katana a real eye-pleaser too.
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Logitech G560 Lightsync speakers
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For
- Decent sound for the size
- Excellent RGB lighting
Against
- Not as premium looking as the others
These small but powerful speakers include two RGB lighting zones each controllable from the software in a variety of different ways.
You can set these speakers with various lighting effects including colour cycle, breathing and fixed colours, as well as syncing with your mouse, keyboard and headset. The real highlights though are in the advanced settings. Here you can use the audio visualiser system to set the speakers to respond to in-game sounds – flashing colours across your walls as gunfire bursts or music kicks in or lighting up your room to help immerse you in the game.
Similarly, the screen sampler mode allows you to set each lighting zone to respond to specific areas of your gaming monitor. Meaning the colours of the speakers change depending on what’s on the screen. As well as offering immersive lighting options, these speakers are also surprisingly capable.
They include two tiny satellite speakers and a large subwoofer that deliver some serious punch. With a maximum peak output of 240 watts, DTS:X Ultra surround sound options and a number of equaliser settings, we found these speakers offered a fantastic gaming experience and worked well for music and movies too. They support a USB connection to your PC, but will also work with a 3.5mm jack and offer Bluetooth connectivity as well, so there are a variety of connection options depending on your needs. The design makes these speakers capable of lighting a good portion of your gaming area including both the desk and surrounding walls.
We were impressed with how bright these speakers can get and how well the immersion works when playing games too. The variety of settings makes these speakers highly flexible and it’s nice to be able to combine sound and lighting in one single, capable package.
How to choose the right PC speaker
PC speakers come in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of features and specs that make them stand apart. So how do you know which one is right for you?
Desk space
If you’re a PC gamer then you know the value of having lots of space on your desk – room for your keyboard and mouse and whatever else you see fit.
If space is limited then you don’t want to fill it up unnecessarily with huge bulky speakers. This is where soundbars can be useful. PC soundbars are generally smaller than your average TV soundbar but still pack in enough power to fill your gaming space with audio.
You’ll be sitting a lot closer to your PC to game than you will your TV anyway.
Surround sound options
Do you need “real” surround sound? PC speakers are a good way to get full immersion with a proper 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setup. To do so though, you’ll need a lot of speakers and a lot of cables.
Often you’ll find that stereo speakers and even soundbars have a virtual surround sound option – whether DTS or Dolby Digital. You’d be surprised how good this virtual surround sound is.
RGB lighting
A lot of modern PC speakers have RGB lighting included. Sometimes this is just to give a little extra glow, But some speakers also have immersive settings that allow you to sync the RGB lighting with the in-game environment.
This can really add to the experience in more ways than just impressive sound.
More about this story
Every product in this list has been tested in real-life situations, just as you would use it in your day-to-day life. For PC speakers like this, that translates to extended use in the various possible modes including testing various inputs – optical, wired, Bluetooth and more. We listened to music, watched movies and, of course, gamed as well.
We’ve tested out the different sound modes and profiles, tried the equaliser settings and really cranked up the sound. However, we aren’t interested in pointless number crunching or extraneous details – we just want to provide an easy to understand review that gives you an idea of what it’s going to be like to use. Our verdicts are concise, but this is purely in the interest of brevity.
Writing by Adrian Willings.
