Thursday, March 28, 2024

The best gaming speakers for 2019

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Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Sound is an all-too-often forgotten about frontier in the world of gaming. But with the right set of speakers, you can take your gaming experience to an entirely new level. Whether it’s with complimentary lighting technologies, fantastic sound quality, surround sound, or just the best gaming speakers you can buy for your budget, we’ve got you covered.

These are our favorite gaming speakers whether you’re a PC or console gamer.

If you’re not a speakers fan, consider our list of the best headphones of 2019, and our best gaming headsets guide.

Speakers
Category
Logitech G560
Best overall gaming speakers
Razer Leviathan Dolby 5.1
Best gaming soundbar
Logitech G906
Best surround sound gaming speakers
Creative A250
Best budget gaming speakers
Razer Nommo Chroma
Best small gaming speakers

Logitech G560

Best gaming speakers overall

Why you should buy them: They look gorgeous and sound great, with virtual surround sound delivering decent 3D sound effects.

Who are they for: Gamers who want a statement speaker set that also sounds great.

What we thought of the Logitech G560 speakers:

Logitech may be mostly known for its input peripherals like keyboards and mice, but it makes some excellent speakers too. The G560 represent the culmination of years of development of not only audio, but lighting effects too. They’re part of Logitech’s G-Series range of gaming gear and are aimed at top-tier gamers who want the best of everything. While there are better sounding kits out there if you’re willing to spend more, these represent a unique looking set and their sound quality is solid for the price.

As a 2.1 set you can expect two powerful stereo speakers, and a large and imposing subwoofer. They support virtual surround sound for decent 3D effects and the overall audio feel is powerful, if a little bass heavy. You can tweak that with a wide range of EQ options and with some adjustment we found these speakers’ sound to be superb for gaming, with powerful explosions, crackling gunfire, and they even show some nuance with more relaxing or dainty musical moments.

The lighting effects are the big selling point of these speakers, though. With spotlights on the rear to help better reflect the ambiance of the game you’re playing, they can leverage profiles of more than 600 games to improve immersion, displaying different colors as you enter new areas, or when your health is low. For unsupported games there’s “screen sampling” to use basic ambiance-enhancing lighting instead.

Overall, the Logitech G560 are fantastic gaming speakers and at under $200, they’re pretty affordable too.

Read our full Logitech G560 review

Razer Leviathan Dolby 5.1

Best gaming soundbar

Why you should buy it: Razer’s Leviathan is a powerful soundbar with a bundled subwoofer that’s hard to beat at this price.

Who’s it for: Gamers who prefer wireless audio or like their sound bassy.

What we thought of the Razer Leviathan soundbar:

At just 20-inches long, the Leviathan is much smaller than your average soundbar, making it great for use on desks as well as in front of a TV. It can be connected via a 3.5mm connection or Bluetooth, making it quite versatile and less messy if you’re used to having multiple wired speakers to connect together — great for playing music or movies on your phone too.

As small as it is though, the Leviathan lives up to its name in the sound department. It’s big, bassy, and with its virtual surround sound, impressively immersive. It’s more suited to games with bombastic effects than the more subtle, dialogue-driven experiences, but it’s an overall good sounding soundbar. At under $200, it offers great value for money too.

Logitech G906

Best surround sound gaming speakers

Why you should buy it: The G906 sounds fantastic and is truly immersive with its detailed, 5.1 audio system with plenty of oomph.

Who’s it for: Those who want true audio immersion.

What we thought of the Logitech G906 speaker set:

If immersion is your main concern with gaming audio, there are few setups that can come close to the Logitech G906. With a true 5.1 surround sound system it offers powerful, crisp audio whether you’re playing games, watching movies of listening to music. It features a multitude of inputs, letting you connect up to six different devices at the same time. The attractive and intuitive control box and remote give you the power to choose what’s playing and how at any time, and there’s even an optional Bluetooth adapter to connect devices wirelessly.

Although it lacks an HDMI input and does miss out on HD audio format support, these speakers support Dolby Digital and DTS bitsteams and they have THX certification. With a variety of sound options you can tweak the audio to make it sound just right for your ears.

Whatever choices you make though, the G906 speaker setup has a powerful sound. There is real meat in explosions and booming voices. It might be a little more bassy than anything else, but there’s still plenty of clarity at the high end. When combined with the 3D element of the true surround sound, this speaker set is one of the best you can buy for high-end gaming.

Creative A250

Best budget gaming speakers

Why you should buy them: For the price these speakers offer decent sound quality and plenty of punch when you want it.

Who are they for: Gamers on a budget.

What we thought of the Creative A250 speakers:

You can’t expect the world with budget speakers, but you don’t have to accept poor quality either. Creative’s A250 2.1 speaker set is good enough to upgrade your audio beyond stock monitor or TV speakers with a real punch up to volume and the power of explosive moments in games.

Surprisingly loud for their size, this compact speaker system features a built-in volume control for easy adjustments when at your desk or near the TV too. The overall sound leans towards extra clarity at the high-end, but the subwoofer delivers a satisfying bass kick too — especially compared to some comparably priced speaker systems.

That’s the real kicker of this speaker set. Its price. At under $30 it delivers amazing value for money that simply cannot be matched by the competition. If you’re on a tight budget but still want some extra oomph in your games, the Creative A250 is hard to beat.

Razer Nommo Chroma

Best small gaming speakers

Why you should buy them: They’re small but mighty with beautiful lighting effects and great sound.

Who are they for: Gamers with little space or who love Razer’s aesthetic.

What we thought of the Razer Nommo Chroma speakers:

If space in your desk or room is your largest concern, the Razer Nommo Chroma gaming speakers give you serious sound quality without the hefty footprint of a subwoofer. Better yet, these speakers have small stands of their own, so you can cram them alongside your TV, monitor, or keyboard in even the most compact of gaming setups.

Despite the lack of a subwoofer, these speakers provide impressive power for their size. Each has a built in rear-facing bass port for a fuller overall sound, even providing some low-end vibration effects during the deepest of in-game rumblings. If that’s not to your taste, the speakers have built-in volume and bass dials for fine-tuned hardware control. Razer’s automatic gain control makes sure that any bass increases are distortion free, too.

You can make further fine tuned adjustments in Razer’s Synapse software by tweaking the speakers’ EQ settings. That’s also where you can adjust the fancy Chroma RGB lighting effects in the base of each speaker.

If you don’t care about the lighting effects though, you can save more than $60 by opting for the standard “Black” edition instead.

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