// TOM'S HARDWARE US — HARDWARE & GADGET
Asus ROG Gjallar Review: It looks better than it sounds
The ROG Gjallar sounds pretty good for a soundbar, but it has a clunky design and an audio control hub that looks like it should be a lot more customizable than it is.
Subwoofer level is only adjustable through software
Why you can trust Tom's Hardware
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Asus' ROG gaming lineup has just launched its very first soundbar — a 2.1.2 system with a wireless 65W 6.5-inch subwoofer and a fancy audio control hub with built-in beam-forming mics. Because the best PC speakers need to do more than just play sound to be worth considering, I guess. Or, at least, they do when they're priced at $600, which is what the Asus ROG Gjallar retails for.
The ROG Gjallar is a compact under-monitor soundbar with a fairly boxy design. It comes in all black, with a black metal grille on the top and front and a slim lightbar featuring Asus' ROG logo running diagonally through the center. Like most of Asus' ROG products, it's still pretty ostensibly branded, though the branding is somewhat subtle compared to other ROG products. There's a small, iridescent ROG logo plate on the front in the bottom left corner, and of course the lightbar says "Republic of Gamers" right on the front.
This isn't the most attractive under-monitor gaming soundbar on the market. In fact, it's pretty boring, design-wise — it's just a block, basically. Sure, it's got the slightly artistic lightbar running through the center, but even that is only attractive if you happen to love the words "Republic of Gamers" (I'm sure some people do; not me, particularly).
The soundbar is relatively compact compared to non-gaming soundbars, measuring 23.9 inches (607mm) wide by 3.62 inches (92mm) deep. It's approximately 3.23 inches (82mm) tall, though the front will sit just under 4 inches (99mm) high if you opt to use the included stands, which angle the soundbar up slightly. This is a bit taller than some of the other gaming soundbars we've tested. While it should still be easy enough to fit underneath your monitor, it definitely gives less clearance than the OXS Thunder Pro+ (23.9 x 4.8 x 3 inches / 608 x 122 x 78mm).
The soundbar comes with a slim, wireless 65W 6.5-inch side-firing subwoofer that features ROG's infamous angry eye logo debossed into its metal grille. The subwoofer measures 14.02 inches (356mm) tall and 12.04 inches (315mm) wide, but it's only 4.92 inches (125mm) deep. It has no ports aside from its A/C port and has just one control — a button for pairing it with the soundbar, should it somehow become unpaired.
The Gjallar is well-connected, offering USB-C, HDMI 2.1 with eARC, optical-in, 3.5mm AUX-in, and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity — you should be able to easily connect it to your PC, phone, and console(s) without having to swap cables around. It comes with an "all-in-one" audio control hub that connects to the soundbar via a dedicated USB-C port. The control hub features a large volume knob with an LCD display in the center, as well as a power button, media controls, and buttons for RGB effects, EQ, and connection switching. It also features built-in beamforming mics with "advanced acoustic echo cancellation" to filter out sounds coming from the speaker and focus on your voice.
In addition to the control hub, the sound bar also has five physical buttons along its right side — power, volume up / down, EQ, and input. There are also two USB-A pass-through ports on the left side, which you can use to plug in other peripherals.