SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System Review: Innovative Speakers Create an Audio Aura

SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System Review

Sometimes, innovation is just obvious. Sound from devices lands on our ears through headphones, bookshelf speakers, built-in speakers, standing speakers, and, most recently, earbuds. Those are the choices. Until SoundSlayer™, the Panasonic brand that made speakers into a wearable, not for the head, but for the shoulders.

What we like

Pros

• Unique wearable design
• Wireless
• AI-powered microphone for good chat experiences
• Customizable sound based on use case
• 9+ hour charge

The $299 SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System’s unique wearable design places the speakers on the neck and around the shoulders, with front-facing speakers providing the sound. The experience proves more immersive than headphones and earbuds because it also seems more natural. The sound from games and media creates an audio aura that, like an aura, travels around with you.

There is a wired version, and I’m sure it’s fine; it is definitely less expensive, but the wireless version likely creates a more holistic experience. Nothing that tethers owners to a limited selection of space can be the best version of anything, unless its temporary restraining the family dog from running away.

SoundSlayer requires software. It is called the SoundSlayer Engine. It controls the following features:

• Custom sound modes and sound mode selection
• Volume
• Balance
• Bass level
• Virtual Surround
• Chat volume

And the app also offers a microphone test.

Sound modes include Music, Cinema, and Stereo along with three Gaming sound modes (RPG, FPS, or Voice Mode).

Perhaps the coolest part of using a SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System comes from the loud intimacy. What do I mean by that? I can enjoy the Avengers: End Game battle scene with my ears hearing surround sound and a good, immersive level of audio from its 4 channals of sound, but it doesn’t travel outward but upward and inward. It is an intimate listening experience depsit being a speaker.

For those who want to use the SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System for game chat, and even for video conferences, the AI-enabled microphones dampen extraneous sounds beyond the owner’s voices.

And for the ambitious, those who want to play or watch for hours, the nine-hour-plus battery life makes for a lot of listening time. The SoundSlayer charges via USB-C. Wide blue LEDs on the bottom of the speakers (face outward) indicate power and connection.

As long as they’ve been around, headphones still feel foreign, external, often heavy and awkward. Earbuds can’t create big sound stages, they can irritate ear canals, and they can get lost. Trust me, no one is going to lose a SoundSlayer, not at least by accidentally dropping it under a desk.

I found the SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System comfortable for extended listening sessions. And, though it’s not in the marketing literature, my 4-year-old granddaughter was mesmerized, sitting before my Lenovo X1 Nano and melting into The Incredibles. She told me the speakers were incredible.

The box is primarily cardboard with all bags labeled for recycling.

What could be improved

Cons

• Wireless transmitter is larger
• Not Mac compatible

The most curious and least innovative engineering element of the SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System comes with its rather large transmitter. It isn’t even a big dongle; it’s a box, and it only comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable. The transmitter’s box measures roughly 4.5′ x 2.5 x 1.25′. I replaced the USB-C to C cable with USB-C to-C, and it seems to work fine. Panasonic should recognize the market change and switch to USB-C cables with a Type-A adapter for now. No laptop in my recently review arsenal includes a USB-A port.

I own, use and evaluate a number of computers. The SoundSlayer™ Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System works well with all things Windows. It does not support Apple’s Mac or any other emerging USB-compatible devices like iPads or Google Chrome-based notebooks. It does, however, also work with PS4/PS5 consoles and the Nintendo Switch in TV mode. It should be even more universal, even without custom software for each platform.

SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System: The bottom line

Panasonic’s consumer electronics team created a unique experience with the SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System. Too often, innovation can’t be seen, either hidden inside software or firmware on a device that looks like every other version of the category—or it arrives under backed, unable to find a market. Wearing speakers on one’s shoulders and putting the sound in the right place truly is an innovation that will change the way many experience their computers and game consoles.

Panasonic provided the SoundSlayer Wireless Wearable Gaming Speaker System for review. Images courtesy of Panasonic unless otherwise noted. SoundSlayer is a trademark of Panasonic.

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