ASUS ROG Gjallar reaches DACH shelves at €599.90
ASUS Republic of Gamers first announced the Gjallar in Taipei on July 9, 2026. That announcement covered specifications and design but gave no price or release date. The Gadgeteer noted at the time that ASUS confirmed the specs and the design, but it's keeping pricing and regional availability quiet for now. The DACH press release from ASUS Computer GmbH in Ratingen fills in that gap for German-speaking markets. It says the soundbar is available immediately in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for €599.90 / CHF 599.90 including VAT.
Two details in the circulating headline need correcting. The first is the price: ASUS's own release gives €599.90, and nothing we found supports €599.99. The second is the geography. The announcement covers three countries, not all of Europe. Buyers in France, the Nordics or the UK should not assume the soundbar is on sale there yet. ASUS's standard footnote also says specifications, box contents and availability can change without notice and vary by country.
The German-market price is close to the US price. According to Tom's Hardware, they're priced at $600, which is what the Asus ROG Gjallar retails for. The €599.90 figure is ASUS's recommended retail price. We have not checked actual street prices or stock at individual retailers.
The 2.1.2 Dolby Atmos hardware behind the Gjallar
This is ROG's first soundbar. The system has three parts: the bar itself, a wireless subwoofer and a separate desktop control hub. ASUS calls the layout 2.1.2 with Dolby Atmos support. That means left and right main channels, one subwoofer channel and two upward-firing height channels. Inside the bar are four 50 mm full-range drivers and two 27 mm tweeters, and ASUS gives the bar's frequency response as 50 Hz to 20 kHz.
The subwoofer uses a 165 mm (6.5-inch) driver rated at 65 W. It connects to the bar over a 5 GHz wireless link that ASUS lists as operating between 5.180 and 5.825 GHz. ASUS markets this as "5G wireless," which means 5 GHz radio, not cellular. ASUS also says 5GHz connectivity ensures reliable, low-latency audio performance. That is a manufacturer claim, and none of the published material we found includes latency measurements.
Size matters here because the Gjallar is meant to sit under a monitor. The bar measures 607 × 92 × 82 mm and weighs 2.4 kg. The subwoofer is 125 × 315 × 356 mm and 5.7 kg, so it is slim enough to stand beside a desk. Tom's Hardware notes that the included stands angle the bar upward and raise its front edge to just under 4 inches (99 mm). That leaves less clearance under a monitor than some rival gaming soundbars. Check how much room you have under your screen before ordering.
Tom's Hardware also describes the subwoofer as side-firing. It has no inputs apart from its AC power socket, and its only control is a button for re-pairing it with the bar.
HDMI 2.1 with eARC puts the Gjallar between PC and console
The connections are what set the Gjallar apart from typical desktop gaming soundbars. ASUS lists USB-C, an HDMI 2.1 input, an HDMI 2.1 output with eARC, optical, 3.5 mm AUX and Bluetooth 5.3. There are also two USB Type-A hub ports on the right side of the bar, which ASUS suggests using for wireless dongles or external storage.
The two HDMI ports do different jobs, and it helps to keep them apart. eCoustics explains that HDMI OUT/eARC can connect to a TV's HDMI eARC/ARC port, while HDMI IN can receive audio and video from external sources. A console can plug into the Gjallar's HDMI input, and the video continues through the bar to the display. ASUS says this pass-through supports up to 4K at 120 Hz. The eARC link on the output is the audio return path: it lets the TV send its own sound back to the bar. ASUS says eARC carries lossless, high-resolution audio. Treat that as a best-case figure, because what you actually get depends on the source device and the display.
ASUS lists support for TVs, Windows PCs, Macs, PlayStation 5, the PlayStation 4 series, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices over USB-C or Bluetooth. It also says the Gjallar can be connected to a dedicated DAC for higher-fidelity playback. For a desk that runs both a gaming PC and a console into one screen, the bar can act as the shared audio point instead of needing separate speakers for each.
eCoustics compares it with the Razer Leviathan V2 Pro. It notes the Razer is more PC-focused, with USB, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3.5 mm headset jack, while ASUS is clearly going after gamers who want a more flexible audio hub covering PC, console and TV. That flexibility is the clearest reason to pick the Gjallar over PC-only rivals.
Gear Link, not the control hub, runs the Gjallar
The control hub is the most visible feature. It is a small desktop puck, 90 × 82 × 37 mm and 191 g, with an LCD. It handles playback, volume, input switching, EQ presets for gaming, music and movies, and RGB lighting. Gizmodo describes it as a USB-C-tethered hub with mics for communication, controlling sound, switching inputs, and other stuff.
For deeper settings you need Gear Link, ASUS's configuration tool. It comes as a web-based PC tool and a mobile app. According to Tom's Hardware, Gear Link lets you adjust the EQ and set up your own presets, change the subwoofer level, turn off the soundbar's height channel upmix, adjust the mic's noise reduction level. It also sets the idle time before the bar goes to sleep.
The reviewer lists one limitation as a con: the subwoofer level can only be changed in software. There is no bass knob on the hub or the subwoofer. The height-upmix toggle is also useful. It suggests the bar can create height effects from non-Atmos sources, and you can switch that off if it sounds artificial.
Lighting has its own software requirement. ASUS advertises Aura RGB with 16.8 million colours and four preset effects. Tom's Hardware notes that you will need to use Asus' Armoury Crate software to use Aura Sync if you want the lightbar synced to games and other ASUS peripherals. In practice, Gear Link covers basic lighting on its own, while syncing with the rest of an ROG setup means installing Armoury Crate on a Windows PC.
Reviews split on Gjallar sound and agree the microphones are weak
Independent reviews say much the same thing about audio: good for a compact soundbar, short of what the marketing promises. ASUS says the Gjallar lets players pinpoint incoming planes flying overhead, sense footsteps moving across the room. Gizmodo's James Pero found the up-firing drivers add real height. Playing Fortnite, he said, I was able to hear environmental noises on all sides: footsteps, gunfire, etc.
Tom's Hardware was more critical. Its reviewer said the Gjallar doesn't sound that good. It has a limited soundstage and the mid-range often sounds a little strained, and summed it up as sounding "pretty good for a soundbar" but with a clunky design. GamingTrend was the most positive, calling it a fantastic multimedia device that provides a top-tier experience. That is a wide range. Each is one reviewer's listening in their own room, and none of the three published measurements.
The microphones are where the reviews line up most closely. ASUS says the hub's microphones use acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) and an AI beamforming algorithm. AEC is meant to stop game audio and teammates' voices coming back out of the speakers and into the mic. Beamforming is meant to focus pickup on the speaker's voice and suppress noise such as PC fans. The listed specs are a 100 Hz–10 kHz frequency response and −37 ±3 dB sensitivity. ASUS goes as far as promising "unmatched voice clarity."
The reviewers disagree. Tom's Hardware lists the built-in microphones as "useless" among its cons. Its reviewer found they did suppress speaker audio, but their voice came through fuzzy and was sometimes cut off. Gizmodo's headline says the Gjallar has solid sound, but it doesn't like to listen. GamingTrend, the most enthusiastic of the three, still concluded that the microphone is serviceable but won't replace a high-end option. The narrow 10 kHz upper limit in ASUS's own spec sheet fits a mic tuned for voice chat rather than recording or streaming.
What this means for DACH buyers weighing the Gjallar
Buy the Gjallar if you want one compact system to serve both a PC and a console through a single display. Look elsewhere if you mainly want better voice chat without a headset. The HDMI 2.1 pass-through, eARC and USB-C connections make it more versatile than most under-monitor gaming soundbars. Reviews agree that its sound is solid. But the headline feature, the AI-assisted microphone that is supposed to let you drop the headset, drew the weakest reviews. And €599.90 is a premium price for a product whose most distinctive feature underdelivers.
- The ROG Gjallar is officially on sale in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at a recommended €599.90 / CHF 599.90 including VAT; the €599.99 figure and the "Europe-wide" framing in some headlines are wrong.
- Measure the space under your monitor first: the bar is 607 mm wide, and with the angled stands fitted its front edge sits at about 99 mm.
- To route a console through the bar, plug it into the Gjallar's HDMI input and connect the HDMI eARC output to your TV or display; ASUS specifies pass-through up to 4K at 120 Hz.
- Plan on using Gear Link, because subwoofer level, custom EQ, the height-upmix toggle and mic noise reduction are only available in software, and Aura Sync lighting also needs Armoury Crate.
- Keep your headset or a dedicated microphone for voice chat, since three separate reviews rated the built-in beamforming mics anywhere from useless to merely serviceable.
- Treat ASUS's claims of low wireless-subwoofer latency and "absolute precision" positional audio as marketing until independent measurements appear.
The DACH release makes the Gjallar a product people can actually buy in Europe, not just a July announcement. What is on sale is a well-connected, reasonably good-sounding compact soundbar with a microphone that does not match the marketing. ASUS has not yet announced prices or dates for other European countries. Anyone outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland should wait for local pricing, and possibly for firmware or Gear Link updates that address the mic complaints, before paying the €600 premium.