HyperX Cloud II - Review
Over the years HyperX have become a brand I know very well, from their keyboards and mice to the ram that helps power my PC. Their headsets and me though, we tend not to stay together that long, there are always some issue with them, that always seem to get in the way of my enjoying them. The Cloud II range though, they fixed a number of issues that I had, so it was high time that I put them through their pace.
As with any good headset, you first need to be able to wear it, because it doesn’t matter if it provides the best audio ever, if you can’t wear the headset then nothing else matters. As my head is rather large, I have found over the years that many headsets don’t provide enough give out of the box to fit, overtime they do adjust, but from day one it is a tight squeeze. The Cloud II headset falls in-between what I would like from a headset, the headset sits on my head fine and doesn’t make me feel like my head is in a vice, but it was pulling on it for a while. After a few days of wearing it, the band did adjust to my head and the pull was gone, but it is something to be aware of, especially if you are someone who doesn’t like the feeling of any headset pulling in. As for the earcups, they are a closed ear design and while the cups are tall enough, they felt like there was very little room inside of them, which gave me a very snug fit around my ears. Now this is something I am a fan of, but the lack of airflow around the cups themselves, would worry me in the warmer days of the year, for now though, they are soft on my ears and feel wonderful when on.
Out of the box the headset was in its tightest configuration, so adjustments were needed in order for it to fit right, this is one part that worries me though. The headband is connected to the earcups via a traditional clicking system, pull the headband away from the cup and you will see notches on the connecting piece of metal. Normally there are no big issues with this design, it is simple and works well, but with the headset I had, the slightest adjustment to either side would cause the opposite to slide down. This wasn’t an issue so much when it was on my head, given that I had it fixed to how I liked it, but when trying to get it right, before it went on my head, that was when it was sliding around a bit. All that it meant was that before I put it on my head, I would have to ensure it was in the right spot and hold it in place, while setting it on my head, once down it was fine, just had to be careful getting there.
Normally, a gaming headset will have either a very short cord or an extra long one, the HyperX Cloud II has both and that is important. The cord that connects directly to the headset itself is around 1m in length, which is perfect for those console gamers, who are connecting directly to your controller, it fails to be useful on PC gaming though. Most PC’s are tucked away or off to the side, the latter is how mine is and the length of the cord there, isn’t long enough to sit in any sort of comfortable fashion, but this is where the second cord comes in. The first cord connects to the second and then to a PC via USB, not the most elegant of solutions, but it does have some serious perks for doing so. The first is that where you connect the two cords, there are volume controls and microphone level controls, something many headsets fail to include. On the side of the little box is a microphone mute switch, but the biggest addition that the box has, is it enables 7.1 virtual surround sound on the headphones, something that also works on PlayStation 5 as well.
It might sound like marketing baloney, but the inclusion of 7.1 really changes up how things sound, one of the games that I used to test out the headset on my PC was Tiny Tina’s Wonderland. The stark difference between the mode being on and off, was so much, that not having it on started to feel like the wrong way to experience the game. Don’t misunderstand, the sound quality with it off was amazing, but when it was turned on, what was good became great and it really helped to sell everything going on around me. On the PlayStation 5, I put Ghostwire Tokyo to the test and while I am sure the game sounds amazing with the official PlayStation 5 3D Audio headset, the HyperX Cloud II sounded just fine to me. Walking the streets of Tokyo and hearing random noises, music blearing from shop fronts and of course, the calls of the various Visitors that have taken up residence, it was suitably eerie and I loved it.
Even when connecting the headset to my phone, I was able to enjoy the music at decent levels, the headset did have an issue with some quieter orchestral songs, but as that is not the most common type of music that most people listen to, it shouldn’t be a worry for most. Throwing on Queen, Ariana Grande and Run DMC, the quality of the music was great, it was clean, had great bass levels and with the comfort of the headset, I was able to listen to full albums without issue.
Really the only issue I had with the headset was the microphone, I feel like as headsets have gotten better over the years with their comfort levels, ear cup design and improved audio, the mic on headsets has gotten left behind. Here the mic is attached to the left ear cup, which is standard placement of a mic these days, but it uses the most basic of connections, to the point where there wasn’t any snap when it connected. With a simple plug, there was also no lift to mute option for it, meaning that if you wanted to mute the mic, you had to do it on your device, as the headset had no options on it, only if you connected using the extension cable. Beyond the lack of muting options, the microphone itself wasn’t the best, if you are doing voip calls or a discord chat, it gets the job done, but the default range of it, is so basic that you will want to run some sort of audio clean up program, in order to remove the hisses and pops that the mic picks up so easily.
HyperX have developed a really good headset with the Cloud II, the quality of the audio is top notch and becomes transcendent when the 7.1 option is enabled. The headband is a little stiff and will take some wearing to get it to stop trying to revert back to its default shape, but once that happens, you will find a headset you can wear for a long time. The microphone is the biggest let down, the lack of control options on the headset itself is a problem and the basic nature of the microphone, drags down the rest of the headset. The headset falls into the affordable range and for the quality of the sound and comfort you get, it is well worth the price.
The Score
8.5
Review unit provided by HyperX
The Pros
+The sound quality is good, but connect it to the 7.1 enabler and it becomes amazing
+The headset is comfortable to wear, with ear cups that are tall enough for most ears
The Cons
-The default shape of the headset will take some adjustment to, until it stops squeezing your head
-The microphone is poor quality and feels like it was forgotten in the design and no way to mute, without the extra cable being connected
