The thing I love about music is that there is always that new catchy song that we fall in love with. If you are like me, you will play that new catchy song over and over again until you never want to hear it again.
Then you find that one song that is so catchy, so special, that you could listen to it all day, every day. You know the lyrics like the back of your hand.
For me, that song is Fortune Teller by Robert Plant. Close your eyes and take a listen to this song. It tells a story so believable that you can practically picture Robert Plant falling in love with the fortune teller.
Just by listening to a song such as that one, you can create an atmosphere and imagine things happening in the song. It’s amazing what the human mind can do just by listening to things.
As a casual gamer, that same imagination and fine-tuned listening happen every time I click the play button on a game. In Rainbow Six Siege you hear the gunfire, people walking, or the objective about to be set off and all of it can get your heart pumping with adrenaline. In the Far Cry 5, you stand in an open-world forest with animals yelping, rain falling onto your head, and the enemy planning an attack.
While something is happening on the screen for your eyes to visualize, if you close your eyes and listen you can hear all of those sounds and picture yourself in the shoes of your character.
The graphics make the game look pretty, but it’s the sounds that bring the game to life. This is why a cheap headset can’t give you the gaming experience you deserve.
A gamer needs a headset to give them precise sounds to determine the distance of the gunfire or the animal’s roar. We need a brand that understands gaming as much as we do.
When you open the product box of a HyperX product, you will find a small sheet of paper congratulating you on joining the #HyperXFamily. The letter states that the purchased product is geared towards innovation in gaming equipment. HyperX is a brand that understands gaming as much as we do.
Back in 2014, I reviewed the HyperX Cloud headphones, a headset that was budget-friendly and geared towards gamers. With the original Cloud headset being Kingston’s first entry into gaming peripherals, they made sure it would be well respected. It wasn’t a surprise to see it be quickly loved by gamers, including myself.
Just a year after the original Cloud headphones, HyperX released the second revision dubbed the Cloud II. From there, their success rapidly grew to today’s product line of multiple Cloud headsets.
The Cloud Alpha is the fourth installment to the Cloud product line featuring a premium look and feel, plus an unprecedented gaming experience.
Welcome to my review of the Kingston HyperX Cloud Alpha headset.
Design
HyperX only offers their headsets in a black and red color combination. The color red is often gamer focused and it complements the black nicely.
When I reviewed the HyperX Cloud Revolver, I mentioned that it reminded me of a Gears of War theme. Shortly after publishing that review HyperX came out with a Gears of War variant for the Revolver. Coincidence aside, I am going to make another color variant recommendation for the Alpha: a dark gray paired with a royal blue.
Enough fantasizing, the Cloud Alpha is coated in a matte-black rubber material with the earcups being made from aluminum. To add a spice of vibrant color, there is the notable red aluminum headband adjustment arms. The red coloring is also found on the HyperX logos which are in a large font placed on both ear cups.
The attention to detail found on the Cloud Alpha is quite remarkable. Although this will go unnoticed by many, the stitching on the leatherette headband is done in that same red color found all over the headset. Nobody will ever pay close attention to the stitching and it could have very well have been done in black but having it in red speaks volumes to me.
My love for the red coloring doesn’t stop there. HyperX didn’t use a red red, but more of a powder-coated red that somewhat darkens the color. It reminded me of automotive paint where the color is smooth, but it has depth.
Moving on to the ear cups, both of them remain rather subtle with few mentionable design characteristics. They use an oval-shaped ear opening which is more desirable for long gaming sessions and contain the HyperX logo mentioned earlier.
Connecting the ear cups to the headband are the upside-down U-shaped aluminum arms. Their thicker design prevents vibrations from travelling down into the ear cups and adding a ringing to your ears.
As they are aluminum, they are strong, yet give enough for them to be stretched and pulled. They are connected to a height-adjustment guide rail with enough height adjustment notches to fit most head sizes.
There aren’t any buttons, lights, or anything spectacular about the I/O other than the left ear cup containing the detachable headphone cable jack as well as the detachable microphone jack.
On the inside of the ear cups, the form-fitting memory foam is surrounded by a plush leatherette that feels like the real deal. Combined with the plush and comfortable memory foam I can easily say that wearing the Cloud Alpha is a great experience.
That same leatherette and memory foam are found on the headband, and there’s more of it. Even with the headphones cinched down, the foam does a good job of preventing head strain.
Unfortunately, the leatherette and memory foam locks in heat and even when I wasn’t gaming (I was writing this review) my head began to get warm in the areas touched by the headphones. I wasn’t sweating, even while gaming, but your head can get warm.
Included in the product box, HyperX provides two braided cables for the Cloud Alpha. The first cable is meant to be connected to the Cloud Alpha and contains an inline volume and mute controller. This cable terminates in a single 3.5mm headphone jack.
If you need more cable length or require a separate headphone and microphone jack, the second braided cable helps in both regards.
I have reviewed a lot of HyperX headsets and the Cloud Alpha wins my design award. The attention to detail and the color scheme is perfect. Even when held in the hands they feel strong and durable yet offer a lightweight wearing experience.
Functionality
These headphones may look and feel great, but how they perform is one of the most important aspects. A true gamer is going to care more about how they perform over how they look.
Creating the sound are 50mm dual chamber speakers. At 50mm, these speakers are massive and larger than most speakers on other headsets. Even some music-focused audio-grade headphones do not come close to drivers this size.
To contain more of the sound within the ear cups, the Cloud Alpha uses a closed-back design which prevents sounds from leaking past the leatherette material. Likewise, it prevents sounds around you from entering the headphones.
While listening to music and typing this review, I could barely hear my clattering keyboard as I typed. When someone wanted to interrupt me, they had to get up close before I could hear them. These headphones do not have any active noise cancellation, but they have a strong passive effect.
Continuing with the speakers themselves, they have a higher than normal impedance at 65 ohms. Most headphones max out at 25 ohms, but with a higher impedance comes better sound and the Cloud Alpha can be connected to higher grade audio equipment.
One of the talking points used by HyperX is their dual chamber system. By separating the lows, mids, and highs, the speakers can better reproduce each type of sound more accurately as well as make them more apparent to your ears.
In reality, it does sound like each category is well merged. You get the sense that the sound is clearer and counted all as one harmonic noise rather than separate channels. It may be my hyper-awareness hearing a difference, but it sounded just as nice as my Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pros.
HyperX says that one of the chambers is to help boost the bass in the speakers. Running a bass-heavy tune, they do pound on your head quite well.
Following my bass testing, I listened to an assortment of music genres but mainly focused on rock and roll as that is I what I listen to daily.
Running the highest bitrate audio possible through Pandora, the Cloud Alpha sounds remarkably good. All musical instruments for all genres were clear and well liked. The only complaint I have about listening to music is that on some songs I felt as if the vocals were often at the same level as the instruments. This meant it was more difficult to sing along.
Increasing the volume helped diminish the problem, but these headphones could do with an equalizer as it can sound a little flat at times.
Cranking up the volume on these headphones causes them to get very loud. So loud that they can rattle the headset itself. A strong positive is that even at maximum volume you can still listen to them with no noticeable distortion.
Jumping over to the gaming side of things, the Cloud Alpha performs just as you would expect it to.
In fast-paced games like Rainbow Six Siege you can hear the bullets fly past you, people running upstairs, and whether it was the window on your left or right that just shattered.
In slower games like Factorio or Civilization VI, you could hear little details such as the machines in Factorio hammering away or the Civilizations making hammer noises as they build a new city.
Overall, I would say that the Cloud Alpha does a great job at gaming and would satisfy the headphone needs of any gamer. They are comfortable, sound great, and let you focus on your game with the closed-back design.
I still stand by my earlier comment on how the Cloud Alpha could benefit from an equalizer or adjustment to how sounds are blended together, but in games this wasn’t a problem whatsoever.
When it comes to the detachable microphone, the bendable and positional microphone is great to use. You can place it wherever you please, and the pop-filter is a nice touch. For muting the headset, you can either unplug the microphone or use the inline mute switch on the detachable cable.
Using the microphone in Discord, I thought it sounded and performed flawlessly. The person on the receiving end also felt the same as it captured everything I said every time.
Lastly, the Cloud Alpha is supported for practically every device imaginable. It works with PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Mobile, and VR or anything else with a 3.5mm headphone jack. They are certified for both TeamSpeak and Discord.
My Final Thoughts
Priced at a reasonable $99.99 on Amazon, HyperX has yet again made a headset that feels great in the hands and performs like a champion.
Everything from the coloring, to the comfort, to the great sounding 50mm speakers these gamer-focused headphones really shine in a market that is filled with so many options to choose from.
Listening to music was pleasant even if I felt that it needed an equalizer, although gaming was a great experience and that is what HyperX was striving towards. They reproduce sounds accurately, allow for precise hearing, and can actually improve your gaming experience.
My favorite part of all is the attention to detail and the build quality put into the Cloud Alpha. You would be hard-pressed to find a better-constructed headset at this price point. The Cloud Alpha was an easy headset to review and an even easier one to recommend.
Buy it now:
© 2018 Justin Vendette
