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HyperX Cloud Alpha Headset - Outstanding - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
HyperX Cloud Alpha Headset - Outstanding - MMORPG.com
For $99, the HyperX Cloud Alpha may be single best value gaming headset out there. In my time with it, I have been impressed in every single way, even when comparing it to headset’s more than twice the price. Simply put, if you want a headset that will not only make games and music sound great, but won’t break the bank, look no further. HyperX has done it again.
Comments
Do you need the best of the best when gaming? No, unless you value sound quality. However coming out with a review and then putting Cons none, is nothing but pure shrill fanboyism.
I can give you a ton of cons on those headsets.
CONS
1) Aluminum frame is thin, better than plastic but still can bend from use
2) Clouds with the auto mute by moving your mic up and down often are defected and do not work, went through 3 send backs til got one that worked.
3) Sound quality is sub par, considered great in it's own tier
4) The foam muffs are cheap and feel awkward after long periods of play, again in their own tier this might be a positive
For $99 you could do worse, but I find it absolutely disgusting to not point out flaws and have a no cons list.
I use turtle beach and have amazing sound/mic and consider fools the one that pay more.
All in all, I'd say the $100 area for gaming headsets is a fantastic pricepoint and there are just too many great choices in that category to not like at least one of them. If you go any higher than, say, $150, spend the extra cash on a pair of cans from Massdrop like the Sennheiser 6XX or AKG 7XX instead, as you will not be sorry. The AKG has a little more bass, but I find the Senn's far more comfortable. They are both considered $500 headsets that you can easily get for $200 when they drop on the site.
I've also purchased these headsets a few times for friends in need, and they didn't do much better with them. Not sure what the deal is, but maybe the alphas have better parts. Here's to hoping..
For this review series, I have more than a dozen sets of headphones at my house, between $79-340. The HyperX Cloud Alphas are punching so far above their class for $99 it isn't even funny. Am I am audiophile? No. At the same time, the clarity on this headset is easily in the ballpark with the Blue Lola's ($250) and the V-Moda Crossfade 2s ($340).
Two of your cons can be thrown out. Foam ear pads? Subjective. I like them much better than even some other memory foam ones ice used. They are clearly a higher quality. The sound quality is great in its own tier. That's a positive. If you stack it up against some HD650s that are 5x the price, sure, it might fall short. You have to keep context here. Comparing audiophile equipment against a gaming headset isn't a fair comparison (not that non-audiophiles are likely to notice anyhow).
And about the build. You say the aluminum frame is too thin, I say that 99% of gaming headsets are almost completely plastic. The metal build quality is an improvement.
This review run is aimed at high quality headsets. It's a special series we're doing aimed at illustrating the differences between what most of these companies consider their premiere headsets. I would hope in that case we wouldn't be getting anything less than good. For these headsets at least, they're all going to tend positive with discussions of the pros/cons because, so far, nothing we've been sent has been bad. Not as good as another? Oh yes. But bad? Not yet.
Also, as an editorial direction, I dislike dramatically negative criticism. It's the easy way out as writers to just trash something. If something is bad, we'll ding it, but you can expect it to be a more nuanced discussion of why, or why a level of quality may match/mismatch a price range or target demo. Like a commenter above tried to do, comparing a $99 headset to a $500 headset is a fool's errand. I will always review things in the context of their pricing category because that is how they're designed.
Great, next time lets actually list some cons, nothing is perfect. When you compare an apple to an apple you are aren't comparing. I specifically said most headphones in that tier are plastic but that aluminum build is way too thin. If you care about having headsets that last for a while, then this is a negative. I don't know about you but I like to have headsets last longer than 6 months and when under normal use stuff starts cracking or breaking it's a terrible build like it or not.
Ask some of the pro Counter Strike players about what they think when they are forced to wear those HyperX sets at a tournament because of sponsor or they are cheap, they will tell you they are god awful and use it strictly as a mic and drop the outside noise, but really use ear buds for the game sounds.
Look I love my sennheisers as an awakened audiophile they are incredible, however if someone said could you do a review on them, I'd sure as hell list cons.
For one no volume slider on the headset or toggle strip, it is a huge inconvenience as you have to go into the windows audio menus to play around with the volume or by key press functions on the keyboard. It's annoying.
I'm also not a fan of how long the cord is, there is no need for a 15ft cable for a headset, if you are walking away that often it's time for a wireless set.
Stuff like that, so please next time be subjective, nothing is perfect and nothing will ever be. Someone else will tell me my sennheisers suck compared to their $600 mega headset, I don't take it to heart or consider them bullying me. Just opinions, but as a consumer being able to take opinions in consideration is the power behind them, again if there are no cons that consideration is now moot.
What matters here is what you can get with the same budget. And that's where the gaming products are in trouble. You can pick ANY gaming headset, and I can come up with a lot of non-gaming alternatives which are superior, or list several with the same quality but a lot cheaper. And when you add durability to the equation, these products pale in comparison.