A gaming headphone is done right

Sometimes it feels like game chapters have become a little too extra lately, with everything from redundant RGB lighting to built-in drone motors. When I try to pick out excellent wireless headphones, I do not ask much. I’m looking for convenience, solid sound, strong battery life and connectivity, and a straightforward design. It’s almost like that. And by updating its classic wired Cloud headset with new wireless support, the HyperX Cloud II Wireless is an excellent example of a simple wireless gaming headset that gets done right.

From the design, the Cloud II Wireless is virtually a carbon copy of the standard wired Cloud headset, which is definitely not a bad thing. A few years ago when I was dating the best game chapters under $ 100, the original HyperX Cloud finished in second place and barely got any smaller SteelSeries’ Arctis 5, mostly because I found during long game sessions of three hours or longer that the Arctis 5 was more breathable and just a little more comfortable. But it was really close.

With the Cloud II Wireless you get more of the same, including a sturdy aluminum headband with plenty of padding and soft tabs for memory foam. HyperX also includes a handy on / off button, mute button and volume wheel directly on the headset, which may look a bit spartan, but it does contain all the key features. It would have been nice to add a game / chat balance like on other wireless headsets. well.

Like its predecessor, the Cloud II Wireless has a closed design that provides good passive noise suppression. Just be careful not to start talking louder when you put it on, because it’s harder to hear yourself, it’s something I did (to my wife’s great dismay) when I deviated from my usual semi-opensupported cans. Throughout their sound range, the Cloud II Wireless sounded stiff and bright, without the muddy lows I sometimes encounter at other brands. While you can use the free HyperX app to customize different sound settings or enable HyperX’s 7.1 surround sound feature, the Cloud II Wireless is actually set up so well out of the box that I’ve used it a few days before connect them to the app. I just plugged the wireless dongle into my computer, turned on the headset and started playing. There was actually no need for setup, how simple is that?

In terms of microphone performance, just like on the standard Cloud headset, the Cloud II Wireless has a detachable microphone that sits at the end of a flexible boom that sounds bright and clear. HyperX contains some built-in noiseto cancel technology to reduce the background noise of the environment, which I generally found effective but not very deep. That said, I have to admit that the HyperX in a side-by-side test with a Blue Yeti microphone did not capture so many finer details in my voice, and many of my friends at Discord said that my speech sounded has. a little flat. But honestly, it’s OK, because the two microphones were built for different purposes. When I play, I’m more concerned that I’m easy to understand than anything else, because in the midst of a raid or a big firefight, I do not really care that a microphone captures all the nose sounds in my speech.

But for me, the most impressive thing about the Cloud II Wireless is how good its battery life and wireless connection are. HyperX claims that the Cloud II Wireless should last about 30 hours, and in my opinion it’s just nice because I only need to charge it once every two weeks, although of course it can vary depending on how much you day.

As for the wireless connection, HyperX says the Cloud II Wireless range is up to 20 meters (about 65 feet). In my test, I could not even find a place in my 1 000-square meter apartment where the sound was cut out, so I had to physically leave my house and walk down to the elevator on my floor before the noise started to drop.

My only complaints about the HyperX Cloud II Wireless come down to a few minor quarrels. The first is that the USB-A-to-USB-C charging cable is only two meters long, which means that it is not really long enough to use if you want to use the headset while it is on. load. The other is that, unlike SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless, which comes with a USB-C dongle, the Cloud II Wireless uses a USB-A wireless dongle, which does not really work with the Nintendo Switch in manual mode, although you can connect the dongle in the dock of the Switch, which does have a USB-A port.

This means that the Cloud II Wireless is primarily a headset for PC or PS4 gamers. And while it’s not on the box, the Cloud II Wireless also worked well when I plugged it into a PS5. Unfortunately, because Microsoft uses its own signal for wireless audio, the Cloud II Wireless (like many wireless headsets) does not play well with Xboxes.

Finally, with a price tag of $ 150, the Cloud II Wireless is also slightly more expensive than some of its budget wireless competitors. But for me, it’s not really a big deal, because everything the Cloud II Wireless does does it well. It has a clean, sturdy design, good sound and a clear sound detachable microphone, and a better battery life and a stronger sound connection than I could ask for. If you just want a simple well-made wireless gaming chapter, the Cloud II Wireless is it.

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• The Cloud II Wireless has about 30 hours of battery and wireless reach up to 20 meters.
• Because the Cloud II Wireless relies on a USB-A dongle connection, it is not a good choice to connect with a telephone.
• The Cloud II Wireless is compatible with computers, the Nintendo Switch (when paired), the PS4, and although it does not appear on the box office, so does the PS5. But not Xbox.
• The supplied USB-A to USB-C charging cable is only two meters long, which means it is a bit short if you want to keep using the headset while charging.