In fact, at just slightly lower than one hundred dollars, HyperX’s Cloud Alpha is actually one of the best headphones at this price range, even though it may not possess the level of versatility some of its other comparable headphone counterparts may have.
Design
If you’re familiar with the two previous iterations of the Cloud II and Cloud gaming headsets, then the Cloud Alpha headset is something you’ll recall well because it looks fairly the same. Although, HyperX have made some new improvements to this model. It has a new slotted metal frame that helps give the headphones a more industrial overall aesthetic than the hints of solid metal that what used in the other HyperX Cloud products that came before it. It’s kind of refreshing the fact that HyperX finally decided to give the headphone one anodized, cohesive look and matches the aluminum frame with the few plastic bits.
The company also went on and padded the headband as well as the cushions on both earcups with a spongier thicker foam material. The pliable cushions allow for you to wear the headphones for long periods of time without feeling uncomfortable. But, even with all these tiny improvements here and there, this is still not a headphone that you’d really want to take outside. Its blaring overall design style kind of makes it stick out, way more than the subdued sports-mesh wrapped outside of the Logitech G433 or the massive cans of the SteelSeries Arctis 5.
Audio Performance
Now, let’s take a look at how it holds up where it matters the most. Fortunately, this is where the Cloud Alpha really shines. Simply put, this is undoubtedly the best analog headphone in this price range by a mile. It one of those products that instantly impress immediately you start using them. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re crossing vast oceans in the game Sea of Thieves, watching YouTube video content or blasting your favorite jams from Soundcloud, the HyperX Cloud Alpha headphone never fails to provide clear sound quality that’s both well-defined and balanced. Okay, it may have a little bit of a bassy sound signature, however, this is ideal when using it for gaming. Lastly, it’s doesn’t overpower as much as some of many other rivals do.
Of course with this headset you won’t have virtual surround sound, however, it’s not really something that a lot of people use even on supported headphones anyway. Furthermore, Xbox consoles and Windows 10 PCs can now use the Dolby application to enable Atmos surround-sound capability through any headset. If you think you can’t live without surround sound, then you might want to put a lot of your focus on the HyperX Cloud II, although your outright sound quality will definitely not be that good.
It’s outstanding how close this headset is to being a perfectly specced headphone product. And, yes, while it still has a long way to go to match the likes of the Sennheiser Momentum on-ear headphones, you can’t really say they’re a million miles away, or anything like that. It also has a class-leading microphone in many regards. It’s concise, clear and doesn’t have static in gaming setups. Okay, it may not be ideal for people that want to stream professionally, however, that doesn’t mean it can’t handle its own in almost every other scenario. It does very well at both in-game and discord chat scenarios.
When considering the Cloud Alpha, one of the most important things you need to think about is whether an analog headphone will best suit your needs. The headset’s sound quality, without any internal processing, will depend on the input device. Computers that have weak digital to analog converters (DACs) will sound a little muddier and have static interferences during recordings.
Features
The headset’s mic connects easily and quickly into the side of the earcup. And, thanks to its flexible stem, it can be easily adjusted as well. It also has a big pop filter at the end designed to help reduce ‘p’ sound break ups when recording vocals. Connecting the headset to a PC is pretty simple too. It has a short cord that houses one 4-pole headset jack that can be used with different mobile devices and gaming consoles. There’s also a dual-extension jack feature that can be used to connect it into your computer’s front panel. The cord has in-line controls present on it, which allow for microphone muting and volume adjustment.
Verdict
If you’re looking for an analog gaming headset and you don’t want to spend more than $100 to get it, then the Cloud Alpha is exactly what you need to be looking at right now. Its overall design flexibility helps make it perfect for PCs, consoles and mobile devices as well. Additionally, the sound quality this headset offers is way more superior than anything you’ll get from other headphones that cost around the same. It is also a very comfortable headset, and while it would’ve been great if HyperX included some extra earpads, you can’t really fault this product much.
Honestly speaking, HyperX’s Cloud Alpha is not the best headphone you can get your hands on right and it’s also not that one-all-be-all product its competitors have been trying to sell for a while now. Rather, this headset is well-conceived, well-refined pair of gaming headphones that has made subtle but very significant upgrades and improvements over its other Cloud predecessors.
The Cloud Alpha headset still has the dual-chamber driver system found on most other Cloud devices which not only helps provide a clearer sound but also reduces distortions as well. Basically, you won’t have to install or add anything into the headset to get the best out of it.
Unfortunately, the Cloud Alpha doesn’t support microphone monitoring nor does it sidetone features. The headphone itself can’t even playback the user’s voice into the headset. But, it’s possible to use Windows to playback any sounds that have been picked up by the device when using it on a computer.
One of the best things about HyperX’s Cloud Alpha headset is that it works with almost a kinds of media equipment, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re digital or analog. It is PS4 compatible because of its 4-pole 3.5mm cord, which is absolutely fantastic.
