Kingston HyperX Cloud II Review

Audio Specifications

We were impressed with the HyperX's ability to reproduce low tones. The headphones are rated for as low as 15Hz. The lowest tone most humans' ears can pick up is 20Hz, so the benefit of headphones being able to produce anything lower than that is that you can still feel the bass, even when you can't hear it. This is especially important for gaming, because it helps you feel like you're in the game's world. Explosions can trigger those really low tones, and you feel them. These headphones can also handle frequencies up to 25khz.

Compared to its predecessor, the HyperX Cloud II has a better microphone. The headphones remain about the same quality – which is good – but the microphone in the Cloud II has a much larger response range. You can expect the mic to pick up sounds as low as 50Hz and as high as 18kHz. That's the largest response range of any headset on our lineup. This means that the microphone can more faithfully capture and transmit your voice than the previous HyperX Cloud.

Design

The larger the driver, the more air it can push around and the greater the variance in sounds it can produce. The HyperX has 53 mm drivers, the largest in our gaming headset lineup. This is partly what allows the HyperX's headphones to reproduce extreme highs and lows with excellent fidelity.

The HyperX is made up of plastic and aluminum, with leather for the headband and the ear cups. The package includes another set of velvet ear cups in case you don't like the leather. Overall, the construction quality is top-notch, and you can expect this gaming headset to last for a long time.

As far as comfort is concerned, this is one of the lightest products in our gaming headset reviews. While weight isn't the sole contributing factor in comfort, it can play a major part in it. The headband is soft and well padded, as are the ear cups. You won't feel much pressure around your ears when these are on, and they should remain comfortable for hours. However, you can't fold the headphones to be more compact.

Features

In-line volume control is a sort of industry standard now, and the HyperX doesn't disappoint here. You can lock the controls with a switch to prevent accidental volume shifts, mute and unmute the microphone, and adjust the volume with a scroll wheel. The in-line volume control is small and lightweight, which prevents it from pulling down on one side of the headset.

The HyperX comes with a protective carrying case. We were impressed with the case – both its size and quality were much better than you might expect. It's easy to store the headset and all of its attendant cables in the bag. This makes the HyperX very portable.

While the HyperX's headphones don't do active noise canceling, they are circumaural, which means that they completely enclose your ears. This amounts to passive noise canceling. Active noise canceling is certainly better, but the HyperX does a fair job of blocking out unwanted noise while pumping high-fidelity audio into your ear canals.

Help & Support

Kingston has some of the best customer support out there. If you need help or information, there are FAQs and online manuals to help you out. You can also contact the support team through email, phone or a live chat service. Most importantly, the HyperX comes with a two-year limited warranty. That gives you two years to notice any factory defects, while the industry standard is one year.

Summary

The Kingston HyperX Cloud II is one of the best gaming headsets you can buy right now, and it's cheap enough that it won't break the bank. There simply isn't any real competition for it in its price point. You have to get into top-tier price ranges in order to beat the HyperX. So, while it may not be the absolute best gaming headset available, it is the best option under $200

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