As time rolls on, so does my time as site manager, as a new life enters my life, as do some of my final reviews for some time, so let us crack on with a review of the new HyperX Cloud Alpha Pro Gaming Headset, which could be there best headset so far, in my opinion.
So let us do this, drum roll, time to enter the shop and check it out on display for all to see
As with all HyperX peripherals, it’s red and Black as their primary colour scheme, with the headset taking a bold stance, right on the front for all too see, does it not look nice?
Also on thre front they sell some of its features which include;
- HyperX Custom Designed Dual Chamber Drivers
- Signature HyperX Comfort
- Detachable Cable With in-line Audio Control
On one of the sides, you see that this headset is bolstered by some of the biggest eSports teams, from the likes of Intel Extreme masters (ESL), Teamliquid and SK Gaming, if you wish to find out more about these go to www.hyperxgaming.com/esports.
Moving to the back there are some more selling features;
- Signature HyperX Memory Foam
- Durable Aluminum Frame
- Detachable Noise Cancellation Microphone
- Detachable Cable with in-line audio control
The headset is connectable with 1 x 3.5mm Jack 1.3m in length and a 1 x 3.5mm with audio and microphone jack connection with a length of 2m.
The headset is suitable to use with the following VOIP programs;
- Teamspeak
- Discord
- Skype
- Ventrilo
- Mumble
- Raidcall
When removing the outer sleeve and nosing inside, you notice the instruction manual, very basic, but what is this, this is a change there is no welcome note from HyperX General Manager ‘Anders “GR8V1K1ng” Willumsen’. anymore printed under the lid, instead, we get a card, come on HYPERX, you have gone down in terms of quality with this.
Now comes the reveal, behind some plastic that packages it away for safety is the headset and microphone and by golly does the headset look good. Looking from the top down there is a HyperX logo embossed onto the headband, wonderful stitching on both sides, that bring the headbands cushioning together with the flexible headband itself. The ear cups are attached to the headband with an aluminium metal frame, which when flicked you do not get the metal sound resonating through the earcups, which is fantastic. Why? one of the downfalls to the HyperX range of headsets is the Revolver and its metal frame, when clipped you can hear the metal resonating through to the earcups, which is a not good. The Metal frame allow for a good amount of positioning and flex so the headset should fit many head sizes, with generally a good amount of comfort.
The HyperX logo is visible on both sides of the earcups, there is also what I thought to be air ducts on top of the earcups to provide airflow, however, I had to check this with HyperX to confirm, and they are not air ducts they are used for acoustic tuning. A shame really as when I use leather earcups I do tend to get a little hot and sweaty, yuk.
There is a string on both sides of the earcups that attach to the frame, no idea what that is for, but I guess it could be just a design feature, but to be sure I asked. The answer was very simple “It enables having only one cable linking the headset to your device”.
There is plenty of depth to there earcup and a good amount of cushioning, thanks to HyperX Signature memory Foam, what makes this such good memory foam? “High quality dense and Award-winning memory foam, it makes leatherette softer and more pliable and provides ultimate comfort for prolonged gaming sessions”.
Underneath the left earcup, you will find sockets for the boom mic and cable. So far, so good, its well designed, looks great and HyperX has kept to its branding colours, I just wish they would add a little bling (LED), just a personal preference.
Now comes the Microphone performance test, this time I tested it with Middle-Earth Shadow of Mordor, before I reviewed it, so I was a bit of a clutz;
As you can hear from my voice, its good a quality microphone, as always with headset mic’s you never going to get a studio grade mic on one. My voice is clear, with little to no background noise, so the microphones Noise Cancellation properties are working well.
Then it comes to sound, and to test the sound I had just the games, Assassin’s Creed Origins, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, The Evil Within 2 and some Destiny 2. To test these games I had to test them with 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound with Dolby Atmos and by golly do these headphones perform well, you can hear footsteps coming from behind, enemies attacks from all directions, its a treat to behold. I guess though, all headphones now, regardless of the price can now have Virtual Surround Sound thanks to Windows 10, Nahimic, Razer & Dolby Atmos. Please note these headphones DO NOT come with any software for 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound, so you will be needing some form of software.
The sound is what you want right, good quality sounds, mids, highs and lows, these headphones perform well in every aspect every area and you can fine tune your soundstage with your soundcard settings.
The longest game I have played using these headphones would be Middle Earth: Shadow of War, as I was grinding a lot of the end game content as I did not see the point in purchasing loot boxes just to make the game easier or faster to complete. To be fair these headphones performed well. they were extremely comfy on, I did not sweat too much, they are light and have just enough padding on the head. The in-game sounds, voices, music all sounded superb, I was really chuffed with how these headphones are performing.
I tested the headphones sound quality against my leading favourite the SteelSeries Arctis 7, which is a wireless headset and uses a USB connection, so its loses some clarity, compared to a 3.5mm audio jack headset. As I expected the sound from these outperformed the Arctis 7, though I still prefer the Arctis 7 for its Microphone and Comfort thanks to the use of Airweave Ear Cushions.
So final thoughts, the sound on these are amazing and much better than my leading favourite, personally, I prefer the SteelSeries Arctis 7 for long gaming sessions and microphone quality. That’s not to say these are bad because they are not, they are superb, one of the best HyperX headsets I have had sat upon my head, they put little to no pressure on your head, they come with a nice long braided cable, a great microphone and enough padding on your ears to give you that perfect cushion.
I would say buy these, if you love HyperX, its design and quaility and for great sound, if you want freedom, design and quility buy the Arctis 7.
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