HyperX, Kingston's gaming division, creates some of the best gaming devices on the market. They managed to impress us and gamers all around the world with their great headsets, keyboards, and mice. They did that because the devices they sell are of great quality and at competitive prices. Today we are going to review their latest headset: the HyperX Cloud Alpha. It is a gaming headset that promises excellent sound quality due to a new Dual Chamber design that separates bass from mid and high sounds. It is also a headset that you can buy for just under 100 US dollars. Learn whether it is worth buying or not, from this review:

What is the HyperX Cloud Alpha good at?

The HyperX Cloud Alpha headset is good at:

• Offering great sound in games but also when listening to music
• Being comfortable and letting you play for many hours without feeling your head squeezed in
• The microphone is good at eliminating background noises while playing games

Pros and cons

There are quite a few good things to say about the HyperX Cloud Alpha headset:

• The sound is smooth and has excellent clarity;
• They offer a great experience both in games and while listening to music;
• The microphone does a great job at muffling unwanted noises around you;
• The headphones' band and the very large earcups are comfortable on your head and ears;
• The headset feels robust and reliable, due to the good build quality and metal headband and braided cables;
• They are sold at a very good price

We did not manage to discover anything that would stop you from buying the HyperX cloud Alpha. As a famous person says, "they are great!". 🙂

Verdict

The HyperX Cloud Alpha is an impressive headset that managed to convince us that it is worth every penny. It is probably the best gaming headset that you can buy for less than 100 dollars. The quality is excellent: the sound is clear and smooth both in games and when listening to music, and the build quality is solid. The earcups are very large, and the metal headband adjusts itself even on the larger heads out there. 🙂 If you need a good pair of gaming headphones with a good noise-canceling microphone, but you do not want to spend a fortune on it, then by all means, buy yourself a HyperX Cloud Alpha. You will not regret your choice!

Unboxing the HyperX Cloud Alpha

The HyperX Cloud Alpha headset comes in a premium box built from high-quality black cardboard. On the front side, you can see a large picture with the headset and also some information about it. As usual with the gaming devices from the HyperX lineup, the main colors you see are black and red.

On the back and the sides of the box, there are printed even more images and details about the headset, including some of its hardware specifications and the fact that this is the official headset of a series of professional gaming organizations.

Inside the main box, there is another box. Inside it, you will find the headset, a detachable microphone, two audio cables for connecting the headset to 3.5 mm audio and microphone jacks, a travel pouch made from textile materials, the quick start guide and a welcome note from the HyperX Team.

The unboxing experience we had with the HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset was pleasant, and the bundled accessories tell you from the beginning that you are dealing with a quality device.

Hardware specifications

The HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset uses custom built 50 mm neodymium magnets and promises to offer an incredible sound distinction and clarity by reducing distortion, through their unique Dual Chamber Drivers. The headphone drivers feature dual chambers that separate the bass from the mid and high sound frequencies. In theory but also in real life, as we found for ourselves, the dual chambers manage to offer an unexpectedly clean sound, with no distortions of any kind.

The HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset sits on your head using an aluminum frame that forms the backbone of a comfortable headband which expands generously to fit even the largest heads out there. 🙂

The headset connects to your computer or gaming console via a detachable braided cable with a length of 51 inches (1.3 meters) plus an additional PC extension cable with a length of 79 inches (2 meters). The PC extension cable has two separate 3.5 mm audio plugs: one for headphones and one for the microphone.

On the headset cable, there is also an inline control box that lets you turn the volume up or down, as well as mute the microphone if you need to.

The drivers have an impedance of 65 Ohms and a frequency response range between 13 Hz and 27 KHz. HyperX Cloud Alpha weighs 10.5 ounces (298 grams) without the microphone. Together with the cable and the microphone, the headset weighs 11.9 ounces (336 grams). The microphone can cancel noises around you so chatting while gaming should be a fine experience even if you use mechanical keyboards such as the HyperX Alloy FPS.

The HyperX Cloud Alpha gaming headset is officially compatible to work with computers and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One gaming consoles, but should also work with any other devices that have a 3.5 mm port.

If you want to check all the specifications and features of this professional gaming headset, visit this web page: HyperX Cloud Alpha.

Using the HyperX Cloud Alpha

First of all, we want emphasize on the quality of the sound you get from the HyperX Cloud Alpha headphones. Because of the way they are designed, with a separate chamber for bass and another one for the mid and high sounds, these headphones sound great regardless of what you use them for. The different sounds are easy to distinguish from one another, and that means you can easily spot an enemy on the battleground but also enjoy very high-quality music playback.

If you are curious to know what this dual chamber design is all about, here is a representation from HyperX:

We have used the HyperX Cloud Alpha headset in games such as Dishonored 2 and Styx: Shards of Darkness. The ambient sounds and the footsteps of our enemies or those of wildlife felt very real, and the directions from which we were hearing them were easy to identify. Plus, the feeling you get when listening to Skyrim's soundtrack or when playing a horror game like Resident Evil 7 is something special.

Although the HyperX Cloud Alpha headset was built for gamers, we firmly believe that audiophiles will love them too. Listening to music is an enjoyable experience and, just like when we used the HyperX Cloud Revolver S, the HyperX Cloud Alpha managed to awe us with the quality of the sound. If, previously, you used to use a weaker set of headphones, when you upgrade to the HyperX Cloud Alpha, when listening to your favorite music, you will probably have moments in which you will stop and say: "Hey, I did not hear these sounds before!".

NOTE: If you want to test and compare your headphones with others, we recommend that you listen to this playlist on Spotify: Songs To Test Headphones With. The tracks in it are great for checking how sounds are produced on your headphones.

We also used the HyperX Cloud Alpha with Skype, while playing League of Legends, because it is a multiplayer game and voice chat is faster than typing messages. The headset's microphone was impressive too. We are using a mechanical keyboard, and the switches on it are the Cherry MX Blue type. They are noisy, and that used to be a problem when using voice chat in games. Pressing those keys was annoying for our teammates. However, the noise cancellation feature offered by the microphone found on the HyperX Cloud Alpha was a lot better than any microphone we used before. It managed to muffle the keyboard's switches to an acceptable level of noise, one that our teammates did not complain about. This is excellent!

Another essential aspect for any gamer when it comes to headphones is how comfortable they are. Usually, gamers are playing and thus using their headphones for long hours. That means that an uncomfortable headset can become a burden that keeps you from being competitive. However, that is not the case with HyperX Cloud Alpha. They are comfortable to use, and the auto-adjusting headband makes them easy to adapt to any head size. Even after five or six hours of continuous use, we did not feel like our heads were fastened in a vise. Unfortunately, that does happen with some other headsets.

Finally, the design is another aspect that can convince you to buy or not to buy a specific pair of headphones. Whether you like a design or not, it is your personal choice. However, we believe that the impression you get from looking at the HyperX Cloud Alpha is going to be a good one. The headphones look awesome in our opinion. The headband feels cozy with all that foam in it, and the red metal band that comes out of it looks strong, reliable and even a little aggressive. Maybe it is because of the blood red color, or maybe because of the barebone earcups holders.

The HyperX Cloud Alpha headset is one of the best we have tested here, at Digital Citizen. The sound quality is excellent both in games and when listening to music, and the microphone is very good at canceling noises around you.

What is your opinion about the HyperX Cloud Alpha?

Now you know that we loved the HyperX Cloud Alpha headset because of the excellent sound quality it offers, its good design but also because of its competitive price tag. At the end of this review, we would like your opinion. Are you interested in buying this headset? If you already have it, what is your experience with it?