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Arnold B. Carreiro is a professional writer, author, and product reviewer who digs through the tsunami of new high-tech consumer goods to find the top picks so you don’t have to. His insight and comprehensive product reviews have been published at BestReviews, the Baltimore Post, and Chicago Tribune to name a few, but Review Geek is the best place to read his latest tech guides. Read more…
The premium HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless is comfortable, has phenomenal audio quality, sports a whopping 300-hour battery life, and doesn’t cost a fortune. If you’re a PC gamer, this headset is an excellent choice. But if you play on a Mac or Xbox, you’re out of luck.
- 300 hours of battery life
- Crystal-clear and immersive spatial audio
- Lightweight and durable
- Especially comfortable
- Detachable microphone
- Not compatible with Mac or Xbox
- Only one color option
I particularly like this headset’s extra-soft memory foam ear cushions, simple adjustability features, and how its spatial sound technologies make gaming experiences feel more engaging and immersive.
It certainly made tracking opponents online much easier, and not worrying about when I’d need to place this wireless headset back on the charger was the icing on the cake. Let’s take a closer look.
Convenience: Battery Life and Controls
Powerful Performance
Comfort and Style
Should You Buy the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless Headset?
The ability to play online for approximately 300 hours per charge is phenomenal for a wireless headset, especially one that sounds as crisp and clear as the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless. After wearing this cozy gaming headset for hours a day throughout my testing period, I didn’t even get it down to half of its battery. That’s nearly a month of gaming and enjoying music.
This mammoth of a battery life makes the 320g Cloud Alpha Wireless a must-have option for Esports athletes, regular streamers, and power gamers who loathe setting their headset on the charger multiple times a week.
Once it finally does dip below 50% of its battery, the headset’s handy LED indicator will glow yellow. Connecting its small companion USB-A-to USB-C charger cable to your PC will get it a full recharge overnight.
Other than the incredible convenience of a wireless headset that you only need to charge once a month or less, this brilliantly-designed model sports an especially flexible microphone with an LED indicator of its own to differentiate between muted or live at a glance. It can also detach from the headset if you want it out of the way. Most importantly, the noise-canceling microphone is reliably crystal-clear and distortion-free throughout every game I tested on my PC.
Adjusting your audio settings on the fly is also a major factor that separates quality gaming headsets from lesser options, and the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless doesn’t disappoint. The onboard audio controls are intuitively designed, with its volume control dial on the right ear cup and its LED indicator, power button, mute button, USB-C port, and 3.5mm microphone jack on the left.
It’s easy to crank up the volume or mute the microphone in an instant, and its gear-like volume wheel was made for adjusting the sound in exact increments. Setup was a breeze; simply plug in its USB-A dongle to your PC, and the headset is ready to go with its speedy 2.4GHz connection. Unfortunately, this device does not support Bluetooth connectivity.
If you want to fine-tune your listening experience, I recommend downloading the HyperX NGENUITY software (available for Windows only) to adjust the headset’s audio balance. The program is a must-download if you manage multiple HyperX products, and the ability to check just how slowly your headset’s battery is draining over time is a useful feature to have in general.
This headset works in basic stereo mode and in-game chat on the PlayStation 5, but the spatial feature is non-functional. I’ve got my fingers crossed that HyperX will bring a version of this innovative gaming headset to Xbox before too long.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless gaming headset features a brilliant design, but it sounds even better. Its DTS Headphone: X Spatial Audio feature steals the show. If you primarily play single-player games like Resident Evil 7, hearing monsters scrape their claws across the floor or growl from the darkness just out of sight with spatial audio and surround sound makes for a particularly immersive way to experience your favorite titles.
If you’re looking for a performance boost in multiplayer games, its crisp and precise spatial sound is a major benefit for competitive FPS titles such as Overwatch and Halo Infinite, as each enemy footstep and burst of gunfire is a breeze to audibly detect and directionally react to in a way that is difficult to replicate with a simple stereo speaker setup.
While this model was created with gamers in mind, it makes listening to your favorite music a delight, too. Despite a lack of noise-cancellation technology, its sound is dependably sharp and clear with deep, distinct bass—gamers will want to keep the Cloud Alpha Wireless on their ears long after they’ve logged out of Steam or Amazon Luna for the night.
Sound quality and design are important, but if a gaming headset pinches, makes you sweat, or feel otherwise uncomfortable, it’s not worth investing in. The first thing I noted about the HyperX Cloud Alpha was just how genuinely cozy it felt. Its plush and accommodating memory foam ear cups feel consistently soft, comfortable, breathable, and notably lightweight, making this a top pick for marathon gaming and regular use.
The leatherette-lined ear cups are spacious enough to accommodate all ear sizes, and while they aren’t rotatable, its comfortable memory foam cushions will gently hold the headset in place as you play. Although they aren’t detachable, these soft leatherette ear cushions are a breeze to wipe clean as needed.
Its retractable pleather and durable aluminum headband effortlessly, securely locks into place on your preferred size setting, making it easy to find the best fit for your head. Although it is a featherweight headset, its construction and metal frame feels sturdy and is made to last for a long time to come.
Although its shiny molten red and slick matte black color scheme look great, additional color options would’ve been appreciated—if that’s the biggest nit-pick I have for this headset, HyperX has clearly knocked it out of the park.
Although a similar HyperX Cloud Alpha S model is available for just $129.99, players lose the freedom and comfort that comes with a wireless headset that lasts 300 hours between charges, but at least the wired version is available in black and blue varieties, so there’s that. They sound, feel, and look fairly similar otherwise, but the uninhibited movement and comfort that comes with wireless is worth the investment.
If noise cancellation is a must-have, check out the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro, which is a bit cheaper than the Cloud Alpha Wireless at under $180 (though it’s often on sale), comes in various styles, and fully supports PlayStation gaming.
Anyone with a serious PC gaming setup who spends their fair share of time behind the monitor exploring digital worlds or mopping up the competition with friends should consider picking up the impressively long-lasting HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless gaming headset. You may have owned a sufficiently cozy or beautiful-sounding wireless headset, but once you’ve experienced the simple pleasure of having a model with a battery that will last all month long, you won’t want to go back to lesser models.
- 300 hours of battery life
- Crystal-clear and immersive spatial audio
- Lightweight and durable
- Especially comfortable
- Detachable microphone
- Not compatible with Mac or Xbox
- Only one color option
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