It’s been barely per week because the annual CES tech bonanza shut up store for an additional 12 months, however HyperX has wasted no time getting in its very first wi-fi gaming headset out into the wild. Dubbed the Cloud Flight, this headset boasts the longest battery lifetime of any of its wi-fi opponents – as much as a whopping 30 hours to be exact.
That’s sufficient time to play a whole run by way of of AC Oranges or that very same cathedral in the beginning of Dark Souls III over and over as a result of god rattling Vordt of the Boreal Valley is simply too rattling laborious. The query is, is it really any good?
First impressions are definitely excessive. While the Cloud Flight’s exterior is essentially product of plastic – a contact disappointing contemplating it’ll set you again £140/$160 – it nonetheless feels reassuringly strong to the contact and its comfortable, plush ear cups sit very snugly towards your face. The flexible microphone’s removable, too, so you’ll be able to even put on them exterior whilst you’re travelling with out trying too foolish – offered you flip off the LEDs with a fast faucet of the ability button, after all.
To play audio wirelessly, all it’s essential to do is plug its USB dongle into your PC and the Cloud Flight pairs with it in seconds. Easy. Just in case you do need to need to use it as a wired headset, although, it additionally comes with a three.5mm analogue cable within the field. This slots in to the left ear cup simply subsequent to the micro USB cost port and the mic jack. The solely draw back is that the mic and ear cup controls gained’t really work in wired mode, so that you’ll must undergo the laborious means of manually adjusting the amount your self on no matter machine you’re utilizing and make do with none chat. Other than that, every thing began off very peachy certainly.
But oh, that headband. As comfortable because the earcups had been, that gnawing, pinching sensation on prime of my head began to creep in across the one hour mark. That’s higher than the Roccat Khan Pro, however nonetheless a far cry from the weightless, cloud-like sensation of the Steelseries Arctis 7 and Corsair Void Pro RGB. The second tightest setting bought me slightly additional (any extra and it might have slipped clear off my face), however I nonetheless needed to take a break after roughly 90 minutes or so.
During that hour and a half, although, the Cloud Flight was completely beautiful, and its depth, readability and total steadiness had been so immersive that it felt like I’d sunk into the musical equal of a scorching tub. It’s simply the equal of each the Arctis 7 and Void Pro RGB, and I’d be hard-pressed to say which one was higher in my suite of check video games.
The whispering voices in Hellblade, for example, had a haunting depth to them that considerably enhanced its depiction of Senua’s psychological sickness, and at no level did they really feel like they’re being smothered by the world’s raging winds and low, ominous soundtrack.
The identical goes for the screams of The Evil Within‘s creepy hair monster, which have never sounded so piercing against the industrial thrum of the game’s backing music. Doom, likewise, sounded suitably bassy with out overwhelming the drivers inside every ear cup, and in contrast to the Roccat Khan Pro, offered close to pin-point accuracy when it got here to monitoring down these previous couple of baddies.
The Cloud Flight’s nice for peculiar music, too. It dealt with busy orchestral tracks with ease after I set my Final Fantasy XV soundtrack going, its heat, wealthy bass sounding completely balanced towards its extra delicate piano sections, and it took every thing from pop to gothic rock utterly in its stride, making me want the headset was only a fraction extra comfy so I may stick with it listening for longer.
The Cloud Flight’s battery life can be glorious, pulling far forward of the Arctis 7 even when its LEDs are set to ‘breathing mode’. Whereas the LED-less Arctis 7 is rated for simply 15 hours use, the Cloud Flight can handle 30 hours with them turned off, 18 in respiration mode and a nonetheless respectable 13 hours with them on full-time, in accordance with HyperX. Not dangerous contemplating each headsets at the moment cost the same in the UK.
The microphone put in a reasonably good efficiency, too. There was a little bit of pop and some audible wind results after I had it positioned too near my mouth, however this was rapidly rectified by bending it additional away – round 9-10cm gave the impression to be the sweetspot, but it surely’s very straightforward to regulate relying in your particular person preferences. The solely barely annoying factor about it’s that there’s no LED on the top to let you already know if the mic’s muted or not. Instead, you need to press the left ear cup and simply bear in mind if it beeped as soon as (off) or twice (on).
Otherwise, I’ve few complaints concerning the HyperX Cloud Flight. Personally, I’d in all probability nonetheless go together with Steelseries’ Arctis 7 simply because I can put on it for longer with out getting a headache, however the Cloud Flight’s superior battery life definitely casts a little bit of shade over the Arctis 7’s earlier brilliance.
Then once more, I do fairly just like the Arctis 7’s chat-mix slider, which helps you to filter out multiplayer chat or flip down the sport’s total soundtrack, and the small LED on its mic is one other good contact that simply makes it a fraction simpler to make use of. The HyperX Cloud Flight positively doesn’t disappoint in terms of total audio high quality, however typically it’s the little issues that make all of the distinction.
