When you think of gaming headphones, a few brands will come to mind and HyperX is going to be one of them. Now the company has a long range of both wired and wireless headphones, with prices all over the place from as low as $50 all the way up to $150. But what if you don’t want the fluff, what if you want the best gaming headphones that do what they’re advertised?
Well, you’ve got some options from HyperX, and one of them is Cloud Core Wireless. It was released in 2021 and in the last three years, has been one of the top recommendations in for budget wireless headphones. So what does this three-year-old pair of headphones do to earn that spot? You’re about to find out.
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Build Quality and Comfort
As you can probably guess by the name, the Cloud Core wireless series takes its design and feature cues from the HyperX Cloud series. The design language is clearly visible in the Cloud Core Wireless, with metal rims around the earcups and the same bulky yet comfortable design.
These are a really well built pair of headphones. Mostly plastic, but they have enough metal elements here and there to keep the headphones together for a while. Nothing creaks or makes a weird sound, the plastic on the earcups feels solid and good to the touch and the faux leather earcups are some of the best I’ve seen on a pair of headphones.
There’s more than enough padding on both the earcups and headband to make sure the headphone sits comfortably on your head for long hours. And if you wear glasses, you’ll finally rid yourself of that annoying temple pain that comes from wearing gaming headphones. There’s just enough clamping force so the headphones don’t feel uncomfortable, but if you’ve got a head on the larger side of things, you might feel a little cramped in here.
I’ve had to use these headphones on their maximum size and while they’re comfortable for quite a while, it does feel like having a little bit more room with the headband would’ve been nicer. No complaints about build quality or comfort other than that.
Connectivity and Features
The headphone uses a 2.4GHz wireless dongle that ships in the box for connectivity, and that’s it. There’s no aux port, and I haven’t been able to get these to run on a USB-C connection. That said, the 20-hour battery life is plenty to keep you away from any cables.
I don’t exactly have a number on how long the battery will last you, but you can rely on HyperX’s claims here. Generally speaking, I only had to charge the headphones once every week, and you can use them while charging so even if you forget to charge them, it won’t be a big rut in your gaming experience.
That said, there’s a good chance you will forget to charge them. Other than a status LED behind the power button that you can’t look for unless you take your headphones off, there’s no indication of how much battery you have left, so there are going to be a couple of instances when the headphones will just die on you in the middle of a game.
Other than the power button and the lone indicator LED, you get a mic mute button, which you can press and hold to monitor your sound, and a 3.5mm aux port for plugging in the detachable mic.
I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of detachable mics as it feels really easy to lose them. It’s nice not to have the mic in front of you or in your peripheral vision when you take it off but unless you’re careful about where you keep it it feels like it could damaged or lost. There are no flaws in the mics implementation though, it fits snugly into place and won’t randomly fall out.
And that’s pretty much everything the Cloud Core Wireless offers in terms of features. You do get a lifetime DTS:X subscription in the box that does enhance audio quality a bit, but the headphones stand well enough by themselves.
There’s also no support for HyperX’s NGENUITY software, which was a bummer for me. My HP Omen Transcend 14 has a built-in HyperX audio receiver which can pair with compatible HyperX headphones. This was one of the biggest reasons why I was interested in the Cloud Core wireless but I ended up having to use the dongle in the box.
The dongle is a bit big, but the connection is instant and has a pretty good range. It covers pretty much the entirety of my relatively spacious apartment, so unless you like going on walks with your headphones still on, chances are you’ll be good.
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Sound and Mic quality
The sound quality is, well it’s interesting. It’s got excellent clarity, you will hear footsteps in very high fidelity. Positional audio is great and it’s very easy to tell which direction the sound is coming from. The soundstage is also pretty balanced, so you’ll hear pretty much every game quite well.
Other than that, the Cloud Cores fall off the curve a little bit. When it comes to movies and music, both my daily drivers, the Sony WH CH720N, and my previous gaming headphones, the Logitech G431 did sound slightly better. It’s not that the audio quality is bad, but it’s just a little more flat than I’d like it to be.
The mic quality is subpar if you ask me. My previous G431’s had much better mic quality, albeit on a wired connection so I’ll cut the Cloud Cores some slack here. It’s not bad, but I expected better. It has a very radio or broadcast-like sound signature here, perfectly audible for audio, but I’d have liked a little more bass in the voice.
Pricing and conclusion
These sell for around the $50 price tag and for that price, you can’t really ask for more. The positional audio in-game and the excellent clarity by itself are enough to make a strong case for these.
Considering the price, the mic quality doesn’t seem to be that big of a downside. These only work on PC, and PlayStation though, so Xbox users are going to have to find an alternative.
That said, just for the sound clarity, positional audio, and hassle-free user experience, I’ll give them a solid 9/10.
I would’ve liked to see better software software, or any at all. But if you’re looking for a solid pair of gaming headphones that’ll last you a while, these are a pretty good option that won’t burn a hole in your pocket.
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