PSA: The HyperX Cloud X isn’t as good now
About a month ago, I noticed that the Hyper X Cloud X, which is essentially a HyperX Cloud II but without the USB dongle and with an added hard carrying case, had dropped in price at Best Buy down to $79.
“Wow,” I thought. “They’ve lopped 20 bucks off of this! It’s an even better deal than it already was way back when I reviewed it!”
The gravy train didn’t last long.
The old stock is sold out, at least at my local store, and it’s been replaced by this:
The box is now more in line with the other officially licensed Xbox headsets, so it fits right in on the shelf next to some questionable Turtle Beach products.
I picked up the box.
It was very light.
They’ve removed every single extra. Oh no.
All you get in the box now is the headset itself, and the microphone. That’s it.
No extra ear pads. No hard shell carrying case. I’m not even sure if this is using the memory foam headband from the Cloud II, or if it’s the older non memory foam band from the Cloud I.
The Cloud X is now nigh-identical to the slightly cheaper Cloud Core. The only extra it has is an inline mic mute and volume control. Oh, and it’s a different color.
Is that worth 10 extra dollars to you?
HyperX’s headset lineup has gotten crowded and cluttered over the last year. What was once a small collection of high quality products at clearly delineated affordable price points is now a bit of a jumbled mess, with overlapping models that give the line a false sense of choice.
I still really like most of HyperX’s product line. Except for the Cloud Flight
I still think the Cloud II is one of the best headsets available.
I’m just bummed that the Cloud X has now lost the very things that made it special in the console gaming headset space. Few console-targeted headsets come with any extras, and it was really awesome to get extra ear pads and a hardshell case that felt leagues beyond the competitive price point.
Of course, the velour pads and case are still available from HyperX’s web site…but you’ll have to pay extra for them.
In a world where the Cloud Alpha also exists at the $99 price point, I was hopeful that the new $80 price of the Cloud X was a sign that HyperX was finally trying to reshuffle their pricing tiers more appropriately.
Instead, they’ve just removed features.
Bummer.
If you’re looking for a good, premium headset in this price range…I’d now probably recommend the Logitech G Pro first. It still comes with extra ear pads, and it has a detachable cable with a nicer in-line remote. All for $89. They didn’t pay me to say that.
Please clap for this if you liked it or it helped you out! Thank you.
