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The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless Has Issues
When I reviewed the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless earlier this year, I was hoping for a home run. I’ve loved many different HyperX headsets over the last half decade, and the pairing of the classic Cloud Alpha design and sound with a 300 hour battery life seemed like a sure thing.
Unfortunately, the headset didn’t quite live up to its potential. The sound is more bass heavy and imprecise than the original version. The padding quality took a bit of a downgrade. The new giant mic capsule doesn’t offer a dramatic sound performance improvement. And the surround and EQ features are entirely software driven, meaning that you need a running PC for them to function. This was a stark change from the cheaper launch version of the Cloud II Wireless, which had a surround DSP built right into it. They’ve since changed that model in a stealth revision to use the Alpha Wireless software-style route for those features, meaning that the Alpha Wireless’s disappointments are now infecting other products.
The problems don’t stop there. HyperX attempted to address complaints about the muddy sound signature with an EQ mode called “balanced” which restores the sound to something more like the old wired model. That’s great — but again, you need to be running their drivers and software on your PC in order for that EQ mode to work. Those that choose not to install the software or those who play on a console are left with worse sound, and I can’t fathom why HyperX doesn’t just implement this feature in a firmware update instead.
Not installing the software might be a secret benefit due to the other big issue: latency. Turning on the DTS mode and EQ system each independently add some additional latency to the sound of the headset. Latency is a lag between when a game produces audio and when your headset actually plays it back into your ears. The more processing/gear in the chain between your game and your ears, the slower it can potentially get. For a great primer on this, check out this Battlenonsense video on Youtube.
Most wireless headsets use their own proprietary dongle to avoid as much latency as possible, but it seems like HyperX’s software and drivers slow the Cloud Alpha Wireless right back down to…
