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Kingston are more commonly known for their RAM and storage products, but recently they have been branching out in a variety of directions, one of which being headsets. The HyperX range includes SSD drives and high performance RAM, but today we are going to be talking about the Cloud II gaming headset, part of Kingston’s foray into the competitive but profitable peripherals market.
A bit of a blurb on the product itself, Kingston have marketed this product squarely at gamers by focusing on the comfort, low tones and the price. So have they hit the mark, and made a headset that will satisfy the often very picky market of gamers? We’ll soon find out.
Design
The headphones are of a solid yet aesthetic design, with simple flowing lines and muted colours with a dash of bright red. Built with plastic and aluminium they have a more solid feel to them than a lot of gaming headphones do, though with this gain there is some sacrifice on portability as they take up a lot of room and do not fold up in any way at all.
Inside the headphones, the HyperX II features 53mm drivers, which are the largest available in all gaming headsets currently on the market. It is these drivers that allow the Cloud II to reproduce the high and low tones with incredible clarity, which is very important to maintain a sense of immersion for any gamer.
As mentioned earlier, comfort was one of the biggest aims Kingston had with these headphones, and they have definitely hit the mark with the Cloud II. Despite the comparatively large size of the headphones the quality leather padded headband holds the weight in a very well distributed way, meaning there is no chance of ache after wearing the headset for extended periods. The ear cups are very well padded and throughout testing there was literally zero hint of discomfort at any point, which any gamer will know is quite rare for a headset.
Features
The HyperX has all the standard features you would expect from a high end gaming headset, but at a budget price is. The inline volume control with locking capability is lightweight and very responsive, and the controls are easily used without looking down.
The protective carrying case is a lot bigger than we were expecting, but it is of very high quality even compared to the cases that come with some much pricier headsets, and will definitely keep your headset safe and undamaged in transit.
The ear cups are not noise cancelling, one thing you would get on a higher priced headset. However in our tests we did not find much noise was getting through anyway, probably due to the ear cups being circumaural. Again for a sub $200 headset, they are performing very well despite the lack of noise cancelling.
Summary
In a head to head against much more expensive gaming headsets, these things would hold their own without much difficulty. In the sub $200 market, they are completely without competition. Conservatively you’d have to be spending around $300 to $400 to get to the same level of performance and comfort, if noise cancelling is not a big issue for you. If you live in a noisy area or noisy house, and noise cancelling is a big part of what you need from a headset, then maybe you’ll need to keep looking, but for everyone else, these are a very high performing headset at a great price.
