14 DAY TRIAL // Audio has been declining in importance in the world of gaming for some while and only a limited number of players pays enough attention to the sound card solution that they use and the headsets that they are wearing while battling aliens, conquering the world or defeating other humans in multiplayer.
One of these groups are the truly competitive, those who need to have a comfortable pair of well-designed headphones on their ears while they strive to improve their game and to always be part of the winning team and those will probably appreciate what Kingston delivers with its HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming headset, which has been created in collaboration with Qpad.
The company might be best known for its long-time leadership position in the field of memory and storage solutions and it’s normal to think that a foray into the audio segment might pose some problems, but after using the headphones in a variety of situations, I must say that they perform well and that many gamers might put them on their wish list.
Design and Specifications
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming Headset comes in a pretty big box and the packaging work is pretty impressive, with quite a bit of foam padding included in order to make sure that nothing gets damaged in transit or by mishandling.
The various components are well laid out, with two extra earcups in bold red included alongside a variety of adaptors that should make it easier to connect the headphones to any kind of device.
The headset itself and the attachable microphone make a good first impression, as they are solidly built, with a lot of padding across the sensitive areas and cups that should accommodate even the big eared gamers among us.
It’s easy to link the headset with an extension in order to get it to a jack located on the back of a computer and then start using them right away. One problem that’s immediately visible is that the cord mounted volume control is a bit far and tends to drag on the floor, where it’s easy to get snagged by a chair or someone’s foot.
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming headphones are light, made from aluminum, and they seem resistant to the mishaps of the gaming life, although I have not thrown or dropped them in order to test out how they would fare.
The closed earcup design means that they filter out noise coming from the outside world very well and allow the user to focus on the music, words or cues coming from their favorite video games with ease.
I never crank up the volume in my headset to the max, but if you plan on doing that, then you should know that the Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming is a little bit on the quiet side even when pushed to the limit.
Gaming Use
Over the time I have spent with Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming I have played video games including: DOTA 2, Europa Universalis IV – Wealth of Nations, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Watch Dogs on the PlayStation 4, Wargame: Red Dragon and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The headphones are well balanced and deliver strong bass, well-rounded high sounds and crisp voices in all the listed titles and it was easy to pick up subtle clues like footsteps and ability deployment sounds during competitive matches.
The performance is mostly due to the 53mm drivers included and the 15 to 25,000 Hz frequency response, which are superior to most other headphones in the same category.
The very good sound quality and the noise canceling ensured by the snug fit of the earcups means that the outside world rarely has the ability to intrude in any way, which tends to result in a lot more taps on the shoulder from family and coworkers who try to get my attention.
The headphones are designed to let only a whisper of sound leak out even at maximum volume, which means that I could listen to tanks blowing up around me without troubling my brother, who had been coding in the same room for a few hours.
The included microphone is not as impressive as the headphones themselves, mostly because it tends to pick up sounds even in a fairly quiet room, which makes it hard to communicate easily with teammates a lot of the time.
Day to Day Use
I find it unlikely that a gamer, even if he is part of the hardcore crowd, is willing to have two separate sets of headphones, one used when he is enjoying his favorite hobby and the other for those moments when he is listening to another type of content.
So I listened to some podcasts using the Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming and then I watched some television shows and a few full-length movies in order to get a feeling of how they behave when faced with this kind of entertainment.
I also took them on the road, which is clearly something they are not designed for, as I made my weekly shopping for about 60 minutes, listening to some music and I even tried a short Skype call with my uncle.
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro has performed pretty well in all instances and the sound always remained powerful and clear, even if some apps used required a little bit of fiddling with the volume.
I heard some details in podcasts that my normal in-ear headphones could not deliver and music tended to sound about as good as it does on the pair I use when I listen to albums or to the radio at home.
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming Headset has a tendency to focus on bass more than it should, but that can be tweaked via the user’s audio player.
The one problem associated with non-gaming applications was the same as the one linked to long periods of in-game use: especially given the increased heat in the environment, my ears would get sweaty, requiring a quick removal of the headset for about 30 seconds from time to time.
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming headphones can easily be used all through the day by the gamer who does not want to switch to another solution and the solid construction and the good noise canceling make it suitable for that.
Conclusion
The Kingston HyperX Cloud Pro Gaming Headset comes from a surprising source, but the company has managed to create a very solid product that delivers more quality than the price tag suggests.
The headphones work great when it comes to gaming, deliver good performance when music and movies are involved and the only big downside is the limited performance of the microphone, which means that most players should consider them when they are next looking for a way to enhance their experience.
