HyperX Cloud 2/Cloud II Wireless Headphones Review

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless look identical to the HyperX Cloud 2/Cloud II. They have a black frame with red accents on the hinges, headband stitching, and brand logo on each earcup. They also have a detachable boom mic, which can help them look more casual.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless are comfortable headphones. They have good padding on the headband and around the earcups. They don't clamp too tightly, which is nice. However, they could get warm during long gaming sessions.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have sub-par controls. They're gaming headphones and lack basic call or music-related controls such as a dedicated play/pause button. That said, unlike the wired HyperX Cloud 2/Cloud II, they have controls on both ear cups. On the left ear cup, there's a power button, as well as a mic mute button which has an LED light that turns red when you're muted. You can also press and hold the mic button to turn 7.1 surround sound on and off. On the right earcup is an infinite volume wheel. It has a different audio chime to let you know when you've reached the minimum or maximum volume. The headphones also beep to indicate their auto-off timer. Unfortunately, they lack channel mixing.

These headphones aren't very portable. They can't fold into a more compact form, and the cups can't swivel to lay flat. They also don't come with a carrying case to help protect them.

These headphones don't come with a carrying case.

The HyperX Cloud II Wireless have a great build quality. Like the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless, their hinges and yokes are made of aluminum, which makes them feel durable. The ear cups also feel dense and should survive a couple of accidental drops without taking too much damage. They have leather padding on the headband and ear cups, too. However, the audio cable linking the ear cups to the headband is a potential weak point.

These headphones have a fairly stable fit. They're stable enough for playing video games, but they're not ideal for sports. They can fall or slip off your head during moderate exercise. On the upside, they have a wireless design, so you don't need to worry about an audio cable hooked on something, which may pull them off your head.

• Hyper X Cloud 2 Wireless headphones
• USB wireless dongle
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Detachable boom microphone
• Manual

The HyperX Cloud II Wireless have a slightly bass-heavy sound profile that's well-suited for emphasizing sound effects in video games. The mids are also balanced, so dialogue in cutscenes is accurately reproduced. Unfortunately, they lack companion software to help you customize their sound profile.

These headphones have a sub-par frequency response consistency. Bass and treble delivery can vary due to fit, positioning, and seal. You may experience a drop in bass if you wear glasses or have thick hair, as this can break the headphones' seal.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have good bass accuracy. It's slightly overemphasized across the range, adding extra thump, punch, and rumble to your mixes. However, some users may find it sounds very boomy.

These headphones have fantastic mic accuracy. The range is mostly flat and neutral, resulting in clear and present vocals and lead instruments.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have fair treble accuracy. The low-treble is uneven, so some vocals and lead instruments sound slightly harsh or veiled. The mid-treble is overemphasized, which makes sibilants like cymbals sound a bit piercing.

These headphones have decent peaks and dips performance. There's a small peak in the high-bass which adds boom. It's followed by a slight dip in the low to mid-mid range, nudging back vocals and lead instruments to the back of the mix. There's a peak and dip in the low-treble range, so the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments are bright but become very veiled as the frequency increases. The mid-treble has a couple of peaks as well, resulting in piercing sibilants.

Update 06/04/2021: We fixed the imaging issue with these headphones, which resulted in the score changing from '5.3' to '8.7'. The biggest change was that the 'Weighted Frequency Mismatch' went from 186.94 to 1.73. There's also a bump in the 'Phase Response Mismatch' at 300Hz, but it's not really audible with regular content. However, the sound feels a little off-centered and shifted to the left. This could be specific to the sweep in our software, but we don't currently know for sure. As a result, the scoring of this box has changed.

These headphones have an excellent imaging performance. Although there are a few peaks in the group delay's bass range, it's incredibly minor. The group delay falls within good levels, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble reproduction. The L/R drivers are also well-matched in phase, amplitude, and frequency response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects and instruments in the stereo image. While there's a small bump at 300Hz in the phase response, this warping sound can be very hard to hear with real-life content. Note that these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have a disappointing passive soundstage. The soundstage is perceived as natural, but small and located mostly inside your head rather than out in front of you. Due to their closed-back design, they won't sound as open or spacious as open-back headphones like the Drop + Sennheiser/EPOS PC38X.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have a Dolby 7.1 virtual surround feature that can be turned on and off by pressing and holding down the mic mute button. However, we don't currently test this feature.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance of these headphones is satisfactory. At a normal listening volume, there's a small peak in the low-treble. However, it can be hard to hear with real-life content. That said, the range falls within good limits, resulting in mostly clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings we used to test the HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless. Our results are only valid when using these settings.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have a poor noise isolation performance. They don't block out any bass-range noise like bus or plane engines and struggle to cut down mid-range noise such as office chatter. They do a better job of reducing higher-pitched noise like the hum of an AC unit, though.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have a fair leakage performance. Most of the leakage is concentrated between the mid to treble range, which sounds thin. If you're listening to audio at a high volume at the office, others around you shouldn't be able to hear what you're listening to.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless have a detachable, flexible boom mic.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless' boom mic has a great recording quality. Your voice sounds clear, full, and easy to understand.

The boom mic has excellent noise handling. It can separate your voice from ambient noise around you, even in loud environments.

The battery performance of these headphones is great. They have over 30 hours of continuous battery life and should easily last through long gaming marathons. You can still use them to receive audio while charging, but you can't use them passively since they don't support a wired connection. If you need gaming headphones with an even longer battery life, it's worth checking out the HyperX Cloud III Wireless. They have 120 hours of continuous battery life, which can get you through multiple extended gaming sessions without needing to charge.

The NGENUITY software is just mediocre. This app allows you to view your battery level, as well as just volume and mic levels. You can also turn the 7.1 surround sound feature on and off. There's a 'preset' feature available, too, which creates shortcuts for opening certain programs or software. If you're looking for wireless gaming headphones that you can adjust to your liking using their companion software's graphic EQ and presets, try the SteelSeries Arctis 7P+ Wireless.

Note: A user has reported that there is an 'Auto-Optimizer' feature available when using the 7.1 surround sound feature when using the HyperX Cloud Alpha S. This feature is advertised to apply a customized audio preset to select games. However, we didn't test this feature and it isn't listed on the NGENUITY (BETA) website.

The HyperX Cloud 2 Wireless aren't Bluetooth-compatible.

The HyperX Cloud II Wireless have fantastic non-Bluetooth wireless compatibility. They have very low latency, which makes them suitable for gaming or watching videos. That said, some apps compensate for latency differently, so your real-life experience may vary.

These wireless headphones only come with a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging. They aren't compatible with any wired connections. If you're looking for headphones that you can use wirelessly or wired, the Corsair HS80 RGB WIRELESS are compatible with PCs via USB-A to USB-C cable.

These headphones aren't compatible with the Xbox One.

The HyperX Cloud II Wireless come with a wireless USB-A dongle that offers low latency.