Hyper X Cloud III Wireless Headset Review!

When I think of my ideal sound quality, I think of deep thumping bass, crystal clear vocal tweeters and perfect middle tones. And when I get the perfect audio, each and every experience becomes a unique adventure. When I can do it for hours on end without even the faintest discomfort, it feels as natural as though it was always meant to be. That is, in the shortest and simplest terms, the experience I had two years ago when I reviewed HyperX Cloud III headset. So it seems almost like some divine fate that I recently got the chance to review its new, younger, wireless brother.

And dare I say it? They’ve made the experience even better.

Features

Like its older predecessor, the Cloud III Wireless retains the detachable microphone. The freedom to take the microphone off whenever you don’t need it, cannot be understated here. It makes it so simple to use it for gaming, videos and music. Like the wired model, the wireless version comes standard as a USB-C and an attachable adapter for USB-A. But unique to this model, it also comes with a bluetooth mode, so you can use it for literally anything! Discord calls on PC/Mobile, Streaming or watching your favourite content, playing or listening to your best games and music. This bad boy can do it all and gives you some of the best sound quality doing so. The wired pair had the limitation of only being able to be plugged into something with a 2.5mm audio jack, or anything requiring a USB-A or C. The addition of bluetooth giving complete wireless freedom, just can’t be overlooked. The applications for wired headsets seem to be slowly but surely dwindling, but with the wireless giving you both A and C variants and bluetooth? The sky’s the limit with connectivity! That’s already one point to the Wireless version, it won’t be the last.

The wireless pair do retain all the same functions of the wired pair; powerful, clear microphone, crystal clear audio, extreme comfort and insane durability. It also retains the Ngenuity software compatibility and DTSx spatial sound with custom equaliser. Giving you so much ability to find tune your sound experience to your exact taste and even save these presets so that you have different settings for music, games, videos and more!

HyperX seems to know exactly what I want from excellent sound, to clear and concise microphones. Is there nothing they can’t do?

The battery is also simply insane, up to 120 hours of battery life on a single charge. For those of you that don’t want to do math, I don’t blame you, but I have you covered. That’s five, whole, days. Yep, you heard me right, five days. Now I’m not hugely familiar with how far the technology has come over the years, but for comparison. My old Corsair VOID Elite set, in its’ prime, could only manage a maximum of 16 hours. Granted we’re talking about a headset that is at least around five years old, the comparison should be taken lightly. This battery life  is longer than my phone and even my smart watch when I first purchased these brand new. This combined with its extremely comfortable design, is exactly what I need, both as a streamer and as a gamer who sinks many hours into gaming each day in my spare time.

Back when I reviewed the wired predecessor, I made note of how light the whole headset is. Surprisingly. I didn’t even notice any additional weight in the wireless pair. I’m sure it probably does weight a little more than its older brother, but it’s still incredibly light and significantly lighter than my old Corsair pair. I can and absolutely have, worn this pair for hours on end and had zero complaints about comfort. The range one them is pretty amazing too, I’d give it a solid 15 metre radius of connectivity and through walls as well. Equal in capability to my old Corsair set but maintaining a quality at least three times better.

There’s one extra button on here, well two I suppose but one is sort of a mandatory feature and the other is a welcome quality of life addition. The new model retains the volume dial and the mute button, but now sports a simple switch to toggle connectivity modes between the USB-A/C receiver and bluetooth modes. And a new button to play/pause your current audio source (eg; music app or video). This function might not seem like all that much of an addition, but as someone who likes to set up shortcuts to make functions easier for me. A button on my person, as opposed to on a keyboard or manually through the source directly, definitely has its merits.

Build Quality & Comfort

The comfort from the previous model has been improved on even more with better quality memory foam leatherette pads. Sometimes it really doesn’t even feel like you’re even wearing anything until you take them off and realise just how much outside noise these puppies can shut out. The durable yet flexible design makes them really good for all sorts of purposes. Sturdy enough to be taken out into the world as you touch grass on your IRL adventures. Sturdy enough for those.. frustrating moments of gameplay, comfortable enough even to lay down with. The memory foam really does provide an almost pillow-like softness that I often find myself just wearing to bed sometimes.

The overall shape of the unit is much the same as the previous model and I made note that this design was one of the key factors into how much I liked the Cloud III more than my Corsair pair. The only reason I went back to my Corsair pair was a simple one. The ability to move around my room, my house and still remain connected to whatever device I was connected to. Was a feature I realised I would sacrifice comfort for most of the time, convenience over comfort is something I think a lot of us can relate to. But given the opportunity to have both? Now that’s something I’d pay good money for.

Everything the wired pair has, the Cloud III has, but upgraded upon even further. The quality aluminum frame is even more flexible and sturdier still. The ear cuffs feel even more spacious, without much overall increase in size. Upgraded audio drivers for even better sound quality, I’ve been told that the mic on the wireless set is so clear yet so well balanced. That it’s everything my HyperX Quadcast mic is, but in a smaller package and with far greater background noise reduction. Which I didn’t think was possible until I listened back to some one my videos I made directly comparing the HyperX Quadcast to the Cloud III for myself. The Quadcast still keeps the edge, ever so slightly, on vocal quality. But as a complete package, the Cloud III comes out leagues ahead. And in the long run, a headset of this quality, while pricey on its own, will actually save you money because you won’t have to buy a good mic and a good set of headphones separately.

Audio Quality

There’s not a huge amount to add here that wasn’t already covered in my review of the previous model. All the features and all the drivers from the previous model are there, just tweaked slightly and improved upon. Bass is heavy and chunky, making music, movies and games effects pound with even greater impact than ever before. Treble is crisp and clear, for all those moments of squad callouts or deep lore videos into your favourite games, movies and series’.  Even the mid gets some much needed love with the improvements, when paired with the Ngenuity software, your sound experience is entirely your own. DTSx Spatial Sound once again transforms your Cloud III into a wireless, home theatre system directly into your ears and with the on board equaliser, you can tailor your sound experience down to the finest margins.

You might think with all this power that the Cloud III wireless, might become too much to wear and listen to for hours on end. But it’s really not, even with the base settings I found it easy to listen and enjoy the various kinds of activities I do on a daily basis. But with the added ability to tailor everything to your own exact and unique sound desires? There’s absolutely no setting that is too far out of reach for the Cloud III and Ngenuity pairing.

Ngenuity even allowed for the use of mic monitoring, which is great for a noise cancelling set like this to be able to hear yourself and what you’re saying in voice chat, on recorded videos, while streaming etc. It does take a little bit of getting used to at first, hearing your own voice being fed through the mic back into the earpieces into your ears. But it’s not so egregious as I experienced with direct connections via the 2.5mm jack on my Quadcast mic. So I got used to it a lot quicker and it’s become pretty comfy, so much so that when I mute the mic and it stops feeding my voice back to me. I actually hear just how muffled I am with the noise cancelling. Not bad enough that I can’t understand myself of course, but if I’m having to give specific call outs to my raid team. I need that extra helping hand, it comes in very handy.

Wrap Up

I mentioned that the wired set for the Cloud III is great for gamers on a budget. And it still stands up well today, but now that I’ve tried and tested the Cloud III wireless. There’s simply no way I could go back to the old pair with that pesky cable restricting my freedom of movement. Are there cheaper headsets, both wired and wireless? Absolutely. Are you going to get a great experience with them? I mean, they’re fine on a budget. But if you want top level sound quality, simplistic design and decently affordable? You absolutely cannot look past the HyperX Cloud III Wireless headset.

Its improvements might not sound like a whole lot more, but try it for yourself and I guarantee you’ll be impressed. Improved sound, improved build and comfort, even marginal as it might be, with the benefit of wireless and an average 4-5 days worth of battery life? That seems like a no brainer to me. Thanks again to HyperX for giving me the opportunity to work with your quality products! Keep an eye on Impulse Gamer in the coming days for more HyperX reviews!