I had the honor of talking with some of the key members of the HyperX team in an interview on October 6th. I spoke with Mark Tekunoff, the HyperX Corporate PR Commentor who showed me an informative presentation about the company and their products, so I would like to start there by giving some background information on what kind of company HyperX is and what products they produce.
HyperX is a part of Kingston, which has been around for 29 years. HyperX started as gaming memory, and they expanded to building headsets about two years ago. They now currently make memory, USB drives, SSDS, headsets, and mouse pads. Starting about 3 years ago, they were already investing with gaming teams. They are currently working with over 30 eSports organizations, 95+ teams, and over 400 players. With eSports, there is a need and a desire for gaming teams in big arenas, and these teams need good quality gaming gear to perform their best, which HyperX has continued to provide for them year after year.
HyperX exhibits their products at big-ticket events such as PAX and Gamescom, and I learned that the team had recently come back from an expo in Brazil. HyperX is also very adept at using social media for big social exposure. They have a Facebook, Twitter, and a Youtube that they use to get community feedback and garner support for their company. Kingston already has a very global reach, with over 80 countries shipping out products to consumers everywhere.
Mark told me that there are three key tenets that HyperX always takes into account whenever they manufacture a gaming headset. These are: the quality, of sound, the quality of manufacturing, and the most important one, the comfort level of the product. For example, the CloudStinger has soft earcups that are made from memory foam, so they are comfortable enough that gamers are able to play for hours on end with no problem.
Some of their other headsets include the HyperX Cloud 2, which retails for $99, and is the most successful headset that the company has sold. The headset is also Xbox-certified by Microsoft in the actual store itself. The Cloud Revolver is a stereo headset with a pretty good price point of $119, considering some stereo-quality headsets retail for much, more more. It has a studio-grade sound stage with wide and accurate sound in the game sphere. It has semi-open ear cups as well.
And now we come to the headset that I got to sample, the Hyper X Cloudstinger. Lightweight design, with a heavy sound quality and good base, this headset is designed to make the casual gamer feel like a pro.
Mark told me that this particular headset was marketed towards the first time buyer, so they won’t have to break the bank in order to get good quality sound, comfort, and durability in a gaming headset. This truly does make casual gamers feel like pros with the same good quality experience at an affordable price point. It was also modeled after the good quality of the Bose headphones that you encounter on planes.
The CloudStinger was compared to several other headsets that carried the same price point and are available in the gaming market now. They tested better than the Razer Kraken, the TB Recon (for the PS4), the Logitech G231, and the TB XO One (for the Xbox One).
Overall, for my own personal review, I was very pleased with the quality of the HyperX Cloudstinger. The headset was comfortable around my ears as I played Overwatch for several hours. The ear cups rotate 90 degrees, so they were easy to slip on. The memory foam in the ear cups kept my ears comfortable and not feeling like they had been rubbed against as other headsets had done in the past.
The CloudStinger has a durable steel slider, so it is a breeze to adjust. The volume slider is also located in a convenient place, on the bottom of the ear cup, so there’s no need to fumble with a cord or your controller to turn the volume up.
It was very easy to communicate with my team, with crystal clear sound being sent and received via the 50mm drivers that helped to give the sound quality that extra leg up. It was no surprise to me since the CloudStinger is certified by Discord, Teamspeak, Skype, Ventrilo, Mumble, and Raidcall, so that guarantees good communication.
The microphone has a swivel to mute function which is very convenient, as I no longer had to fumble with a button and could just slide the mic up with ease. The mic also is made out of a flexible plastic, so you can even slightly bend the mic in closer to your mouth if it’s necessary.
I also used my CloudStinger for Youtube videos and listening to music, and found that the superior sound quality held up when I crossed mediums from a console to a mobile device, my Galaxy S7 Edge.
So, here are my final thoughts: I really, really love this headset and it’s very apparent that HyperX truly cares about its customers because of the amazing quality it provides even with a headset that is at a lower price point than the rest. Quality, comfort, and durability are paramount and delivered perfectly in the neat little package that is the CloudStinger. I definitely recommend this headset for anyone who is looking for a great deal without sacrificing quality and durability. This headset is especially ideal for first-time gamers who need a better quality headset than the one they currently own, but have a smaller budget pool.
The HyperX Cloudstinger retails for $49.99 USD on Amazon and at Best Buy. A sample unit was provided to us free of charge for the purpose of this review.
