The HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless headset is quality and convenience rolled into one, but I'm not sure who it's for | Review

Whenever a brand new HyperX headset rears its lovely head, I get pretty excited. The brand has a knack for popping out wireless cups with extraordinary battery life, which can give even the best gaming headsets I've tested a kicking to the curb.

The new HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless is no different, as it can pump out up a mighty 250 hours of playback, but that's not what's most interesting about this new pair. This new iteration of the Cloud Alpha line features an RGB Base Station, which combines the tech of a 2.4GHz dongle and some quick access buttons for streaming into one device. While a neat addition to the HyperX lineup, its presence drives up the price to $299.99 / £254.99, $100 more than the $199.99 than the older HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless.

For $300, you are also getting a great-sounding headset with simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz audio, a feature that's expected of cups that verge near that price mark. However, I can't help but feel like those who'd benefit the most from the Base Station would be better off acquiring a separate stream deck device instead, which can come with more buttons and cost dramatically less.

Key specs

Design

There's that age-old saying of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and that seems to be a HyperX design philosophy. The new HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 looks almost indiscernible from its predecessor, the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless, which in turn looks like HyperX Cloud Alpha. This headset features the same cut-out metal yokes and oval-shaped earcups, but there are some changes that make it look (and feel) more premium than what came before.

For one, those bright red yokes are now a metal, almost gunsmoke-colored gray, as are the logos on either side of the earcups. The HyperX headset line is pretty well known for its black and red colorways, but this change helps make the Alpha 2 more professional and premium, which feels more befitting for a pair that costs $299.99. The plastic headband has also been replaced with a robust metal band, which pairs nicely with the cool-to-the-touch metal sides of each cup and the metal yokes that keep everything in place.

My favorite design difference for this headset is the plush fabric coating that's found on both ear cushions. Normally, I prefer having a leather-like fabric pressing up against the side of my head as fabric-coated cups tend to be itchy and a sensory nightmare for my easily overstimulated self. However, HyperX has opted for an almost velvet-like fabric this time around. Not only is it super soft to the touch, but during my weeks spent with the cups it it didn't attract a million cat hairs, which is unique for any accessories that find their way into my house - as you'll well have noticed if you've taken a look at any of my review photos over the year.

What makes the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 most unique is nothing to do with the look or design of the headset itself, but the fact that it comes with an RGB Base Station, which also acts as the 2.4GHz wireless dongle. While it shares a similar name to that of the accessory you can find packed in with the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, it's nothing like it.

In design (and practice, but you can read more about that later) it reminds me of a miniature version of Elgato's Stream Deck, a device used to give quick access buttons to streamers and content creators. The accessory comes with a large RGB integrated dial and a series of six RGB buttons underneath, which light up purple, dark and light blue, orange, yellow, and green by default.

Features

The HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless is a pretty feature-full headset, even if you don't factor in the accompanying RGB Base Station - but that's what you'd hope for when you remember its $300 price tag.

The headset is integrated with 53mm audio drivers with neodymium magnets, which are equipped with the brand's NGENUITY spatial audio. When it comes to voice chat, the Cloud Alpha 2 features a detachable boom mic that attaches via the left cup by a 3.5mm port. This port sits in front of a USB-C port for charging, another 3.5mm port for wired audio support, a mic mute button, and the power button. On the opposite (Right) cup, you can find a volume dial, a multi-function button, and the wireless mode switch.

The PC-focused cups can be hooked up to a desktop gaming rig, the PS5, Switch and Switch 2, and mobile platforms via 5.3 Bluetooth or the 2.4GHz connectivity built into the Base Station. That's right, instead of providing a small flashcard-sized wireless dongle that can easily go missing, the RGB-lit accessory provides that wireless support, and there's simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz audio on the cards here too.

The base station's existence as the 2.4GHz dongle is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing as I hate having yet another tiny wireless accessory to keep track of at all times. However, it's a curse as hooking the Cloud Alpha 2 to the PS5 is extremely awkward if you have it kept in your living room, as you'll never be close enough to use any of the rainbow glowing buttons. I'll get more into the tedious details of its PS5 compatibility later on in this review; however, all you need to know now is that if you're a PC player, you have to have a USB-C and 3.5mm headphone jack going spare to get the wireless headset and base station up and running. I assumed just the USB-C cable alone would be enough to power the Base Station, but I couldn't get audio to come through the cups unless I had both it and the wired connection running at once. This might be a firmware issue, or some ignorance on my part, but you'll need both to hook up the Cloud Alpha 2 to your PC gaming rig.

Once the base station is powered, you have six buttons and a volume dial at your disposal. By default, these buttons are assigned to mic gain, Game/Chat mix, mic monitoring, audio mute, EQ preset, and media control. However, you can customize the button shortcuts via the NGENUITY Beta PC software, along with the lighting colors and effects.

Performance

I went into testing this headset, hoping that the sound profile of the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless matched its premium cost, and my hopes were not squandered. The moment I popped the velvet-like cups on my ears, I was greeted by a theatrical-sounding audio, a sound that made me glad I set aside new releases like Dispatch to test it with. The low timbre of Aaron Paul's voice in the first episode of the game sounded heavenly. Even at full volume, both on the dial and my gaming PC, the 53mm Dual chamber Neodymium audio drivers produced no audible distortion, and I could hear every nuance of the dialogue-heavy game and the superhero-laden metropolis that surrounded characters Robert and Blonde Blazer.

This quality was heightened by the inclusion of the brand's NGENUITY spatial audio software, which lent itself to the AdHoc Studio's game. There's a moment in the first episode where the two characters are sitting on top of a billboard, and the sounds of engines of cars driving by sounded as though they were happening on my own very street behind me. Even though I need to switch to my next headset to review, I'm going to ensure I have the Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless on while playing through the rest of the chapters.

The high-quality audio lends itself to our usual testing games of choice, too, including Marvel Rivals and Fortnite. In Fortnite, especially, the spatial audio and balanced soundstage made me extremely heightened and aware of those around me, and I always secured a top 10 place with this headset on my head. If you know what you're doing, Fortnite can be a pretty quiet game, but even the sounds of the whistling of the wind through the trees and foliage I was hiding in on the new Chapter 7 map sounded so clear that I had to regularly drag myself out of a relaxed ASMR state.

I instinctively started testing the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless with PC games first because of the Base Station. The little accessory needs to have desk space and be near your hands at all times to feel relevant and like a justifiable add-on, and my gaming PC lent itself to that. Of course, to get the most out of the device, you also need to have the NGENUITY Beta software running on your PC, as that's what allows you to map the buttons and change the color and lighting effects of them, and the dial above.

When playing through Dispatch, Marvel Rivals, and Fortnite, it felt really fun to have it at my side. I much preferred being able to quickly adjust the volume of the mic with the easy-to-turn dial, rather than the usual tedium of running my hands on the edge of the large cups to find the volume dial. It was especially helpful as I suffer from joint pains in my hands from a chronic illness, so the large buttons and dials were a far more comfortable experience to use than the tiny buttons on the headset itself.

I ended up enjoying the convenience of the Base Station so much that it was disappointing when it came to testing the headset on the PS5. My PS5 is set up traditionally, with it opposite my living room sofa. As the 2.4GHz wireless dongle is integrated into the device, I had to hook it up to the front-facing USB-C port of the Sony console and leave it hanging on the edge of my living room cabinet. Then, of course, by sitting on the sofa, I'm nowhere near the Base Station and can't actually use it. That's where the onboard controls on the cups do come in handy, as I still have access to the mic mute button and volume dial, but it rendered the Base Station useless. Of course, if your PS5 is integrated into your PC gaming setup, you won't have this issue, but it felt worth mentioning if you're after a new PS5 headset in particular.

When it came to testing the same games on the PS5, like Marvel Rivals and Fortnite, the cups still sounded just as fantastic as on the PC, at least. The high-pitched announcements from my favorite space giant Galacta were just as exciting as ever, which was expected when I knew how well this premium headset lent itself to in-game dialogue. On Fortnite, I even managed to secure a few wins, but it was there that I discovered that the microphone was a bit lacking.

No matter the adjustments made to the mic gain, I always sounded far too comically loud to my partner when playing both online games with me. I tested the mic quality thoroughly by asking my fiancé to use it on his PC, so I could listen to his voice for a few hours every day, and it definitely is far from what a premium microphone should sound like. It had an early 2000s quality to it, where the voice wasn't entirely clear and sounded as though it was always in the realm of peaking, which is a bit of a letdown. Especially as I really appreciated HyperX's design choice to coat the mic in a proper grill as you'd find on the best microphones, and not a cheap bit of foam utilized by other headset brands on the market.

My microphone woes were quickly forgotten when I used the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless to listen to music. One of my favorite local Scottish bands recently launched their new album, 'National Record of Achievement,' and I'm so glad I listened to the entirety of it through these wireless cups. Slime City's catchy melodies and crunchy guitar tones sounded incredible, and despite having many audiophile headsets at my disposal as a music nerd, I ended up still using the cups for tunes far after my testing time had ended. The headset's ability to perfectly blend the low, mid, and high frequencies of any soundstage meant that any genre, from Slime City's punk rock offerings, to bbno$'s new bass-heavy pop stylings, sounded chief's kiss perfect.

Should you buy the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless headset?

The HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless puts me in an awkward position, as if I were purely focusing on the headset, I'd definitely recommend it for those after premium quality and sound.

During testing, I was blown away by how theatrical the 53mm Dual chamber Neodymium drivers made games sound. There's no question that is a great-sounding and high-quality PC headset, but the Base Station makes recommending it a bit awkward.

It's handy to have the 2.4GHz wireless dongle tech combined into the little device. Not to mention, being able to have a large mic-mute button at my disposal is a lifeline. However, it drives up the price pretty considerably. With a $300 price tag, I'd feel more comfortable directing people towards picking up the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless when it's on sale, and a separate stream deck device, which can provide the same number of buttons, and even more, starting from $50 / £50 at retailers like Amazon.

If you have all the cash in the world to spare and want to test out a more compact version of a stream deck for your streaming or gaming needs, and happen to need a new headset, the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless is still a fantastic option. I just hope it sees some considerable discounts down the line so it can become a good alternative to those who want to dip their toes into stream decks and streaming gear.

How I tested the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless headset

To test the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless, I made it my only headset when it came to gaming, music, and work for over two weeks. In that time, I played everything from Counter Strike 2, Marvel Rivals, Fortnite, and Dispatch on the PC, and later used it to play Marvel Rivals, Fortnite, and Sonic Racing CrossWorlds on the PS5. When not gaming, I used the HyperX headset to listen to a huge range of different artists via Spotify, including the alt punk-rock stylings of Scotland-based band Slime City and their new album 'National Record of Achievement' and bbno$'s self-titled new album.

During that testing time, I also spent multiple hours with the Cloud Alpha 2 wireless headset on my head when catching up with the latest episodes of Stranger Things on streaming TV platforms like Netflix, and watching Christmas movies like Our Little Secret as the festive season is officially underway. For more information on how we test gaming headsets, check out the full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Check out our guides to the best Nintendo Switch headsets, the best Xbox Series X headsets, and the best PS5 headsets for more of our top picks if the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 Wireless doesn't sound for you.