Hyperx Cloud Flight Wireless review

There are a lot of HyperX headsets to choose from, and if you're looking for a new headset to wrap around your ears while gaming then HyperX is a great place to start looking. The Cloud Flight wireless gaming headset sits firmly in the (upper) middle of the range when it comes to price, as it will set you back £120/$140 and is marketed as having a "solid, gaming-grade wireless connection with signature HyperX comfort", but how does it fare when put through the paces, especially when compared to the best gaming headsets? 

Design

First off, the Cloud Flight Wireless is a great looking headset. The red LEDs on the outside of either ear cup match the exposed bright red cabling, while the rest of the headset is a sleek black. It's a small piece of kit too, so don't worry about having a humongous, chunky beast atop your head.

Cushioning on the ear cups consists of a soft faux-leather that fits perfectly around my ears, though the fit is very secure and might pinch on some folk's heads at the ears; it's one of the downsides of having smaller earcups. The cushion along the underside of the headband is immensely comfortable too; the Cloud Flight Wireless certainly is one of the comfiest headsets I've used for prolonged periods.

Along the underside of the left ear cup is where you'll find most of the buttons, including the power, 3.5mm audio jack, micro-USB charging port, and the detachable boom mic slot. The left panel on the ear cup can also be pushed down for a quick mic toggle which is always handy given the lack of cable, while the underside of the right ear cup has the volume wheel. This doesn't have much resistance so it's easy to alter the volume by mistake by brushing your shoulder against it by accident, so that will take some getting used to. That's just nitpicking though; it's annoying when it happens but is hardly a huge drawback.

Performance

In terms of sheer performance, there's nothing wrong with the Cloud Flight Wireless; it's Literally FIne, though a bit underwhelming for a HyperX headset. It has no flagship features whatsoever. It's only got 2.0 channel audio which isn't anything of note since you can get 5.1 and even 7.1 surround sound headsets for a similar price from other brands, as I found in my Alienware AW510H review, for example. It doesn't sound bad, but identifying footstep locations in games like Valorant and Rainbow Six Siege is not as easy as it can be nowadays, and certainly on contemporary competitors to this headset.

On the product page, it proudly boasts up to 30-hour battery life, with the LEDs off and at 50% volume. In my experience, that has been wildly exaggerated; I needed to charge it after just half that time, from listening to music while working during the day then playing some games in the evening.

A word needs to be said about the microphone too because it's a little below what you'd expect from a premium gaming headset. It's usable but just sounds a little flat compared to others on the market. It's also only detachable; being able to either flip the mic up or push it back would be a lovely quality of life feature here.

Overall - should you buy it?

At the end of the day, the HyperX Cloud Flight Wireless is not a bad headset, but there's nothing to shout about either, especially at that price tag. Other gaming headsets offer more features at a cheaper price and while the Cloud Flight is well-built and comfy, it's another average headset in an ocean full of them. You probably won't be disappointed if you're in dire need of a new headset and want a HyperX one - this is not a contender for best PS4 headset or best pc headset for gaming, for example - but at least wait till a sale when it inevitably goes below triple digits.