HyperX Cloud Stinger Review - Affordable Quality

Published: November 30, 2016 11:00 AM /

Reviewed By:


HyperX Cloud Stinger

Anyone who knows me well understands that when it comes to audio, I'm all about quality gaming headsets. As someone who lives in a fairly busy household, I've grown quite accustomed to the headset lifestyle. Being able to experience titles in a surround-sound setting without bothering anyone else ... needless to say, it's almost become a mandatory policy to have a headset plugged in.

Of course, this sort of gaming lifestyle isn't met without its obvious flaws. Whether it's upgrading to the latest graphics card or procuring a new peripheral, money will always play a huge factor. For novice gamers as well, it’s especially easy to feel a little lost when it comes to deciding on certain brands. While it may be tempting to throw a couple hundred bucks on a peripheral, thankfully Kingston's HyperX Cloud Stinger provides gamers with a quality gaming headset that eases the financial burden.

Specs

Weighing in at 275g, the Cloud Stinger is a fairly light model. Cable length to the headset is roughly 1.3m, with the extended Y cable (for plugging in the microphone) adding it up to 1.7m. Attached to the headset is also a microphone, which comes with noise canceling polar pattern. This promises to cancel out any unnecessary background noise during some of your lengthy game sessions.

The earcups are pretty big, and the headset comes packed with a metallic extension to any users with fairly large heads. In addition, Kingston has also provided around half an inch of foam padding on both the headband and ear cups for extra comfort.

The Box

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I find unboxing videos dumb. In regards to the packaging, there's nothing really special to report on. While the outside is fairly standard, on the inside, the headset does come in a nice protective foam padding. As well as the headset and the extended Y cable, Kingston has also provided a simple guide to illustrate the basic functions on how to use the volume controls, mute settings, and where to plug it in on the PlayStation 4 controller.

HyperX Cloud Stinger
With this foam padding, gamers can play with these headsets easily for hours.

Design

In regards to the design, the Cloud Stinger is pretty minimalistic in its presentation. Aside from the HyperX logo printed on both sides of the earcups, there are no fancy patterns or metallic coating. Instead, the headset is provided with a thick black plastic shell, with the title "HyperX" pressed on the top.

One of the first things I look for in a good gaming headset is the ability to see if I can have these on for extended periods of time and still be comfortable with it. At the time of this review, I gave these bad boys a whirl during a lengthy gaming binge of DOOM and Uncharted 4. Suffice to say, these are very comfatble headsets. With the right volume settings, I could easily fall asleep with them if it weren't for this silly microphone.

On the right side of the ear cup, the headset comes with a built-in volume control. This means that users can easily set the volume for their headsets without having to flick through either a TV remote or menu settings. Unfortunately, there isn't a volume control for the microphone. Users hoping to use this for streaming or co-op games may want to play around with the volume settings first before commencing either activity.

Unlike other HyperX headsets, the microphone is not detachable. Users hoping to take this peripheral on the go may want to consider opting out to the Cloud Core model if this a feature you wish to have. If not, definitely give this model a shot.

HyperX Cloud Stinger Feature
While it may not be detachable, this microphone does an excellent in canceling out most background noise.

Performance

Quality wise, the microphone attachment does an excellent job. Once again, as someone who lives in a fairly busy household, I'm always happy whenever a headset manages to cancel out the background noise during my Skype calls.

In testing out the audio quality, I went ahead and tested with Naughty Dog's, Uncharted 4. While the bass performance was admittedly rather lacking, overall I found the audio quality to be quite superb.

HyperX Cloud Stinger
Nothing really special to say about the packaging. Unboxing videos are dumb.

Verdict

Overall, the HyperX Cloud Stinger headset is a perfect product to those looking to improve their gaming experience, without having to bleed too much out of their pocket. While it may not have the bass levels to stand out from the rest, gamers will be happy at the level of quality there is in this latest product.

Hyper X Cloud Stinger was provided by Kingston for the purpose of this review. Jason English also writes for Digital Fox.

Review Summary

8.5

The HyperX Cloud Stinger headset is a perfect product to those looking to improve their gaming experience, without having to bleed too much out of their pocket.

(Review Policy)

Pros

  • Excellent quality, with a price that is affordable
  • Simple and comfortable design
  • Can be used on almost any device.

Cons

  • Non-detachable headset
  • Bass levels aren't too impressive

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| Staff Writer

Super famous games journalist currently based in Melbourne, Australia. When not writing for TechRaptor, Jason is also covering material for Digital Fox.… More about Jason