For the last decade or more, I shunned the idea of buying a headset despite people telling me that they provide the best gaming experience. I didn’t want to have to wear something on my head, didn’t want it to get covered in sweat if I did, and was also more than fine with listening to games through my TV. In the last year, though, that has changed. I finally gave headsets more of a chance, and have gamed with them almost exclusively since late last fall.
HP Canada were nice enough to send us a HyperX Cloud III wireless headset for review purposes, and I’ve been using it with my PlayStation 5. Now, I’m here to share my thoughts.
Before we move on, I understand that this headset took the internet by storm months ago. I wasn’t aware of that, and don’t consider myself all that well versed as to why. This review will just encompass my thoughts, and my experiences, as someone who only cares to use it for gaming.
One of the main things that the HyperX Cloud III promises is comfort, and they absolutely nailed it. To be honest, I often forgot that I was even wearing anything on my head and over my ears because it was so comfortable. The speakers are so well accentuated by comfortable earmuffs that it’s like wearing nothing at all. Not once, during several hour long gaming sessions, did I ever feel like taking this headset off or even consider it. It was almost nonexistent.
This headset is manufactured out of metal, plastic and memory foam/leatherette for the earmuffs, and none of it feels cheap. In comparison to other ones I’ve used over the years, it feels the most well made and like it’s been made out of quality materials. It was easy to set up (using a wireless dongle), easy to adjust and quickly became a favourite that I looked forward to using. I also really like looking at it, as its black with red accents colour scheme is very appealing.
The HyperX Cloud III also features angled, 53mm drivers, which produce great sound. While using it, I felt very immersed in the games I was playing, thanks to very clear and great sounding dialogue, as well as music and sound effects that were both clear and boisterous. It all sounded great, thanks to that and the included DTS Spatial Audio and its 3D effects.
In the past, I’ve worried that headsets I’ve used weren’t loud enough. However, it seemed to boil down to which games I played. While I didn’t play the same games using this headset as I did with the Turtle Beach one I reviewed late last year, I kind of noticed the same thing. At least, I thought I did. It turned out that, even though I had the maximum headset volume set to full on my console, I could still make it louder by moving the dial on the one earmuff.
In fact, things got too loud so I dialled it back down.
The battery life has also been great, to the point where I haven’t had to worry about charging it. I wasn’t sure how to check the battery life, but it’s apparently possible by touching the power button, which one must hold for a while to turn the device on and off. It’s independent of the console.
That said, I must admit that I assumed this would all be handled by the Ngenuity app. That proved not to be the case, though. I installed it on my old phone before using the headset, but when I installed it on this one and actually used the unit, I discovered that the app only seems to work with certain earbuds. It doesn’t seem to connect to this model of headset, and was annoying to use.
That said, I never really wanted to have to use my phone to adjust volume or check battery life. I shouldn’t need my phone to use a gaming headset on a PS5.
I went to send a friend a voice message to test out the microphone, but couldn’t find it. Then, I realized that it was still in the box, because you have to attach it and I’d never done that. I don’t really talk while gaming, or want to, but it’s nice to have a microphone when need be.
This one is pretty good.
At the end of the day, the HyperX Cloud III is an easy to recommend device. It’s a quality gaming headset, which is comfortable and sounds quite good. It feels like wearing a cloud, and has great battery life to boot.
This review is based on a product that we were provided with.