HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset for PC & PS4 - Pink (KHX-HSCP-PK)

Previously owned Razer Carcharias set that broke. I had high hopes for these. Was super-excited to get them. I wanted very, very much to like them. I've been searching for a headset that would fit a petite woman like me; and based on feedback, thought they'd be wonderful.They're not.I'm sorry to burst bubbles, but I've got to write a truthful review.The Good:-Looks superb, stylish-Looks like great build quality (leather stitching on headband, anodized aluminum.)-The mic is removable/replaceable-People say my voice is clearer, richer and fuller than with my previous Razer Carcharias headset-White. So refreshing to have a choice other than black-Did I mention they look stunning?The Bad:-Looks are the only thing good about the headset.-7.1 is a gimmick. It doesn't make music or games sound any better. ("7.1" Mode is "different" - not better. With some sounds amplified too loud, and others made way too soft. Turning 7.1 and listening to Classical, drums suddenly became louder, and the stringed instruments became so soft I could barely hear them. That isn't "surround." In games, I did not see any "improvement" from regular stereo headsets in determining where a sound came from. Behind/side/in front of me.)-As headphones, they can plug directly into an ipod, tablet, or computer 3.5 headphone jack. (And that's nice.)-But if you want to use the mic; you have to plug it into the "sound card" - which then plugs into the computer via usb. (There are lots of problems with that, see "Ugly" section.)-I'm used to the invisibility of up/down rotating boom mics (without the fuzzy ball at the end of them.) No matter how I position the mic, there's a giant white ball in front of my eyes. It really is distracting, and hurts gaming immersion.-The headphones are heavy. (In a bad way.) Some of the heaviest I've ever worn. (I've never had the *top* of my head feel fatigued and sore after a while because of headphones. I, unfortunately, now know what that feels like.)-Voices of other people sound ok.-But music is disappointing, even for a "gaming" headset. A big downgrade in sound quality from Razer Carcharias. (Which were a cheaper, $70-class headset.)- At medium/high volumes, music becomes mush. Feel the crushing disappointment as what should be amazing crescendos - fuzz out in wild distortion. (Que up Zach Hemsey's "Mind Heist" on YouTube, and crank it up loud. Ohhhhhhh maaaaaan it's bad.) :/The Ugly:-So, about that "sound card." It's a small white brick on the cord with volume controls and a mute slider. That's it.-Oh cool, it glows red! Wait...only the logo is backlit. The actual volume/mic adjust buttons - are not. Want to adjust it in the dark? Get a flashlight, turn on a lamp. :/-The Soundcard does not help the headphones function - it seriously complicates things.-Everything is horrendously loud with the soundcard. I start looking for ways to turn down my game sounds to 1% volume, and at the same time push up Skype/Teamspeak/Mumble etc - but it doesn't work.-See the Soundcard *disables* the controls of your normal sound card when in use. (And the controls of Skype simply fly out the window. Skype volume adjustment from within skype goes "blank" when using this soundcard.)-So you end up with a game supremely loud, even when Windows volume control shows the card at 10% of it's max volume. (And at the same time you struggle to hear people in Skype.)-You basically have to press the + to make all sounds louder overall, so you can hear people on skype well enough, and then hope to adjust the individual game volume down to where it won't blast out your ears.-Yeah - I've tried to get my games down to 1% of volume. This just isn't right.-(Yet there are no driver/software updates at Kingston.com.) Seriously? This is how it's supposed to work?-This is what other reviewers are talking about when they say "there should be software for this!"-Worse - there is no way to tell how loud your mic input is. No indicator on the soundcard (brick.) No indicator on the pc.-Each day I begin gaming, I have to say "can you hear me now?" If nobody responds on Skype, I press the button to increase my mic volume. "Can you hear me now?" This goes on and on, until I go one step too far, hurt my friends ears, and tone it down a notch.-Once perfect, it's perfect. But if I have to restart the computer, or unplug the headset - the saga of mic adjustment begins again.-(Why God, why can't there be a little back-lit indicator on the sound card that tells me my mic gain level? So I can set it the same every day? Or even a little dial with numbers on it, 1,2,3,4?)-Just when I get everything adjusted, and gaming starts, I'll be happily playing, talking, and in mid-sentence I'm interrupted. "Why are you suddenly talking softly?" I'm asked by my annoyed friends. What? I'm not! "What did you say?" Is the reply. "Are you just leaning back away from the mic?" They ask me. "No! The mic is on my headset, it's stationary!" :/-I really don't want to be "that guy" on the gaming chat that has annoying audio issues and just makes excuses. That's reason enough to send them back.-I have never had any problem like this before in my 6 years of owning a Razer headset. Owning this "Cloud" makes me realize how much I took "things just working right" - for granted.Also Ugly:-They're very uncomfortable. Tried both cloth and leather earcups. (Strange, they look like quality.)-The real discomfort starts about an hour after wearing them. The pain of wearing them lingers for quite some time after taking them off.-The fit is Vice-clamp tight. When I finally have to take them off (after a few hours of gaming because I can't stand the discomfort,) it's not just my ears that hurt. It's my entire head. They pinch the temples, hard. The sheer weight of them creates a band of discomfort across the top of my head too.-The people that call these comfortable - I don't know what to say. They must be upgrading from $12 headsets. (And just have never owned truly comfortable headphones before.)-Trust me: All-Day-Comfortable, "Are these even on my head?" Quality headsets are out there. If you're a serious gamer - go get one of those.-Day after day, year after year, I wore my Razer Carcharias headsets for 10+ hours at a time, completely forgetting they were on my head within the first few minutes of use. They were that light, they were that comfortable.My friends tell me that Astros are that comfortable, and so are BeyerDynamic's.(And I know from experience that even cheaper, sub $100 Razer's can be more comfortable.)The Cloud's are a mess of complication. I'm sending them back and looking closely now at those other brands.SummaryIf you only game once a day, for "about an hour." You might really, really like these Cloud II's. My message to everyone else - RUN!I'm sorry if my review sounds like a big complaint list. I wrote it in hopes that people really understand what they're getting into. (And in hopes Kingston can improve things on the next go-round.)These feel like a beta product, that should have been tested more. It feels incomplete without software to control the audio. The "soundcard" 7.1 thing is all hype, and hinders the product, rather than helps it. It would be nice if you could throw the "soundcard" out the window, and just use this as a normal headset, with your normal PC volume controls. You can't. There's just one audio jack at the end of the cord, for hearing sounds. No 3.5 mic jack at all.Besides the great discomfort the headset causes after just a few hours of use, I feel the inability to disable the cord-brick-soundcard; and use your own PC's soundcard instead - is the fatal flaw of the product. Many gamers have top of the line Soundcards, like Zonar/Audigy Internal sound cards, or External soundcards for professional audio recording. Having to basically turn those $200+ soundcards off, and use what comes with this headset - is a bitter disappointment.Edit: Just found another flaw. Don't sneeze with these on. Or cough.Tried them one-last-time to see if I could possibly overlook the negatives of the Cloud II. I went through the annoying process of adjusting my mic input volume with the buttons and asking "can you hear me ok now?" Again and again until I could be heard on skype. I was able to game for an hour. Then, I sneezed.All of a sudden I can barely be heard on Skype. The problem? The mic. It auto-adjusts. So if you make a loud sound like a sneeze - it anticipates all sounds will be that loud. So it turns down your volume. LOW!Barely-can-be-heard-now low. I tried the + button for the mic, to no avail. I thought it would re-adjust if I continued to speak a while. It did not.For 4 minutes, I annoyed my friend on Skype, because he could hear me making "mumbling noises" while gaming, but could not make out a word I said. In the end, the only way to fix this was to pull the plug on the USB soundcard. End the call. Close the game. (Because games don't recognize the sound card is there unless you plug it in before they start.)Wow. If I keep these headphones, I'd have to restart the game, and chat programs, after every sneeze.(Yeah, these are going back in the box with a shipping label tomorrow.)Kingston - you've got a really good design here with just a few fatal flaws to fix. Ditch the cord brick, ditch the giant fuzzball on the end of the mic, lighten them, make music sound a little better. And keep the good looks. I'd be willing to pay twice what these costs - as long as they looked just as cool, but functioned well, and felt comfortable. You got close - next round I hope you get the Cigar.

So this is actually my second pair of HyperX Cloud II headsets that I've owned. The first pair (Pink & White) were a gift from my boyfriend nearly a year ago. Recently they had stopped working properly so I've just ordered myself a second pair. I thought it was time I finally posted my review after having owned this product for as long as I have.Now, suffice it to say I use my headset a lot. I do everything in my home and on my computer from work to play and I spend a great deal of time wearing my headset, as I even sleep in it while listening to music etc. I would estimate the time I've worn my headset physically on my head to be around 7,000 hours. So while It's only been just a year since I bought it, it's been used a great deal in that time, so:Pros:- Very durable product, not cheaply/flimsily made. Has suffered nearly 7,000 hours with me.- Exceptionally comfortable (At least from a female point of view it is. I even sleep in this headset.)- Aesthetically pleasing. This headset is made with top notch materials and the headband is stitched. On the pink and white version this is really cute.- A nice long cord so it's usable with a huge variety of setups.- Great customer service by Kingston, who makes the headset. Only a month before ordering my new pair they sent me a free replacement USB dongle when mine broke at my request.- Great sound for the average consumer. These are hardly for audiophiles, but if you want a headset that can get as loud as you need it to or can be toned down to be quieter this is certainly a great option. The reason I opted for these over other pairs I was considering is because of the excellent volume control. If you're a bit hard of hearing this is a great headset.- May not be audiophile quality, but the sound is excellent for the average user. Most users should see an improvement from most headsets in the same price range when moving to this one.- Excellent Microphone quality. As a PC gamer who spends most of her time on MOBAS or raiding in various games, having a good quality mic for calls is a must-have. I have other headsets laying around that I used when my other HXC2's broke and literally everyone noted a significant depreciation in mic quality from each head set compared to much current one.- The surround sound is great compared to some of the Logitech surround sound I've used that requires shitty software that sometimes doesn't even function properly. (Sorry logitech I love you)Cons:- I personally feel $97 was a great price for this headset, but I know this may be out of the park price wise for more casual gamers or anyone looking for just a standard headset to chat with.- While I personally like the surround sound and appreciate not having the software - it does mean that the surround sound is mostly a "one size fits all" concept and you can't personalize it at all, which for some people may be a deal breaker. With that in mind, you can swap the SS off with a button press. If you're in it 100% solely for the surround sound this may not be the most ideal pick for you.- The white version will obviously become "dingy" over time, especially the ear pads. However the box does come with a set of ear pads with a plush texture. But if you prefer the default ones then this might be a no-go.So all in all I would (and do) recommend these to friends. I usually go through a couple of headsets a year and I've owned Turtle Beaches, Astros, Logitechs (wireless and wired, high end and low end), among many other brands, and these are the only ones I've owned more than one pair of.

1 Tag dieses Headset benutzt und ZACK bei CSGO DMG geworden o.o holyyy shiiitspaß bei Seite... Ich find es sehr bequem, sitzt gut, drückt nicht! Der Sound vom mic ist im teamspeak klar und deutlich ohne jegliche neben geräusche.die farbe ist wirklich einmalig :Dals gamer headset ist es super geeignet

...dass ich eine schlechte Rezension schreiben muss.Denn das Headset ist wirklich schick, schön verpackt und vom Tragekomfort das Beste was ich hatte.Leider habe ich nach dem Anschließen gemerkt, dass der Sound rauscht. Die Soundkarte scheint wohl ziemlich billig zu sein. Es gibt auch keine Treiber, die man sich hätte runterladen können. Mikrofon ist dumpf, leise und einfach nur minderwertig.Schade, das hätte echt mein Lieblingsteil werden können.Habe das Headset zurückgeschickt.