Closer Examination, Build Quality and Comfort

Not much has changed between the original HyperX Cloud Alpha and the brand-new Cloud Alpha S in terms of design, build quality, and comfort. The color scheme is new, and some details differentiate the two, with the most obvious being the USB sound card. Otherwise, the Cloud Alpha S is nearly identical to its sibling, and that's a good thing because the Cloud Alpha is both rugged and extremely comfortable.


By far the most distinctive part of the HyperX Cloud Alpha S is its blue aluminium frame that connects the ear cups and holds them in place. Its styling is perhaps a bit less aggressive than it used to be when its color was red, although still distinctively "gamerish" with the perforations on the metal hangers and the blue stitching along the headband's edges. The upper side of the headband has a subtly engraved HyperX logo.


The inner side of the headband is covered in pleather and filled with memory foam. That makes it soft and very comfortable. The ear cushions are made out of a soft and extremely comfortable memory foam as well, and covered in pleather.


Don't like the feeling of pleather against your head or simply prefer when the ear cushions are a bit more breathable? HyperX got you covered—the Alpha S ships with a second pair of ear cushions that are just as soft as the original ones but covered in fabric.


The ear cups can be moved upward and downward along the metal frame to cater to different head sizes. The motion is accompanied by satisfying clicks, which will tell you that their height has been changed.


There are markings on the inner side of the aluminium frame, which should help you adjust the ear cups equally. The wires that loop through the headband and connect the audio drivers are braided and well protected. This is yet another detail HyperX uses to flaunt the high build quality of the Cloud Alpha S.


The ear cups look exactly like those on the HyperX Cloud II or Cloud Alpha. The metal plate that covers them is decorated with the HyperX logo, and their outer frame is rubberized. Both ear cups are equipped with a mechanical slider with three positions. By moving them, you're opening and closing the bass chambers inside the ear cups, thus increasing or lowering the bass, at least in theory. In practice, this feature feels gimmicky. Even though at higher listening volumes, you can hear the changes in the lower part of the frequency spectrum, they're fairly subtle, and you need a bass-heavy song or game to start with or you most likely won't notice a difference. I suggest leaving the sliders in the middle or upward position as the bass loses quite a bit of its thickness when the sliders are in the bottom position. It's safe to assume this feature won't be making a comeback on the next edition of the Cloud Alpha headset, should HyperX release one.


There are two 3.5-mm ports on the headset. One is used to plug in the supplied microphone, while the other is where the cable goes in. You're welcome to use a different audio cable than the one supplied if that's your thing. Unfortunately, you won't be able to use just any other microphone because the associated plug is made in a way that only has the supplied microphone fit.


As with other Cloud headsets except for the Revolver and Revolver S, HyperX went with a bendable microphone arm covered with a series of metal rings. Thanks to that, it's very easy to position the head of the microphone in any preferred way without worrying that it won't stay in place. The head is covered with a windscreen, which makes it look more professional.


The cable running from the headset to the USB sound card is 1 meter long and terminates in a 4-pole TRRS plug you'll use when connecting the Cloud Alpha S to console gamepads or mobile devices. When using the headset with your PC, you'll plug this cable into the supplied USB sound card, which has another 2 meters of braided cable running to the PC. Both cables are braided and feel sturdy.


The USB sound card also works as an in-line remote control. It's equipped with a clothes clip, so you can attach it to your shirt to make sure it's always within reach. The central, round button controls the 7.1 virtual surround sound—when on, it will glow white. Two buttons on the left adjust the sound volume. The other two buttons, marked with a gamepad and a chat bubble, change the volume balance between the voice chat application you're using and everything else. This is achieved by having the USB sound card register as two separate playback devices in Windows: "HyperX Cloud Alpha S Game" and "HyperX Cloud Alpha S Chat". The idea is to set the HyperX Cloud Alpha S Game as the default system-wide playback device before picking HyperX Cloud Alpha S Chat as the playback device in Discord, TeamSpeak, or whatever else you use to talk with your friends. After doing so, the button marked with a chat bubble will make your game quieter and your teammates louder, while the one marked with a gamepad will do the opposite. When the sound volume is in balance between the two, you'll hear a beep. Finally, on the side of the USB sound card is a microphone mute button. When it's glowing red, the microphone is off.

The aforementioned hardware controls are the only ones available. The USB sound card comes with no dedicated software or any of the features you'd perhaps expect from a gaming headset of this price, such as a system-wide equalizer or microphone sidetone. The latter would be particularly useful due to the fact that the Cloud Alpha S has a high level of passive noise isolation, which means you'll barely be able to hear your own voice when talking. This isn't something everyone is a fan of, myself included.