Microphone Performance

The detachable microphone of the HyperX Cloud Alpha was tested by connecting it to the Asus ROG MAXIMUS IX CODE motherboard. It uses an integrated sound card with the S1220 audio codec, including a number of software tweaks for suppressing ambient noise and adding various effects. All of this has been turned off for this test in order to obtain the microphone's raw, unmodified sound. I also used an external USB sound card, Creative's cheap Sound Blaster E1 ($50), and again turned off all the software features that could affect the sound of the microphone.

To review the microphone's sound for a comparison to similar headsets, I used the Adam A7X speakers and Shure SRH840 headphones, both being studio monitors, connected to Audiolab's M-DAC, a high-quality digital-to-analog converter that functions as an external sound card when connected to a PC. The testing was done in Discord, TeamSpeak, Skype, and Audacity, and I also used Audacity to record sound from the microphones. The sound was recorded with microphone sensitivity set to 100% and was not post-processed or edited in any way.

For reference, this voice recording has been made with the Rode NT-USB, a high-quality studio microphone:



This is the sound recorded by using the detachable microphone the HyperX Cloud Alpha is supplied with:




The microphone's quality hasn't changed much in comparison to the HyperX Cloud Gaming, which is a good thing as there are many who use its microphone for even Twitch streaming and YouTube voiceovers. Take a listen of its sound samples and feel free to compare them to the Cloud Alpha. I'll also throw in a sample recorded on the Cloud Gaming II, whose supplied USB sound card makes the microphone sound worse than those of its cheaper brethren.





Overall, the microphone of the HyperX Cloud Alpha is very good. It's not the best one out there, but only the most demanding users will want to replace it with something better. If you're one of those, here's an idea - remove the supplied microphone altogether, disconnect the audio cable and plug the $30 V-Moda BoomPro into the 3.5-mm audio port on the left ear cup. Here's what you'll get by doing so:





The V-Moda BoomPro comes with its own cable, and it can be plugged into both a single TRRS port or a pair of TRS 3.5-mm ports. Meaning, you won't lose any of the connectivity options you otherwise get with the Cloud Alpha, and you'll get top-notch microphone quality with more naturality, warmth, and detail than the factory-supplied microphone could ever offer. It's a $30 upgrade that transforms the Cloud Alpha from a great headset into the only headset you'll ever need.