Built to last — HyperX Cloud Revolver review

My old headset has been sitting on the shelf for months. It’s not that the Cloud Revolver, HyperX’s new PC headset, is significantly greater in any manner; I imagine that I’ll eventually switch the two back, if not just for variety’s sake. But comparing the two, the Cloud Revolver is the one I can see myself using for longer, and seems more capable of enduring more wear than my other headset. The Cloud Revolver hasn’t blown me away with any technical features or specs, but with simple ergonomics and design.

The greatest boon for the Cloud Revolver has been its frame. A lot of headsets have been experimenting with stretchy bands, roll cage-esque frames and varying levels of structure running over the top of your head. The Cloud Revolver feels solid, durable, and it can take a fair bit of wear and tear (not that I’ve accidentally and extensively tested it’s durability or anything).

The sound quality, meanwhile, has been par for the course for a gaming headset. I took it through the ringer on a few different styles of games, and found the same advantages that I’d look for in a games-first headset present in the Revolver. Footsteps in first-person shooters were deep and discernable, and the balance felt right so that I could pick out the most pertinent noises amongst the sound and fury.

Take that with a grain of salt, as I’m mostly accustomed to games like Dota 2 rather than Counter-Strike. Overwatch was where I saw the greatest difference between my speakers and my headset — I could pick out different noises clearly within the aural space around me, and few Genji’s got the drop on me when I was using the Revolver.

Mic quality is also top-notch, delivering clear comms and little background noise. It isn’t a replacement for my Blue Snowball standalone mic, but it holds its own enough that I could stream with it and not be worried about blasting white noise at my viewers. The mic is also detachable, which depending on how forgetful you are, can be a good or bad thing. I personally prefer retractable mics over external, plug-and-play microphones, but the quality of the external mic matched most onboard headset mics I’ve used in the past.

Comfort is a major asset for the Cloud Revolver though, as I was never loathe to wear it like I have been with headsets in the past. I wear contacts but usually take them out when I play games at night, and I appreciated that the Cloud Revolver didn’t cram my frames into my temples or offset my glasses’ natural resting place. In fact, the Cloud Revolver is one of the comfier sets I’ve worn among gaming-oriented headsets — the frame mixed with the bungee’d band and the soft lining of the ear cups made for a headset I could wear for both quick spurts of gaming and long Dota sessions. I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself using it for a 24-hour stream and coming away without the typical aches from wearing headphones for so long.

 

Where the Cloud Revolver lacked for me was in the luxury options that other headsets offer. The on-cord clip is a little unwieldy (the black design doesn’t help if you play in the dark), and you’ll still have to pipe it through a preamp if you’re looking for higher quality for streams. There’s other ergonomic nitpicks I have, like the cord being unreasonably stiff and difficult-to-read labelling on the inputs.

It’s also a rather bulky headset, compared to ones I’ve used in the past. This is where personal preference will play out the most — it isn’t exactly built to fold up neatly into backpacks or suitcases. Portability is tricky when you get into the premium end of audio peripherals, and the Cloud Revolver certainly sits in that end of the spectrum, but it isn’t quite built with gaming-on-the-go in mind. I like the sturdy frame personally, because it makes me less worried a careless handler is going to crack my headset while they’re tossing my bags on the plane. But if you’re looking for a headset that’s going to fit neatly into your overhead or backpack, this isn’t on the list.

Those are nitpicks, though. The Cloud Revolver hasn’t completely replaced my former gaming headset, but it hasn’t taken the latter’s place on the shelf yet either. The frame is durable and the headset is reliable — if someone asked me for a gaming headset they could travel with, stick in a backpack and never worry about damage, this would be my first recommendation.

It’s difficult to advise this as a replacement for any modern top-of-the-line headset, but if you’re looking for a durable, reliable package that will do what you need it to do, this is definitely worth your investment. It isn’t a shining, pristine model. The Cloud Revolver is a workhorse of a headset, and it’ll get the job done as well as anything else on the market.

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