The HyperX Cloud Flight S isn’t flashy. There’s no funky RGB lights or neon green here — in fact, it’s perfectly content not to stand out at all. While the Cloud Flight S boasts around 30 hours of Qi-enabled battery life and rock solid performance, it’s let down by a few key factors — including unimpressive sound quality.
One important thing to note is the HyperX Cloud Flight S boasts its status as the first wireless gaming headset to offer Qi charging, but there is no Qi charging dock bundled with the $339 headset.
Instead, you’ll have to purchase a separate Qi charger, like the HyperX ChargePlay Base — which is currently sold out, but usually retails for around $100. While any Qi charger will work — I was using the HP Omen Outpost Qi mousepad to charge it — it feels cheap to boast a feature that requires additional investment to work.
Outside of this oversight, there’s a few factors to consider.
HyperX Cloud Flight S Sound Quality
The HyperX Cloud Flight S does not sound great. When listening to music, I’d liken the quality to being in an echoey garage. Rock music sounds muddy and tends to have a faraway quality to it. Clashing cymbals in particular sound tinny and crackly. While there is a 7.1 surround sound toggle on the headset that gives music a bit more depth (and I’d recommend flicking this on) it doesn’t improve the sound’s tinny quality.
When you game, you want sounds to be crisp and clean — that way you can track enemy movements and better understand your surroundings. Soundscapes play an essential part in games, particularly in online battles — but the Cloud Flight S headset made this soundscape difficult to navigate, as well as being distractingly echoey.
For a headset priced at a premium, the sound quality here is a major disappointment.
HyperX Cloud Flight S Connectivity
The Hyper X Cloud Flight S is wireless, but requires the use of a USB to connect. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support bluetooth, and the USB required is quite large and will stick out of any device you use.
That said, connectivity is extremely easy and the headset has a range of over 20 metres. Sound quality remained unaffected when I travelled from one end of my house to the other and out into the backyard. For your personal use, you should have no issues maintaining a connection.
HyperX Cloud Flight S Battery Life and Charging
The battery life of the HyperX Cloud Flight S is great. In the battery rundown test I conducted, it lasted roughly 28 hours without charging — amounting to nearly two weeks in active use.
When charging it, you have two options — the aforementioned Qi charging, which requires the use of a seperate device, and a plain old USB plug. Both work well but the headset does take a significant amount of time to charge (around 2-3 hours in my tests).
Qi charging works great if you have access to it. All you need to do is slap the left earcup down on the Qi charging spot and you’re good to go. While the set-up looks a bit strange, the earcups are perfectly balanced and there were no issues getting the headset charging.
HyperX Cloud Flight S Design and Comfort
The HyperX Cloud Flight S, as mentioned, is not flashy — it’s plain, black and looks fairly unremarkable. That’s fine, but it means the headset doesn’t really stand out among the competition.
It’s got wide, flat earcups and an adjustable, padded band for comfort. Controls are placed on the right and left earcups making them convient and accessible.
Both earcups are on a smooth swivel so you can adjust them any way you like. This, combined with soft padded earcups and headband make the HyperX Cloud Flight S a very comfortable headset. I experienced no discomfort even after several hours of use. While they tend to get warm, they never felt stuffy and remained extremely comfortable to use throughout my gaming sessions.
HyperX Cloud Flight S Microphone
The Cloud Flight S features a detachable microphone with a flexible cord. It slots easily into the main headset body and can be manoeuvred any way you choose.
Sound comes through crisp and clean with no crackle or additional echo — but it’s hardly studio quality.
When chatting online, I was told my voice was very quiet, so I had to move the microphone around 3-4cm away from my mouth for clear sound to come through. In this position, there was no noticeable issue with sound quality, but being so close to the reciever meant I was paranoid about not breathing too heavily.
I’d describe the microphone quality as highly serviceable, bordering on being good, but it’s nothing flashy. In short: it gets the job done.
Should You Buy It?
The HyperX Cloud Flight S is a okay headset, but it’s sold at a premium price. For $339, the sound quality is extremely disappointing when compared to similarly-priced (and cheaper!) headsets. Its major feature — Qi charging — also depends on ownership of a separately sold accessory, which is a major disappointment.
The Cloud Flight S is very comfortable, has great connectivity and battery life, but the sound quality remains a big deal-breaker. When you’re in the heat of the big gaming moment, you need clear, precise sound to navigate your surroundings — it can be the difference between winning or losing a match.
Unfortunately, having the HyperX Cloud Flight S as a teammate will likely lead to disappointment.
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