Affordable & Lightweight Gaming Headset
Every product of HyperX comes with a great packaging, so the Stinger’s packaging features a very prominent image of the headset on the front of the box, and lists a few of the various features found on the product. A red bar across the top of the front panel touts some of the various devices that the Cloud Stinger is compatible with, but for our review purposes, we will be focused on PC usage. Flipping the box to the backside reveals another look at the headset, and more highlighted features. The stylish black-and-red gaming headset is very comfortable and stylish red HyperX logo on each ear cup. The Cloud Stinger headset is very light, at a mere 275 grams, which translates to right around 9.7 ounces. Oftentimes lightweight devices can feel cheap, but that is not the case here. On the plus side, the ear cups fold flat, so you could stash these in your bag and wear them without too much of a fuss. The over-the-ear cups themselves are made of a breathable foam material that is extremely comfortable to wear. An adjustable microphone sits on the left ear cup so that you can move it up and down on an arm, but it’s not bendable. Just below the right ear cup, there’s a simple volume-control slider. There’s a generous amount of foam padding on the headband. The Cloud Stinger is easy to connect. By default, it connects via a 3.5-mm audio jack, but you can also attach it to a splitter (included) for discrete microphone and audio streams on a gaming rig. It’s not a USB headset, so there’s no software to grapple with. For better or worse, there’s no external amp. The microphone mutes automatically when you slide it all the way up, which is a nice touch. Many headsets also feature an in-line volume and mic mute button on the headset cord, but we were happy that Kingston chose to place these functions on the headset itself. Being able to know exactly where the volume slider was at a moment’s notice kept us from fumbling around with a corded solution. The configuration of the volume slider on the right ear cup made it very easy to increase or decrease the volume, whereas we have had issues in the past knowing which way to scroll a volume wheel when mounted on the cord.
As mentioned earlier, the Kingston HyperX Cloud Stinger is aimed at budget-conscious gamers that don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on every single one of their peripherals. Performance of this headset is pretty satisfactory, weather it’s gameing, movies or music.
Verdict: If you want something competent and comfortable, the Cloud Stinger delivers. The gaming and music performance won’t leave you in aural awe, but they’re clear and loud enough to get the job done for both single- and multi-player titles.