My first experience with HyperX was with the beautiful lightweight light Pulsefire Haste mouse which was super comfortable and light. So given they also have pedigree with headsets I was pretty keen to check out the HyperX Cloud Stinger Core Wireless Headset for PlayStation to see how they stack up against some other excellent competitors.
Especially at its reasonable price.
Comfort
Comfort is king with headsets. The best sound in the world means nothing if you aren’t comfortable wearing the headset, and the HyperX Cloud Stinger Core has some major strengths.
The first is that the headset is light as heeeeell. It looks relatively chunky, but picking the headset up and popping it on I was delighted with how little it weighed. This is key for headsets because it is surprising how much a heavy headset adds up to over longer gaming sessions.
The ear cups are nice and big so it should fit around different ears comfortably and the cushions are decent. They are quite thick and don’t have the nice feel that memory foam has, but they were easily comfortable enough and would do you fine over longer gaming sessions with ease. It is important to remember the price range the headset is in here, if you want more comfort, you’ll have to pay for it.
Style
This headset has been coloured to fit in with your PS5 and it bloody does. It is mostly white with the black cushions above the head and on the ears with some blue trims. I don’t generally go for white on …. anything, but it is hard to deny that it fits in alongside your PS5 nicely.
The look of the headset itself is relatively basic with big chunky ear cups and a thick headband. It looks like a gaming headset for better and worse, but for the price range it is hard to argue here.
I suspect that the bigger chunkier style is used as a way to make the headset sturdy while managing to keep it light, and it definitely feels nice and sturdy. If the payoff for the bigger size is the quality and weight, then HyperX made the right choice.
One tiny critique is the USB dongle is a bit big and clunky. Sticking out the front of the console it doesn’t look as slick as it could have with a smaller one. Given you can pop it in a USB port in the back of your PS5 it is minor but potentially relevant for some.
Features
The headset is wireless and rocks a USB-C port for charging. It can’t be overemphasised how useful this is because your PS5 charging cable will also charge your wireless headset. It is scary how many devices don’t use USB-C yet, so well played HyperX.
The headset touts a 17 hour battery life which is respectable, and in my testing it lasted around that mark so again, well played HyperX.
The Cloud Stinger Core also touts a 12 meter range, and I wasn’t able to test this properly because … I don’t have a 12 meter lounge. I did walk around my house and around walls and found it took a lot to disconnect, so again well played HyperX.
The sound quality both in the ears and through the mic was above average. The sound was reasonably bassy which is great for gaming, and the mic didn’t cut out all the noise, but it was still decent. On the left ear cup is a volume wheel and a power button and that is all so it’s not dripping with features, but again, remember that price range.
Conclusion
The Cloud Stinger Core Wireless is an outstanding headset for the price. With a colour palette to match your shiny new PS5, good wireless connection, a decent battery life, as well as being super light, for around $170 it is well worth it.
If you have an extra $65 and need a more versatile headset then it is hard to look past the Arctis 1 but if you need one for your PS4/5 and/or PC in this price range, then the Cloud Stinger Core Wireless is a great shout.