Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsOne pair to rule them all.
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019
This is my first set of wireless headphones, and I bought them with some trepidation. The optional wire helped me hedge my bets. The advertised frequency response was the broadest of any headset I looked at. I'm coming from a pair of HyperX Cloud II that lasted a solid three years. I've only had them for a few days, but they feel like good quality. My previous experience with HyperX headphones has been good. $200 is pretty steep, but I bought them to use for everything: gaming, music, listening to podcasts, phone and video calls, and traveling.
Pros:
* Excellent sound
* Feels like good quality
* Light for this quality and features
* Easy controls
* Easy Bluetooth setup
* Good wireless range
* Good battery life
* Built in microphone
* Detachable boom microphone
* Detachable wire
* Not compact, but can be stripped down for travel
* Good for everything
* Comfortable to wear for hours
* USB charging
Cons:
* $200 price
* No Bluetooth disconnect on the headphones
Opinion
* More closed than I'd like
* A little tight
* USB-C charging would be preferred
Sound quality is extremely important to me, and the sound is excellent. Better than my previous HyperX Cloud II. Very crisp. Good bass. As advertised, the frequency response is very wide. While they're more closed than I'd like, I can pick up on more nuance. The closed sound also blocks outside noise making it easier to listen while doing chores or in noisy environments.
I find them a little tight on my head, but they're quite comfortable for wearing all day. They sit well on the head and around the neck. Padding is good. While they're by no means light, for their quality and feature set they're light.
The optional wire is an attractive feature. Nearly every pair of headphones I've ever had has failed at the headphone jack, being able to replace the wire should increase the life of the headphones. My gaming PC does not have Bluetooth, so I can use the wire and not worry about delay while playing games. It comes with both a 3.5" headphone jack, and a splitter for PCs.
Bluetooth wireless was easy to setup on my Android phone and Macbook. The wireless freedom has been excellent, I can set music or podcasts going on my phone and forget about it. No wires to get in the way. Good range means I can go to adjacent rooms and still listen. There's a handful of controls on the headphones: volume, power, and a do-everything button. The volume and do-everything buttons are decently textured and easy to find by touch. The power button is recessed to avoid accidentally pushing it, but easy to use when you intend to. The do-everything button is straightforward. It can pause and unpause, skip to the previous or next track, answer or hangup on calls, and bring up a voice assistant. My only complaint is there's no way to disconnect from a device on the headphones, I must do it from the device; this makes switching between a phone and a computer a little more involved.
Charging is easy, micro-USB. USB-C would be a nice feature, everything else I have is moving to USB-C. Battery life has been excellent so far, I use them all day with no concerns.
While they're by no means compact, they can be stripped down for traveling by removing the wire and boom mic. The built in microphone works fine while traveling. USB charging and long battery life means it needs no special cables. It comes with a nice bag to protect them.
There's a very small LED to show status. Blue for normal. Red for charging. It blinks occasionally. In normal light this is fine, but I woke up one night to find my bedroom crazily lit by blue flashes wondering if the police were outside. It was the status LED. You might want to put some tape over it.
