HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 review
Disclaimer: I have no financial or any other interest in this or any other products mentioned in this review. I review this product because I really like it.
Typically at home, I use relatively cheap headphones to listen to music, play computer games, and discuss stuff over Zoom or any other applications. Typically I buy something in the range of $25-$35.
Last several years I have been buying Koss multimedia headphones (SB45 or SB49). They cost around $32 and to the most degree, they were fine. But they have a few issues that eventually start to annoy me.
The most common issue is that, after some time fake leather starts to peel from head cups and stick to the skin around and sometimes go into my ears. This is bad by itself, but after that fake leather peeled off, then my hair or my cat’s hair sticks to it and after that, they just look very disgusting. A similar thing happened to the top part of the headphones but my hair stuck there even before the fake leather peels off.
The second problem is that they were quite weak and broke often. I always keep broken ones, so I can use them as part donors to fix headphones that just broke. Just in case I must state that they didn’t break by themselves. Typically they fell from my head to table or from table to carpet of my room. On average they last from several months to a maximum of two years
Basically, it was typical “You get what you paid for” and was totally fine. But eventually, I got tired of the fact that I was constantly producing waste and collecting like 6-7 broken headphones for parts.
As a result, I decided to buy something better. But I don’t want to spend something like $100 for a pair of headphones. For me, it is just an instrument and I just want to use it carelessly without thinking about its price. In the end, I was prepared to pay around $50 - $80.
Here is the list of my requirements:
- Obviously, they need to be better in sound quality than my old ones because this is the #1 function I will use them for.
- They must have a nice microphone because I’m talking a lot with other people and want them to hear me clearly.
- The headphones need to be sturdy and not break from a couple of falls.
- They don’t need to be heavy and they should not warm up my ears because I tend to use them for many hours.
- They should not push hard on my head. Sometimes I had to keep my headphones overnight on some object that was slightly wider than my head so they would not push that hard to my head.
- I need physical volume control and a mute microphone button.
- It must be wired because wireless headphones are usually heavier and I don’t want to charge one more device.
I read many reviews. Many headphones have good sound quality but poor microphones. Or average sound quality but an excellent microphone. And eventually, I decided to buy HyperX Cloud Stinger 2 for $36.
I’m not a sound expert by any means but sound is just excellent. They were so much better than my previous Koss headphones. And they are much more sturdier than Koss's headphones. Also, I would say they are slightly lighter. They are very comfortable and they have good sound isolation from the environment. Once somebody was ringing my door and I was sitting just a few meters from it listening to music and didn’t hear anything at all.
Just to demonstrate how good the quality is, I ran the sound test that knocks on the right side and 3 people I was testing it on (including me) immediately turned their heads right and then started to smile.
Also, they have a very unique quality – I can put them on using just one hand. Sometimes I’m eating on the computer (I know it is bad) and I’m holding food in my left hand and put headphones using my right hand. I cannot use my left hand because it is dirty from food. Previously it was a big pain and often I needed my left hand to help and sometimes I make headphones a little bit dirty because it is hard.
After more than 10 months of use, they still look like new. They were so good that I bought a second pair for my relative who is into music and they confirmed that the sound quality is very good.
In conclusion, I think these are quite good headphones that have a lot of nice features and very good sound quality. They are very comfortable and light. The current price is $39 which I think is just a steal.
I hope it helps someone.