HyperX has made some amazing gaming headsets, and most recently GeekDad reviewed the Cloud II wireless. The CloudX Stinger Core aspires to bring high-quality wireless sound to Xbox One and Series X/S gamers.
Unboxing
The CloudX Stinger Core has a nice flat black look with green Xbox-colored accents. The headset is made up of mostly plastic but feels reasonably sturdy to the touch. It has a boom mic that is not detachable, so you may have to tuck it up if it is in your way. The soft foam earpieces house 40mm drivers, which offer a decent punch to your audio. This headset package includes a USB-C to USB 3.0 cable for charging it up.
Specifications
Headphone
Driver: Dynamic, 40mm with neodymium magnets
Form factor: Over-ear, circumaural, closed-back
Frequency response: 10Hz–21kHz
Impedance: 32 Ω
Sound pressure level: 98.5dBSPL, 1mW at 1kHz
T.H.D.: ≤ 2%
Frame type: Steel sliders
Ear cushions: Soft foam & fabric
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Microphone
Element: Electret condenser microphone
Polar pattern: Uni-directional, Noise-cancelling
Frequency response: 20Hz-6.8kHz
Sensitivity: -40dBV (1V/Pa at 1kHz)
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Connections and Features
Audio connection: Wireless USB
USB audio format: Stereo
USB specification: USB 2.0
Sampling rates: 44.1kHz, 48kHz
Bit-depth: 16 bit
Audio controls: Onboard audio controls
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Battery
Type: Rechargeable lithium-polymer
Battery life: 17 hours
Charge time: 3 hours
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Wireless
Type: 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz
Wireless range: Up to 20 meters
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Physical
Weight: 275g
Cable length and type: 0.5m USB-C to USB-A charge cable
Testing
The CloudX Stinger Core is easy to install with an Xbox One or Series S/X system. The headset comes with a button for doing precisely that—along with the official Xbox stamp of approval and license. The battery lasts a robust 17 hours, so you may get a couple of days of gameplay before having to recharge. The built-in headset chat mixer is useful for not letting chatty team members override your game sound or vice-versa.
I tested it out with all of my favorite daily games including Dead by Daylight, Red Dead Online, Call of Duty, and Gears of War 5. The headset sounded good with all of the games but not as good as many of the other products made available by HyperX. You do not get any real spatial effect, but as far as range goes it was fine.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
HyperX continues to make great gaming peripherals, and the new CloudX Stinger Core is one of them. At the $99 price point, I may argue that there are some better and more versatile headsets on the market and even in the HyperX family. If you are only going to play on an Xbox console, this may be the headset for you ,but if you own multiple consoles and perhaps game on mobile devices, you may want to save up an extra $50 or $100 dollars and get something more versatile instead of having to find multiple solutions.
A sample of the CloudX Stinger Core Wireless was made available by the manufacturer. Thoughts expressed in this article are the author’s alone and not that of the manufacturer or editorial staff.
