SteelSeries Arctis 5 vs HyperX Cloud II and Cloud Alpha
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This article is super long and in-depth. If you get tired and just want my recommendations, scroll to the end.
Overview and Main Differences
Headphone Audio Quality
Microphone Audio Quality
Comfort and Build Quality
Verdict
Overview and Differences
The Steelseries Arctis 5, HyperX Cloud II, and HyperX Cloud Alpha are all wired headsets. Here is an overview of each:
SteelSeries Arctis 5
The SteelSeries Arctis 5 can be used via USB or with a 3.5 mm headphone port. It also comes with a game/chat volume mixer when you're using it in USB mode on PC or Mac.
You can set different sound sources such as Discord or your game as either “Arctis 5 Game” or “Arctis 5 Chat” and adjust the volume so one doesn't overpower the other.
The Arctis 5 uses a detachable proprietary cable. You can connect it to either the 3.5 mm 4-pole adapter or the USB-A game/chat mixer using this cable. There's a standard 3.5 cable port on the headset itself if you have your own wire you want to use.
The Arctis 5 has RGB lighting that can be customized in the SteelSeries Engine software. That software also allows for deep customization of the sound profile and virtual surround sound.
The build is plastic and it has a material that feels a bit like cloth for the padding. It has a ski goggle headband. On the headset is a retractable mic, a mic mute button, and headphone volume slider.
I bought my SteelSeries Arctis 5 for $90. To see its current pricing, click the Amazon link.
HyperX Cloud II
The HyperX Cloud II has a non-detachable 3.5mm cable. The microphone is detachable.
It has a USB sound controller that you can plug the cable into for adjusting the mic and headphone volume, but these are done through your system's settings. So increasing the headphone volume increases the volume of Windows itself.
There's a mic mute slider on the side of the controller and a 7.1 virtual surround sound button.
The headset frame is made mostly of aluminum. The material of the padding is fake leather and it's really comfortable.
I bought my HyperX Cloud II for $92. Click the Amazon link to see its current pricing.
HyperX Cloud Alpha (left) and HyperX Cloud II.
HyperX Cloud Alpha
The Cloud Alpha is HyperX's attempt to improve on the Cloud II.
There's no USB option and no virtual surround sound, but there's a detachable 3.5mm cable, detachable mic, and it comes with a splitter.
It still is made mostly of aluminum. The faux leather padding is harder than the Cloud II which makes it lose points in comfort.
In-line controls adjust the headphone gain, and there's a mic mute switch.
Currently, there's no software app for the Cloud II or Cloud Alpha. There is for the Alpha S - HyperX NGENUITY.
If you’re using a laptop, the USB connection on the Alpha S might be ideal. The mic from the Alpha using the 3.5mm cable wasn’t detected on my laptop.
I bought my HyperX Cloud Alpha for $85. Click the Amazon link to see its current pricing.
Headphone Audio Quality
Left to right: Arctis 5, Cloud II, Cloud Alpha.
In this section I’ll be covering:
Clarity and detail
Sound profile
Software and EQ potential
Virtual surround sound (Arctis 5 and Cloud II)
Clarity and detail
The Cloud Alpha is the clearest of these three headsets, followed by the Cloud II and Arctis 5 which are about tied. When there are lot of sounds of different volumes and frequencies, the Alpha gives the most separation between them.
The Cloud II and Arctis 5 are also exceptional in terms of detail for headsets of this price range. They’re about even. The Cloud 2 definitely gets louder than the Arctis 5 and Alpha. Tracking an enemy’s position is excellent on all three of these devices. A bigger distinction between these is their sound profile.
Sound profile
Cloud II
Call of Duty: Warzone with the HyperX Cloud II.
The Cloud II’s frequency reponse curve is the best tailored for FPS games. The bass is pretty weak without any EQ adjustments, but it’s just enough to feel out the humming of supply crates and the proximity of helicopters.
Most importantly, in the upper midrange frequencies and the highs there is a huge spike. This completely throws music out of wack, and it makes certain sound effects obnoxiously loud. But among those sound are ones very important for FPS games like Call of Duty.
Footsteps are the loudest and stand out the most in the Cloud II over all the devices I've tested. If someone is running around upstairs two houses away, you can hear it. When glass shatters across the street while you’re camping in the bathroom, it’s loud and clear.
Cloud Alpha
Cloud Alpha, playing Need for Speed Payback.
The Cloud Alpha sounds much more natural than the Cloud II.
The bass is not that strong, but it has more power than most of the competing headsets out. I enjoy this for single player game experiences where I want some immersion.
The mids and highs have more detail than the Cloud II and Arctis 5, and they sound more natural than the Cloud II. The highs don't get too harsh and piercing.
It’s not as tuned for FPS games, but for multiple use cases such as casual gaming, music, and video editing, the Cloud Alpha is my recommendation.
Arctis 5
Call of Duty: Warzone with the Arctis 5.
The SteelSeries Arctis 5 has very balanced mids and highs. There's no unnatural spikes like the Cloud II that I could hear at least.
This means your ears won't hurt when someone shoots off your armor or someone breaks the window right next to you. You also won't have to turn the volume down when using boosters in racing games.
The weakness of the Arctis 5 for me is the bass. It's just not there. You can give it a little with the EQ adjustment slider in SteelSeries Engine, but it won't be as deep or natural as the Cloud II and Alpha. Especially if you use third party EQ software with those, the Arctis 5 just can't match it.
This is important to me not just for immersion and music, but tactically. In Warzone there are loot crates and they make a very distinct sound. Here’s a clip so you know what I mean.
There's a higher pitched kind of jingling and then there's the lower frequency humming. Both get louder when you get closer, but when you have really weak bass in your headset, you can't really feel the latter so when there's a lot of other mid and high sounds like gunfire and footsteps all around it might take a few seconds longer to find it.
The same applies for feeling how close helicopters are or in racing games, how close a car is to your rear or side without changing the camera.
Playing Resident Evil 3 with the Arctis 5.
Headphone Audio Quality Bottom Line
The Cloud II is better for FPS games, the Cloud Alpha is better for everything else, but if you hate bass, and want natural mids and highs that have good detail, then the Arctis 5 is probably the headset sound you're looking for.
Software and equalizer potential
SteelSeries GG.
Equalizer APO with PEACE.
Consoles don’t have built in equalizer support, so the out the box sound that I detailed above is what you’re going to get on PS4, PS5, and Xbox by default.
However, on PC the SteelSeries Arctis 5 has companion software that you can download separately from the company’s website called SteelSeries Engine. The EQ, lighting, and sidetone changed there save to the Arctis 5’s included DAC so you can even use your custom EQ on PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.
The Cloud II and Cloud Alpha do not have companion software, but if your sound card has an equalizer you can use that. Alternatively, you can download a free EQ program like Equalizer APO. You won’t be able to transfer these settings for console use on the HyperX devices, however.
SteelSeries Engine
In SteelSeries Engine, you get 5-band EQ adjustments, you can change the volume of the mic, add noise reduction to it, and activate mic monitoring (sidetone).
One of my favorite features is the dynamic range compression. This decreases the distance of the volume between the loudest and softest sounds.
Basically, the louder sounds get a bit quieter and quiet sounds get louder to normalize things. This makes it so explosions won't sound too much louder than footsteps on the roof for instance.
Arctis 5 DTS Headphone:X V2 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound
SteelSeries Engine also grants access to DTS Headphone:X 2.0 surround sound. Tactically, this does NOT actually provide any advantages, but for immersive purposes it's pretty cool.
It seems to make everything sound more full. The only way I can really describe it is like if you were playing a piano and you play like C5. You can also play C4 and C6 with it and it just fills it out. This obviously makes music sound a bit off with tones that shouldn’t be there.
Honestly, I don't know exactly what filters they're adding with the surround sound, but things sound a bit fuller and it’s like objects are closer. But it's not jarring and tinny like how HyperX and Razer do theirs.
With surround sound on in SteelSeries Engine, you can also add further bass enhancement which actually sounds pretty cool. But again it's not going tomatch what the Cloud II or Cloud Alpha can do with a third party EQ. There's some other effects like making the audio sound like it’s in a theater or closer and closed off.
Cloud II and Alpha with third party EQ software
Testing a bunch of headsets with a bunch of EQ software…
The software I use for the Cloud II and Cloud Alpha is Equalizer APO (PEACE). I’m not honestly a fan of the interface or the way it kind of hijacks your audio sources, but until HyperX releases equalizer software, I had to make due.
I prefer similar settings on both of these headsets for immersive games or listening to music: boost the bass and drop the highs a bit so they’re not as shrill. With EQ, these blow the Arctis 5 out of the water for music and single player games.
I think they’re tuned about as well as they can be out the box for FPS, but if you disagree, these devices can withstands boosts to the low and high end quite a bit before distorting.
Cloud II Virtual Surround Sound
Cloud II 7.1 virtual surround sound button.
As I’ve mentioned in other comparisons, the Cloud II’s virtual surround sound button completely destroys the audio. Everything sounds hollow and echoey. If still you like that sort of thing, then know that it works on PC but to get it to function on PS4, you need to update the firmware.
Microphone Audio Quality
Headset mics generally aren’t of very high quality, but their saving grace is their convenience and background noise rejection. These are no exception - the clarity can’t match up to even a cheap USB mic. Alas, here is sample audio from all 3 mics.
The Steelseries Arctis 5 has the best sounding mic. The Alpha is next, then the Cloud II.
The Cloud 2's mic sounds like a low bitrate recording coming from inside a closet. It's not really the mic itself though; the USB sound controller degrades the mic quality.
I can prove that because the Cloud Alpha also sounds worse when used like this. And when you use the Cloud 2 with a splitter, it's passable.
The Cloud Alpha does not sound as muffled, and the tone is a lot more natural, keeping a bit more of the low end.
The problem with the Alpha is since there's no USB controller, it doesn't suffer from the Cloud II's compression but the amount of electronic noise you hear is going to be dependent on your motherboard.
And for mine, which is an MSI X570, it's pretty loud. Increasing the mic volume in the system settings only makes things worse. So, the Alpha has a good mic but it’s only as good as the sound card on your motherboard is.
Using the mic on the Arctis 5.
The Steelseries Arctis 5 sounds good (for a headset) and it’s loud out the box with minimal noise. It sounds better with USB and without a splitter which is the opposite of my experience using HyperX and Razer headsets.
The USB game/chat mixer must have a good amp inside. The mic itself doesn't have as much background noise rejection as the Cloud 2 or Alpha, but you can apply a filter in the SteelSeries Engine software which works very well.
Easy win for the Arctis 5 mic.
Build Quality
Stretching the Cloud Alpha.
The Cloud II and Cloud Alpha are both made of mostly aluminum and have faux leather earcups. Very sturdy, but still good flex. The adjustment frames don’t get super long, but they’re adequate.
They're both pretty soft, but the Cloud II's is softer and it has less clamping force making it still the most comfortable headset I've worn. The Alpha is still in the higher end of comfort, but not quite there.
Cloud II shirt clip.
I personally don't find the Cloud II's controls very convenient to access. You can clip the controller to your shirt, but it’s still in an awkward position and you’ll have to look down a lot.
I like the Cloud Alpha's physical gain slider better, but again it’s not the easiest to reach and find quickly.
Arctis 5 with USB wire detached.
The Arctis 5 is made of plastic and the headband feels both thin and brittle. I've read a lot of horror stories of these things snapping, so if you're looking for a sturdy build, I'd keep looking.
As for comfort, the earcups do swivel, but the material is made of a sort of cloth. I don't find it very soft and I always "feel" like I have something on my ears that shouldn't be there. There is no adjustment frame, and adjustment of the ski band is also a bit cumbersome to adjust really quickly in a game.
Arctis 5 ear cups and ski google headband.
The volume slider on the earcup is easy to reach, but it has almost no friction at all, so just picking it up or having it brush against your shoulder can easily drop the volume to zero or max it out accidentally.
When using the USB digital to analog converter, both wires combine to be excessively long, and the game-chat slider is useful but also lacks resistance, so you can move it accidentally as well.
Ear cups on the Cloud Alpha.
Ear cups on the Cloud Alpha.
Overall, the Cloud II and Alpha easily beat out the Arctis 5 in terms of comfort and build quality. The Cloud II wins overall because the cushions are crazy soft and I can use these for 5+ hours and not even feel them.
Even though the Arctis 5's physical controls aren't the best quality, the gain slider and game chat mix do make it more convenient to use than the Cloud II and Cloud Alpha.
Verdict
For FPS games like Call of Duty, I recommend the HyperX Cloud II.
If you also play other games and listen to music, I recommend the HyperX Cloud Alpha.
If you want a headset with very little bass, but still good detail and good companion software, then I recommend the SteelSeries Arctis 5. But be very careful with it, because the build is definitely suspect.
