INTRODUCTION

   Quite a few months have passed since we last reviewed a gaming headset but since we finally got out hands on Batman Arkham Knight we decided to use it with some of the gaming peripherals we have here (along with Battlefield 4, Planetside 2 and Star Citizen) including several gaming headsets. Now some of you may recall that roughly a year ago we reviewed the HyperX CLOUD Pro Gaming Headset by Kingston a stereo model (actually manufactured by Qpad) with surprisingly good audio performance and certainly a lot better compared to its immediate competition. Still a stereo gaming headset may not have the same "impact" as a virtual surround one and so it didn't take but just a few months for Kingston to release the CLOUD II 7.1 Surround Sound Pro Gaming Headset which we have here with us today.

   Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America. HyperX is the high-performance product division of Kingston Technology encompassing high-speed DDR3 memory, SSDs, USB Flash drives, and headsets. Targeted at gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts, HyperX is known throughout the world for quality, performance and innovation. HyperX is committed to eSports as it sponsors over 20 teams globally and is the main sponsor of Intel Extreme Masters. HyperX can be found at many shows including Brazil Game Show, China Joy, DreamHack, GamesCom and PAX.

   Right from the get go we think you should all be aware that the CLOUD II is pretty much the same as the original CLOUD but with the addition of a USB card which takes care of the 7.1 virtual surround feature. Because of this the entire specifications sheet is almost identical to that of the original CLOUD so once again we see the same large 53mm dynamic stereo drivers that feature a frequency response of 15Hz-25KHz with 60 Ohm impedance and a SPL of 98dB (­+-3dB). Now the reason i said "almost" identical is because Kingston has used an updated flexible detachable boom microphone which this time features a far wider frequency response of 50Hz-18KHz with -39dB (+-3dB) of impedance (as opposed to the 100Hz-12KHz of the original - impedance remained the same). We never did have a problem with the original boom microphone but using a even better model is never a bad thing.