Razer Kraken Ultimate vs Hyperx Cloud 2: Which to Buy?

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This is the review of the comparison between the Razer Kraken Ultimate and the HyperX Cloud 2. There is not much difference in their price range but their features vary a lot. To know which one has better features to buy, go to the detailed review.

6.1 Razer Kraken Ultimate 16.4 Hyperx Cloud 2 1
Razer Kraken UltimateHyperx Cloud 2
BUY NOWBUY NOW
PROSPROS
Good sound quality.
Robust software. “Underglow” lighting looks pretty neat.
THX Spatial Audio is a decent software-driven surround.
Great sound quality.
Luxurious finish.
Thoughtful extras.
CONSCONS
Somewhat expensive. Ridiculously large.Headphone cord doesn’t detach.
Flimsy carry case.

SPECIFICATIONS:

MODELRAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
BrandRazer HyperX
SeriesCloud
ModelKraken Ultimate Cloud II
HEADPHONESRAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
Headphones Form FactorFull size
Headphone TechnologyWired
Sound Output Modestereostereo
Frequency Response20 Hz15Hz–25,000 Hz
Sensitivity112 dB98dB S.P.L. at 1KHz
Impedance32 Ohm60 Ohm
Diaphragm2.1 in
MICROPHONERAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
Microphone Operation Modeuni-directionalelectret condenser
Response Bandwidth100 Hz50Hz-18KHz
Sensitivity-38 dB
REMOTE CONTROLRAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
Audio Controlsmicrophone on/mute, volume controlmute, volume
ControlsVolume control, microphone on/mute, THX Spatial Audio on/offmute, volume
DIMENSIONS & WEIGHTRAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
Width6.90 in4.72 in
Depth7.68 in6.69 in
Height3.94 in2.76 in
Weight13.76 oz11.29 oz
FEATURESRAZER KRAKEN ULTIMATEHYPERX CLOUD 2
FeaturesSurpassing traditional 7.1 surround sound, this gaming headset produces positionally-accurate audio in a 360-degree sphere for more realistic audio depth. This heightens your awareness of your surroundings and allows you to locate opponents with greater precision, even before they’re within sight—ideal for avoiding flanks and setting up your own ambushes.

Built to produce a more natural sound curve, these expertly tuned drivers deliver super-clear sound and punchy bass that make for a more immersive and life-like soundscape, perfectly capturing every auditory detail to enhance this surround sound headset’s effectiveness.

To ensure absolute clarity when relaying information to your squad, the headset’s retractable microphone is powered by active noise-canceling technology that detects and nullifies noise as you speak. Using this process, it’s able to effectively cancel out sounds such as the hum of your PC rig or cheering tournament crowds—making your voice even clearer.
Advanced USB audio control box with built-in DSP sound card.

Hi-Fi capable with 53mm drivers for supreme audio quality.

Hardware-driven virtual 7.1 surround sound.

Comfortable, 100% memory foam on headband and leatherette cushions.

Intuitive volume control on headset ear cup.

Compatible – USB connectivity for PC & Mac. Stereo compatible with PS4, Xbox One and mobile.

Xbox One stereo adapter required; not included.

Detail review:

INTRODUCTION:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

The Razer Kraken Ultimate is the one among the Razer Kraken family. These headphones are retailing for around a hundred and twenty-three dollars currently. These do come with the THX spacial sound and these are eyewear friendly too.

Hyperx Cloud 2

The HyperX Cloud 2 gaming headset is one of the best headsets of 2020. These are currently retailing for around 100 dollars. This does provide a great sound quality for gaming, good mic quality, good comfort, and durability.

6.4 Razer Kraken Ultimate 2

DESIGN:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

This headphone gets THX spatial audio by Razer and we get a custom-tuned 50-millimeter driver, aluminum steel construction looks super comfortable, it is an eyewear friendly, it has an active noise cancellation microphone, Razer Chroma RGB and then it does have cooling gel on the side of the ear cups for the comfort.

This headset does have an adjustable headband. It is super flexible and it’s durable too. It has a good clamp force, so it can fit any head size properly. The clamping force isn’t much as these are eyewear friendly. At the same time, it doesn’t fall off easily. This microphone is pretty good. The microphone is retractable. So, you can place it however you want and it stays there how you positioned it.

Hyperx Cloud 2

HyperX Cloud 2 is made of plastic cans and metal. Inside the headband, they have very well padded head cushion. They have very comfortable memory foam ear cups. This is a quite beautiful headset and it’s incredibly comfortable. It does have 53-millimeter drivers and a braided cable. The cable is not detachable, it is fused into the left can. So, if you get up and rush in a hurry, you’re probably going to have this being yanked off your head.

The cups don’t swivel much, they just swivel a very little bit. If you do stretch out the headband, no need for you to worry about, you’re not going to break your headset anytime soon. The cups on the outside are plastic, they’re not metal but it doesn’t feel like super cheap plastic. So, I don’t feel like you’re gonna break it very easily. For build it’s a pretty sturdy headset, it’s very comfortable, and it’s versatile.

COMFORT:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

The comfort on the ear cups is not bad at all. These ear cups seem to have a pretty cushion. You get like some leather right there on the ear cups. It’s like a soft cloth fabric in the ear cups and it seems to be pretty comfortable. The cooling pad technology that’s inside there on the ear cups is cooling memory foam. So, comfort-wise its really good. Sometimes, when you wear these for a longer time you may get some uncomfortable. But if you take them off and get some air, you will be okay.

Hyperx Cloud 2

It does come with a 53-millimeter driver. I don’t like going below that because like once you get into the 40 millimeters, the actual ear cups can be a lot smaller and those who have big head and ears will feel very uncomfortable. So, these things fit very nicely and they actually go around your ear as opposed to sitting on your ear. So, for those of us who are sitting and playing or streaming for long periods of time, this headset will not bother you whatsoever. It’s actually super comfortable. It’s not very light and it’s not very heavy. You can definitely tell that you have a headset on. It doesn’t make it uncomfortable whatsoever. So, no need to worry about that.

6.4 Hyperx Cloud 2 2

FEATURES:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

The Razer Kraken Ultimate comes with the USB, surround sound, active noise-canceling microphone, and this has Razer Chroma RGB. As this has RGB, we can customize the lights on whatever color we want. The RGB on this headphone is like it actually looks super clean. I think it looks incredible. It looks really freaking good.

Inside the Razer Synapse software, we get the volume mixer right there, then you have sound property stereo, surround sound, the positional audio is there, and we have a bass boost. You do have the voice clarity, sound normalization, and EQ settings. For the microphone, we can adjust the volume, the sensitivity, and the sidetone. You can also turn on the mic active noise cancellation there. You do get spectrum cycling, static, an audiometer, color boost, quick effects, our preset that can be saved to devices profile, other support for Razer Chroma device, switch off/on lighting, and brightness.

Hyperx Cloud 2

Some of the things that are included with this headset are a detachable microphone, it also comes included with a USB sound card to stimulate 7.1 surround sound, and the next thing that’s included in this package is the one which makes this one of the best headsets that are it includes replacement ear pads.

The velour earpads basically transform this headset into an open-back headset. It means that sound comes in and sound comes out, and you’re going to be able to hear your environment, and the sound from your headset is going to be able to get out and escape. The cool thing with that is that open back headsets tend to have a way better sound stage for gaming. So, those of us who are playing games like Call of Duty, PUBG, any sort of multiplayer shooter that requires you to be able to have really good audio cues and a good sound stage on your headset, you’re going to be able to get that with the HyperX Cloud 2 velour pads.

On the other side of that spectrum, if you’re somebody who plays in a noisy environment and you don’t want all that noise coming in and you don’t want your headset noise to get out, and you’re not too concerned with the sound stage but you want good rich bass, they have the pleather ear cups. You can literally swap them out and you convert this headset back and forth between open and closed back.

This Cloud 2 headset is absolutely remarkable in every single thing that it does. It delivers incredible sound, it has an incredible microphone, it’s durable, it’s very well built, but the only issue that I have with it is that the attached cable. It’s too short and it doesn’t come included with a PC-Y adapter, it comes with a USB sound card for pc. You can obviously use this across multiple platforms which is great. What really makes this my favorite headset is the fact that you can convert this headset from open back to close back by simply swapping out the ear cups or the ear pads if you will and it’s very easy to do so.

6.4 Razer Kraken Ultimate 1

MICROPHONE:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

The active noise cancellation is working pretty well. The sound quality of the mic is really good. The microphone does a great job of not letting in the ambient sound much as it is an active noise-canceling mic. You can get the sound out of the mic how you want by adjusting the mic volume, the mic sensitivity, and by adjusting the vocal clarity. With the correct settings and adjustments, you can get pretty good mic quality.

Hyperx Cloud 2

This microphone sounds crystal and I mean like crystal freaking clear. It sounds really good. It sounds really great and it is detachable. You can definitely move the actual mic itself and position it to the shape of your liking.

SOUND:

Razer Kraken Ultimate

I listened to some music for a little bit, there wasn’t a ton of bass. If we turn the bass boost all the way up, then you can get better bass. The bass is there, it’s not bad, it is noticeable, which is good for a gaming headset. The base even cranked pretty much all the way up. The recommended base setting is 93 to get a good sound.

The sound quality is decent. It’s not incredibly immersive but I have to mess around with the settings, dial it in, and tune it to know what are the best settings for the sound quality. It’s not good out of the box, you have to do some tuning for this to really sound good. It’s got potential though the low end but is pretty good especially after you boost the base. The rest of the range sound just as good.

Hyperx Cloud 2

I played this with my PlayStation 4 hooked up directly to the controller, I played my PlayStation 4 hooked up using the Astro MixAmps and I played on PC using my Onboard Motherboard sound card and I also did plug in the HyperX Cloud 2 using the provided USB sound card, everything sounded absolutely incredible. It sounded really good, you’ve got a lot of rich sounds, rich details, able to really hear everything going on around the world, and especially when we play shooters like Valerie for instance. I can hear those footsteps coming from a mile away.

While playing games like PUBG, I can get directional cues, I know exactly where gunshot is coming from, I know that explosion happened over there, and on playing Call of Duty I felt the same exact thing. On PlayStation 4 I played the Ghost of Tsushima and Pro Evolution Soccer hooked up to the controller and hooked up to the Astro MixAmp and in both instances, the games sounded really good, very rich, and very vibrant.

Using the pleather ear cups making a closed-back headset and the velour ear cups making it an open-back headset and in both instances on the PS4 console, I got a really good sound. When I plug the headset straight into the controller, it sounds amazing, really solid sound, and good volume. With the volume maxed out on the PlayStation system, this headset punched a good little bit.

6.4 Hyperx Cloud 2 3

WHICH TO BUY?

If you’re in a market for a gaming headset and your budget is 100 dollars then in my opinion, the HyperX Cloud 2 is the headset you need to buy. This headset actually is perfect, its sound quality, build quality, and mic quality are really great at this price range.

Expert Reviews of Razer Kraken Ultimate:

By ThinkComputers
Razer added active noise canceling to the microphone, which does a pretty good job of canceling out unwanted noises. The other change is that you get RGB lighting on the headset itself, which looks pretty cool.

By nag.co.za
The Razer Kraken Ultimate sits firmly in the gaming headset sub-genre for peripherals, with RGB-forward design aesthetics and questionable sound quality to match. While definitely an improvement on previous iterations of the Kraken, there still isn’t…

By PCMag IN
Bottom LineThe Razer Kraken Ultimate wired gaming headset brings powerful bass, programmable lighting, and an excellent microphone to you…

By TechRadar
With an excellent upgrade to an already excellent headset, Razer has made a gaming headset that can keep you comfortable even in the longest gaming binges.

By Craving Tech
As a wired, USB gaming headset, Razer Kraken Ultimate offers great gaming experience: THX Spatial Audio, great microphone clarity and quality with active noise cancellation option, full RGB lighting, comfy thick cushion, and a good length of USB…

Expert Reviews of HyperX Cloud 2: 

By Techspot 
For me, it’s between the Kingston HyperX Cloud II and Polk Striker P1 Multiplatform. The HyperX Cloud II looks and feels better in my opinion, but you have to use USB audio instead of your sound card if you want the inline control box. When spending this much on a headset we’d rather not have to choose between having less features or lower quality audio.

By IGN 
The HyperX Cloud II is attractive for many reasons, including its modular and comfortable design, premium build quality, great 7.1 surround and stereo sound, and affordable price. It’s also great for laptop gamers since it obviates the need for a dedicated sound card, and overall is one of the best headsets I’ve ever used.

By Enos Tech 
When all is said and done, the HyperX Cloud II headset offers the full package. As mentioned, they only thing that tops their quality looks is the quality of the performance which comes at a very fair price when considering other options currently on the market. The Cloud II is a well worthy headset and its versatility only helps to make sure you get the most from them possible.

By WCCFtech 
Then it struck me. That comic book I bought so long ago, it was so cheap and yet I got so much enjoyment out of it. I don’t want to use the word cheap because that has some negative connotations to it, but the value it provided for the price was genuinely amazing. The Cloud II’s are the same and at this moment in time, they are without a doubt my favorite headphones for gaming and general PC usage.

By TheStraitsTimes
The Kingston HyperX Cloud II is one of the most well-rounded gaming headsets on the market.It is a very comfortable and understated headset, backed by solid construction and performance. It is also pitched at a price that will not break the…