Scored on 138 verified owner verdicts, from 1,474 comments read across 1 community
TL;DR
Most owners land on the Cloud III as a strong value pick once they dial in a custom EQ (NGENUITY, Equalizer APO, or DTS presets), repeatedly describing the transformation from flat/muffled stock sound to something they call amazing, paired with comfort that many rate above the older Cloud II. A meaningful minority, though, is frustrated that the headset needs that EQ work at all, criticizing the out-of-box tuning as dull or watery and pointing to shaky positional audio in competitive shooters. Recurring gripes also target NGENUITY's software (resetting EQ settings, broken DTS:X, random volume drops) and a handful of owners who compare it unfavorably to older HyperX models like the Alpha S or report clamp-pressure discomfort and wire failures that led to returns. Overall sentiment skews positive, especially at the roughly $40 price point, but it's clearly a headset that rewards owners willing to tinker with EQ software rather than one that impresses everyone straight out of the box.
53% of 138 verified owners recommend the Cloud III, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
1,474 comments reviewed · scored on the 138 clearest verdicts
53%
Recommend
73 owners
31%
Neutral
43 owners
16%
Don't recommend
22 owners
Last 6 months:45% recommend(55 recent verdicts)→ holding steady vs older reviews
Source
Breakdown
Score
N
Counted in the score
Reddit
53%
138
Reviewed, but not counted — and why
No clear verdictiGood-to-know notes — setup, tips, and things to watch for. We use them for the pros, cons, and who it's for, but they don't reflect a definitive opinion on the product, so they're never counted in the score. See the 'Good to know' section below the quotes.Setup, tips & quirks
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149
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
What owners like
Custom EQ profiles (via NGENUITY, Equalizer APO, or DTS Sound Unbound) turn a mediocre stock sound into something owners call amazing, with many saying it saved them from returning the headset · 16 · 12%
Comfortable for long sessions, with several owners saying comfort is noticeably better than the Cloud II despite the added weight · 8 · 6%
Strong value at the roughly $39-40 price point, called the best bang-for-buck wireless gaming headset in its class · 6 · 4%
Microphone quality is a clear step up from the Cloud II · 4 · 3%
Wireless model delivers long battery life and low latency that owners don't notice versus wired · 3 · 2%
What owners flag
Out-of-the-box sound is flat, muffled, dull, or watery until owners apply an EQ · 12 · 9%
Directional/positional audio in competitive FPS games (footsteps, gunfire location) is weak or inconsistent for some owners · 6 · 4%
NGENUITY companion software is buggy: EQ settings randomly reset, volume drops unexpectedly, and DTS:X built-in support is widely called broken · 5 · 4%
Some long-time HyperX owners feel sound quality and build have declined compared to older models like the Alpha S and Cloud II · 5 · 4%
A subset of owners returned units over comfort (clamp pressure, sore headband) or durability failures (wire shorting out) · 4 · 3%
Who it's for
A great fit if
Budget-conscious gamers wanting solid comfort and sound around $40-130
Competitive FPS/CS2 players willing to apply EQ or NGENUITY presets for footstep positioning
Wireless users who value long battery life and low latency over long sessions
Owners comfortable tweaking EQ APO or NGENUITY software to fix the flat out-of-box tuning
Look elsewhere if
Anyone expecting great sound straight out of the box with no EQ tweaking
Audiophiles or music listeners who found the default tuning flat, muffled, or thin
Buyers needing reliable stock directional/positional audio without extra software setup
Synthesized from what Cloud III owners say — not a spec sheet.
Top quotes, sourced
1,474 reviewed · 138 shown
Sentiment
Sort
Reddit▲ recommend
“Thanks for this, I was about to return my wireless cloud 3s headset,compared to my old Logitech g-pros the sound direction in FPS games was terrible”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Sound quality trash, straight cheap plastic headphones, and now to top it off they are poisoning you. The only good thing about them is their noise cancelling features work well.”
Reddit— neutral
“I had too many problems with the headset itself: the EQ settings kept resetting, the volume would randomly decrease, and sometimes the headset would go into sleep mode during games.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Glad my wire shorted out/broke after 5 months of use, went back to my 7 year old pair of Astro A40’s that I have never had an issue with.”
Reddit— neutral
“I can definitely feel that delay. I’ve played over 3000 hours with a regular wired headset and just switched recently, so maybe the sudden change in sound is making me notice it more. I’ll see how it goes”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Absolute game changer. I’m runnin your JM-1 preset with the Cloud III wired and holy shit the difference when bypassing is insane.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I can't pinpoint shit...my friends always giving me crap now cuz they can easily tell where someone is and I'm fking lost sometimes.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Can also atest these sound amazing compared to anything wireless in the price range aside from Fractal maybe.”
Reddit— neutral
“The Cloud 3 simple needs a little nudge in the subbass and in the lower treble, but is a much nicer "base" FR to work with than the old Cloud 2.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“All these EQs that people are praising saying they're audiophile material just don't sound good to me.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“I finally feel like I have found something that neither a headset for 50 euros nor 300 euros could give me.”
Reddit— neutral
“noticed the mute button is loose, like it moves when you touch it even if not pressing it and that makes an annoying sound in your ear”
Reddit— neutral
“Very uncomfortable both material and shape wise mainly. Audio isnt bad but directional audio is pretty much non existent”
Reddit▲ recommend
“The Cloud 3 (no S) is absolutely fantastic, and a headset I would buy again if something happened to mine”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“I've had clouds from the first clouds to the alpha wireless but the quality really has dropped.”
Reddit— neutral
“I think they're alright for the price, though I paid much more than they cost now as of writing this in November 2025.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Bro just got the headset and it does sound flat. Just did what you said and it sounded so much better.”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“my 8 year old stinger headset is still better sound than this one. Just returned it.”
Reddit▲ recommend
“you saved my life. youre a god to me, you understand? these headphones were so flat sounding before”
Reddit— neutral
“i love the sound but It works fine on Bluetooth but with the dongle it keeps audio pausing and having cracking sound”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“Return them…..sound quality and mic monitoring is atrocious in comparison to the 2.”
Reddit— neutral
“i got the cloud 3 wired which with eq presets gives a really good sound but not as good as the alpha”
Reddit▼ don’t recommend
“The cloud 2 worked perfectly but cloud 3 gave him that issue right away”
Reddit▲ recommend
“Gaming headset wise, 40 dollars for cloud 3 are an excellent price and highly recommend in general.”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
Redditⓘ good to know
“get new fur earpad dont use ngenuity if possible dont update https://preview.redd.it/ctip00frcq3h1.jpeg?width=3060&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89968d10218d8729cbc4f101050c6e957650269a”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Read a lot of good things about this headset, but it also requires EQ settings to be adjusted - Anyone have some presets so that a newb could get started with tinkering around?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I got mine a few days ago, may I ask what was/is dangerous about it? I didn't get told anything about it and got it because I had the Cloud II as my previous headset. Thanks!”
Redditⓘ good to know
“You can bypass the purchase of dolby atmos, which I personally found not as crazy as they'd have us believe, by clicking on windows headphones, enhancements, virtualization, concert hall.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Does anyone know if these comes with the mesh pads in addition to the leatherette pads? My old cloud 2 came with mesh which was nice since the fake leather pads wear away.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“https://www.reddit.com/r/HyperX/comments/1nike47/hyperx_cloud_3s_wireless_how_to_disable_this/ Make sure you all read up on this thread as it's a pretty annoying issue”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Im testing your eq on my Hyperx Cloud 3 wireless too :P I play cs2 get so dizzy hear everything at same time at footsteps is facinating what eq on apo can do to your headset :) But nice eq tho!”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Hello could you tell me some fix for the mic? on discord its pretty low and if I yell into it it muffles it out should i turn mic monitoring off in the ngenuity app?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Ive copied your preset and i cant tell a difference between when i turn of the apo equalizer and having it on. Either i did something wrong or me hearing is cooked.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“im getting warped audio and random disconnects with the usb receiver turning off when it happens but still connected. any workaround/fix? happening more frequently with my new-wireless mouse installed”
Redditⓘ good to know
“If it's a Windows PC, that could be Windows messing with the default audio device on sleep. I always notice it with Discord. After a sleep or restart, the defaults will silently change to other devices”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Im trying to make this work but no matter what config i do with APO SFX/EFX fixes etc i get no changes to my audio for my wireless cloud 3's anyone know a fix?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I noticed that only setting up and running the APO app makes the sound better, which makes no sense but it works without setting any EQ, it's completely off.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Hey buddy thank you for this. The sound really DOES sound better :D I have NGENIUTY still installed along with DTS Sound Unbound. Should I remove both apps ?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Thank you for this. I copied your EQ, is it okay to close the peace and apo app? Will it automatically apply even restarting? Is it okay to use DTS for this? I need DTS for gaming. Would you recommend it?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Thanks for the guide! From Windows Sound setting. which option are you using in Audio Enhancements setting? Do you keep it Device Default Settings or Off?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“I feel like more people would mention they pop if you dont have sound playing for a second. even if it only once or whatever. Were yours defective maybe?”
Redditⓘ good to know
“https://preview.redd.it/hcmphqfpgiof1.jpeg?width=3023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36558cf1ee03a6f369865a96ee5b9f81223557a7 I copied your photo but this came up? What does it mean (I’m bad with this type of tech)”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Could anyone tell me about the microphone, is it better compared to the Cloud II (wireless) or similar and have they improved anything about the Wireless Range since the battery life seems to be much better.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Is there a way that I can test sound with the equalizer preset and without it? Cause I'm not sure if I set it up properly or if there's any difference.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“The DTSX app from microsoft store doesnt make a single difference to my hyperx headphones compared to the hyperx app DTSX, so no point in this for me.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Im back to the thread again, just wanna say, after few days using your preset and few others from comments (including autoeq.app parameters), yours is the best, and for music, and for gaming. Props to you bro!!”
Redditⓘ good to know
“The Bluetooth chip turns off to save battery power even you aren't passing audio through it....i believe was the explanation for something like this.”
Redditⓘ good to know
“Well, you don't notice it now, but you did say the sound felt "wrong" when you first got them. I just don't get why none of the reviews mention this.”
