There’s nothing fairly as releasing as a pair of wi-fi headphones — or, that’s what I used to assume, till I attempted a pair of true wi-fi earbuds.
I’m not kidding — there are a whole lot of conditions the place reducing that final wire has had a surprisingly important impact. I now not get wires caught beneath the barbell after I’m doing squats on the gymnasium, for instance. I additionally don’t have to fret about getting twisted up after I’m placing on/taking off outerwear or luggage. (That’s to not say they don’t current new issues — my Airpods fly out of my ears and ping pong throughout the ground each single time I take away a masks, irrespective of how cautious I’m.)
True wi-fi earbuds are far more handy than I anticipated they might be, however there are nonetheless a handful of conditions during which I’m not satisfied they’re mandatory (and even helpful). Gaming, for instance — and never simply due to reliability and latency considerations typically related to wi-fi peripherals, however as a result of gaming isn’t an exercise the place you’d usually reap a lot profit from the pliability and freedom of motion true wi-fi earbuds supply.
However this hasn’t stopped corporations akin to Razer and EPOS from popping out with gaming-oriented true wi-fi earbuds. And now HyperX has dropped its first pair of true wi-fi earbuds aimed toward avid gamers (and in addition everybody), the HyperX Cloud MIX Buds.
The HyperX Cloud MIX Buds have dual-mode wi-fi connectivity for all your gaming and non-gaming wants. The Cloud MIX Buds supply a low-latency 2.4 GHz wi-fi connection (by way of included USB-C dongle) for gaming on PC, PlayStation, and Swap, in addition to built-in Bluetooth 5.2 for cell units and multimedia. In contrast to some higher-end headsets, these earbuds can’t use each connections concurrently, however the 2.4 GHz wi-fi dongle does have a devoted button for rapidly switching between modes.
Oh – however if you happen to’re considering, no wires, no issues, assume once more. True wi-fi earbuds ought to make your life simpler and extra handy, however I’d fortunately take a wired headset with additional wires after the entire connection points I confronted whereas testing these. The HyperX Cloud MIX Buds are on sale now for $149.99, they usually is likely to be price a glance sooner or later, however provided that the corporate fixes these issues with a firmware replace.
Specs for HyperX Cloud MIX Buds
| Driver Kind | 12mm dynamic |
| Impedance | 32 Ohms |
| Frequency Response | 10 Hz = 20.4k Hz |
| Design Fashion | True Wi-fi Earbuds |
| Microphone Kind | Omni-directional, 50 Hz – 6.7k Hz |
| Connectivity | 2.4 GHz, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Weight | 11g (every earbud), 36.5g (charging case), 32g (silicone sleeve) |
| Wire Size | N/A |
| Battery Life | 21 – 33 hours, together with case (6 – 10 hours with out case) |
| Lighting | N/A |
| Software program | HyperX NGENUITY |
Design and Consolation of the HyperX Cloud MIX Buds
HyperX’s Cloud MIX buds will look acquainted to anybody who’s seen a pair of true wi-fi earbuds — there’s nothing significantly distinctive or noteworthy in regards to the design. The earbuds themselves are stemmed, and have a curvy, angled form that matches snugly in your ear canal and provides first rate passive noise cancellation. Every earbud has a small contact sensor on the stem (above the HyperX brand), which might be configured utilizing HyperX’s NGENUITY app/software program.
Within the field, you’ll discover the earbuds in a wi-fi charging case, which has a magnetic snap closure and comes cradled in a protecting — however considerably cumbersome — silicone sleeve. You’ll additionally discover a 2.4 GHz wi-fi USB-C dongle, a USB-C to USB-C adapter, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and two further sizes of silicone eartips.
The silicone sleeve is designed to offer you a spot to retailer the wi-fi dongle while you’re not utilizing it — the USB-C port on the underside of the charging case, which is likely to be helpful for touring.
Nevertheless it does add a whole lot of additional heft to the charging case, and it’s not significantly enticing (in my view). Plus, you’ll be able to all the time retailer the wi-fi dongle within the desktop adapter, which appears to be like like a docking port for the dongle anyway (albeit a tiny one, so this may not be too sensible in case your aim is to not need to maintain monitor of a bunch of small items).
So far as we all know, the Cloud MIX Buds will solely are available in one colorway, which is black. Should you look intently on the footage, you’ll discover the earbuds, charging case, and wi-fi dongle all characteristic a delicate glitter impact. (It’s far more delicate in individual, although — belief me, these are simply black.)
The Cloud MIX Buds have a whole lot of buttons and controls for the way generic they in any other case look. The charging case has a single multi-purpose button on the again, which is used for Bluetooth pairing and checking the case’s battery stage. The wi-fi dongle has a devoted mode button, which you need to use to change between wi-fi and Bluetooth connections (the earbuds prioritize 2.4 GHz wi-fi mode when it’s in vary, however you need to use this button to drive change to Bluetooth).
The earbuds don’t have buttons, however they do have contact sensors for straightforward multimedia management. The default settings are much like what you’d anticipate (faucet as soon as to play/pause, faucet twice to skip a monitor, and so on), and might be personalized utilizing the HyperX’s companion app, NGENUITY.
These are in-ear earbuds with silicone ideas. My ears aren’t significantly small — they’re solidly medium-sized — and these earbuds have been just a bit too giant to really feel comfy immediately. They didn’t harm, they usually weren’t falling out, however they felt overwhelming in my ears. I grew extra accustomed to them after a few days, however even now they’re nonetheless slightly-too-big-to-be-comfortable. Largeness apart, the earbuds match my ears fairly properly, creating an honest seal that supplied good passive noise cancellation.
Audio and Mic High quality on the HyperX Cloud MIX Buds
Earlier than I get into audio high quality, let me point out what a tough course of it was to even get to some extent the place I used to be in a position to assess audio high quality.
There are two methods to attach the Cloud MIX Buds to a tool: 2.4 -GHz wi-fi and Bluetooth. Each are pretty simple — the wi-fi dongle is already paired to the earbuds, so all it’s best to need to do is plug the dongle in and the earbuds will routinely join while you take away them from the charging case.
For Bluetooth, you’ll have to long-press the button on the charging case whereas the earbuds are within the case and the case is open. The LED on the charging case will flash blue while you’re in pairing mode, after which all you need to do is pair the earbuds to your system. This most likely appears fairly easy and simple, particularly you probably have any expertise with wi-fi earbuds/headphones/something.
I began with the two.4-GHz wi-fi dongle, which I plugged into my PC utilizing the adapter (the dongle plugs into the adapter, and the USB-C to USB-A charging cable plugs right into a USB port in your PC). I opened the Cloud MIX Buds, they usually efficiently paired to the dongle — or so I believed. I then had an internet assembly to attend, and it was at that time I found that the microphone wasn’t working.
I went into my audio settings and all the things appeared nice — I might see the earbuds in each output and enter — so I did some troubleshooting however nothing appeared to work. (At that time I simply swapped headsets to take the assembly, however I got here again later and tried all the things: Uninstalling all related units, unplugging all the things, updating Home windows, updating all drivers, updating the BIOS…)
I made a decision to desk the two.4-GHz connection for the second and check out connecting to my iPhone 13 Professional utilizing Bluetooth. I put the Cloud MIX Buds in pairing mode they usually popped up on my iPhone — I tapped, they usually paired immediately! I pulled up my check playlist on Spotify and took my canines on a 15-minute stroll. Once I received again, I took the earbuds out of my ears and set them down for about 5 minutes. Once I picked them up they’d unpaired from my cellphone, so I discovered the case to re-pair them, solely to get an error message seven occasions in a row.
I’m fairly certain I skilled each connection challenge that exists throughout my testing interval. At one level, I related to a laptop computer utilizing Bluetooth and the laptop computer solely appeared to acknowledge the Cloud MIX Buds’ microphone — however I might hear music via the earbuds, solely it sounded extraordinarily compressed. I additionally tried to change from 2.4-GHz mode to Bluetooth mode utilizing the mode button on the wi-fi dongle, and ended up with simply static in a single ear.
I understand how this sounds, but it surely wasn’t all dangerous — the earbuds did work as meant a few of the time, and once they did the audio high quality was fairly good. I used to be particularly impressed with how properly they reproduced spatial audio in video games (I’ve been taking part in the brand new chapter drop in Elder Scrolls On-line, so I’ve had loads of time to stroll round cities and contemplate whether or not I actually really feel the environment). They do an excellent job with multi-layered sound — for earbuds, and normally.
Music additionally sounds first rate on the Cloud MIX Buds, although earbuds aren’t ever my first selection for music. These earbuds have 12mm drivers — a great measurement for earbuds — and did a fairly good job of separating mid-range tones whereas sustaining fullness and heat. I truly thought these earbuds have been somewhat too heat general, however at the very least the bass didn’t find yourself too muddy or distorted. Audio on the Cloud MIX Buds is fairly good, particularly for earbuds — once they’re related.
The Cloud MIX Buds have omni-directional mics, that are…okay. Individuals have been in a position to hear my voice clearly over video and voice calls, however I’m very loud and my pals identified that it didn’t sound practically pretty much as good as after I use a headset with a increase mic. I used to be additionally in a position to take calls on the road with out challenge, however the mics don’t have any built-in lively noise canceling and the folks on the opposite finish of the road might positively hear what was happening round me.
Software program for the HyperX Cloud MIX Buds
HyperX’s NGENUITY has been — shall be? — up to date for the Cloud MIX Buds. The iOS app is offered now however I wasn’t in a position to get the Home windows app to replace and/or acknowledge the earbuds. The software program isn’t wonderful, but it surely does supply a few helpful settings and options.
You possibly can customise the Cloud MIX Buds’ contact controls within the NGENUITY app, and set totally different controls for every earbud. There are perhaps too many faucet variations — eight variations for every earbud (4 basic, two for incoming calls, and two for throughout calls), particularly contemplating that you just solely get to select from a small checklist of multimedia controls. The app additionally has an equalizer, which isn’t significantly detailed or strong, and was somewhat laggy after I used it.
Battery Life on the HyperX Cloud MIX Buds
HyperX claims as much as 33 hours of battery life for the Cloud MIX Buds; that is barely deceptive in the way in which all corporations are barely deceptive in regards to the battery lifetime of true wi-fi earbuds, as a result of it consists of the charging case.
The earbuds themselves have a battery lifetime of between six and 10 hours (six hours utilizing the two.4-GHz wi-fi connection, 10 hours utilizing Bluetooth), and the charging case provides an additional 15 (2.4-GHz wi-fi) to 23 (Bluetooth) hours. The earbuds take about two hours to totally cost (the case takes roughly 1.5 hours, and the earbuds and case mixed take about 4 hours).
For true wi-fi earbuds, 10 hours of battery life is fairly good — it’s not distinctive, but it surely’s on the higher facet of common. For a gaming headset, six hours utilizing low-latency mode is simply so-so. Should you’re searching for gaming audio first and headphones/earbuds you’ll be able to put on on the road second, you could need to contemplate a headset you’ll be able to at the very least use whereas charging, akin to one of many picks on our checklist of greatest wi-fi headsets.
The Backside Line
The HyperX Cloud MIX Buds have first rate battery life for true wi-fi earbuds, do a great job with multi-layered, spatial audio, and may theoretically make a great pair of dual-use earbuds for avid gamers on the go. However as of proper now, I can’t advocate these given the numerous, many connection points I confronted. The excellent news is that a lot of the connection points I skilled seem to be they may very well be fastened with a firmware replace — however till that occurs, I counsel skipping these and choosing up one of many greatest wi-fi gaming headsets as an alternative.
