HyperX Cloud Revolver + 7.1 Headphones Review

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 look almost identical to the regular HyperX Cloud Revolver, though their accents are white instead of red. Thanks to their monochrome color scheme and removable mic, they may not be immediately perceived as gaming headphones.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 are decently comfortable headphones. Their ear cups are well-padded and lined with a comfortable-feeling material. They also don't clamp your head too tightly. However, their adjustable headband is a little loose and can cause the headset to sag down and rest on your ears.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have a basic inline remote that can only be used when their USB adapter is connected. While the remote doesn't offer any controls for media playback or call management, it has dedicated buttons for volume and mic level adjustment, not to mention the 7.1 surround sound activation input in the middle of the controller. The buttons are clicky and offer good physical feedback. The mic button glows red when muting the mic, as does the surround button when the feature has been enabled. Unfortunately, there are no audio cues.

These headphones are passably breathable. They create a fairly tight seal against your head and don't allow for much in the way of airflow, so your ears are likely to sweat if you wear them for extended listening sessions or during any sort of physical activity.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 aren't very portable, which is normal for over-ear gaming headphones. Their removable mic slightly reduces the risk of having them snag on something in your bag, but their ear cups don't swivel flat and their headband doesn't fold inwards to reduce their overall footprint.

These headphones don't have a case or pouch.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 are well-built. The hinges and yokes are made of sturdy-feeling plastic, and their headband is made of metal. While the primary audio cable can't be detached, it's braided and shouldn't tear easily. On the downside, their ski-band headband is very loose, and the faux leather lining on the ear cups could rip over time.

These over-ears aren't very stable. They're likely to fall off even with minor head movements, but they should stay in place if you only plan on wearing them while sitting at a desk. Their non-detachable audio cable could also snag on something and yank the headphones off your head.

• HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 headphones
• USB audio control mixer
• Detachable boom mic
• Manual

These headphones have a somewhat warm, boomy sound profile. They should emphasize the punch and boom of sound effects in action-heavy games but without completely overwhelming dialogue or vocals thanks to their well-balanced mid-range. Unfortunately, they don't offer any sort of sound customization features like an EQ or audio presets to customize their sound profile.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have middling frequency response consistency. Bass and treble delivery can vary significantly on separate listening sessions depending on their fit, seal, and positioning. This could be a particular annoyance if you have long hair or wear glasses, which can impact their seal against your ears.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have decent bass accuracy. Some users may prefer a little more low-end thump and rumble, but the extended bump across the mid and high-bass ranges add a little more punch and boominess to in-game sound effects. However, it does give a slightly muddy quality to some mixes. Due to their inconsistent audio delivery, your listening experience may vary.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have excellent mid accuracy. A slight bump in the low mids from the bass range clutters the lower harmonics of dialogue, vocals, and lead instruments. Since the rest of the range is quite flat and well-balanced, these notes should sound full-bodied, clear, and present in the mix.

These headphones have decent treble accuracy. A slight underemphasis in the low and mid-treble ranges can veil vocals and lead instruments and give a lispy, dull quality to sibilants, like S and T sounds or cymbals. However, since their treble delivery is highly dependent on their fit, seal, and positioning, your experience may vary.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have satisfactory peaks and dips performance. A bump across the mid and high-bass ranges give a boomy, muddy quality to some mixes while a dip in the mid-mids can nudge dialogue, vocals, and lead instruments toward the back of the mix. Bumps in the high-mids and early low-treble can make vocals and lead instruments sound slightly harsh. An alternating dip and rise in the mid-treble can make higher notes, which included sibilant noises like cymbals, sound alternatively dull and piercing.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have great stereo imaging performance. Their weighted group delay falls entirely beneath the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. The L/R drivers are also well-matched in regards to amplitude and phase response, with only minor frequency mismatch being present. This results in the fairly accurate placement of objects like voices and footsteps within the stereo image. However, it's worth noting that these results are only valid for our test unit, and your experience may vary.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have a mediocre passive soundstage. Due to their closed-back enclosure, their soundstage isn't as spacious as that of open-back alternatives like the Astro A40 TR Headset + MixAmp Pro 2019, and sound is likely to be perceived as coming from inside your head rather than all around you. Still, it should be perceived as somewhat natural.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have a 7.1 virtual surround sound feature, though we don't currently test its performance. It can be enabled using their USB-A dongle.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1's weighted harmonic distortion performance is decent. Some listeners may notice a bit of distortion in the treble range at both moderate and high listening volumes. However, the rest of the frequency range falls within good limits, so audio reproduction should be fairly clean and pure.

These are the settings used to test the HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1. Our results are only valid in this configuration.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have poor noise isolation capability. They block out almost no ambient noise across the bass or mid-range, so you hear the low rumble of buses and trucks as well as ambient chatter from people nearby. That said, they do a good job of filtering out higher-pitched ambient noise, like the hum of an AC unit.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 offer satisfactory audio leakage performance. People nearby may be slightly annoyed by escaping audio if you listen to content at a high volume in a quiet environment, but you shouldn't disturb anyone if you're somewhere crowded or noisy.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 have a detachable, flexible boom microphone.

The boom mic has satisfactory recording quality. Your voice should sound natural, although a little thin. Thankfully, you should be fairly easy to understand.

The boom mic has great noise handling capability. People on the other end of the line should be able to understand you clearly, even if you're calling from a noisy environment like a subway station or a very crowded office.

Update 12/06/2021: These headphones have been updated to test bench 1.5. In this update, we made changes to the way we test latency. We now use a click track in our software, and we measure latency three times and average the results. This new method has resulted in different latency values than what we had reported in our previous test bench. As a result, we have updated our review to reflect these changes.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1's non-detachable 1/8" TRRS audio cable offers full mic and audio compatibility with any device that has an AUX port. You can also plug the audio cable into their in-line control mixer. However, the mixer itself only has a USB-A connection, limiting its compatibility with different devices. However, while their latency using the USB-A connection may cause very slight syncing issues, it still falls within acceptable levels.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1 offer full mic and audio compatibility with Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles when you plug the 1/8" TRRS cable into the AUX port on their controllers.

The HyperX Cloud Revolver 7.1's USB-A dongle allows for USB audio and microphone usage with PS4 and PS5 consoles as well as PCs. It has an in-line remote that allows you to enable their virtual surround sound feature and adjust volume and mic levels.