This post, much like all of my posts is a bit overdue. At PAX Prime in 2015 I spoke to some representatives from Kingston who set me up with a pair of their Cloud II headsets. When it comes to hardware I prefer to put my items through a bit of a durability test before going ahead and writing about them, and not only has the Kingston Cloud II (in a very stylish pink and white) has not only succeeded, but prevailed! Kingston Cloud II boasts foam cushions over the ears which re modular and you can switch between the soft leather and plush material. It also features a detachable microphone, adjustable earphones, and a USB "remote control" that I highly recommend using . All this and Dolby 7.1 digital in a $100 package? Yes, please!
When I initially received the Cloud II (provided for us by Kingston) my first instinct was to play with the sound card. I put on some of the best classical music I could find, maybe it was Battle of Hoth, maybe it was Jurassic Park. Toggling the Dolby 7.1 enhanced sound button has a very noticeable difference in sound quality, though it is only really noticeable in high quality recordings though, and doesn't make as large of a difference midgame or in a conference call. When unplugged from its sound card, it sounds near the same quality when the enhancement to 7.1 is not in use.While gaming, I still find my Turtle Beach Ear Force PX4 has better sound quality however, when it comes to noise cancellation, the Kingston Cloud II stands well above the competition. With the Turtle Beach set I hear both the person on the other end and the game from their TV, VERY clearly. With the Kingston, I find that while on occasion the game is audible through the other person's microphone, it is not nearly as noticeable. Unfortunately this can lead to some very slight white noise or very, very slight fuzziness in that person's speech. For the price, the Kingston Cloud II does perform above average. If I hadn't been testing this for little differences, I might not have even noticed.
I find the Cloud II EXTREMELY useful as an office productivity tool. I've had no issues with it has bee
n the hardware's fault where the people on the other end haven't understood me and it seems to block most quiet background noise. Not only that but I've had only one instance of feedback (had the wire a little tight and there was crosstalk, my fault). People on the other end come in loud and clear. This carries over very well from both computer Skype and WebEx calls to cell phone calls. The wire is very long so it does give a fair range of mobility, which is very nice!
I'm very, very pleased by the durability (it's made 5 or 6 cross country trips with me in that amount of months) and performance for the price. Cloud II is truly an asset to the music lover, gamer, and office worker.
