HyperX Cloud Orbit S Gaming Headset Review

[Robbo99999]

Although I understand the latency makes this difficult I'd be interested in the basic FR measurements through the digital input. The analog in very well could be going through an ADC but sometimes they don't, and the digital-in response can be modified by onboard EQ. I wonder if there might be tuning not shown in this measurement?

I realized based on the next comment that there is 25ms of delay even on the analog input, indicating a ADC-DAC path and probably some DSP. In that case this is not a very impressive response if you're looking for Harman. And I tend to agree gamers would not want that much delay, although I'd be surprised if it really made a difference, it's borderline IMO.

25ms latency for a "gaming" headset is somewhat significant. Unfortunate that turning off the effects does not remove that competitive disadvantage.

I agree, you don't want 25ms of latency introduced into your audio. I play a fair bit of fps online multiplayer gaming and sound is the first cue that you're being shot at, and our human reaction speed is faster to auditory stimulus than it is to visual stimulus - so audio will give you that edge in a quick reaction scenario. 25ms is too much. A quick Google reveals 140-160ms reaction time for humans to auditory, so adding another 25ms delay to that is increasing reaction time by about 17%. As a slight comparison to High Refresh Rate gaming monitors, if you're running 240Hz/240fps then your game & monitor is updating with new information every 4ms - so during that 25ms auditory delay your game engine and monitor has already updated itself 6 times with new information, so there's enough resolution in the "pipeline" to allow for a reaction speed difference of 25ms related to the audio delay to "matter or make a difference".

The Orbit S has eight different EQ presets which you can cycle though using the buttons on the headset. It's possible that some of these will perform better, or may even match Harman.

Having them in Amir's hands would've been a prime chance to find out, but oh well.



Using the USB input would likely cut down on latency some.

Also, audio latency is not nearly as crucial as video latency for competitive gaming.

Certainly not as crucial as running 240fps on a 240Hz gaming monitor for instance, in terms of the benefits, but that's more about lowering motion blur (& receiving more fine grained visual information) than just video latency, but it is still a part (video latency). Audio latency of 25ms is certainly not desirable, and is a negative. I wouldn't buy this item based on that, not for competitive & not for "competitive for fun" fps gaming. I almost voted this headphone "Poor" because of this, but then I thought about the non-competitive side of things.

 

[usern]

Of course I know this, I've studied professionnaly the dangers of high SPL in industry or other noisy environment, and i Know the Fletcher and Munson curve and the difference between dB (unweighted) and dBa (weighted)

Yuu're right to precise that a 114 dBoutput at 40 Hz is perceived at a much lower SPL (dBa), but on the contrary, and though you wrote it too, well 114 dB unweighted at 1khz, that's 114 dBa perceived and even very slightly more between 1Khz and 4Khz, so that's quite a very high hearing level, rapididly dangerous, at frequencies were human hearing is particularly sensitive and rapidly stressed.
So I don't understand your point.

I think you are assuming that when reaching 114 dB in low frequencies in a piece of music, then there is content at the same level in higher frequencies. But that is not the case with some music like the test track that Amir uses. Moreover you can equalize so that low frequencies stay where they are and suppress everything else by a large margin. I have -12.5 dB preamp filter in EqualizerAPO with sub bass bumped up so with certain music I can hit the limits of different headphones driver excursion without reaching even 100 dBA. Amir's measurements correlate with how loud headphones can go that I've tested in these conditions so it's not just academic exercise.

 

[Alegretti]

I agree, you don't want 25ms of latency introduced into your audio. I play a fair bit of fps online multiplayer gaming and sound is the first cue that you're being shot at, and our human reaction speed is faster to auditory stimulus than it is to visual stimulus - so audio will give you that edge in a quick reaction scenario. 25ms is too much. A quick Google reveals 140-160ms reaction time for humans to auditory, so adding another 25ms delay to that is increasing reaction time by about 17%. As a slight comparison to High Refresh Rate gaming monitors, if you're running 240Hz/240fps then your game & monitor is updating with new information every 4ms - so during that 25ms auditory delay your game engine and monitor has already updated itself 6 times with new information, so there's enough resolution in the "pipeline" to allow for a reaction speed difference of 25ms related to the audio delay to "matter or make a difference".

Certainly not as crucial as running 240fps on a 240Hz gaming monitor for instance, in terms of the benefits, but that's more about lowering motion blur (& receiving more fine grained visual information) than just video latency, but it is still a part (video latency). Audio latency of 25ms is certainly not desirable, and is a negative. I wouldn't buy this item based on that, not for competitive & not for "competitive for fun" fps gaming. I almost voted this headphone "Poor" because of this, but then I thought about the non-competitive side of things.

all myth and exaggeration, a sound at 0ms and another at 25ms we wouldn't even hear an echo.

 

[Nango]

Actually, HyperX belongs to HP so it had to be good.

 

[Noricha]

Very good performance, too bad I see in the user feedback a certain number of disappointments due to a lack of solidity of the materials chosen.
A good surprise all the same and proof that you don't necessarily have to dig into the ranges placed commercially in the "audiophile" box to find products with good technical qualities.

 

[Robbo99999]

all myth and exaggeration, a sound at 0ms and another at 25ms we wouldn't even hear an echo.

It doesn't change the fact that 25ms audio latency increases reaction time by 17%, nor is it a myth that a game engine & video on screen information will have updated with new information 6 times already within that 25ms audio delay when running at 240fps/240Hz. How much of a statistical difference this would make in competitive fps gaming is an unknown and would probably vary from individual to individual and perhaps with what game they were playing. Certainly though, a 25ms audio delay is not a part of optimising your gaming experience, it's a negative!

 

[heraldo_jones]

Just want to add that they are not cancelling headphones, they only have cancelling in the microphone.

 

[tollph3]

It doesn't change the fact that 25ms audio latency increases reaction time by 17%, nor is it a myth that a game engine & video on screen information will have updated with new information 6 times already within that 25ms audio delay when running at 240fps/240Hz. How much of a statistical difference this would make in competitive fps gaming is an unknown and would probably vary from individual to individual and perhaps with what game they were playing. Certainly though, a 25ms audio delay is not a part of optimising your gaming experience, it's a negative!

25ms in reality is not significant unless you are performing at professional even in which no one is going to use probably over ear wireless headphones but i agree its not ideal but for casuals its not something that anyone should worry about you aint going to loose games because of it even in fast paced fps shooters

 

[Robbo99999]

25ms in reality is not significant unless you are performing at professional even in which no one is going to use probably over ear wireless headphones but i agree its not ideal but for casuals its not something that anyone should worry about you aint going to loose games because of it even in fast paced fps shooters

You can't say that it wouldn't effect the outcome of a game, because there's certainly scenarios where 25ms audio latency will cause you die rather than live in an fps online shooter. I've said it before, humans have faster reaction times to audio cues than visual cues and audio is the first cue that you're being shot at and/or being hit which means you need to take immediate evasive action or spin to attack - 25ms audio delay will certainly decrease your chances of doing that successfully & surviving that encounter, and as I calculated in an earlier post a 25ms latency slows your audio cue reaction speed by 17%. You just don't want any real audio delay at all - for instance the parametric equaliser software program called EqualiserAPO that is often used by people here on ASR has 0.0ms of latency when applying any number (that I've seen in my usage) of complex parametric EQs (see attached screenshot), so essentially it has zero latency, so there's not really an excuse for a gaming product to have a full 25ms of latency.

 

[tollph3]

You can't say that it wouldn't effect the outcome of a game, because there's certainly scenarios where 25ms audio latency will cause you die rather than live in an fps online shooter. I've said it before, humans have faster reaction times to audio cues than visual cues and audio is the first cue that you're being shot at and/or being hit which means you need to take immediate evasive action or spin to attack - 25ms audio delay will certainly decrease your chances of doing that successfully & surviving that encounter, and as I calculated in an earlier post a 25ms latency slows your audio cue reaction speed by 17%. You just don't want any real audio delay at all - for instance the parametric equaliser software program called EqualiserAPO that is often used by people here on ASR has 0.0ms of latency when applying any number (that I've seen in my usage) of complex parametric EQs (see attached screenshot), so essentially it has zero latency, so there's not really an excuse for a gaming product to have a full 25ms of latency.View attachment 380588

I totally disagree not that i can back it up with study or scientific literature ,but i think its bunch of bollocks that 25ms would be problematic as audio delay of 25ms even in fps shooters , unless you are playing at professional level for actual money and its your job but not for 99.9% gamers. 15ms frametime is latency of 60fps consistent in game 25ms audio latency yeah its far from ideal but its not big deal on wireless headphones its alright how many wireless headphones have lower latency measured not advertised because i know most that relay on BT and not Dongles specially made for that specific headphones have usually real time latency higher than 25ms. I doubt you would be able to tell that easily as you think.

 

[tollph3]

You can't say that it wouldn't effect the outcome of a game, because there's certainly scenarios where 25ms audio latency will cause you die rather than live in an fps online shooter. I've said it before, humans have faster reaction times to audio cues than visual cues and audio is the first cue that you're being shot at and/or being hit which means you need to take immediate evasive action or spin to attack - 25ms audio delay will certainly decrease your chances of doing that successfully & surviving that encounter, and as I calculated in an earlier post a 25ms latency slows your audio cue reaction speed by 17%. You just don't want any real audio delay at all - for instance the parametric equaliser software program called EqualiserAPO that is often used by people here on ASR has 0.0ms of latency when applying any number (that I've seen in my usage) of complex parametric EQs (see attached screenshot), so essentially it has zero latency, so there's not really an excuse for a gaming product to have a full 25ms of latency.View attachment 380588

also buffers and even usb buffers in your pc/ntb have some kind of latency 1-5ms on audio devices it can get higher with buffers and so on or so i think it is if u have plugged dac/amp you are already above that so in the end even if u set buffer low you are likely at least 5ms+ or more on wired connections and if u do not pay attention to this stuff you may be even higher without knowing it also latency you are showing on EQAPO is not overall latency of your audio output

 

[Robbo99999]

I totally disagree not that i can back it up with study or scientific literature ,but i think its bunch of bollocks that 25ms would be problematic as audio delay of 25ms even in fps shooters , unless you are playing at professional level for actual money and its your job but not for 99.9% gamers. 15ms frametime is latency of 60fps consistent in game 25ms audio latency yeah its far from ideal but its not big deal on wireless headphones its alright how many wireless headphones have lower latency measured not advertised because i know most that relay on BT and not Dongles specially made for that specific headphones have usually real time latency higher than 25ms. I doubt you would be able to tell that easily as you think.

Just a quick point re you correlating the latency of this device with the video output information of displays - I already did that in my earlier post - within that 25ms audio latency a game engine & video on screen information will have updated with new information 6 times already when running at 240fps/240Hz. I don't see any excuse for a gaming product with a 25ms audio delay, specifically for a gaming product the latency should be as low as possible. If you want to buy this headset then feel free to do so, but it's not an optimised solution for gaming.

 

[tollph3]

Just a quick point re you correlating the latency of this device with the video output information of displays - I already did that in my earlier post - within that 25ms audio latency a game engine & video on screen information will have updated with new information 6 times already when running at 240fps/240Hz. I don't see any excuse for a gaming product with a 25ms audio delay, specifically for a gaming product the latency should be as low as possible. If you want to buy this headset then feel free to do so, but it's not an optimised solution for gaming.

Here you go wired connection through USB-C FiiO KA13 i am right now using intput +output latency is 14.83+0.7ms from EQ Apo running in the baground as basic EQ (over 15ms audio latency on wired connection from my pc to dac output) and yes i can lower it but that was by default even a bit higher when i installed drivers yesterday i can get it under 5ms if i want so u are telling me wireless headphone 25ms is too much than recomend me 3 wireless headphones that been measured to have lower than <15ms latency or even <20ms and i will shut up about it .

 

[Chagall]

If a video has 29.97 frames per second, an audio delay of 25ms would be equivalent to 0.7 frames delay so it's a non-issue for consuming media. For games at 240 FPS it's an audio delay of 6 frames - although not ideal, not sure if that would be noticeable for an average Joe. Maybe for ultra competitive e-sports games, but playing a single player 4K @60Hz Vsync/Gsync on games, nope for sure.

Normal audio latency for a wired connection is between 5 and 10 ms. Bluetooth latency can range from an ideal 34 ms(aptX LL) to 100–300 ms. So 25 ms delay is actually great. Price of going wireless.

 

[Robbo99999]

also buffers and even usb buffers in your pc/ntb have some kind of latency 1-5ms on audio devices it can get higher with buffers and so on or so i think it is if u have plugged dac/amp you are already above that so in the end even if u set buffer low you are likely at least 5ms+ or more on wired connections and if u do not pay attention to this stuff you may be even higher without knowing it also latency you are showing on EQAPO is not overall latency of your audio output

Here you go wired connection through USB-C FiiO KA13 i am right now using intput +output latency is 14.83+0.7ms from EQ Apo running in the baground as basic EQ (over 15ms audio latency on wired connection from my pc to dac output) and yes i can lower it but that was by default even a bit higher when i installed drivers yesterday i can get it under 5ms if i want so u are telling me wireless headphone 25ms is too much than recomend me 3 wireless headphones that been measured to have lower than <15ms latency or even <20ms and i will shut up about it .View attachment 380605

Even if there is an unavoidable few ms delay re USB (which I'm not sure there is), then you don't want to add even more to that delay by the measured 25ms delay of this headset, it's as simple as that. And yes, I don't know what the measured audio latency is of other wireless headsets, and if they are similar it wouldn't be the optimum and you might end up not wanting to choose wireless, but we'd have to wait to see some measurements of other wireless gaming headsets to see proper comparison.

 

[lowmagnet]

again, another Audeze product, and another pair of headphones with THAT yoke design. we have gone through 3 pair of mobius because the yoke breaks where the two sides meet the pivoting part.

 

[tollph3]

Even if there is an unavoidable few ms delay re USB (which I'm not sure there is), then you don't want to add even more to that delay by the measured 25ms delay of this headset, it's as simple as that. And yes, I don't know what the measured audio latency is of other wireless headsets, and if they are similar it wouldn't be the optimum and you might end up not wanting to choose wireless, but we'd have to wait to see some measurements of other wireless gaming headsets to see proper comparison.

true i am pretty sure most wireless earbuds or headphones exceed 25ms of overall latency there are measurements over the web on other sites i do not know how reliable they are but even rtrings do some and audio latency on wireless products is usually def higher than 25ms so that number itself sounds pretty good considering you have usually few ms in wired connections not just audio wise ,for example if we talking about high end gaming e-sports professional fps games you need keyboard and mouse that can get low latency too average keyboards and mouse can get close to 25ms of latency so my whole point is if u are not playing for money and gaming is not your job 25ms audio latency should not really impact your gaming performance

 

[ElJaimito]

I use Audeze Penrose X (now out of production) for music production and mixing - and gaming. They are designed as a gaming headset and have a custom wireless channel and dongle capable of 3.6 ms @ 32 samples buffer on Mac, better than 6.3 @64 for the non-x model on Windows. They also have a built-in EQ and low-latency DSP plus an analogue input - which is how I usually use them. They are still on sale at this date if you look around... more details here:

I mention this because they seem very similar to the reviewed item, but perhaps better for gaming. I use them as an economic solution for reliable headphone monitoring - my music-making is a cost centre, not an income centre!