After wearing the original HyperX Cloud Alpha headset two years ago, I concluded that there was no better gaming headset out there. Then the upgraded Cloud Alpha S came out last year, and while it too was a great headset, we said in our review that it was not worth the price increase from the base model. But now that Amazon Prime Day has arrived, the story has changed, and it is available today for the ridiculously low price of $59.46.

You must be a Prime member to take advantage of this deal (you can sign up for a free trial). Also, the discounted price is only displayed at checkout; the regular price is displayed on the product page, and interestingly, the "Prime Day Deal" blurb advertised on the product page also states that the price at checkout is $89.99. However, Amazon actually applies double the discount (I took a screenshot). I don't know if this was a mistake or if they originally intended to halve the price. Nevertheless, even at $89.99 it is a bit cheaper than the regular Cloud Alpha and well worth the money.

Compared to the previous model, the Cloud Alpha S adds a USB dongle/mixer with large buttons to easily adjust the balance between gaming and audio (each has a separate button).

HyperX also adds virtual 7.1 surround sound to this headset, which can be enabled by pressing a dedicated button on the mixer; Samuel's review found that with 7.1 surround sound enabled, certain sounds (on the muddy path in The Witcher 3 Geralt squealing his boots, for example), but it also tends to distort "almost all noise."

Other differences include the addition of a bass slider on the back of each ear cup, a slightly improved removable microphone, and accents changed from red to blue.