HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless

Related articles
Udev
The
HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless
is a wireless gaming headset from HyperX (HP, Inc). While the headset functions as a standard USB audio device on Linux, the companion features (battery monitoring, sleep timer, mic monitor, voice prompts) require additional software as the official HyperX NGENUITY application is Windows-only.
Features
The following features are available on Linux through the
hyperx-alpha-wireless-git
AUR
package:
Feature
Status
Audio playback/recording
[Works natively via USB audio Yes]
Battery monitoring
[Supported Yes]
Sleep timer (10/20/30 min)
[Supported Yes]
Mic monitor (sidetone) on/off
[Supported Yes]
Voice prompts on/off
[Supported Yes]
Mic mute status
[Supported Yes]
Mic connect/disconnect
[Supported Yes]
Charging status
[Supported Yes]
System tray icon
[Supported (legacy systray) Yes]
Settings persistence
[Supported Yes]
Equalizer / DTS surround
[Windows software-only (see
#Equalizer
) No]
Sidetone volume level
[Not supported by headset firmware No]
Installation
Install
hyperx-alpha-wireless-git
AUR
from the
AUR
.
Alternatively, build from source:
$ git clone
https://github.com/WaffleThief123/HyerpxAlpha-Linux
$ cd HyerpxAlpha-Linux
$ cmake -S . -B build
$ cmake --build build
$ ./install.sh
Dependencies
wxwidgets-gtk3
- GUI framework
hidapi
- USB HID communication
systemd-libs
- udev support
Configuration
udev rules
The package installs a udev rule to
/etc/udev/rules.d/99-hyperx.rules
that grants access to the headset's HID interface without root privileges:
SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="03f0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="098d", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="03f0", ATTRS{idProduct}=="098d", MODE="0666"
After installing, unplug and replug the headset's USB dongle for the rules to take effect.
Note
The
uaccess
tag may not work on all session configurations. The package uses
MODE="0666"
for broad compatibility.
Settings file
Settings are stored in
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/hyperx/config
(defaults to
~/.config/hyperx/config
). The file is a simple key-value format:
sleep_timer=2
voice_prompts=1
mic_monitor=1
Settings are saved automatically when changed in the GUI and restored when the headset reconnects.
Usage
Launch the application:
$ Hyperx
Launch minimized to the system tray:
$ Hyperx --systray
Enable HID packet debug logging:
$ Hyperx --debug
Flags can be combined:
$ Hyperx --systray --debug
Autostart
The package installs a desktop entry to
/usr/share/applications/hyperx-alpha.desktop
. To start the tray app automatically at login, copy it to your autostart directory:
$ cp /usr/share/applications/hyperx-alpha.desktop ~/.config/autostart/
Note
The
install.sh
script does this automatically. If installed via the AUR package, copy it manually.
System tray
The
--systray
option requires legacy system tray support. This is available natively in
KDE
,
Xfce
, and
LXQt
. For
GNOME
, install a tray extension such as
gnome-shell-extension-appindicator
.
HID protocol
The headset communicates via USB HID using vendor ID
0x03f0
and product ID
0x098d
. All commands use 31-byte packets prefixed with
0x21 0xBB
.
Byte[2]
Byte[3]
Direction
Description
0x03
0x01/0x02
Receive
Connection state (disconnect/connect)
0x05
Send/Receive
Microphone state query
0x07
0x0a/0x14/0x1e
Receive
Sleep timer state (10/20/30 min)
0x09
0x00/0x01
Receive
Voice prompts state (off/on)
0x0b
level
Receive
Battery percentage (0-100)
0x0c
0x00/0x01
Receive
Ping / charging status
0x10
0x00/0x01
Send
Mic monitor off/on
0x12
minutes
Send
Set sleep timer
0x13
0x00/0x01
Send
Voice prompts off/on
0x20
0x00/0x01
Receive
Mic disconnected/connected (physical)
0x22
0x00/0x01
Receive
Mic monitor off/on confirmation
0x23
0x00/0x01
Receive
Mic unmuted/muted (physical button)
0x24
0x01/0x02
Receive
Power off/on
Use
--debug
to log raw HID packets to stdout for further protocol analysis.
Equalizer
The equalizer and DTS Headphone:X spatial audio features in HyperX NGENUITY are implemented entirely in the Windows audio driver. They are not HID commands sent to the headset and cannot be replicated through this application.
For equalizer functionality on Linux, use a PipeWire or PulseAudio equalizer plugin:
easyeffects
- GUI equalizer for PipeWire
pulseaudio-equalizer
- for PulseAudio setups
Troubleshooting
Device not found
Verify the dongle is detected:
$ lsusb | grep 03f0:098d
If it appears but the application cannot access it, check that the udev rules are installed and the dongle was replugged after installation.
Settings not applying on reconnect
The application delays settings restoration by 2 seconds after the headset powers on to allow the firmware to finish initializing. If settings still do not apply, power cycle the headset and wait for it to fully reconnect.
System tray icon not appearing
Ensure your desktop environment supports legacy system tray icons. See
#System tray
.
See also
HyerpxAlpha-Linux on GitHub
HeadsetControl
- Multi-headset tool with Cloud Alpha Wireless support