Polk Audio Striker Pro ZX Gaming Headset

Just saw these pop up on Massdrop for ~$50

Anyone have experience with Polk headphones, or these in particular? If so, does the general trend of anything labeled "gaming headset" setting off alarm bells hold true here?

 

I think the biggest difference with gaming headphones is that they include a microphone. No idea about sound quality though. I'd imagine for games they be sufficient, plus they might have some sort of built in dsp. Just guessing here.

 

For cheap on the go gaming, it's hard to beat a gaming headphone with a built in mic that just functions on a single usb plug

Gaming headphone quality on their mics rarely outperforms even a cheap $20 stand mic, and audio is a very mixed bag.

Once you start getting into the $200+ range of gaming headphones though, for sheer audio quality for both audio and voice, you're usually better off buying decent $100-200 range headphones (598s, AT m40s, etc) and a $50 mic. If portability and simplicity in a setup matters to you, then you have to make tradeoffs here.

Not to diss on gaming headphones for being a blanket marketing term or anything, as they serve their intended purpose generally quite well for a respectable sum.

Edit: one thing gaming headphones do generally better than audiophile specific ones is tuning FOR videogames and focus on stage and presentation. So if listening for footsteps around corners matters to you, they do quite well in that aspect too .