REVIEW: Polk 4Shot Headset

4Shot – by Polk – RRP £139.99

This Headset is made by Polk, a premier audio company, and are billed as very high quality headphones. I’d been very excited about getting these when they first released back in March 2014. Back then they were great, with fantastic sound and great build quality. Unfortunately a serious issue with the original microphone kept them from scoring well. In all honesty at that time they just didn’t function properly as a chat headset.

However, Polk recognised the issue and took steps to remedy it. Now with an all new boom-mic, Polk asked me to reconsider the 4Shots to see how they perform.

The first thing that has to be noted is the high quality. As soon as you take these out of the box you can tell they’ve not been made cheaply. There is very high quality, soft leather on the ear cups and headband. There is a lot of metal in the body at all the stress points, but not so much that weight becomes as issue (they are still very light). Beyond that, they have a nice high end look to them (I got black option, with grey details).

They are the most comfortable headset I’ve ever used while gaming, without a doubt.

I started by trying them with TV and single player games, and I was transported to Sound Nirvana. It was CRYSTAL clear, full surround. The channels were separated really well, deep bass and clear treble. From Battlefield 4 and Sunset Overdrive through to Fantasia these sounded brilliant.

Next came time to retest the multiplayer capabilities. So I joined a party with a certain amount of trepidation. Instead of the original omni-mic that was intended for chat, there is now a boom mic that connects to the headset at the base of the right cup. When I heard about this fix, I was sceptical and in all honesty expected a cheap plastic stick-mic. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

What Polk have now included is a metal coated, fully opposable boom mic

The new mic may not look as snazzy as the rest of the headset, but it’s solid, works well and has a nice thick cable (so no need to worry about damage from sitting on it or accidentally yanking it). Also the pic shows it on the blue and white model, but on the black model it blends much more seamlessly (design wise).

This is the fix these cans desperately needed. The chat is now clear and easy to hear, and received no complaints at all. The only downside is that the sound is so good from the speakers, if you have the game sound at full volume while chatting there can be a tiny amount of feedback into the mic. To be honest, this wasn’t a major problem as you don’t want the sound that high when chatting anyway.

Design: 9/10

They look great, smart and just pretty classy.

Comfort: 10/10

Like having a Puppy gently licking your ears.

Sound Quality: 10/10

…while that puppy sings like the Vienna Boy’s Choir and feeds you grapes.

Chat Quality 7.5/10

Not the best out there in terms of the sound it delivers to other people. However, you can be heard clearly and well, no distortion and no ambient noise pickup. giving the amazing sound quality they deliver, as far as I’m concerned the Chat quality is fine for what you need.

OVERALL: 9/10

I am so glad that Polk took the feedback and managed to fix what was in all honesty a deal-breaking problem. These headphones have gone from a ‘wasted opportunity’ to a ‘must have’ in my book. If you want my advice on which headset to go for right now, my answer is save up and go for these.

The chat is everything you need it to be, the feel of them is just lovely and for the sound quality they provide you won’t regret it.

^HooksaN (@HooksaN)

Want to see how they stack up against other Headsets? Check out the ‘Headsets Head to Head’ here!