Sony is finally ready to take on the likes of SteelSeries, Razer, and Logitech with its InZone brand of PC gaming accessories. While InZone started with monitors and headsets in 2022, with a few new products since then (including its great InZone Buds and the sleek but pricey M10S OLED), Sony is making a concerted effort to take over your desk. It just launched two new headsets, a gaming keyboard, a wireless mouse, and even a couple of mousepads, all developed alongside esports organization Fnatic, and all available for preorder today.
As you might expect, Sony’s not aiming for the bargain bin here. Each of these peripherals is made for competitive play, and they come with high prices that don’t always feel justified.
To test them all out at once, I swapped out each of my regular PC peripherals for the new InZone gadgets, which made me feel like I was on a Sony Pictures movie set with intense product placement.
The headband size adjusters are one of my favorite new features in the H9 II. It’s the small stuff, right? Image: Sony.
Sony InZone H9 II
The InZone H9 II gaming headset is the successor to the bulkier H9 from 2022, with a refined finish, a handful of improvements, and a gen-to-gen price hike from $299.99 to $349.99. The headset is slimmer and lighter (273g versus 330g), and it features a clever “pinch-to-adjust” button on each side of its headband to let you easily find the right fit. The suspended headband design feels lightweight on my head, rivaling the most comfortable models I’ve used, like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.
The new model has the same 30mm speaker drivers as Sony’s latest WH-1000XM6 flagship headphones. Even though they’re 10mm smaller than those in the previous-gen model, they sound just as phenomenal for music as they do for games. You’re also getting fantastic active noise cancellation, with the option to turn on a transparency mode that, notably, doesn’t affect the audio quality. You can customize the H9 II’s more granular settings within the company’s InZone Hub on PC or via Bluetooth in Sony’s Sound Connect mobile app — the same one used for several of its consumer headphone models.
This headset has several features every wireless model should have. The ear cups are on swiveling hinges, giving you the option to let them rest on your chest between matches, or if you need to remove them to talk in person. You can now listen to audio via a 3.5mm cable, even when the headset is out of battery. Wired mode will override any wireless connections. If you’d prefer to go wireless, it can maintain simultaneous connections over Bluetooth and its compact 2.4GHz USB-C transmitter, which has a toggle for PC and “other” platforms.
The headset works just fine with the PS5 and Switch 2, letting me listen to podcasts from my phone as I play. This model adds Bluetooth LE Audio support, allowing them to last longer per charge with better sound — love that, especially since I’m likely to keep them paired to two devices. Another new feature for this generation is a feature that several other headsets have: a removable boom microphone, in case you’d rather use a desktop mic or if you’re heading outdoors.
Sony InZone E9
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