Sony Inzone H9 II gaming headset gets noise-cancelling from the WH-1000XM6
Sony gets into competitive PC gaming with new headsets, keyboards, mice, and more
🎧 Sony announces a new Inzone H9 II gaming headset and Inzone E9 in-ear monitors
🔊 Sony Inzone H9 II features a new lightweight design with drivers and noise-cancelling pulled from the Sony WH-1000XM6 wireless headphones
🦻 New Inzone E9 fill in the niche needed for gaming-focused in-ear monitors for esports gamers
⌨️ Sony breaks into PC peripherals with a new gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, and a pair of mouse mats
📅 Sony Inzone H9 II and Inzone E9 are available to buy now with preorders available on Sony’s other PC gaming peripherals.
Sony is going for the PC gaming crowd with its fresh lineup of gaming headsets, keyboards, mouse, and more.
Starting with the Sony Inzone H9 II, it’s a massive departure from the original Sony Inzone H9. The new design ditches the traditional headband of most gaming headsets for a wire framework that lightens the load, dropping the weight from 330g to 273g.
The Inzone H9 II has also adopted its 30mm drivers from Sony’s mainstream WH-1000XM6 noise-cancelling wireless headphones. These new drivers are smaller than the previous 40mm units, but Sony claims they deliver better sound quality by putting more space between them and your ear. The Inzone H9 II has also been upgraded with the dual sensor technology from the WH-1000X, so its noise-cancelling is on the same performance level as the Sony WH-1000XM6.
How does the Sony Inzone H9 II sound?
Matt Swider, The Shortcut EIC, and I got to play a whole night of Call of Duty Black Ops 6 with the gaming headset, and we can tell you this is a categorically excellent gaming headset. The headset delivers the full spectrum clarity you need for hearing where exactly footsteps and gunfire are coming from. There’s plenty of bass to make you feel the action. The noise-cancelling was also strong enough to block out the noise from the busy gaming event space around us.
Voice quality over the microphone sounded rough mostly due to the space where were playing; a crowded event space with the next player sitting next to us also screaming into their microphone. I expect the new detachable microphone will sound better in private. It’s also longer and more flexible, so it should be easier to position directly in front of your mouth.
The Inzone H9 II otherwise features a smaller 2.4GHz USB-C transmitter and a faster charging battery that replinishes one hour of play in five mins , However, battery life is slightly shorter at 30 hours instead of the previous Inzone H9’s 32 hour lifespan.
The Sony Inzone H9 II is available to purchase now for $349 on Amazon, Best Buy, and direct from Sony.
Sony in-ear gaming monitors
On top of the new headset, Sony is venturing into a new gaming audio market with in-ear monitors called the Inzone E9.
The Sony Inzone E9 are interesting in that that fill in a very specific need for gaming-focused in-ear monitors for esports. The Inzone E9 are essentially extremely lightweight wired earbuds you can comfortably wear under a pair of noise-isolating earmuffs.
They feel incredibly lightweight to the point that it feels like I’m wearing nothing at all. There’s no noise-cancellation like on Sony’s gaming headsets, but the noise-isolation (even without earmuffs) is good that I only heard a little outside noise while playing Black Ops 6 with them. The sound mix, meanwhile, sounds suprisingly good and clarity was excellent for hearing even the faintest footsteps.
The Sony Inzone E9 are also available now for $149.
Full PC suite
Sony also announced a new gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, and mouse pads to full round out its PC gaming peripheral suite. The three-peripherals (and Sony’s two new audio solutions) were designed in collaboration with Fanatic, the Esports team and PC peripheral maker.
The new Sony Inzone KBD-H75 is a compact 75% gaming keyboard featuring full programmable hall-effect keys. Like other keyboards with magnetic switches we’ve seen like the Asus ROG Falcata, you can set the actuation point for any of the keys from between 0.1mm to 3.4mm.
The Sony Inzone Mouse-A is a surprisingly lightweight wireless gaming mouse that only weighs 48g. Lastly, you can pair this new gaming mouse with Sony’s new pair of mouse mats, the Inzone Mat-F and Mat-D. The Mat-F is designed for accuracy with a textured fabric material that’s 6mm thick. Meanwhile, the Mat-D is slightly thinner at 4mm and features a slick low-friction surface for speed.
The $299 Sony Inzone KBD-H75 gaming keyboard, $149 Sony Inzone Mouse-A, $59 Sony Inzone Mat-F, and $34 Sony Inzone Mat-D are all available to preorder now.
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.