Sony launches Inzone, its brand of gaming headsets and monitors for PC and PS5

We don’t think we’ll teach anyone that Sony’s interest in video games isn’t new; the Japanese company has even been a major player in the market with its PlayStation consoles for over 27 years. However, the launch in this summer of 2022 of the Inzone sub-brand marks a first: under this name, it is indeed Sony Electronics, the “generalist” consumer branch of the manufacturer, and not the Sony Interactive Entertainment subsidiary, which trying for the first time to design material for gamers. The result of this initiative is a line of headsets and monitors aimed not only at PS5 owners, but especially at PC gamers.

Headsets: personalized virtual surround, and active noise reduction for the premium model

On the headset side, Sony is obviously proud to put all its historical know-how in sound reproduction at the service of players. The range consists of three models, named Inzone H3, H7 and H9; the first is a wired headset (with a choice of mini-jack or USB connection via an external mini-sound card supplied), the next two are wireless headsets also offering a proprietary radio connection via a USB transmitter/receiver and the Bluetooth standard.

The main point in common and selling point of the three headsets is their virtual spatialization function called “360 Gaming Audio” (in fact, a very classic virtual 7.1), whose particularity is to be able to adapt to the auditory characteristics of the user. It works for this in tandem with Windows and mobile applications, via which the user is invited to take a picture of his ears, so that their morphology is automatically analyzed and the virtual spatialization processing is specifically granted to them. The concept is similar to that used by Sony for its 360 Reality Audio spatial music ecosystem, or that designed by Creative for its Super X-Fi products. It should be noted that this 360 Gaming Audio spatialization is only available on PC. On PS5, the headsets are obviously compatible, like any other headset on the market, with the console’s Tempest 3D Audio technology; but in this case, the personalized processing is no longer used.

On the hardware side, all models are equipped with 40mm speakers – more specifically, the H7 and H9 have the same transducers, while the H3 uses slightly less sophisticated modules. The models also differ in the material of their ear cups: soft nylon on the H3 and H7, while the H9 has the luxury of imitation leather identical to that of the WH-1000XM5. This is not the only point in common between the H9 and Sony’s flagship mobile headphones: it also and above all offers active noise reduction. Note also that this same Inzone H9 has already passed through our test laboratory, and you can therefore now consult our verdict on it.

The three headsets will be launched in July 2022 at indicative prices of €300 for the H9, €230 for the H7, and €100 for the H3.

“Perfect for PlayStation” HDR monitors

As for monitors, again : Sony’s experience in televisions is put forward, which would be carefully exploited in the design of these two 27-inch screens – a Full HD model (1920 x 1080 px) at 240 Hz, the Inzone M3, and a model Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 px) at 144 Hz, the Inzone M9.

Both employ an IPS LCD panel with 96-zone local backlighting, with the aim of delivering as convincing an HDR picture as possible – albeit not quite on the same level either way. Thus, while the M9 boasts a DisplayHDR 600 certification and a colorimetric coverage of 95% of the DCI-P3 space, the M3 is satisfied with the DisplayHDR 400 and a colorimetric space not exceeding the sRGB. Either way, when connected to a PS5 both models support the Auto HDR Tone Mapping feature of Bravia “Perfect for PlayStation” TVs. This allows you to skip the manual calibration of HDR during the initial configuration of the console: the latter itself recognizes the monitor to which it is connected, and automatically adapts the HDR rendering of games to fit perfectly into the brightness capabilities of the display.

Finally, both models are also compatible with variable refresh rates to G-Sync and HDMI VRR standards. Beware, however, for owners of an AMD graphics card: Sony does not announce FreeSync compatibility. The connection consists of two HDMI 2.1 inputs, a DisplayPort 1.4 input and a USB-C interface with DP Alt Mode (transmission of the video signal, data and electrical power bidirectionally).

The Inzone M9 will be launched in the summer of 2022 at an indicative price of €1099. Regarding the M3, Sony does not announce a price for the moment, and is content to promise “more information” by the end of the year.