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May 04, 2023

Sony Inzone H9 review

Sony's Inzone H9 wireless gaming headset offers top battery life, dual audio

Sony's Inzone H9 wireless gaming headset offers top battery life, dual audio connectivity and noise-canceling but at a price that may not be worth it for you.

Cole Luke

Updated: Jun 9, 2023

When the Sony Inzone H9 gaming headset arrived for review, it's safe to say I was pretty excited. Having owned Sony's excellent WF-1000XM4 earbuds, I had high expectations that these might be endgame cans, especially given the still-high asking price of $278 (£269).

The Inzone H9 sits at the top of Sony's gaming headset line, asking quite a bit extra over the Inzone H7 for around $178.00 (£139.18) and Inzone H3 for $99.99 (£69.99) and well above the PlayStation Pulse headset. At this price, they are competing with PCGamesN top-pick, the EPOS H3PRO Hybrid for $279.99 (around £169.00).

After using them daily for three weeks to play the best PC games, consume content, listen to music, and chat with friends, I can say with certainty what they offer, both good and bad, and who they might be for. Read on to see what I made of the Sony Inzone H9 wireless headset, and whether they’ll end up on our best wireless gaming headsets list.

Pros:

Cons:

The Sony Inzone H9 packs some 40mm drivers with trademark Sony-quality sound imaging. Features wise they have spatial audio, active noise canceling, ambient sound, 2.4 GHz wireless, simultaneous dongle and Bluetooth connectivity, and a hinge microphone.

Sony Inzone H9 specs:

Other than the headphones, in the box are some Inzone stickers, a USB-A to USB-C cable, documentation, and the USB-A 2.4Ghz dongle that features a switch to swap between PC and PlayStation 5 modes.

As with the rest of the Inzone lineup, the design language is clearly that of the PlayStation 5 and subjectively, I quite like the clean and matte-white look that Sony is going the Sony Inzone H9 goes for.

The H9 headset is mostly constructed of a durable plastic that feels reasonably robust and has held up well during testing. The ear cups and headband are made of pleasant-feeling faux leather, but they aren't replaceable and this might affect the headset's longevity against wear. The hinge design ensures a good fit across a wide range of face shapes and twists to let them sit flat on a desk or in a case.

The boom mic gives a reassuring click as you fold it down into place and out of the way again and should last a long time. The mic is not detachable however limiting its portability and viability as a do-it-all headset. There's a good suite of physical controls. On the right can there is a game/chat rocket button which lets you adjust the channel mixing to focus more on either audio from what game you’re playing or people you’re talking to.

There's also a Bluetooth button which, when held, will activate its Bluetooth mode, and different presses allow you to play and pause audio or answer and end a call, for example. There's also the power button, which with a long press will turn the headset on and off, with a single press turning on or off noise-canceling.

On the left can you’ll find a volume control wheel that gives a little beep when you’ve reached minimum or maximum volume and an ANC button that cycles between ANC on, off, and ambient mode. Whilst comfortable, I found that despite the unique hinge, they did not hold onto my head very well. This wasn't an issue most of the time but they would begin to slide forward if I had to look down at my phone or notepad.

Subjectively, these are not the headphones I would grab for any video calls, as they are comically large and imposing, resulting in an undeniably distracting presence. They’re certainly a step down from the design of Dyson's Zone headphones, though.

Living with the Sony Inzone H9 is very easy. Sony offers a free bit od downloadable software called Inzone Hub (for Windows). Once downloaded, you’ll be prompted to update the headphones, and you can change parameters including the Dynamic Range of the headset. Once I’d done this, I found the audio and microphone quality improved. The H9 headset, being wireless, can connect via Bluetooth to any device which supports it, but the 2.4Ghz dongle only works on PC and PlayStation 5 – making them unviable as a low-latency Xbox headset.

Out of the box, the H9 has a very bass-heavy sound reproduction which I found could drown out voices, something that's often typical of gaming headsets. Using the Inzone Hub though, I could adjust the EQ curve to my liking to get a more accurate and neutral sound, which is my own personal preference. Fortunately, the Inzone Hub is light and responsive unlike many other programs bundled with hardware.

Within the app, there's also personalized spatial audio, whereby Sony will take a photo of your ears and analyze their shape. I couldn't notice any difference when I did this, but Sony's sound imaging is already excellent.

With the sound settings dialed in, I found the H9 to sound very good. SHODAN sounded as snide and sinister as ever in the System Shock remake, with the ambiance of Citadel station sounding clear and encompassing. When the going got rough with multiple explosions, guns being fired and cyborgs shouting, I found the H9 headset to still perform well, and I was able to make out the individual sounds and where they were coming from due to the perfect sound imaging.

With my desired EQ settings, listening to music was overall a good experience, but despite my best efforts with the equalizer, I was never truly satisfied with the treble performance. Percussion and cymbals still sounded slightly piercing.

The microphone is perfectly acceptable for gaming or calls. The quality improved further with a firmware update and no one will have any trouble understanding you over Discord or heckling noobs online. The H9s offer noise canceling and ambient sound, both of which are serviceable but do not offer the level of performance that Sony's own WF-1000XM4 earbuds or Apple's AirPods Pro 2's deliver despite being a similar price.

The noise canceling performed well at reducing the sound of my obnoxiously loud laptop and music being played in the same room, but struggled with lower frequencies from construction work taking place outside. It sounded quite hissy when there was nothing playing.

My Sony WH-1000XM4 earbuds didn't break a sweat at deadening the sound of my washing machine, whereas the H9s only muffled it. I found the pressure caused by the noise canceling to be quite unpleasant too, unlike the XM4 or AirPods Pro 2 and I had to turn it off after a while. I am admittedly quite sensitive to this, so your mileage may vary.

The ambient mode was passable but compared with the XM4 or AirPods Pro 2's it was lacking. Voices sounded quite tinny, but for home use it was acceptable. I found myself pulling back one of the cans when I was spoken to for the most part. It did come in clutch though when I was waiting on a delivery and allowed me to game and hear out for my buzzer, so it is definitely better than not having it at all.

A novel feature of Sony's Inzone H9 headset is being able to be connected via the dongle and by Bluetooth and have the audio playing from both simultaneously. I found this genuinely useful for taking calls (and watching Tik Toks when I was supposed to be working) when at my desk, and would love to see this feature incorporated more often.

The Bluetooth audio quality is not as good as that coming via the 2.4GHz dongle but this is to be expected. The latency of the dongle is very low too, ensuring anything you’re seeing on screen is not sonically out of step with what you’re hearing. I could also walk from one end of my humble abode to the other (about 45ft) and never lost my signal so trips to the fridge shouldn't interrupt what you’re listening to.

Strangely, the H9s do not offer connectivity via the USB cable, meaning if the internal battery ever goes, you’re going to be out of luck in continuing to use them, which is a real shame.

The Inzone H9 has excellent battery life, and I was caught off guard when they prompted me to charge them because I had honestly forgotten they needed electricity to function. For most of my time with the H9s, I wasn't using noise-canceling so I would see around 30 hours of use before I would charge them again, and due to them being USB-C, I didn't need multiple cables coming to my desk.

Overall, the sound quality of the Inzone M9 gaming headset is good, helped further by using the Inzone Hub to tweak the audio settings. Its battery life is exemplary, and having dual connectivity is a game changer for those of us working at a desk on a computer all day taking calls.

Sony has set its eyes firmly on PC gamers with the Inzone H9, even if it borrows its aesthetic from the PlayStation 5. If you want a wireless gaming headset to use at home, and don't mind the bulky design, the Inzone M9 could be a good choice for you.

However, used to the excellent sound quality of my Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds, I was ever so slightly disappointed by the Inzone M9. When spending this kind of money on a headset (unless it is excellent at something specific), I want to get as much use out of it as possible. Unfortunately, the Inzone M9 isn't conducive to this. The microphone isn't detachable, as it is on high-end gaming headsets like the Razer Kraken V3 Hypersense. No carry case is included either, if you want to keep them protected while gaming on the go you’ll have to fork out for the pleasure.

The Corsair HS65 Wireless headset is cheaper

If you’re looking for a cheaper wireless gaming headset, the Corsair HS65 Wireless punches above its weight. Plus, you’ll have money left over to pick up a discounted set of headphones to take with you on the go for handheld PC gaming.

The Razer Kraken V3 Hypersense has a detachable microphone

The Razer Kraken V3 Hypersense is a vibrating headset that offers haptic feedback. It's wired, giving you less freedom to roam around, but it's also more affordable than the Inzone M9.

The Inzone H9 offers fantastic battery life and helpful simultaneous Bluetooth/2.4GHz connectivity. It's a jack of all trades but master of none. For a gaming headset, not having a detachable mic at this price point is regrettable, and cheaper alternatives exist (some from Sony's Inzone line) that perform almost as well.