We have tested the Sony Inzone H9. Sony’s new gaming headphones.

Last month, Sony launched its new gaming headsets Inzone H3, H7 and H9, which should attract people who play games, both on computer and console. We got the chance to try the flagship of the series, the Inzone H9, which we really like, albeit with some reservations.

These wireless headphones have nice leather covers that fit really well around my ears and feel good to wear even during longer gaming sessions. They are easy to wear on the head and the matte surface feels solid. However, what stands out a little is the microphone, which feels a little cheaper compared to the rest of the headset. The microphone is generally the Achilles heel of the headset, but more on that later.

Sony knows this with sound, and that’s probably why the sound that comes out of the headphones is really good. In general, I found that they manage to find a very good balance between the different sound frequencies, which delivers a really spacious sound image with good bass sound. The headset also has support for 360 Spatial Sound, which I thought worked very well, and if you compare it to, for example, Sony’s Pulse headphones, the function takes a big step forward with the H9. You notice this especially clearly in Sony’s own games that support 3D sound.

The H9 model also offers noise reduction which I initially thought would be a bit overkill but now I want it in all future gaming headsets. It is fantastic if you now have annoying fan noise from your computer or if you have a neighbor who is a bit in love with his chainsaw. Worth mentioning, however, is that the noise reduction in the H9 is not the best you can find, but it clearly fulfills its function well.

According to Sony themselves, the battery life is up to 32 hours, but it depends a little on whether you run the noise reduction a lot or not. It charges via USB Type-C and also offers fast charging which means you can get 60 minutes of use just after just ten minutes of charging which is a feast.

The headset is not only compatible with PlayStation but can also be run on PC (Windows). Via associated software can be changed a lot with various functions and settings to create personal sound profiles. The software that you get for computers is good and easy to use. It would have been nice, however, if you could have the same opportunity to adjust these sound settings also directly on the console or via a mobile app.

One button worth praising is the one for adjusting game and chat sounds. With this button, which can be found directly on the headphones, you can quickly and easily adjust which sound should have priority.

The H9 can be connected to optional devices via the included USB dongle, but also supports bluetooth. This means that you can connect the headphones to the console/computer via the dongle at the same time as being connected to your phone via bluetooth. In this way, you can answer calls if someone should call in the middle of the game. It also means you can run around the house and listen to some Dr. Dre while cleaning.

The microphone can be found on the left cover and it is turned on by angling it up to a vertical position. However, you can’t remove it completely, so if you have claw-fingered toddlers in the house who insist on lifting or pulling on things they shouldn’t, you have to pay attention so it doesn’t make a creaking sound. However, the sound from the microphone is not great and sounds almost tinny. People I play with felt that my sound was worse now than when I was running my old HyperX headphones, which is not optimal for a headset that is more than twice the price. Hopefully Sony will sort this out with some sort of update.

Recommended price for the H9 is SEK 3,500, which I can feel is a bit juicy right now. So if you don’t really have to have them now, maybe you should wait until they go down in price.

The bottom line here is that the Inzone H9 is undeniably a really good first series of gaming headphones that delivers really good game sound on both PlayStation and Windows. If this sound is the only thing you care about and have money to spend, they are a perfectly fine choice. But if you talk a lot, the microphone slows it down a bit and means that you might have to wait until the next generation, which can probably be really, really good.

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Game Feature,

Sony, Inzone H9, PlayStation