Sony is no stranger to headphones, but the gaming headsets it makes tend to be specifically PlayStation-branded — most notably the Sony Pulse 3D headset that came out in 2020. The tech giant’s latest outing in the gaming headset market is a trio of products: the Inzone H3, H7, and H9. Today I’m looking at the high-end H9, which features digital noise canceling in addition to wireless and Bluetooth connectivity. It’s expensive and simplistic in design, but when compared to the Pulse 3D headset, this is a tough sell for most of its target audience.
Sony Inzone H9 - Design and Features
The Sony Inzone H9 looks very similar to the Pulse 3D headset, with a white plastic outer shell and matte black headband. The design is simple and clean and fits right in with other accessories in the PS5 lineup.
The earcups vary greatly from the Pulse 3D – instead of a round circular shape, the Inzone H9 is more of an oval, reminding me a bit more of the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones. Like the WH-1000XM5, the side of the H9 uses forks to attach the earcups instead of the more rigid design of the Pulse 3D. This gives the earcups a bit more flexibility and makes the H9 a lot more comfortable to wear than the Pulse 3D headset, which felt like it was tightly cuffing on my head. The fork design offers more leverage to accommodate more head shapes – I was able to wear this for a full 8-hour workday and then turn around and listen to music without any discomfort.
Underneath the earcups are several buttons to be found: The right side houses the power button, the Bluetooth pairing button, and a Game/Chat button which allows you to adjust the levels of either. The bottom left houses the USB-C port, a dedicated button to turn on or off ambient noise, and a wheel for volume control.
The Inzone H9 is the only headset in the trio that offers the same soft-fit leather included in the Sony WH-1000XM5s, which gives the earcups a soft foam-like feel that helps maintain comfort over extended wear. That said, it’s also more susceptible to scratching and tears after long-term use, and is more prone to picking up oils and smudges.
The headphones use a USB dongle to connect wirelessly to a PC or PS5. I also tried connecting the H9 to my Xbox Series X and Series S consoles using the dongle, but sadly couldn’t get it to work on either. I had the dongle set to Windows, which kept the dongle/headset connection stable, but the Xbox refused to recognize the headset. I also tried connecting it to Xbox via Bluetooth, to no avail.
The Inzone H9 also has a built-in microphone, though I found it a bit underwhelming (more on that later). Instead of the mic being something you detach or pull out of a little cubby, you move it around using a little rotary to pull it up or slide it down. It also uses a flip-to-mute system, meaning the only way to mute the microphone is to flip it up away from your mouth. It works fine, but personally, I would prefer a dedicated mute button.
Sony Inzone H9 - Active Noise-Canceling
The Sony Inzone H9 features active noise-canceling, a welcome feature that was missing on the Pulse 3D headset. Of the three new H-series Inzone headsets, only the H9 features ANC.
The Inzone H9 does a good job of blocking out sound. In testing, I found the noise-cancellation feature was way better than the Razer Opus and more closely up to par with my AirPods Pro. Before playing any audio, the noise cancellation didn’t fully block outside noise. I could still slightly hear a fan blowing, or a bit of noise from a TV set to a normal volume. Once I started playing music or a podcast through the H9, though, it did a good job blocking outside sound.
The Inzone H9 also has an Ambient Sound feature that amplifies outside sound so that you can hear things like people talking without having to take the headphones off. There’s a setting in the Inzone Hub software that lets you set your desired ambient sound level, as well as a “Focus on Voice” toggle that reduces background noise and prioritizes person-to-person conversations.
Sony Inzone H9 - Setup and Connectivity
The Inzone H9 has decent connectivity options, notably the ability to connect via both 2.4GHz (via USB dongle) and Bluetooth simultaneously. This is a nice feature that’s recently made its way to some high-end headsets, allowing you to play audio from both your console/PC and phone or another Bluetooth device at the same time.
Bluetooth pairing is simple and only takes a few seconds after holding the pairing button on the right ear cup. I found this to be super convenient as it allowed me to be on a Discord call with my friends while also having the sound of a game from my PS5 or PC playing as well. Beyond pairing, the Bluetooth button does triple duty – pressing the button once plays or pauses a song, two skips the song, and pressing the button three times restarts it.
On the left side of the ear cup, you’ll find a USB-C port for charging. Sony includes a USB Type-A cable with the headset or you can use a USB-C to USB-C cable to charge as well. Unfortunately, I could not get the headset to work over a wired connection when testing it on either Windows or Mac. If you need to charge the headset while using it, you have to still use the USB dongle for connectivity. There also isn’t a 3.5mm jack, unlike the Pulse 3D.
Sony Inzone H9 - Battery Life
Sony promises the Inzone H9 can deliver up to 32 hours of battery life. In my testing, I managed to get about 30 hours of usage before I opted to plug in for a charge.
The Inzone H9 doesn’t provide a clear indication of your battery life on the headset itself. There’s no display indicator, nor even a blinking LED to let you know it’s getting low. You have to connect to PC or PS5 in order to check battery life, and even then it doesn’t give you an exact percentage or estimated time remaining – just an icon with three bars on PS5 (or four bars on PC) to indicate how much juice you have left.
Sony Inzone H9 - Performance
While the H9 is more of a gaming headset, I was curious to see how it performed playing music. In Seven Nation Army, which has an incredible bass riff, the H9 offered clear and full sound. The bass was not overpowering and I could hear the other instruments without having to crank up my volume. That said, the H9 isn’t quite up there with some of Sony’s more dedicated headphones, like the WH-1000 line, but it’s not a terrible option if you’re trying to get more mileage out of your headset.
For gaming performance, I booted Resident Evil 2 Remake, which takes full advantage of the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio. Atmosphere aside, the 3D audio through the H9 immersed me even more in the game. The sense of dread of wandering a dark, gloomy zombie-infested police station puts me more at the edge of my seat with 3D audio when I can hear which direction zombies are moaning and shambling towards me.
Games like Astro’s Playroom and Horizon: Forbidden West are no different. Roaming the world in both felt like a significant improvement compared to playing on TV with no headset. The immersion that the PS5 as a console can do is impressive, and the H9 performed its job on that front admirably.
The microphone built into the Sony Inzone H9 is not very impressive – it feels cheaply made, and quite frankly out of place compared to other parts on the headset. It’s very sensitive – picking up all sounds around you, not just your voice – yet also extremely quiet. When performing audio tests, I set the microphone levels to the highest they could be, yet the output from the mic was still very quiet – I had to crank up the volume to hear it. It was clear, sure, but quiet. Even on my Discord and Slack calls and the few phone calls I took through my phone with the headset, I was told the audio I output was extremely quiet while speaking in my normal voice. I had to overcompensate by raising my voice in order to be heard, which is not ideal when trying to have casual conversations with friends and family.
Sony Inzone H9 - Software
The Sony Inzone H9 has a companion app, Inzone Hub, which supports Windows and Mac devices. Inzone Hub focuses on three types of settings: Sound, Device, and App Sync. The Sound settings allow you to adjust the Noise Canceling and Ambient Sound, or turn both off.
Spatial Sound can also be enabled in the app, though you will need to scan a QR code and use your smartphone to take pictures of your left and right ear in order to set up the personalization features. Dynamic Range also has a few options: High, Low, or disabled. The microphone levels can also be adjusted. An interesting feature to note is that when the mic is propped up and not positioned where your mouth is, you will be locked from customizing the mic's volume and other features, like enabling auto gain.
On the Sound Settings page, you can adjust the equalizer of the headphones. The EQ options aren’t as robust as the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro, where things such as the mixer, game, and chat levels can be tuned, but there’s still plenty here to tinker with. The Inzone Hub includes a few presets, such as one designed for listening to music or videos, another that is a standard sound, and one that emphasizes boosting the bass. That said, the equalizer customizations you make won’t be enabled if your headset is set to “Inzone H9 - Chat” in your Sound Settings, so you will need to make sure each time you pair the device on Mac or Windows that it is recognized as “Inzone H9 - Game.” The EQ presets already prepped in the Inzone Hub all sound distinct. There’s some tinkering and experimentation to be had, though if you are not familiar with how to adjust the frequency for an audio device the chart layout will likely be intimidating and confusing.
Sony says you can import EQ profiles, however, the process is manual and can be a bit of a headache. The App Sync feature sounds like a great idea, but it is again a manual process. Instead of suggesting a list of apps on your computer installed for you, you will need to dig through your computer to find the correct file of the specific app. The App Sync feature allows you to enable the Inzone H9 as your default audio device, but the lack of streamlining makes it not worth the trouble and I found it easier to just go into whatever app I was using, like Zoom or Spotify, and adjust the settings from there.
It’s also worth noting that EQ adjustments you make in the Inzone Hub only work with PC, and won’t carry over to PS5 or devices you are connected to over Bluetooth. That said, this isn’t necessarily a fault of the headset and software itself, but rather an ongoing issue among headsets that work with both PC and consoles. EQ support coming to consoles would surely circumvent that, but for now, you can’t take full advantage of fine-tuning adjustments or even the few presets the Inzone Hub has unless you are on a computer.
Overall, Inzone Hub is pretty underwhelming. It doesn’t offer a ton of features, especially considering the price of the Inzone H7 and H9. Compared to the software used for Logitech gaming products, for example, the Inzone Hub just looks so dull and direct.
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