Sony is finally ready to take on the likes of SteelSeries, Razer, and Logitech with its InZone brand of PC gaming accessories. While InZone started with monitors and headsets in 2022, with a few new products since then (including its great InZone Buds and the sleek but pricey M10S OLED), Sony is making a concerted effort to take over your desk. It just launched two new headsets, a gaming keyboard, a wireless mouse, and even a couple of mousepads, all developed alongside esports organization Fnatic, and all available for preorder today.
As you might expect, Sony’s not aiming for the bargain bin here. Each of these peripherals is made for competitive play, and they come with high prices that don’t always feel justified.
To test them all out at once, I swapped out each of my regular PC peripherals for the new InZone gadgets, which made me feel like I was on a Sony Pictures movie set with intense product placement.
The InZone H9 II gaming headset is the successor to the bulkier H9 from 2022, with a refined finish, a handful of improvements, and a gen-to-gen price hike from $299.99 to $349.99. The headset is slimmer and lighter (273g versus 330g), and it features a clever “pinch-to-adjust” button on each side of its headband to let you easily find the right fit. The suspended headband design feels lightweight on my head, rivaling the most comfortable models I’ve used, like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.
The new model has the same 30mm speaker drivers as Sony’s latest WH-1000XM6 flagship headphones. Even though they’re 10mm smaller than those in the previous-gen model, they sound just as phenomenal for music as they do for games. You’re also getting fantastic active noise cancellation, with the option to turn on a transparency mode that, notably, doesn’t affect the audio quality. You can customize the H9 II’s more granular settings within the company’s InZone Hub on PC or via Bluetooth in Sony’s Sound Connect mobile app — the same one used for several of its consumer headphone models.
This headset has several features every wireless model should have. The ear cups are on swiveling hinges, giving you the option to let them rest on your chest between matches, or if you need to remove them to talk in person. You can now listen to audio via a 3.5mm cable, even when the headset is out of battery. Wired mode will override any wireless connections. If you’d prefer to go wireless, it can maintain simultaneous connections over Bluetooth and its compact 2.4GHz USB-C transmitter, which has a toggle for PC and “other” platforms.
The headset works just fine with the PS5 and Switch 2, letting me listen to podcasts from my phone as I play. This model adds Bluetooth LE Audio support, allowing them to last longer per charge with better sound — love that, especially since I’m likely to keep them paired to two devices. Another new feature for this generation is a feature that several other headsets have: a removable boom microphone, in case you’d rather use a desktop mic or if you’re heading outdoors.
The $149.99 InZone E9 wired in-ear monitors are small and lightweight, with good noise isolation. They’re simple to use, either connecting via 3.5mm jack or its included 3.5mm-to-USB-C dongle, which is required to personalize the audio in the InZone Hub app. Unlike normal earbuds, these and all other in-ear monitors have hooks that route the cables on top of your ear cartilage and down the back of your ears, so as to stay out of your face. It all ships in a nice case that springs open when unzipped, exposing several ear tip size options.
The E9 in-ear monitors are tuned for FPS games out of the box. The default equalizer setting gives a flat, reference-style sound that pursues accuracy over bombast — the better to locate footsteps and gunshots in game. It’s effective, but outside of gaming, I found the E9s boring to listen to compared to the full-bodied, warm sound of the Linsoul KZ ZSX in-ear monitors that I bought on Amazon for about $60. That Linsoul model is the best-sounding set of headphones that I own — with detachable cables, no less — and I never expected to pay so little for something so good. Perhaps you’ll be as inspired as I was by our 2019 piece on great Chinese hi-fi to find other options that are significantly cheaper, yet better-sounding than Sony’s new IEMs, at least for non-gaming needs.
Sony is one of the only major companies making gaming in-ear monitors, along with Razer, which makes the Moray (those have detachable cables and are $20 cheaper) but I hope it aims higher, and future models sound better than the cheaper competition.
To type all of this, I’ve been using Sony’s InZone KBD-H75, a name so clunky that I’m just going to refer to it as the InZone keyboard. This wired milled-aluminum board took the place of my split ergo gaming keyboard made by Kinesis Gaming, which I use to manage wrist strain during and after work. So, this wasn’t a swap that I was exactly looking forward to for ergonomic reasons. However — forgetting my wrists for a moment — it feels nice to type on, once I got used to the 75 percent layout that omits several navigation keys I commonly use.
The KBD-H75 uses Hall effect magnetic switches that actuate faster and more accurately than mechanical switches. I’m accustomed to clicky Cherry MX Blue switches, and I found the InZone keyboard doesn’t have quite enough resistance for my taste. In fact, they’re so easy to press that I kept accidentally actuating keys in chat apps, making it look like I fell asleep at my desk. This can be rectified by customizing the actuation point of each key, between 0.1mm and 3.4mm. It’s a feature that’s common among its competitors. And thankfully, you won’t need to install the InZone Hub app to make adjustments; Sony took a page from other keyboard makers by building a web version of its app that can be accessed from any PC this keyboard is plugged into — perfect for tournaments or LAN tournaments.
Thanks to the milled-aluminum case and gasket-mounted switchplate, I couldn’t sense vibrations as I pounded out articles and messages. Tapping each key results in a quiet yet satisfying sound, and I know my partner wishes my split ergo was this quiet. But, again, I prefer switches that have a little bit more resistance. I’m sure if I were a professional gamer, I’d be happier with these.
Ask most people who are into keyboards and they’ll probably tell you a handful of alternatives with similar features to the InZone keyboard that cost less than the $299.99 Sony’s asking for. At this price, most gamers expect wireless support and hot-swappable switches. The $169.99 LemoKey P1 HE has hot-swappable Hall effect switches, plus 1000Hz polling over 2.4GHz wireless. Unless Sony’s design and its promise of 8,000Hz polling rate are really doing it for you, there are many good options out there that cost less.
I’m dubious of this keyboard’s 8,000Hz polling rate, which is one of its selling points (as well as one of the mouse below). Instead of being limited to 1,000Hz, which means it can register your input once per millisecond, 8,000Hz increases the rate to register movement and clicks once every 0.125ms. Sony’s definitely not the first company to advertise 8,000Hz polling in a gaming peripheral, but its utility is just as questionable here as it is in other products. As it turns out, human reaction time is pretty slow, so, maybe you shouldn’t pay more for this feature.
I’ve been radicalized by Rocket Jump Ninja’s video on YouTube, which demonstrates that 1,000Hz is more than enough speed for most people; in the video, it shows that even fast human reaction times are still over 150ms, or approximately 6.67Hz. So, unless you have superhuman reflexes, this feature just isn’t necessary. Plus, trawling through Reddit shows that some gamers have had issues with an 8,000Hz polling rate affecting game performance.
Lastly, there’s the InZone Mouse-A — Sony’s first wireless gaming mouse. It costs $149.99, and at 48 grams, it’s the lightest mouse that I’ve ever used. This right-handed mouse is light on flourishes and excess buttons, with just a left and right click, two thumb buttons, the scroll wheel, and a profile-switching button on the bottom. As someone who typically uses the Glorious Model I, I quickly warmed up to its soft, matte-textured arch, though I wish it had a thumb rest. It feels pretty similar to the Logitech G Pro X Superlight in terms of ergonomics. I have an average-sized hand, though small-handed gamers will also likely find this to be a comfortable pick. The click is swift and relatively quiet, and it has optical switches (as many gaming mice do at this point), letting inputs register faster than they would with mechanical switches.
To complement its new mouse, Sony has launched two cloth mousepads, both of which are 18.89 x 15.7 inches in size. The Mat-F is thicker at 6mm (versus 4mm), with a surface that’s meant to create some drag to prevent the mouse from moving any more than you want it to. It’s designed for tactical first-person shooters that don’t emphasize twitchy movement. It costs $59.99. The $34.99 Mat-D, is for those who want speed, and the ability to make quick flicks of the mouse to pull off headshots and other commands. I don’t typically use any kind of mousepad, just a mat that my keyboard, mouse, and drink sit on. Sony only sent the Mat-D for me to test, and while it’s step up from my desk mat, I think it’d prefer the Mat-F for its higher friction.
Of all of Sony’s InZone gear, the product that I’ll miss the most is the H9 II headset. Despite its $349.99 price, you’re getting great audio quality for the money. And, thanks to its removable mic, using it as a set of headphones away from your desk won’t make you look as ridiculous as the first-gen model does. Each of the new products has redeeming qualities, but a lack of novelty and high prices across the board make them tough to broadly recommend.
Sony is a household name, but not so much in esports. It’s going up against companies that have been making similar products — often with lower prices — and have years of goodwill attached to their names. But I suppose every company has to start somewhere. High prices aside, this isn’t a bad place to begin.
