Along with the new PlayStation 5 ‘Slim’, Sony has unveiled a brand new pair of wireless earbuds. Dubbed the Inzone Buds, they are gaming-focused wireless earbuds that not offer offer a lengthy battery life, but also feature that all important low latency connection for gaming.
Built through a collaboration with the eSports franchise Fnatic, the Inzone Buds features Sony’s advanced spatial reproduction feature called 360 Spatial Sound for gaming. Sony claims that this will allow you to hear where your opponents are in-game, while its Sound Field Optimisation tool lets you create a personalised hearing profile by taking photos of your ears using Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Personaliser app. Topping it all off then is the Sound Tone Personalisation feature which can apparently ‘measure how the sound fills your ear canal’ to craft your very own spatial listening experience.
The hardware of the Inzone Buds themselves are pretty decent too. They use the same 8.4mm Dynamic Driver X units found on their mainstream flagship WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds. There’s active noise cancellation too, with up to 24 hours of use via Bluetooth LE Audio without it on and up to 18 hours of use with ANC on.
However, you won’t need to use Bluetooth connectivity with the Inzone Buds. You’ll find a USB-C dongle in the box, which when plugged into your PC or console gives you a latency of less than 30ms; this does however limit battery life to a maximum of 12 hours with ANC off and 11 hours with ANC on. There’s also a built in microphone with AI-based noise reduction, touch sensors on the side for you to control via taps as well as a companion Sony Headphones Connect app for even more control over the Inzone Buds.
Alongside the Inzone Buds, Sony Malaysia is also introducing a new pair of gaming headphones called the Inzone H5. Sitting below the Inzone H9 and above the Inzone H3, the Inzone H5 are positioned as a lightweight pair of cans at just 260g that offer lower pressure on your ears along with 360 Spatial Sound for gaming so that you can know exactly where you’re being shot from before you die in-game. It can be used wirelessly with up to 28 hours of battery life, or via a 3.5mm plug option if you prefer. A bi-directional boom microphone meanwhile with AI-based noise reduction also provides clear communications between you and your teammates.
At the moment, the Inzone H5 headset is already available for purchase from the Sony Malaysia website, with a retail price of RM679. The Inzone Buds meanwhile will retail for RM899, though at time of writing they are still only listed as ‘available soon’, with Sony stating that they will be available for purchase sometime this month.
