Asus ROG, Razer, Corsair, Alienware and other Roccats will have to tighten up a bit. The small world of peripherals for PC gamers is about to welcome a newcomer… Sony. Alright, it’s noted, the Japanese company has been a video game giant since the launch of a certain PlayStation one fine day in 1994. Not really a young first. However, on PC, it is. But, on June 28, 2022, things changed.
Sony announces a new line of products, resolutely gaming and baptized Inzone. A new name that is simply justified by the fact that these products are primarily intended for PC gamers. It is our towers and our laptops that will give them their full potential and not the PlayStation 4 and 5, which are still compatible.
To mark the occasion, Sony arrives with no less than five products, three headsets for gamers and two monitors. Two areas, therefore, audio and video, where Sony already has a lot of know-how.
Inzone H9, H7, H3, three gaming headsets, a whole range at once
In the world of headphones, Sony has already built a solid reputation. The WH-1000XM3then XM4 and finally, XM5 have built an image of quality, solidity and unstoppable performance. It is this know-how that the Japanese manufacturer seems to want to put to work and at the service of the players.
If not original, the design is neat. These over-ear headphones should be comfortable (and maybe a little warm), with their nylon ear cushions for the H3 and H7 models. Sony claims that the headband has been designed to evenly distribute the weight of the headphones on the head, while not crushing the sides of the skull or the ears.
We will quickly move on to the Inzone H3, a wired headset, compatible with the function Spatial Sound for Gamingwhich is nothing but the evolution for the game of the 360 Reality Audio already unveiled by the Japanese giant. Note that this technology requires an application installed on the PC and is therefore reserved for our towers, too bad for the PlayStation.
Anyway, this sound advantage is given to facilitate the location of enemies by ear, allowing you to hear a sound of footsteps before turning the corner of a corridor, for example.
Like its two big brothers, the H3 is Discord certified, which will allow you to chat with your friends quietly during a game using the reference platform.
In addition to a side microphone that can be raised or lowered, and which is given to be extremely precise in its sound recording, there is a volume adjustment wheel.
At 100 euros, the Inzone H3 is the entry-level helmetit will be available in a few days.
In appearance, theInzone H7 is identical, except for one detail, he cut the cord. It offers to connect via Bluetooth to your PC (or your PlayStation), via a dongle USB. And Spatial Sound for Gaming is of course in the game and the autonomy is given to be 40 hours… with the Bluetooth deactivated, which is a bit annoying for a Bluetooth headset!
If you forgot to recharge it, it is possible to play by plugging it in using its USB-C cord. Maybe you’d rather leave it alone for ten minutes to give yourself an hour of in-game time.
You would have understood it, the Inzone H7 is the mid-range model. It costs 230 euros and will be available during the month of July.
Finally, comes the Inzone H9 the most luxurious of the three helmets, with its synthetic leather pads – the same as those offered by the WH-1000XM5, we were told. It too is wireless, with a battery life of 32 hours (Bluetooth and ANC deactivated, specifies Sony…), and compatible 360 Spatial Sound for gaming. But it adds two notable functions. The first is a set of LEDs for light effects… which can be quickly deactivated via an application.
The second is much more interesting, since it is an active noise reduction function. Of course, we won’t know what it’s worth until we try it. We just know what the Japanese giant says. Note that the Inzone H9 uses the “same noise reduction chip that is used on the 1000X series”.
Hard to say if it will be as efficient as the XM4 or the XM5. A clue allows us to imagine that it will not do as well as Sony’s latest helmet: the price of the H9.
Sold 300 euros, we imagine it badly doing as well as the XM5, which costs 420 euros. The H9 will also be available in July.
Note that the H9 promises to be able to switch between two modes: noise reduction and ambient sounds. The first plays its role and stifles outside noise. The second makes it possible to filter out the essential, but allows sounds to pass through, such as the voice of an interlocutor, for example. The bulk of the settings, such as the creation of sound profiles according to applications and games, will be done from an application, Inzone Hub, to be installed on the PC. It will even be possible, a priori, to go through a smartphone application to personalize Spatial Sound 360, by “a function of the shape of [vos] ears “. The PC application will also be used to control two other products announced under the Inzone brand: the M9 and M3 monitors.
Inzone M9 and M3, two monitors to play on PC… and PlayStation
After the ears, the eyes! Sony also has a nice know-how in this area. In this case, it presents two 27-inch IPS LCD gamer panels. The first, the M3, is Full HD and will display 240Hz refresh. The second, the M9, displays a 4K definition and 144Hz refresh. Both are given to display extremely low latency on the order of 1 millisecond gray to gray.
The M9’s panel is Display HDR 600 certified, which means that it displays stable peaks of 600 cd/m2 and a good contrast ratio. The M3 is content with Display HDR 400. Both panels are G-Sync compatible, not FreeSync.
In addition, the M9 should cover 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and display more than a billion colors (10 bit).
These two monitors embed several display technologies dedicated to games. Two are exclusive to the PS5 : Auto HDR Tone Mappingwhich boosts contrast in very bright areas to show more detail, and Auto Genre Picture Modewhich activates Game Mode or Cinema Mode depending on what you ask the M3 and M9 to display.
Sony also had the good idea of integrating a KVM switch into its monitor. This will allow you, for example, to connect your work laptop on one side and your gaming PC on the other. You will then connect your keyboard, mouse and even headphones directly to the screen, and can switch from one device to another while keeping the same keyboard and mouse, without unplugging anything. Practice.
A rich and rather complete connection
In fact, apart from the slab, the M9 only differs from its little brother by the addition of light effects on the back (13 colors to choose from). Both monitors offer identical and rather rich connectivity. It has two HDMI 2.1 sockets (VRR compatible!), a DisplayPort 1.4 port, a USB-C port (with the possibility of passing a video signal through it from a compatible PC). One USB-B port (incoming signal) and three USB-A ports. Finally, there is a 3.5 mm mini-jack and two 2W speakers, which should not wake up the neighbors, but allow you to watch some YouTube videos without headphones.
Let’s end this presentation of the M3 and M9 with their design. Sony has voluntarily adopted an original approach. The base is a tripod. The two lateral legs could be those of a classic television. The third, central, is positioned diagonally to the rear. When you pull the screen towards you, the screen moves closer and lowers. When you push it back, it goes up. It is also possible to tilt it as on all desktop screens. Finally, as often on this kind of products for gamerthere is a small stick at the back to move around in its OSD, its settings interface.
Le M9 is sold for 1099 euros and should be available this summer. Le M3 should be marketed, at a price not yet communicated, in the second half of the year.