Sony announces new gaming earbuds — not to be confused with the PlayStation earbuds Sony Electronics has just announced the $199.99 InZone Buds, its first gaming-focused pair of wireless earbuds. The company says the earbuds are designed to optimize battery life (with up to 12 hours of continuous use) and deliver audio at the lowest latency possible.
The InZone Buds support a variety of devices including the PS5, PCs, and mobile gadgets. In most of those cases, you’ll connect using the included USB-C dongle, which cuts latency to below 30 milliseconds. But the InZone Buds also support Bluetooth LE Audio, which could be a meaningful inclusion if you’ve got a recent high-end Android phone. Sony Electronics has just announced the $199.99 InZone Buds, its first gaming-focused pair of wireless earbuds.
The company says the earbuds are designed to optimize battery life (with up to 12 hours of continuous use) and deliver audio at the lowest latency possible. The InZone Buds support a variety of devices including the PS5, PCs, and mobile gadgets. In most of those cases, you’ll connect using the included USB-C dongle, which cuts latency to below 30 milliseconds. But the InZone Buds also support Bluetooth LE Audio, which could be a meaningful inclusion if you’ve got a recent high-end Android phone. Sony is very much touting the 360 spatial audio capabilities of these new buds but getting the most immersive experience out of them will require a few steps (and software): Sound Field Optimization creates a personalized hearing profile by taking photos of the user’s ears using the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer smartphone app.
The InZone Buds go one step further through the Sound Tone Personalization feature, individualized to the ear canal by playing test sounds from the driver units and using feedback microphones to measure how the sound fills the ear canal. Based on the acoustic analysis, the sound is then uploaded onto the InZone Hub PC software, where further personalization can be done to curate a truly personalized spatial listening experience with unparalleled spatial sound precision. The InZone Buds are designed to remain comfortable over lengthy gaming sessions, so Sony shaped them in a way that produces minimal pressure on your ears when they’re in.
They come with four sets of silicone ear tips (including an extra-small size), and Sony says they use the same “Dynamic Driver X” audio architecture as its WF-1000X earbuds. But from what the company told me, while you certainly can use the InZone Buds for music and other non-gaming entertainment, they aren’t tuned for that. Either way, you’re still getting active noise cancellation and ambient sound modes for situations where you might want to use either of those.
Sony’s PlayStation division is nearing the launch of its Pulse Explore earbuds, which promise lossless audio and a new PlayStation Link protocol that lets them pair with the PS5 and PlayStation Portal with ultra-low latency. And wouldn’t you know it, they cost the same $199.99. But the InZone Buds will have some native integration with the PS5 UX: you’ll see their connection status, volume, battery level, and whether the microphone is muted. I still wish Sony would plan things out to better leverage its ecosystem and bring more cohesion to all of this. Why not make products like the WF-1000XM5 and PS5 work better together instead of churning out so many different earbuds?