Sony INZONE H9 II Review – Annoyingly Good.

If we’re being totally honest here, I didn’t want to like these. I mean, £300 for a gaming headset? That’s damn steep! And with no nice features like easy to replace batteries, a control station, hell even easy to change earcup covers! But my god this is worth every penny. These are the Sony INZONE H9 II’s, and they are annoyingly good. Let me explain…

Sony is no stranger to making top-tier headphones. Their WH-1000XM6 over-ears are exceptionally good, and these things? Well they are basically M6’s but with a detachable high quality mic. Seriously, the drivers that are in here are the same ones you get in the M6’s, and my god they sound good. These are the clearest, most crisp, and generally the best listening experience headphones I’ve used in a while – certainly the best wireless gaming headset I’ve ever used. My god the clarity, the balance… It’s just perfect. For music – especially now Spotify has added lossless audio – this is incredible. The details you can hear from both the lows – which on most gaming headsets are overly strong, drowning detail out – AND from the highs without being harsh… man it’s good. For gaming? It’s incredible. The clarity means you get a wonderful balance of sounds both from the environment, and from other players – be that gunshots or footsteps – it’s brilliant. The sensitivity these offer is incredible, and the directionality meant for hearing those footsteps, even in Siege which has always had a rough time giving you truly useful audio, these were amazing. I could hear that someone was below me, or above, or running in the hallway next to me. Amazing. I struggle to articulate my experience with this sort of thing, but if there’s a single takeaway I can give, it’s that these are the best gaming headphones I’ve used, and a close second in outright quality to the Audeze LCD-1’s I reviewed a few years ago now (and still use for my digital drum kit). 

Oh, and if you want to tweak the listening experience even more, you can install Sony’s INZONE Hub software. This has a handful of useful settings available –  a 10 step EQ which focuses mostly on the low end frequencies, like five of the 10 controls are for 500Hz or below – noise cancelling, surround sound, game/chat balance (which can be controlled on the headset, more on that later) and mic controls. There’s also a handful of preset EQ modes you can use, and a few device settings like automatic power off and what the ANC button can do. It’s worth noting that the surround sound setting, or more specifically the sound field personalization feature of the spatial sound feature requires you to not only log in to a Sony account, but also to download and install the “360 Spatial Sound Personalizer” app, which if this link is to be believed, they need ear pics to get it to work too. Weird. You absolutely can use this without the spatial audio feature by the way and still have an absolutely phenomenal time.

Amazingly, the microphone is also pretty incredible. Sure, there are still some limitations to headset mics, but this could very well be the best I’ve used. It’s pretty clear – honestly it’s the closest to broadcast quality I’ve heard from a headset. Check out more of my thoughts in the video!

I suppose I should actually give you a tour around these things, right? Well there’s actually a lot going on here. Let’s start with the controls. On the left earcup you’ve got USB C port which charges the internal battery for a quoted max of 30 hours of battery life (with ANC off). Next to that is the ANC button that lets you toggle between ANC on, transparency mode, or both off. You’ve also got a volume scroll wheel. This is a device-wide control, meaning this just straight controls the volume you hear, rather than it controlling any source’s audio level. I actually really like this, although I’ll explain more on why in a second. You’ve also got a 3.5mm jack input – yes you can run these things wired – and the 3.5mm for the removable mic is there too. The mic mute button is also on the left earcup up at the top. As I mentioned this is a textured button that’s pretty massive and really easy to find in a pinch – plus it’s really obvious when it’s on both by feel and because there’s a little light on the mic that lights up too. As for the right earcup, that gets the power and Bluetooth buttons, and the game/chat volume control. This lets you balance the two audio sources right on the headset which is pretty sweet. 

I said I’d come back to the volume control and why I like it so much, so let’s do that. This headset can connect in a surprising number of ways – the two main ones are the wireless options: Bluetooth; or the included USB C dongle. This lets you connect to either a PC or “Other” – be that console or mobile, and this is how you do a toggle like this. You hear that Steelseries? Anyway, this obviously supports simultaneous audio – AGAIN YOU HEAR THAT STEELSERIES?? – and the reason I like that volume toggle being a global volume control is that if you do have multiple sources playing – say game audio from your PC or PS5 and chat or music from your phone over Bluetooth – if it’s too loud you don’t want to have to change the volume on both, you just dip em all from the headset. It saves the weirdness of that control only controlling one of the inputs which is pretty common to see. 

It’s also worth talking about the physical design. This looks smooth and beautiful… until you touch it. I swear even someone using the force to put them on, you’d still manage to get smudges on the soft-touch coating on these. If you can get past that though, damn these things are comfy. The ear cups are soft yet supportive, they are matte which makes them great for your sweaty head, and they’ve got a super simple adjustment mechanism. There’s two ratcheting palls on either side of the band that make it easy to adjust to fit your head. This thing is impressively light too, so you’ll barely feel it on your head. Genuinely, these are really comfortable, even for long sessions. These are great.

The biggest catch with these things, obviously, is the price. £299 is a hell of a lot of money. For a gaming headset, that is the very top end, the ones with all the bells and whistles, and this one is lacking a lot of those. But, and I can’t quite believe I’m saying this. Those things don’t matter. The audio quality this provides is unparalleled in the gaming headset market. The microphone is crystal clear. The software is optional, and minimal. The comfort is top notch. The controls are all great. It just works. And works so, so well. I know this is an expensive headset, and many – most even – won’t be able to justify that much money on a headset, even if it is the best one around. I know I’d struggle to justify it. But, catch this on a sale? I think I’m buying myself a set. Genuinely. That’s the highest praise I can offer. If you want to help me afford this insane cost, please do use the Amazon affiliate link in the description below to buy yours, it doesn’t cost you anything extra, it actually takes a bit of money out of Amazon’s pocket and puts it in mine, and it means I might just be able to justify this hefty price tag. Thanks!