Sony announces InZone gaming monitors and headphones for PC and PS5

Sony is trying to reach more than just PS5 gamers through its brand new InZone gaming monitors and headphones. I got my hands on them in the embedded video above if you’d rather see or hear me talk about these tools.

The InZone M9 is built for PC but with the specs to take full advantage of the PS5, along with the Xbox Series X, which is the flagship product of this lineup. It’s a 27-inch 4K IPS gaming monitor designed to match the PS5’s aesthetic while having every imaginable spec gamers globally could want, of course without an OLED panel. It has a refresh rate of 144Hz (ie not common To find with a 4K screen), 1ms response time, variable refresh rate (VRR, for both consoles and with G-Sync compatibility for Nvidia GPUs), plus DisplayPort and HDMI 2.1 ports. It can also display video via USB-C.

Notably, the M9 features a full range of local dimming with 96 zones, along with DisplayHDR 600, both of which allow for brighter highlights, darker blacks, and the ability to reconcile the two without much of a halo effect. Some features of this screen (and Leaked from high-end Bravia TVs) includes Auto HDR tone mapping, which automatically recognizes the M9 when connected to your PS5 and claims to improve the display’s HDR output. There’s also an auto-type picture mode that can automatically switch to cinema mode when you start a video or Blu-ray streaming service, and then back to low latency mode when you start playing again.

In a mind-boggling move, Sony doesn’t include any video cables with the $899 M9. Sony spokeswoman Chloe Kanta shared a statement with the edge He said the company chose not to do so because “the type, version, and length of the cable required vary based on the customer’s use case.” I suppose Sony isn’t at fault there, but it doesn’t include that Which Video cables are not correct.

Games with detail and contrast-rich environments, such as back-Shine with full local dimming for the M9 group.

Sony InZone M9

The LED backlights can change the color of the M9’s on-screen display, but it doesn’t support effects – only solid colors.

There’s a cheaper $529 M3 monitor coming this winter that’s making a few omissions to meet the lower price point. It turns off full local dimming, lowers it to 1080p, and lowers HDR to 400 nits of peak brightness. Other than that, the feature set is similar with one exception: the refresh rate goes up to 240Hz.

Moving on to the other Sony InZone product category: Headphones. The H9 is at the top of its new line, swings large over-ear cans, and has the ability to handle both 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth simultaneously. The design is nothing like Pulse 3D headset launched by Sony along with PS5. Instead, it’s more similar to Competing gaming headphonesIt features highly adjustable side arms, a reversible mic to mute that can deliver a healthy dose of sidetone (hear yourself in the headset), and cushioned ear cushions Sony says it borrows building materials from the latest. WH-1000XM5.

The H9 claims to offer 32 hours of battery life per charge, and is the only model in Sony’s lineup to feature digital noise cancellation. In the process, I tested it against my personal set of Sony WH-1000XM3, and it was comparable in merit, with great comfort and effective noise cancellation (Sony says it’s “inherited” from the 1000X series, but it didn’t seem so far As good as the XM3), and great sound quality. However, one of the downsides is that they are simply bulky on your head. There’s a shot in the video above that shows just how big she is on my head.

Sony InZone H9

The H9 only comes in this black and white color scheme.

Sony InZone H9

This volume toggle switch does what you expect.

Like its screens, Sony has a unique angle with the H9 that other hardware makers haven’t tried, as far as I know. PC players can install their companion InZone app along with Sony’s 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer for a more personalized spatial audio profile. Oddly enough, doing this requires you to take pictures of your ears, and yes, Sony claims that doing so will actually improve the sound. In my brief hands-on testing of the feature, I didn’t notice any difference, but I’ll make sure to test it more thoroughly for a review.

Sony has another wireless headphone, the $229 H7, and a $100 wired gaming headset, the H3. The H7 has a slightly reduced set of features, but it retains the design and dual wireless connectivity. You won’t get noise cancellation, although canceling this feature increases battery life to 40 hours per charge. On the other hand, the H3 offers decent audio performance, but is more trim in terms of design compared to the H9 and H7.

Sony released their gaming monitors that didn’t quite exist on my 2022 bingo card, or well, at all – Doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried it before. But the new InZone devices seem like fully realized ideas are beginning to bear fruit. As for whether Sony plans to iterate annually on these products, as its competitors do, remains to be seen. But what comes out in 2022 appears to be relatively future-proof. Stay tuned for final reviews soon.

See also  Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake CPU overclocked up to 6.2 GHz, more than 65% faster than 12900 thousand 5950 times

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *