ORIGINAL STORY [12:00 PM]: Last week, serial leakster Onleaks shared that Sony will be announcing a new lineup of three gaming headsets called the Inzone series. Separately, another leakster Tom Henderson claimed that the series will also have two gaming monitors. It looks like both were on the mark, with the company officially unveiling the five aforementioned products. All these sport the black-and-white colour scheme of the PS5, but don’t come with the PlayStation branding. In fact, these come from the Sony Corporation electronics business group, which makes other things like the WH-1000XM5 headphones. Starting with the headsets, there are the Sony H3, H7 and H9 models. The first is naturally the entry-level model, with the good old 3.5mm wired connectivity, with a USB option present as well. No wireless modes here though. The earcups are wrapped in a fabric of some sort, which may be comfortable, but not necessarily the best option in the long run if you sweat a lot. But what’s impressive is that even the H3 model has support for the Tempest 3D audio engine of the PS5. Moving up, there’s the Sony Inzone H7, which features dual wireless connectivity, via Bluetooth and a 2.4GHz dongle. According to Engadget, it allows for audio input from both sources simultaneously, something that the Razer Barracuda Pro, for instance, can’t do. Earcups are still of the fabric variety here. But as an added bonus, the H7 is compatible with the PS5’s on-screen status notifications, something that’s previously exclusive to the Pulse 3D. Battery life is rated at 40 hours. Finally, there’s the Sony Inzone H9. Being the flagship of the series, this has all the features of the H7, with improvements on top. One such addition is ANC, which is described as similar to the WH-1000XM5, though this cuts battery life down to 32 hours. Earcups are now of the leatherette variety, and the cups also get RGB lighting. As for the monitor lineup, the flagship here is the Sony Inzone M9, which is a 27-inch 4K IPS monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms grey-to-grey response time. It is also G-Sync compatible with variable refresh rate support. For ports, it has two HDMI 2.1 port as well as one DisplayPort 1.4, as well as a built-in USB hub with support for video over USB-C. The remaining item, the Sony Inzone H3 monitor, comes with many of the same features, including the 17-inch screen real estate. Resolution is down to Full HD though, but as a trade-off, refresh rate goes up to 240Hz. And finally, we get to their prices. The Sony Inzone H9 has a price tag of US$299 (~RM1316), while the H7 is tagged at US$229 (~RM1008). The H3 comes in at a more modes US$99 (~RM439). As for the monitors, the M9 has a price of US$899 (~RM3956), while the M3 is priced at US$529 (~RM2328). No local pricing and availability yet, but Sony Malaysia is currently scheduled to make a local announcement on 2 July. Update: Sony Malaysia has the three headsets listed on its website with their local prices, and you can buy two of them. Nothing on the monitors yet. (Source: Sony [1], [2] Engadget [1], [2])
