It’s rare that I ever feel confused by gear, but the Sony Inzone earbuds have somehow managed to make me feel completely perplexed every day since I got them. There’s an overly ambitious 1990s quality to how many ideas are at play here and how many don’t fully materialize.
The box itself comes with the earbuds (with their charging case), four pairs of earbuds, a USB-C cable, and a small package with some information and leaflets. These are all pretty standard fare, but the QR code on those leaflets takes you to a very simple page with just three instructions on how to use it. This feels like a strange mistake, as the buds themselves can be incredibly finicky.
Both the right and left buttons have a touchpad that you can click or hold once, twice, three times for different functions. If, like me, you have long hair, expect frequent misclicks. Even on shorter hair types, there’s a distinct lack of precision, which makes choosing between two or three taps feel inconsistent. The double and triple tap actions serve no purpose at first, but this is probably the best way to use them as they’re just not that accurate when moving or gaming. Poor touch controls wouldn’t be too much of a problem if you weren’t constantly forced to use them, but for the most part they are.
Not only do the Sony Inzone Buds come with Bluetooth LE support for phones and PCs, but they are also bundled with a USB-C receiver that can be switched from PC to mobile/PS5. This difference is not only technical in nature, but also indicative of the design decisions here. These buttons, like the Sony Inzone H5, are PC first and PC second.
InZone Buds Specifications
Link: 2.4GHz, Bluetooth LE
Director: 8.4mm
Type: In the ear
Functions: Fast charging, spatial audio, AI noise cancellation, Bluetooth connectivity
Weight: 13g for both buds
Battery life: 12 hours, 12 more from charging case (less with ANC enabled)
Price: $200 | £180
This is of course not necessarily bad, but you pay a premium here for all kinds of connectivity functionalities, but many of them do not quite work. Let’s take the Inzone Hub for example: Sony’s software to get the most out of the earbuds. The hub lets you adjust the earbuds’ EQ, enable spatial audio and active noise cancellation, and adjust tap functions. When you unplug that connector and plug it into a PS5 or phone, you lose those EQ settings and you can’t even control the volume without touch controls. On Windows you can simply use one of the volume change shortcuts you normally use for an audio source, but these have no function on PS5, mobile or Mac, forcing you to use touch controls. Even the built-in mute button on the PS5 controller just doesn’t work. This is a strange oversight that really draws attention to these abysmal controls.
When they work properly, though, the buttons sound great. The low rumble of a cave in Enshrouded or the sound of a wand pointed in my direction feels distinct and allows me to respond intuitively. Mids and highs are clear and full. Additionally, noise cancellation is another standout feature that makes these feel incredibly immersive. The Inzone Hub even has a test to ensure that the earbuds fit in your ear enough to get the best noise cancellation. It sounds awkward, but surprisingly that’s not the case.
EQ settings here don’t feel as meaningful as something like the Inzone H5, thanks to some muddy lows and a stricter sound profile. However, the overall sound is quite good, both in music and games, offering enough depth to place sounds and enough dynamics to accommodate both light and raw songs.
The buds look quite nice and the fairly large case they are housed in is curved to fit nicely in my pocket. I’ve found that things can be a little tight in there, as these are easily twice the size of AirPods, my go-to audio solution when I’m on the go. While the earbuds are designed to work with a handful of different devices, I continually run into issues when I’m not connected to a PC.
The USB-C dongle can be a bit of a problem when not on the PC, as it takes up the only USB-C slot on the front of a PS5, a huge sacrifice if you’re playing PSVR2. The dongle also did not fit in my iPhone 15 with the case on. It’s a shame because the dongle connection is super fast with a latency of less than 30ms. Although the Sony Inzone Buds perform well at home, the dongle connection feels jittery on the road. They have Bluetooth LE to solve this problem, allowing them to connect to phones, laptops and more.
Buy as…
✅ PC gaming is 90% of your usage: These will certainly work on non-PC devices, but they’re only really worth the price for a one-off play on your phone or console. If you play on PC more or less than this, buying a dedicated device would be a better option.
✅ You want a long battery life: With a charging time of up to 24 hours for the case and earbuds, it will last most casual gamers a week.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You plan to use Bluetooth LE consistently: Connectivity issues, both from missing software and the risk of being stuck in a single mode, make relying on Bluetooth LE a gamble.
❌ You play purely on PC: That extra connectivity is there for a reason. There are better priced buds.
❌ You don’t like touch controls: Most of the time I used these earbuds, but I was forced to play by their rules with tricky and annoying touch controls. While they have the ability to customize those controls, they aren’t reliable enough to want more than a few simple features.
Unfortunately, this leads to another problem. My right earbud continually fails to exit Bluetooth pairing mode despite the left earbud connecting to the dongle. I can’t even connect it to my phone via Bluetooth, so it essentially becomes a dud with a nice robotic voice when I put it in my ear. After trying everything from hard reset to disconnecting, I find the best way to resolve this is to simply reconnect until everything fixes itself. Generally this takes about twenty minutes. This doesn’t happen every time I connect to Bluetooth, but it has happened enough to make me afraid of relying on it too much.
On PC the experience is mostly fine, although the muddy lows and clunky touch controls still keep it from being a flawless experience. Battery life is an absolute highlight of these earbuds, with around 12 hours on each charge with no ANC active and an additional full charge per case. In my use, this ended up taking around eight hours of mixed use, but a 10-minute charge gives a full hour of battery life thanks to smart charging.
If you want to use these earbuds for multiplayer play, the great sound, comfortable feel, and long battery life should suit you, but those touch controls often let me down and the microphone isn’t great for its price range. Voices from the earbuds’ built-in microphone come across relatively clear but also quite tinny, with weak background noise. The AI-enhanced noise cancellation can sometimes cut off the beginnings and ends of words, making a conversation feel a bit inorganic. It can also be a little on the quiet side in the game chat, which is made even more frustrating by the clunky controls.
All of this makes me wonder, “Who are these made for?”. If you’re looking for an audio solution that works across your PC, PS5, and phone, there are choices that won’t make you feel like you’re compromising with your choice. If you only want them for your PC, why pay extra for connectivity you’ll never use?