Sony’s latest InZone gaming headset delivers great open-back sound

Sony’s PC-focused InZone brand covers a lot of ground, and now it’s adding open headsets to its growing catalog of gaming accessories. the $199.99 H6 Air It borrows the ergonomic, easy-to-adjust design of the flagship $350 H9 II wireless headphone, makes it wired, and cuts a bunch of holes in the ear cups, resulting in an open-back design that feels more natural and fits more comfortably than most other headphones.

Like other open-back headphones, the H6 Air is not designed to reduce external noise. Instead, sounds coming from the headphone drivers are mixed with external sounds. Headphones or open-back headphones are a bad choice if you’re easily distracted by sounds happening nearby, but they offer some advantages that might make them worth a try nonetheless.

It is light and comfortable. My ears stay cooler than they would in a closed-back headphone, and the H6 Air design weighs about 200 grams. Allowing drivers to breathe also gives them a different listening experience than drivers with closed back seats can offer. The sound sounds less processed, and the bass stages of the music are more expansive, allowing me to appreciate details I hadn’t noticed before in some song collections. Gaming is no less immersive, except when there’s a lot of noise outside. I’ve been playing a lot Marathon Recently, the H6 Air’s open-back design doesn’t hinder my ability to hear footsteps or other useful auditory cues.

Sony chose to use the same drivers as its system MDR-MV1 open back headphoneswhich is designed for use by editors in studios. Given their reference-level accuracy pedigree, I had some doubts about their performance for listening to music and playing games. My fears dissipated after using the H6 Air for about two weeks. The drivers sound amazing, with plenty of bass that doesn’t affect the mids or highs.

The sound is good by default, but you can toggle the sound settings in the InZone Hub desktop app. Doing so requires using the included 3.5mm to USB-C adapter (oddly, using this accessory with beta software resulted in some audio blips while loading apps and scrolling around my browser, which were not present when the 3.5mm headphone jack was plugged directly into my computer). The program offers several equalizer settings, the option to enable spatial audio, as well as the ability to adjust the volume and side tone of the detachable microphone.

The microphone doesn’t make my voice particularly good (it’s not an omnidirectional microphone), but it’s fine for chatting with friends and participating in video calls.

Open-back gaming headphone models are not widely available; There were always fewer options available at any given moment than there were closed options. This has led some gamers to opt for audiophile-grade open-back headphones from the likes of Sennheiser and Audeze (New Asus $299 Kithara It blurs the line between open-back gaming headset and audiophile headphones thanks to HIFIMAN drivers). Yes, $200 is expensive for a wired headphone, especially considering how many features are in something like this Arctis Nova Pro wired from SteelSeries. But the great sound and comfortable, open design of Sony’s latest headphones make it worth considering if it’s within your budget.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner/The Verge