Sony - INZONE H6 Air Wired Open-back Gaming Headset for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox, and Mobile - Black

I normally play games for 3-6hr sessions at a time, and traditional headsets get way too warm along with making it difficult to hear when my girlfriend needs me. The open back on this headset allows the game your playing feel and sound more natural, along with hearing the real world seamlessly. Has big sound and clean audio. A must have if you want something light, and doesn’t require a battery.

TL;DR: ~ Weightless: It’s under half a pound, they’re literally so light I basically forgot I was wearing them. I still do get some ear fatigue though, but I blame my ogre ears as they’re getting pushed down a bit. I imagine smaller ears will be fine! ~ Open-Back: The design lets the audio and my ears breathe, and you can still hear what’s happening in the room. And it doesn’t feel so clamped. I got back from a jog and was kind of sweaty, slapped on the headset after cooling down for a bit and having my ears breath despite still being hot was a nice feeling! ~ Quality build: It doesn’t feel cheap! It is super nice! Aluminum, soft and light! ~ No Battery Anxiety: Since they're wired, I never have to worry about charging them, or updating firmware! Legit plug and play! ~ Incredible Audio: The sound is based on Sony's high-end studio headphones from what I read, so everything is super clean and accurate. I really like the sound! I don’t have an issue and it gets loud without distortion. I don’t know if others can hear the audio or not though, being open back and all. ~ Short Cord Trade-off: The 7-foot cable is fine for a desk on PC but makes couch-to-TV gaming on my PS5 Pro a hassle. Cord gets tangled, sometimes get knots, and since it’s on the controller, it’s too long. I wish it had a shorter option as well included in the box. ~~~It’s changed my life~~~ I’ve used a lot of wireless headsets and hated the idea of using a wire. Granted it’s technically still wireless audio on Playstation but besides the point! The life changing experience is the plug and play nature of it, not having to charge, get firmware updates, etc. ~~~Honestly, You Forget They're On~~~ The best part for me is the weight and having my ears breath! The way the headsets sit on my head and because it’s an open-back design, my ears don't get hot. Plus, I really like that I can still hear things around the house or when I’m feeling ADHD and want to watch a show on my laptop while I play a game. ~~~~The sound is amazing~~~~ The audio quality here is where this setup really justifies itself. I’m not an audiophile by any means, but this easily sounds better than anything I’ve used before! Hearing Everything: When I’m dropping into Marathon or Arc Raiders, the spatial awareness is huge. I can actually pick out the sound of someone reloading or a door opening behind me with what feels like a high level of accuracy! Natural Feel: In a game like Crimson Desert, the open design gives the world a natural sense of space. It doesn't feel like the sound is crammed into your ears; it feels much more open and realistic as corny as that sounds. Plus in this game, there’s so many sounds from the wind, and rain, it is a chef’s kiss I swear! ~~~~WIRED SERIOUSLY?!?!~~~~ I’ll be honest: I really don’t like having a cord stuck to my controller or PC. And I don’t like the idea of having a cord in general for most things. It definitely gets in the way when you're moving around, and I wish it was wireless at times. However, I’ve found that I love not having to charge the thing, not having to worry about the weight, and not having to bring the wireless adapter with me if I go somewhere. It’s 100% easier to find a audio cable, than a specific dongle for your headsets! It’s a new experience for me since I’ve always used wireless headsets! And being able to just pick it up and go without checking a battery level is a huge win I didn't expect. But it’s still a cord, and on PC it’s a cord with an adapter on top of that. Unless you plug directly into your headphone jack, but then you lose out on the customizations you did from the app. The 7-foot cord is kind of nice on my desk set up, but on the couch with my PS5, the cord is too long! I wish they added two cord sizes in the box. ~~~~The Mic~~~~ I think the mic is good, from what I can tell, people don’t have issues with it, but I’m deathly afraid of people hearing me breath in the mic, and I don’t think it’s doing that. I’m just happy it’s super bendy, so I can move it away from my breathing parts. ~~~~The Bottom Line~~~~ If you’re okay with being tethered to your controller or PC, this is easily the most comfortable headset I’ve ever used. It ditches that over-processed, bass-heavy sound for something way more detailed and spacious. It’s a great upgrade if you want, what I assume to be, pro-audio quality without the weight or the constant need to recharge

The Sony INZONE H6 Air open-back headset demanded I spend some time using it on both PC and PS5. During this time, it has earned its place as my sound device of choice. At 199g without cable or microphone, the H6 Air is light. You'd think that means cheap and flimsy, but this is a premium aluminum construction that feels sturdy without being heavy. The circum-aural fit is comfortable, and the open-back design prevents the heat build-up that I've experienced with other headsets during long sessions. Built-in controls are simple: volume and mute. That's all it needs. The headset is built with 40mm drivers, which are the same size you'll find across much of the gaming headset market. What sets the H6 Air apart from others is the open-back design. Where a closed-back headset traps sound inside the cup and produces a boxed-in feel, the open-back construction allows air to move more freely. This produces a natural and expansive soundstage, and the results are beautiful and certainly noticeable with sources that are designed with this in mind—specifically games. This is a gaming headset, after all. Honestly, this sense of space makes a real difference in practice. While the drivers themselves draw inspiration from Sony's professional MDR-MV1 headphones, they are balanced and detailed across a 10–20,000Hz range, with bass that has weight without obscuring the midrange, and highs that remain clear. I experienced the headset's capabilities across various media, including games, music, and videos. Without spatial audio (more on that later), the soundstage is clear and full, providing many games a level of immersion that a more closed, boxed-in presentation would certainly diminish. Even well-mixed music and videos feel as if I'm witnessing the content firsthand. For a headset of this caliber, this is impressive. Spatial audio via binaural rendering lends to the expansive soundstage that the headset creates. On PS5, 3D audio can provide sharpened positional accuracy for certain titles. When it comes to PC, I utilized both Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos as well the proprietary spatial sound feature in INZONE Hub app. I preferred Dolby Atmos, followed by Windows Sonic, and lastly the INZONE spatial sound profile. While not bad overall, the games I played with cutscenes were muddy, but I mostly blame the game and not the headset. Sony touts the headset as having an RPG/Adventure EQ profile developed by Japan Studio sound engineers, and while it worked to help enhance these types of games, cutscenes were still no good. I ultimately turned off spatial audio for games that were cutscene heavy. The included USB-C Audio Box is a must for spatial audio on PS5, and I found myself using this often. The detachable cardioid boom microphone performs well. Voice pickup is clean, background rejection is solid, and when it's not needed it comes off easily, and that's a nice feature to have for a sound-centric device. The cable is about 6-1/2 feet, longer than the majority of desk setups will ever require. I imagine this is to take advantage of the included USB-C audio box with a PS5, where you may not have the console within arm's reach. Still, I think that a two-piece solution—a standard length with an optional extension—would have been more practical and would have reduced unnecessary cable management. At least it comes with a cable band to wrap up any unused length. It's worth addressing the name directly: despite "Air" appearing in the product name, this is a wired headset. There is no wireless functionality of any kind. It's a curious branding decision from Sony that may cause some confusion, so know that before committing. Aside from the slight naming confusion and abundance of cable (yes, I'm not fond of it), the H6 Air is a seriously accomplished headset. The open-back design does a lot of the heavy lifting, the build quality is premium without being excessive, and real-world performance across varied media and game genres is consistently strong. For PC and PS5 users who want wired reliability with genuine audio fidelity, I would highly recommend the H6 Air.

These headphones for the most part an absolute joy to wear and hear and sound great for general usage however they may not be the best for 3d Spatial Audio specifically. Going into the physical aspects of the headset, I was surprised by how lightweight they are. They have pretty much no clamping force on your ears which for me is very good for long gaming sessions. Adding to that the earpads go for a very breathable fabric instead of a more plush pleather material so while still very comfortable they don’t make your ears hot overtime. The earcups themselves appear very robust and high quality which make sense due to its shared DNA with the MDR-MV1. The only slight qualm I have with the headset is the headband adjustment. It’s very comfortable to wear but rather than adjusting automatically when you put on the headset as some other Sony headphones do it instead had a button you press on each side and manipulate the headband on that side directly. This in itself wouldn’t be a problem but the way of adjustment is slight counterintuitive where instead of pulling the earcup up and down to adjust you have to slide the headband while holding the button which is cumbersome but that is my only real issue with the design. Moving onto the actual sound quality, I was very happy with its audio presentation. As mentioned earlier it uses the same drivers as in Sonys own MDR-MV1 headset and it shows in its crisp and detailed audio. As my first experience with an open back headset, I was very happy with the crisp and detailed soundstage through my PS5. It has a manual volume rocker which allows you to really fine tune your volume level between it and the ps5s own volume adjust. One pro-tip is that the volume adjuster on the headset is set to 0 out of the box and you need to scroll up the wheel to get volume, just so you don’t go crazy trying to figure out why you don’t hear audio from your ps5 off the bat. It sounds a bit different than I expected, it’s a very natural and open sound stage compared to traditional closed back headsets which sound more encircled around you and slightly in your head. Ironically this very property, might actually weaken the effect of Spatial Audio due to the fact that the soundstage is less isolated for pinpointing objects in a specific point in space. The high quality sound the headset produces however is the star of the show imo and more than makes up for any slight weakening of atmos capability. I also tested using the inzone hub app on a computer with the USB-C audio box. On PC I didn’t really find any difference between using the RPG/Adventure EQ vs the flat EQ with Spatial Audio enabled however I didn’t try anything games with dedicated 3d audio support so it’s possible there may be more pronounced differences there. Interestingly, using the audio box seems to provide a slight bass boost compared to using the headset directly connected to a headphone jack which some may appreciate. I still found the sound to be just as crisp and detailed as on the PS5. One slight issue with the inzone app is that with certain games it would prevent NVIDIA automatic switching from the integrated GPU display to its virtual GSYNC display which may be a consideration for laptop users specifically. Overall I think this is a very solid headset with good, clean and crisp audio for general usage though for PS5 you may be slightly better off with the PlayStation specific headsets that have directly integrated features with the console.

Verdict: The Sony INZONE H6 Headset is a light-weight and fairly comfortable gaming headset with exceptional sound (right out of the box!). The design of the headband spreads the weight evenly for longer comfort. The earcups effectively avoid getting too hot and they are big enough to avoid pressure on any part of my ears. With everything being wireless first these days, I do appreciate the no-fuss setup of a cable connection. If you are on the fence… try these out with exceptional sound testing tracks, spatial testing tracks, and gaming – just amazing! First Impressions. The headset look good and are fairly low profile for gaming headsets. There are only two buttons: mute and volume. The headset comes with a 3.5 mm cable, a USB-C adapter, and a detachable microphone. Gaming sound. Using these to play an FPS game immediately highlights a different sound quality and spatial edge that I had no experienced before. I went back and fort between the Sony and a different gaming headset... the difference in quality and crispness of the sound was remarkable, providing a more immersive and realistic experience. Spatial awareness and environment cues (open area vs small areas vs sound coming from behind a door) are also more impressive than anything else I have used before, optimizing for game play and immersion. Music sound. Perfect! Exceptional, right out of the box. Unbelievable bass, and perfect balance and sharpness across the range. I only meant to test these while gaming, but then I got curious… which took me into a lengthy detour of listening to all kinds of music. Things I love: - I headband is fairly comfortable, with ample adjustments - The sound is remarkable… The most impressive I have used in terms spatial accuracy, sound realism, and fidelity - The volume wheel on the back of the ear cup is very handy - I appreciate that the microphone is entirely removable - 3.5 mm and USB-C adapter options. I appreciate the 3.5 mm connection to avoid using a USB-C port for simple listening, but the USB-C adapter is the way to go to get the most out of your sound - Very comfortable and breathable - Zero discomfort while wearing eye glasses. Things I don’t love: - I would have like a case or pouch for storage and travel. For now, they will just live on my desk Overall, this is an exceptional gaming and music wired headset. For what you get (comfort, breathability, sound quality, spatial accuracy, realism), it delivers amazing value. I most highly recommend the Sony INZONE H6 Headset.