Sony Inzone Buds review: some of the best wireless gaming earbuds yet

If you want a set of wireless earbuds made expressly for gaming that plug in via USB-C, you’ll be met with frustratingly few options that are worth your money. Compared to over-ear headsets, where it’s easier for companies to fit handfuls of features, knobs, and buttons, it’s more of a challenge to cram all of that — or even some of it — into a pair of earbuds.

Sony’s new Inzone Buds are the best ones yet that I’ve had a chance to try because they don’t feel compromised in a major way. These come with an attractive charging case which also fits their USB-C audio transmitter. These were made for use on the PC and PS5, and the transmitter’s switch can be physically toggled between the two depending on which device you’re using. Inzone Buds are also compatible with phones via the USB-C Dongle or Bluetooth by pressing and holding both earbuds together for several seconds.

Credit: Sony Electronics

Most of what’s inside of the Inzone Buds can also be found in Sony’s latest flagship earbuds, the WF-1000XM5, which The Verge’s review describes as “excellent on multiple fronts.” The Inzone Buds utilize the same drivers, and they borrow the XM5’s active noise cancellation and mic transparency capabilities. Sony states that the Inzone Buds can last up to 12 continuous hours on a single charge. (28 total if you include the additional juice in the charging casing). My experience confirms this estimate.

They also have touch controls that allow you to mute the microphone, adjust your audio volume and toggle noise cancellation. Those features are a must for headphones you pair with your phone, but they’re especially welcome here in earbuds that you use for gaming. The Inzone Hub for PC actually provides a ton of customization options, including letting you remap up to four touch gestures (single tap, double tap, triple tap, and press to hold) per ear bud, in case you don’t like the default gestures mapped to them.

The Inzone Buds come in at $199.99, which I won’t say is affordable, but is considerably less expensive than Sony’s WF-1000XM5s. It’s actually the same price as Sony’s Pulse Explore wireless earbuds, which tout the new PlayStation Link audio codec that Sony claims is both lossless and low latency. There is one big difference, aside from the newer charging case, that Pulse Explore’s earbuds have planar magnetic audio driver, which sound better than most other types of headphones drivers.

Using the Inzone Buds on PC or PS5 is an amazing experience. After I became accustomed to using the touch controls I found myself using them for both work and play. The sound is great in all kinds of games. Gran Turismo 7Or the audiomix of otherworldly sounds Alan Wake 2.

Photo: Sony Electronics

Inzone Buds come with multiple silicone sizes to ensure maximum comfort. There’s even a feature within Sony’s Inzone app for PC that can play a sound to test whether you’ve got the right ear tip installed for your inner ear shape. I found this particularly useful as I’m one of those people who, after some time, realized they need a different ear tip size for each ear, as sticking with one size for both made my left ear feel awfully fatigued after a while.

I’ve had success using the Inzone Buds with my Nintendo Switch, where they connect via the USB-C transmitter and work automatically. They work on my Steam Deck, too, but only after I manually set them as the output device within the handheld’s settings. This is the kind of flexibility that I want in wireless gaming earbuds, and I’m glad these can deliver it.

If you’re in the market for something that sounds even a little like this, I can recommend the Inzone Buds purely from a sound performance and convenience standpoint. However, you’re not alone if you want to wait to see how Sony’s similarly priced PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds fare before pulling the trigger. Thankfully, you won’t have to wait long, as those will debut on Dec. 6.