Sony INZONE H5 Wireless Headset Review: Amazing Spatial Sound For Its Price!

I have had the opportunity to review many headsets over the last seven years, from budget to audiophile. My favorite category has always been midrange since price to performance has yielded interesting results and caters to a wider variety of gamers. Sony’s new INZONE H5 gaming headset is no exception! With a comfortable lightweight build and top-tier spatial sound, the H5 positions itself as a great wireless set for PC and PlayStation 5 gamers. Even for wired-only applications the H5 delivers in spades. For its $149.99 asking price, there is a lot to love about this headset!

What’s In The Box

Sony INZONE H5 provided for review by Sony.

The Sony INZONE H5 comes in a slick two-tone box with purple and magenta hues. The H5 is given a profile representation on the front along with the product name and INZONE branding. Both sides are oddly blank outside of the H5 product name while the bottom dives into specifics on things like battery life and system requirements for the INZONE Hub software. On the back, we are treated to another look at the H5 with specific callouts to its comfort, mic, and sound quality. Supported platforms, battery life, INZONE Hub, and connection methods are also covered. Inside the box, you will find your H5, USB Receiver, USB charging cable, 3.5mm aux cable, and finally warranty and spec sheet documentation.

Aesthetics And Build Quality

The H5 comes in both black and white color options. For this review, I was provided the white version. The contrasting tones between the outer white and inner black color schemes look fantastic and perfectly match the PS5! When properly adjusted, the H5 is one of the most comfortable sets I have used in the last few years! The frame of the H5 is entirely made up of plastic, giving it a lightweight design coming in at only 260 grams. Each earcup provides 90 degrees of rotation to ensure maximum comfort regardless of head shape. The earcups utilize a fabric finish with memory foam contained within. The headband has a leatherette-style finish wrapped around a firmer pad.

The adjustment bars for the H5 feel well connected to the headband and earcups, but the lack of defined adjustment notches gives me pause. They can easily be misaligned from your preferences, and as a result, the fit on your head can be made less comfortable. But after hours of gaming sessions, I have yet to encounter the dreaded headband sore spot or pressure against my glasses! Another thing I appreciate about the H5 is its minimalistic on-ear ports and controls. On the right resides the headset power button and a game/chat mixer. On the left, you have the volume wheel, USB-C charging port, and 3.5mm aux port for wired connections. A flip-up-to-mute boom mic is also present with enough malleability to optimally position it.

The USB receiver is roughly the size of a standard USB flash drive and has a switch to change operating modes between PC and PS5. A sync button resides on the end in case you ever need to pair the headset to it again and the whole thing is surrounded by an LED light pipe that shows when the H5 is connected. Because of the pure plastic build, I had initial concerns over durability, but the H5 has proven to be extremely flexible which helps it work with many different head sizes. The adjustment bars are thick enough to dissuade any concerns about them snapping through normal use or otherwise. And after repeated drop tests the H5 has shown it is ready to go for anything your average gamer will put it through!

Audio Quality

For the $149.99 price range, the H5 provides a great soundscape with its closed-back design and 40mm drivers. The default flat equalizer does an adequate job of portraying clear mids and highs with a good accent of bass. For bass fans, the INZONE Hub provides a bass boost profile, or the equalizer can be manually tuned to get a bit more punch from it. It won’t match the boom found in pricier sets but it certainly does an adequate job for this price tier. Higher volumes don’t introduce any noticeable distortion from my tests and the H5 does get loud enough to listen to them comfortably without even having them on your ears.

While using the H5 in its default state has been enjoyable, it is Sony’s spatial sound implementation that has been the true highlight of my review period! With the INZONE Hub, you can easily enable the feature and further refine it by taking pictures of your ears with a smartphone app linked to your Sony account. In less than 5 minutes the experience is ready to go and I am blown away with the results. Every subtle positional cue in modern titles is clear to pick up on and I truly enjoy it.

In competitive shooters, the sounds of enemy footsteps and gunfire ring out clearly across the battlefield, letting you know exactly where your opponents are. Audio quality doesn’t suffer from the implementation, giving the same great sound found from the H5 when the feature is disabled! Tempest 3D audio is also available for PS5 players, allowing access to the same great benefits in all supported titles.

Mic quality for the H5 is commendable and provides great results in game chat or Discord calls. While not a mic you would want to use for dedicated streaming or content creation, it can be passable in a pinch. One nice feature of the mic is that it includes AI-enhanced noise reduction to ensure that only your voice is picked up. 500 voices were sampled to ensure the best results possible and the results have certainly been noticeable in test recordings.
Usage

For my review period, I spent the majority of my time with the H5 on PC, be it my desktop or Asus ROG Flow tablet. Simply by connecting the USB Receiver to the PC and setting the H5 to the default audio device it is ready to go. Latency comes in at an unnoticeable 30ms which is just below two frames in a 60 FPS title. As previously mentioned, the INZONE Hub app can be used to get more out of the headset audio quality, but additional features include tuning the mic volume and sidetone level, or manually adjusting the game/chat mixer. Auto-off settings are also available.

In the receiver's PC mode, compatibility is superb with many different devices. With a compatible dock or USB-C to USB-A cable the Asus ROG Ally, Nintendo Switch, and Steamdeck can also be used with the H5 though lacking the INZONE Hub for the latter two. My M2 Mac Mini likewise has no issues picking up the set and using it system-wide. Switching the USB receiver into PS5 mode quickly lets you switch it over to the PS5 or Android devices. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the USB receiver isn’t compatible with the Xbox Series X/S.

For those systems where the USB receiver fails to connect or isn’t an option, the H5’s 3.5mm aux port is ready to make up the difference! Thanks to this connection method, the H5 can be used for any number of legacy devices or on the PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S through the controller's 3.5mm jack. On Xbox, Dolby Atmos can be used for spatial sound, and while not as good as on PC with Sony’s software, it does an adequate job to make this use case of the H5 still feasible for anyone wanting just one headset to cover multiple use cases.

Battery life for the H5 lasts an impressive 28 hours of use before needing a charge. Quick charge is supported and with just 10 minutes of charge time, the H5 is ready to play for another 3 hours. Full charge time takes around 3 hours. For anyone not able to charge during a gaming session it is worth noting that the 3.5mm connection doesn’t require the headset to be powered on to use. As a result, you can easily switch it over to a wired configuration without sacrificing much in terms of overall user experience.

What It Could Have Done Better

For its intended purpose, I have little to criticize about the H5. It sounds great, fits great, and works with so many different devices. But I dislike the adjustment bars' lack of notches which allows it to easily come unaligned from preferable positions. The ear cups aren’t especially deep, so depending on ear shape, you may find your ears pressed up against the plastic housing of the drivers within. One thing I know many will be sad to hear is that the H5 doesn’t feature any form of Bluetooth connectivity to let it seamlessly integrate with mobile devices. While the USB receiver can be used with Android and Switch, Bluetooth goes a long way for simplicity. If Bluetooth is something you can’t live without, unfortunately, the H5 won’t be for you.

Verdict

The Sony INZONE H5 continues the trend of midrange gaming headsets providing great sound and features for their price point. With top-notch spatial sound support on PC and PS5, the H5 makes for a killer set, for competitive shooters especially. Any game that makes use of the feature will shine bright with the H5 putting it well above all my other preferred mid-range sets like the Epos H6 Pro. Unfortunately, the lack of Bluetooth may be a turn-off for some, but for anyone not needing the feature looking for their next mid-range gaming headset for PC or PS5 specifically, the Sony H5 is a great one to consider!