Sony announces new gaming earbuds — not to be confused with the PlayStation earbuds

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By Chris Welch, a reviewer specializing in personal audio and home theater. Since 2011, he has published nearly 6,000 articles, from breaking news and reviews to useful how-tos.

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Sony Electronics has just announced the $199.99 InZone Buds, its first gaming-focused pair of wireless earbuds. The company says the earbuds are designed to optimize battery life (with up to 12 hours of continuous use) and deliver audio at the lowest latency possible. Preorders begin today and the new earbuds will ship this month.

The InZone Buds support a variety of devices including the PS5, PCs, and mobile gadgets. In most of those cases, you’ll connect using the included USB-C dongle, which cuts latency to below 30 milliseconds. But the InZone Buds also support Bluetooth LE Audio, which could be a meaningful inclusion if you’ve got a recent high-end Android phone.

Sony is very much touting the 360 spatial audio capabilities of these new buds, but getting the most immersive experience out of them will require a few steps (and software):

Sound Field Optimization creates a personalized hearing profile by taking photos of the user’s ears using the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer smartphone app. The InZone Buds go one step further through the Sound Tone Personalization feature, individualized to the ear canal by playing test sounds from the driver units and using feedback microphones to measure how the sound fills the ear canal. Based on the acoustic analysis, the sound is then uploaded onto the InZone Hub PC software, where further personalization can be done to curate a truly personalized spatial listening experience with unparalleled spatial