Sony INZONE E9 Wired in-Ear Monitor for Gaming, Tuned for FPS Games, Sound Isolating Earbuds, Comfortable Fit, Low Profile Design, 360 Spatial Sound, Case Included, Developed with Fnatic, White

TLDR: Great for gaming, crap for everything else.Starting off, I am not a headphone snob like some reviewers or forums go-ers. I will try anything and give an honest opinion. You can find my opinion on many pairs of headphones via Amazon reviews.Unboxing was great. I really like the zip-containing it comes with. It has magnetic straps inside to help hold the dongle and earbuds in their respective half of the clamshell. The downside is the ear-tip holder which is just paper folded up to sit inside the holes in the middle. Very flimsy and cheap. I would have preferred they used hard plastic.... I wanted to try the more textured ear-tips since the normal ones didn't seal very well for me. Not knocking it, that's why they come with different tips. The textured tips made a great seal and work great.Onto the sound profile. Dear god where do I even start? Its very "hallow" sounding. Listing to music and switching back and fourth from these earbuds and my "go to" Sony MDR-MV1 professional headphones? You can really hear how "hallow" these sound. Its really the only way I can explain it. I would NEVER use these E9 for music in any way, shape, or form. It just really ruins the fidelity of music. However, this is clearly an issue with the "stock tuning" of the USB-C dongle. That's right, its USB-C, so if you haven't moved into the modern age, you will need an adapter to use these earbuds. I did disconnect from the USB-C dongle and used a 3.5mm to 1/4 adaptor to plug into my SMSL DL100 which is another go-to product for me. The NOS (non oversampled) mode of the SMSL dac/amp is just next level ear-gasmic. For reference, every headphone I own sounds better in NOS mode over any other filter on the dac/amp. Reviewers on forums have stated Filter-1 on the SMSL DL100 is "digitally accurate" in terms of proper sound reproduction. However, I am not one for liking "clinical" sounding audio. So I use non oversampled mode. What does that sound difference sound like? Well think of oldschool "analog" audio equipment, like back with tape decks and records. That 80's and 90's warm sound. That's what NOS mode sounds like. And I personally prefer it. It makes the bass thicker and richer, it makes the mids smooth, and makes the highs sharp without being fatiguing. Which just means better audio. So of course plugging these into that source made them sound much better than the USB-C dongle. However I am assuming most will be using these WITH the dongle. So I will keep going with that mentality. Immediately after installing the software and being forced to restart my PC, I tried the "3d audio" spatial audio processing, toggling it on. In terms of music, It makes music more bearable. A lot of that "hallow" sound disappears and the highs become more sharp and cleaner. The bass is still sort of clinical and "not there" in an enjoyable way. At least not to me.... In terms of the EQ, you can throw +12db into 31.5hz and 63hz to make the bass sound better. But its only better in relation to these earbuds. Its still not great compared to other Sony headphones like my MDR-MV1 which are more than 2x the price of these and are "professional" but still. Oddly? Even my $8 Sony MDR-EX15LP sound better in my opinion. Both the EX15LP and MV1 have better and cleaner sound to me. And I get it, these earbuds were tuned "for gaming" not music or movies.... However I would argue that the MV1 were tuned for Audio Mastering, especially spatial/3d surround mastering, which means they are great for gaming while retaining high quality sound.So okay, onto video games.... So I tried these both through my SMSL DL100 and the USB-C dongle. With the SMSL DL100 I used Dolby Atmos for Windows through the Dolby Access application. Typically speaking, I had issues long ago with Warzone and not hearing enemies behind me. I couldn't figure out why. Eventually I got Dolby Atmos for Windows (again, now its called Dolby Access) and that fixed it. I could finally hear behind me. It was a weird issue, but that solved it. You also got pretty amazing 3d surround audio. This was confirmed when all 5 of my buddies who also played warzone ended up getting the application by my saying so, and it also fixed audio for them. Anyway, these Sony E9's come with their own proprietary 3d audio "spatial" technology. Funny enough? Its the same as the PS5 and Xperia phone surround versions. Long ago on my Xperia 1 mark 2 I had uploaded pictures of my ears. So when I logged into my Sony account, it immediately pulled my ear profile and adopted whatever sound curve to make surround sound good. And it sounds absolutely phenomenal. I don't play Warzone anymore, my go-to FPS game is actually an FPS-MOBA called Deadlock. I can say 100% for sure the Sony surround works better than Dolby Atmos in this use case. I was blown away at how accurate the 3d surround was. Hearing footsteps, pinpointing enemies. It worked flawlessly. IF ONLY the Inzone app allowed you to run that 3d surround profile based on your ears, with normal headphones without the USB dongle.... Like if I could use my MV1's with it. Granted, I COULD probably hook my MV1's into the dongle.... It only knows its an E9 based on the USB dongle itself. The headphones are simple analog. Proof? I connected my Sony MDR-EX15LP earbuds into the dongle and it works. And the app thinks im using E9's.... funny enough? that horrible "tuning" I mentioned? makes my EX15LP sound like crap! seriously the tuning is 100% in the dongle itself. With the EX15LP hooked into the dongle, the highs are WAY too high and the bass is still lacking. Its sharp instead of phat. If that makes sense to you. Its the best way for me to explain it. I would say 2000hz and higher are inflated by a large degree. Going into the equalizer in software and doing just that? makes them sound better. The auto equalization profile for "music" pretty much does just that. It makes 8k and 16k around minus 8 or 9db with 1-4k being minus 1 to 3 db.... and that makes the headphones sound more neutral and natural. But still not great. Mind you, that profile is meant to fix the E9's, not my EX15LP connected to the E9 USB-C dongle.... so yeah. You get the point.IF you were hoping for sound accuracy? nope. Not here. Buy something else. If you are looking for amazing 3d surround/spatial technology for gaming? try them out. You wont be disappointed.On the ending note of comfort? I wore them for a few hours without any physical fatigue. Sadly for me, the sound profile is not for my ears. Too sharp, too clinical, too "in your face." I prefer warmer analog sounding headphones. I really wish Sony would release a windows application like Dolby Access where you can take pictures of your ears and simply run their 3d surround processing technology. Because lets be honest, if I had to choose between Dolby Atmos or Sony's proprietary? I would take Sony. I have done extensive research on the subject in the relation to Sony. They went out of their way to develop specialized surround tech for headphones/earbuds. No wonder its so damn good. Even the MV1's which are what they expect people to use as "reference".... the demo's they did were random people sitting in the middle of a 5.1 surround setup, listening to a variety of sounds/music. And then they would make them put on the MV1's which are meant for professional use. And every single person said they couldn't tell the difference. It was "like I wasn't wearing headphones and still listening to the 5.1 surround source." So Sony really knows what they are doing. ON THE FLIP SIDE, Dolby Atmos is mostly about home theaters and movie theaters. Where you have multiple speakers and an actual room to bounce that sound profile off. They dont really "specialize" in headphones and surround manipulation via 2 speakers.... so of course the Sony Inzone app using the dongle has amazing surround tech. Again I was blown away at the accuracy of position of sounds. Its a real shame they wont make a stand-a-lone app that we could pay $5-15 bucks for that give us their 3d spatial audio in windows for any headphones we own.... because that would be killer. I would dare sully my MV1 by connecting them to the USB dongle simple for surround.... the audio "tuning" they did would just completely ruin my ears. I prefer natural flat response curves. Not something "tuned" for gaming. WITH THAT in mind.... the MV1 in gaming with Dolby Atmos is pretty accurate as well. HOWEVER, they are "open back" headphones which is where you get that "spatial" "distance" feel. Which is probably why I love my MV1 so much. When I first got them and using them with the MV1, I would absolutely play games like Counter Strike 2 and other FPS titles and love how accurate the positioning was. Even warzone 2.0 was accurate. All my friends ended up buying a pair of MV1 off my recommendation and they are just as satisfied as me. "I will never buy another pair of headphones. Even if the earpads go bad, ill just replace them" they said. I already replaced mine, but I wear mine WAY more often than my friends being handicapped. I wear my headphones at least 8 hours a day! So yeah. I go through earpads. I already replaced them twice. Once to a set that wasn't quite the right size, and then another pair that are different but fit correctly. So really only replaced once because they were bad, but twice because the first replacements said they would fit but their "cut" was just short of being accurate size. They fit, but not correctly.... Anyway.... That's my review.