Rumour: Sony developing Wireless headphones for PS5

A new report from Insider Gaming by Tom Henderson claims that Sony is developing 2 new wireless headsets for the PlayStation 5. The new models are a pair of earbuds (Project Nomad) and an over-the-ear headset (Project Voyager) similar to the INZONE headsets.

The headsets are scheduled for release near the end of Sony's Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2023-March 24). which could mean a CES 2024 release. While such a release date may seem far off, development takes time and a year in advance does not seem that strange considering the new Walkmans also had about a year of development time.

There is very little information in the article, apart from a supposed 5 hour battery life for the earbuds and that the recharging case will be used for firmware updates. The only tid bit of information about the over the ear headset is that it will be similar to the INZONE H7.

The author makes a comparison with the WF-1000XM3, which seems odd, considering the WF-1000XM4 is the current model and has superior battery life. I am including a screenshot below in case the article is updated/changed.

For those wondering, that 6 hour WF-1000XM3 battery life is with noise cancellation on. The WF-1000XM4 with the same settings can last up to 8 hours, and no doubt any new WF-1000XM5 in the future will have even better battery life.

If we assume the article and insider information is accurate, why would the earbuds have such a mediocre battery life? Could it be related to latency and Sony's desire to have it as low as possible? Another reason might be to reduce the weight of the earbuds, Sony used a smaller battery which in turn results in a lower battery life. Whatever the reasons, 5 hours should be plenty for the majority of gamers I would imagine, especially if they are recharged by the case each night.

Sony's current lineup is not well suited for any gaming, with latency figures of around 250-300ms, the audio lag would be very noticeable in most games. From what I read, a latency of about 30ms or less is best and this should be what Sony will probably aim for.

Yes, there are some TWS headsets with gaming modes like the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless, Logitech Zone True Wireless (expensive, use USB transceiver), or the JBL Quantum TWS Wireless Gaming Earbuds. The JBL also ship with a USB transceiver, like the Logitech Zone true wireless. But from what I saw, the Razer has a latency of around 60ms, and the JBL around 50ms, so while very good, still might not be enough for gaming. Likewise some of the reviews on Amazon for the JBL mention rather poor battery life when using the USB transceiver. The back of the box shows up to 4 hours with NC off, which is rather poor.

Anyways, moving on. What about LE Audio and its low latency? Well supposedly for Sony, even LC3's lower latency is not enough for gaming. There is LC3plus with a latency of 5ms according to Fraunhofer, but if such latency figures can be achieved in real world applications remains to be seen.

Just like the JBL earbuds, Sony could use a USB transceiver, as they already do with the INZONE H7/H9 headsets to lower the latency. The INZONE headsets use 2 types of connections, a regular Bluetooth one, and a proprietary 2.4 GHz connection with the USB transceiver for low latency gaming.

The INZONE headsets already work with the PS5, and the Insider Gaming article states the over-the-ear headset "has similar functionality to the Inzone H7 headset", which implies it might be using the same tech for connectivity. Side note, the H7 lacks noise cancellation, so does this means the "Voyager headset" will also lack ANC? Would be silly to release a PS5 branded headset but not add any noise cancellation.

So how do the INZONE headsets achieve a sub 30ms latency? It is pretty simple, apart from the regular Bluetooth SoC, the INZONE headsets make use of a secondary Bluetooth chip which uses a proprietary codec. Both chips have their own wireless antennas as well (see below).

Sony INZONE H7 PCB

This PCB is from the Inzone H7, but the H9 has an identical setup. We can see the 2 Bluetooth chips, the main chip is the Mediatek MT2811, and the secondary chip is the NXP NxH3670. The USB transceiver uses this same NXP chip in the dongle. This is how NXP describes the chip:

The NxH3670 constitutes a highly integrated, single-chip ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz wireless transceiver with embedded MCU (Integrated Arm® Cortex®-M0 processor), targeted at wireless audio streaming for gaming headphones, delivering low latency audio and ultra-low power consumption.

The NxH3670 runs a proprietary wireless audio streaming protocol which has been optimized for wireless gaming headset applications, providing high-quality forward audio streaming at low latency (<20ms) combined with a simultaneous voice microphone backchannel. Additionally, a wireless bidirectional data channel is available.

This type of chip is what would be required in the earbuds to achieve low latency for gaming.  The NxH3670 is part of NXP's LE Audio section, but it only has Bluetooth 4.2 support. The newer NxH3675 seems to be the actual LE Audio chip with Bluetooth 5.3, along with LC3/LC3plus support. Maybe Sony will opt for this newer chip in these PS5 headsets.

Depending on the size of the earbuds, Sony would be able to fit in the 2 chips, my worry is whether 2 wireless antennas could be placed together in such a small space. I guess it depends on the design of the earbuds and their size. If 2 wireless antennas can be close to each other without any problems, then 2 chips and 2 antennas could work. How energy efficient it would be is another matter.

I decided to look up the JBL Quantum TWS earbuds on the FCC to see how JBL did it. From what I saw (labelled), there was only one antenna, and one Bluetooth chip. Both the USB dongle and headset appear to use an Airoha chip, the AB1565.

So rather than a dual chip option, Sony can use one chip, one antenna, and have a USB receiver to lower latency. This design would mean a small and lighter set of earbuds, but you would not be able to connect the headset to your smartphone at the same time like the INZONE headsets. But I suspect this is no a priority for Sony, rather these headsets would be strictly for gaming only.

I am not sure what option Sony will use, it could a proprietary codec like the NxH3670 use, or maybe even LC3/LC3plus with the NxH3675 or a Mediatek chipset. Whatever the choice, I suspect a USB transceiver might still be required to achieve low latency.

So what are people's thoughts? Would you buy a PS5 branded set of earbuds for gaming? And what price point would be acceptable? $99? $199? More? Leave your thoughts below.