Sony LinkBuds review

The Sony LinkBuds are unusual earbuds. The hole in each earbud lets outside sounds reach your ear canal. So you can listen to music and stay aware of your surroundings at the same time. In this review, we look at how that works in practice and whether these earbuds will appeal to a wide audience.

In this article

• 1. Specifications: Sony LinkBuds
• 1.1 Sound quality
• 1.2 Microphone: calls and video meetings
• 1.3 Fit
• 1.4 Earbud controls
• 1.5 Battery: how long do they last?
• 2. Conclusion: our verdict
• 3. Alternatives

Pros and cons

These are the pros and cons of the Sony LinkBuds, so you can quickly see whether these earbuds are right for you. 

Sony LinkBuds specifications

• Price: ~150
• Chipset: Sony V1 integrated processor
• Codec: AAC, SBC
• Frequency range 20Hz - 20000 Hz
• Bluetooth: 5.2
• Range: 10m
• Case battery life: 12 hours
• Earbud battery life: 5,5 hours
• Cable: Usb C
• Waterproof rating: IPX4
• Colors: black & white

 

Sony LinkBuds sound quality 

The Sony LinkBuds sound surprisingly good considering they have a hole in them.

But they can't really compare with earbuds that block outside noise or even eliminate it with active noise canceling.

Sound quality score: 7

You buy these earbuds if you value being able to hear your surroundings. That means making some compromises on sound quality.

If you're an audiophile who wants a fuller, deeper sound, you'll need to choose different earbuds. 

Still, you can certainly enjoy music with the Sony LinkBuds. Sony's Headphones Connect app also lets you adjust several sound settings. It includes an equalizer to manually tailor the sound to your taste.

You can choose from presets such as Vivid, Voice or Speech. You can also set up and save two custom presets or adjust every frequency manually. Samsung could learn a thing or two here with its Buds Pro and Buds 2. 

Design and concept

We don't usually assess this separately in our reviews. But this time we will. A major brand like Sony deserves credit for bringing a completely different design to market. That's worth recognizing. 

The donut-shaped earbuds have a hole in the middle, so you can still hear your surroundings while listening to music or making calls.

That makes these earbuds very safe to use in traffic. You can listen to music or take a call while cycling, for example, with your phone in your pocket. You stay aware of traffic sounds around you and any potential hazards.

Almost no earbuds let you hear both your music and all the sounds around you. You do get that with bone conduction headphones, for example. 

But that's never the case with earbuds. The reason is passive noise canceling: outside sound is blocked simply because wearing an earbud covers your ear canal.

Microphone: are Sony LinkBuds good for calls?

We've already established that these earbuds are ideal for the office if you want to stay in touch with your coworkers.

But what about a Teams meeting or phone call at home or in the office? Can you have a decent conversation? 

The answer is a definite yes. With the Sony LinkBuds, you sound very clear to the person on the other end.

Microphone score: 8

The microphones also listen closely to you. That comes into play with these two features:

1. Speak-to-Chat
   You can start a conversation with someone while wearing and using the earbuds. As soon as you start talking, the audio stops. When you stop talking, the audio resumes after a few seconds.
2. Adaptive Volume Control
   This feature turns up the volume when your surroundings get louder. Once things quiet down again, the volume returns to its original level. Useful and unique! I haven't seen this on other earbuds before. Or rather, heard it. 

Buy Sony LinkBuds

All in all, a very good microphone. It's one of the strengths of these distinctive LinkBuds.

Fit: how comfortable are the Sony LinkBuds?

The Sony LinkBuds have a distinctive design, as we've already mentioned. They're essentially two round shapes joined together.

The first part looks like a donut. When you wear the earbuds, it sits right in front of your ear canal. Nothing actually goes into your ear canal, and the hole keeps it open. That's good news if you struggle with in-ear earbuds.

And the best thing about this fit? They're noticeably more comfortable.

The second round shape is a ball with a flat back. This houses the rest of the electronics. A silicone support fits around the ball to help secure the LinkBuds in your outer ear.

The support comes in 5 sizes. You'll need to try them to find which of the 5 sizes holds the Sony LinkBuds most securely in your ear.

Sony includes 5 sizes rather than 3 because this design needs a very precise fit. Conventional ear tips, like those on other earbuds, are more forgiving. They can compress a little to fit a wider range of ear canals. 

These ear tips, if you can call them that, need to fit just right. We really had to try a few to find the best fit for each person's ear. Once you've found the right size, which for me was the third largest, they feel great. 

Fit score: 9

The whole design is small and very light. Each earbud weighs just 4,1 grams, which is exceptionally light. With nothing inside your ear canal and so little weight, you quickly forget you're wearing anything at all. That makes them exceptionally comfortable in our view.

It's great to see Sony pull off a completely different fit and design. That takes confidence! We're always honest, so if it didn't work, I'd have to say so bluntly, however reluctantly. But here, the fit is completely different and right on target. Well done, Sony!

Earbud controls 

Alongside physical buttons and touch controls, Sony introduces a new way to control earbuds: Wide Area Tap. It's called "Breedgebiedtikken" in Dutch. And now you know exactly what I mean!

Or perhaps not. Probably not. Let me explain. Sensors in the earbuds detect vibrations around your ears caused by tapping with your fingers. Those vibrations trigger the controls.

You tap the area between your ear and cheekbone.
You can tap twice or three times near your left or right ear to trigger a function. That gives you 4 functions to assign. You set them up in Sony's Headphones Connect app.

Controls: 8

For example, you can set a double tap near your left ear to pause or play music, and a triple tap to skip a track.

On the right, you can set a double tap to turn up the volume and a triple tap to turn it down.

Wide Area Tap, a name you're now familiar with, works surprisingly well. You can also tap the earbuds themselves, and you can turn off Wide Area Tap in the app.

The only downside of tap controls is that physical and touch buttons let you assign more functions through a long press or touch.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work with Wide Area Tap because it responds to vibrations.

How do the Sony LinkBuds touch controls work?

The app makes these earbuds a great choice, letting you set them up just the way you want.

Battery: how long can you use the earbuds?

The earbuds' batteries last around 5 hours. A fully charged case provides another 12 hours of listening.

Battery score: 6,5

We find that a little limited. We'd have liked the earbuds to last an 8-hour workday on their own. But we understand that this would affect their size, weight and, ultimately, comfort.

Conclusion: are the Sony LinkBuds any good?

 

The Sony LinkBuds' open-ear concept and new Wide Area Tap controls pleasantly surprised us in practice. Hearing your surroundings gives you a sense of safety, while their comfort gives you a sense of freedom.

You do have to make compromises on sound, though. That's why we don't think the Sony LinkBuds in their current form will appeal to a wide audience. Still, we see them as a welcome addition to the range of listening options.

We hope Sony keeps what works well about the LinkBuds and develops the design further. Perhaps features such as active noise canceling could become available in future versions.

Buy Sony LinkBuds

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