Sony LinkBuds Full Review – A Quality Earbuds

It’s official: the inconceivable has occurred. Sony has finally unveiled a mobile device with a proper name.

These are the Sony LinkBuds; however, if you prefer a different naming scheme, you can call them Sony WF-L900.

Apart from the jokes, the LinkBuds are a new type of earbud that is the polar opposite of noise-cancelling headphones in that they are designed to purposefully let outside noise in a while still providing the sound of your content.

Essentially, they are designed for people who want to listen to their media through discreet headphones while maintaining communication with the outside world. The name originates from the fact that these buds keep you “connected” to everything.

 

Yes, earbuds with an excellent pass-through mode can achieve that, but the LinkBuds take it further. There’s no need for a pass-through if there’s a physical hole in the centre of the buds.

 

The LinkBuds have carved out a unique product niche for themselves. They are a luxury product, priced at $179.99, but not an alternative to or replacement for the Sony WF-1000XM4. What are we going to call them? Headphones with a pass-through?

Are the Sony LinkBuds, in any case, any good? Yes, they do an excellent job at what they’re supposed to do. They’re comfortable to wear, sound nice despite the large hole in the centre, and the Sony Headphone Connect app includes a few tricks to help them sound even better.

 

The design and fit of Sony LinkBuds are excellent:

 

When you first see the LinkBuds, you might be a little perplexed about how to put them on. However, it’s not difficult to figure out, especially since Sony’s design team did an excellent job with the ergonomics of these earbuds.

 

It’s that simple. Slip the top section of the “doughnut” over your ear canal and secure it against your earlobe. The Sony LinkBuds are held in place by a rubber “wing” that softly rubs on the ear. There are five different sizes of wings included in the LinkBuds box, so there’s a good chance they’ll fit you.

Sony’s design team spent a significant amount of time studying ear shapes and sizes worldwide to make the LinkBuds as global as possible. My right ear has a light pressure and pain point, in my experience. I’ve always had difficulty with earbuds with this one, so I’m not surprised. I’m just putting it out there for my brothers and sisters with oddly shaped ears: you may or may not have had a similar experience.

Still, I can wear them in my ears for several hours without them falling out, and the rubber wings help the LinkBuds stay in place.

 

The sound quality of Sony LinkBuds:

So, how do earbuds that sit on the outside of your ears sound? In the instance of the LinkBuds, it worked out quite nicely! The speaker, in this case, is a unique, ring-shaped 12 mm driver that Sony tuned to perfection.

You may achieve a well-balanced sound if you keep the level between 50% and 70%. They aren’t particularly bassy, but the bass is discernible. They can also sound a little tinny in the upper mids, but that’s easily fixed with the EQ on the Sony Headphones Connect app.

It gets uncomfortably loud when it comes to music. If you increase the volume above 70%, you’ll notice the drivers straining, the bass disappearing and giving place to some nasty mids. If you want more clarity in the incoming voice, I suppose you’ll want to do that for phone calls.

 

These earphones are designed to allow you to listen to a podcast, a YouTube video, or an audiobook while connected to your daily life. I found them to be perfectly adequate for music and appreciated the sound for what it is: a background soundtrack to my daily activities.

 

The IPX4 water-resistance rating ensures that sweat won’t ruin them but don’t submerge them. A dog walk, a bike ride, or a run — anything where noise-cancelling earbuds would be an annoyance, feels considerably better with the LinkBuds. I even forgot to take them off when shopping at the store because I can hear everything so clearly.

 

The LinkBuds are perfect for phone calls and video conferencing. The microphone picks up our speech quite well, and our voice comes across crystal clear. Artificial intelligence algorithms have been installed to filter out background noise and only allow our representatives to pass through.

There were no complaints from callers, and we listened to a conference on the other end of a LinkBuds speaker, which sounded fantastic.

 

Tap controls for Sony LinkBuds:

With the LinkBuds controllers, Sony created something genuinely extraordinary. Like many other wireless earbuds, these use touch controls for music and phone answering.

Vibrations are detected by the LinkBuds, which are so sensitive that you can tap the area immediately next to your ear with them. This is known as “Wide Area Tap” by Sony, and you can turn it off if you want, but I’m not sure why you would. However, you are not required to tap the actual blossom (and jab it into your ear in the process).

 

It works great, and I was able to get my gestures across every time. Meanwhile, no other vibrations or actions ever resulted in an accidental tap.

Dual-tapping or triple-tapping the left or right earbud are the gestures. The Sony Headphones Connect app allows you to personalize these to some extent.

 

Case and battery life of Sony LinkBuds:

The LinkBuds come with a teeny-tiny charging case that follows the same principle as the buds. They’re supposed to seem light and airy, as if they’re not there. The case follows suit.

Unfortunately, Sony didn’t have much area to work with due to its small size, so the engineers decided to forego wireless charging to pack in as much battery as possible.

 

According to official figures, the LinkBuds may last 5.5 hours on a single charge, with the case providing a further 12 hours. So, with a single top-up of the case, you get 17.5 hours of playtime.

 

I never felt compelled to replenish the LinkBuds’ batteries, even though I didn’t try to drain or stress them. To put it another way, the battery life is adequate. If you frequently travel, earphones with a battery life of more than 20 hours may be the better option.

 

Extra features and connectivity with Sony LinkBuds:

 

The LinkBuds support Google’s Fast Pair and Microsoft’s Swift Pair. On Android or Windows, a pop-up will advise pairing as soon as you open the buds’ casing. That’s good and convenient, but the Sony LinkBuds don’t enable Bluetooth multipoint, so you won’t be able to pair them with two devices simultaneously. This is a missed opportunity, given the type of product they’re attempting to create.

 

The LinkBuds use Sony’s unique V1 chip, which is meant to offer high-quality music via Bluetooth connectivity and Sony’s DSEE, which can restore degraded recordings to high-definition sound.

The Headphones Connect app also has Adaptive Volume Control, which automatically listens to your surroundings and adjusts volume levels. I left it on and didn’t notice it, so I guess it was performing its job correctly?

Sony’s LinkBuds support Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio. If you have a Tidal Hi-Fi subscription, you will be able to listen to the extended space-mastered recordings.

 

Final words from Sony LinkBuds:

Before I continue with this review, I think it’s important to point out that the Sony LinkBuds and their charging case are manufactured entirely of recycled plastic. Sony is sticking to its plastic-free, recycled paper packaging strategy in terms of packaging.

So, how do you rate the market’s only completely wireless pass-through earbuds? It’s a tough call…

 

I thought they were outstanding for what they were trying to do. I was blown away by how well tiny 12 mm drivers outside my ear canals could offer detailed sounds without being unpleasant. Furthermore, the microphone quality is exceptional, making other Bluetooth headphones envious.

 

I believe that Bluetooth multipoint was required to make switching between devices easier (like jumping from my work laptop to my smartphone quickly). I was also disappointed by the lack of wireless charging. That’s right; we’re pampered in 2022.

 

Should you buy a pair of Sony LinkBuds for $180? These are for you if you despise headphones because they isolate you from the outside world or if you frequently use earbuds as a hands-free device. If their use case sounds like something you’d use daily, they might be a solid investment.

However, given that they aren’t designed to be (or perform as) isolating earphones that blow you away with rich, immersive sound, it may be difficult to justify spending that much money on a set of LinkBuds. These are designed for a specific user, most likely someone who already owns music headphones and wants something handier for “everyday casual use.”

Pros:

Outside sounds are allowed in thanks to the innovative open design.

The sound is well-balanced, and the in-app EQ is excellent.

Excellent for phone calls

Area tap controls have been improved.

The case is minimal.

Cons:

The sound is adequate but not suitable for fully immersive experiences.

The case does not support wireless charging.

Bluetooth multipoint isn’t available.

The battery life is mediocre.