So the Sony link buds are a pair of very niche earbuds from sony. Now on one hand, I love that sony is experiment with non in ear earbuds cause I think earbuds like Airpods, Airpods 3, Galaxy Buds Live and Surface Earbuds all have their place… However, there are some major quirks to point out about the Linkbuds. Nonetheless, today we’re going to checkout the new sony Linkbuds… and to keep things interesting… we’re also going to see how they stack up to the Sony WF-1000XM4’s and the WF-C500.
Now when its comes to pricing… the link buds retail for $180… kinda up there considering that I don’t think that these earbuds would make for the best primary daily drivers. But for comparison sake, the WF-1000XM4’s retail for $280… pretty up there as well… and the WF-C500 retail for $100. And I like to think of these as Sony’s new entry level earbuds. Nonetheless if you want to pick any of these earbuds up, they’ll be linked down below.
Now first lets talk about this case… cause I have a few things to say about this case. Now the link bud’s case is pretty small. Its way smaller than the WF-1000XM4’s case and it smaller than the WF-C500’s case. However, since this case is pretty thick… it is fairly noticeable when its in your pocket. Now don’t get me wrong… you can definitely make this case work, but this case is more noticeable when its in your than lets say Airpods, cause its just so thick. But besides the thickness of this case… I also need to point out the feel of this case. The Linkbud’s case is made out of recycled plastic… Now don’t get me wrong… I am all for sustainability, but this case is extremely slippery. Making it very hard to handle. Then there’s also the matter of its spring loaded lid… since the spring in here isn’t super strong, this lid won’t open all the way up if you have this case angled incorrectly. And finally there are the magnets inside this case… they are very weak. So sometimes your earbuds do fall out when you are trying to put them way. So the combination of a very slippery case, a weak spring loaded lid, and weak magnets leads to a lack luster user experience compared to a lot of other earbuds nowadays. Now I know I am being nitpick here… but since I like the link buds… I want to see the version of them.
Now when it comes to battery life… its okay… but I would consider it last gen for early 2022. The Linkbuds have a combined advertised battery life of 17 and a half hours. The earbuds themselves can go for upto 5 and a half hours… and the case can supply an additional 2 and a half charges. Now a combined battery life of 17 and a half hours is doable… but these days your average earbuds are aiming to hit a combined battery life of 24 hours.
And for comparison sake… the WF-1000XM4’s have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on… and with their active noise cancelation turned off they can go for as long as 36 hours. And with the WF-C500’s they have a combined advertised battery life of 20 hours. So defeneitly with the Linkbuds… you are making some battery life sacrifices.
Now when it comes to charging these earbuds… you can only charge the link buds with a wired connection. Unfortunately this case does not have wireless charging like the WF-1000XM4’s. And in general, sony has been pretty slow to add wireless charging to their earbuds. So you defneitly want to keep this I mind if you have a phone that supports power sharing or if you have already invested in multiple wireless charging mats.
So overall, the battery life on the Link Buds is doable… but it is a little below average… and unfortunately this case doesn’t have wireless charging. And I do think this is a major draw back to keep in mind… given that the link buds are priced at $180. And at $180 you would expect a combined battery life of around 24 hours… and wireless chargning.
But now lets talk about fit… cause I feel this is the main selling point of the Link Buds. The Link Buds are not a pair of in ear ear buds like either the WF-1000XM4’s or WF-C500 that actually go into your ear canal. The Link buds rest in the bowl of your ears like lets say Airpods, Airpods 3, Galaxy Buds Live, or Surface Earbuds. Now on one hand, these earbuds are great for all day comfort. Earbuds like the link buds, AirPods 3 or galaxy buds live are very easy to forget that you have on. However, since these earbuds don’t create a seal with your ear canal, they are not going to block out any ambient noise… Meaning that your music isn’t going to sound as good, and you’re going to have to use these earbuds at a higher volume to compensate for external noise pollution. But unlike in ear earbuds… these earbuds don’t get itchy or sweaty after awhile. However, the really unique thing about these earbuds is that they are open back… there’s literally a hole in the middle of them. Now this open back design of these earbuds is very cool for someone that really likes to use the ambient mode on their earbuds all of the time. Because you can hear your surroundings all of the time. However, I still wish these earbuds had an ambient mode that you could toggle on and off… cause if you have something playing… it makes it very hard to hear your surroundings. Unlike with a dedicated ambient mode which is not only letting noise in… its also amplifying it. So it makes it easier to distinguish your content from your surroundings. Where as with the link buds, everything is jumbled up. And speaking from experience… sometimes you don’t want to have your ambient mode turned on. You want to block out noise. And unfortunately that isn’t an option for the Linkbuds. And if you’re outside, and if its loud, then its going to be difficult to hear your content. Now the link buds have a feature where they will automatically adjust the volume depending on your surroundings… But this constant raising and lower of the volume on your earbuds can get jarring at time. Or at least for me. But also another draw back about the Linkbuds open ear design is that other people can hear your earbuds. Now people aren’t going to be able to hear exactly what youre listening to like if you were using a pair of open back headphones… but they will be able to hear your earbuds unlike any other pair of earbuds out there.
But overall, I like the fit of the links buds… and I really hope that we see more non in ear earbuds hit the market. Cause right now the two main options have been Airpods and Galaxy Buds. And earbuds like these offer way more comfort than in ear earbuds, And the link buds are way more comfortable than the WF-1000XM4’s who’s foam ear tips can get itchy after awhile. However, even though the open back design of the Linkbuds is cool and all.. I really think Sony should have just kept it simple. I think the Linkbuds would be much better if they didn’t have a hole in them. This way you could choose when you want to let ambient noise in, I suspect your music would sound better, they could probably use the extra room for a larger battery, and people around you wouldn’t be able to hear your content as much.
Now regarding connectivity, thankfully each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use one earbud at a time, you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And this is the connection set up that we expect to see from our earbuds nowadays… and this is also the case with both the WF-1000XM4’s and WF-C500.
Now when its comes to performance… these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, the link buds have support for SBC and AAC just like the WF-C500. But surprisingly, the link buds don’t have support for LDAC. Which is Sony’s in house audio codec, and they like to include it on all of their more premium products, like the WF-1000XM4.
But ultimately… I don’t think it would matter if these earbuds had LDAC or not cause these aren’t the best sounding earbuds out there. Now like with other earbuds that rest in the bowl of your ears like these, Galaxy Buds Live, Airpods 3 or Airpods… the link buds have a very bass heavy stock sound signature that puts and emphasis on the bass, obviously… vocals are there, but it is very hard to actually hear the instrumentals. Making these earbuds sound narrow and hollow. Now thankfully, these earbuds have a customizable EQ and I found that these earbuds sound best while in their Bright EQ setting. While in their Bright EQ setting, the mids and highs are elevated, making it much either to hear the vocals, and the bass is toned back by a lot. Now even though the bright EQ setting on these earbuds makes it easier to hear your music and any other content… the open back nature of these earbuds still makes it very hard to hear your content. Everything still sounds shallow and hallow even at higher volumes. The closed back design on both the Galaxy Buds Live and Airpods 3 makes it much easier to hear your content because you’re not fighting against noise pollution as much… and almost any pair of in ear earbuds are going to sound much better than these earbuds. So overall from a sound quality standpoint, I can only recommend the link buds if you’re planning on doing passive listening. As in listening to music while you work out. You’re not actually listening to music while you work out… you just need a tempo or a rhythm to help you forget about the pain that you are in. Or if you plan on passively listening to a podcast while you work on you computer. But I certainly wouldn’t recommend the link buds if you want to fully appreciate your music…
but when it comes to your media controls… this is actually one of my favorite things about these earbuds… but its also one of the funniest flaws that I have ever seen. Now the link buds have a haptic touch pad just like the original Airpods. So you can tap on these earbuds to skip through your music. But instead of registering your touch, these earbuds register the force from your tap. Leading to less accidental inputs when you're just adjusting your earbuds and overall making them easier to use because you don’t have to hit a specific spot on these earbuds. Unlike lets say the WF-1000XM4’s which have a touch pad which some people just automatically don’t like… or the WF-C500’s which are using physical buttons.
But the really cool thing about these earbuds is that if you turn on the wide area tap feature… you don’t actually have tap the earbuds themselves… you can tap right next to your ear. And this works surpassingly well, it feels super natural, its my favorite thing about these earbuds, and I hope we see this on future earbuds… However, I noticed that if you have this feature turned on… its going to lead to a lot of accidental inputs when you’re chewing. And lets face it, a lot of people use their earbuds while they’re eating… so this is a major problem. Hopefully sony puts out a firmware update that lowers the sensitivity of their accelerometers… or at the very least let you adjust their sensitivity to your liking.
But one feature that the link buds share with the WF-1000XM4’s and it made its debut on the 1000XM4’s headphones is speak to chat, and it works a little like this.
Hello there, so basically when you start talking the earbuds will automatically lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can talk to someone without having to touch the earbuds themselves. Then if you stop talking for a preset determined amount of time the earbuds will go back to normal or you can tap on the touch pad like this.
Now personally im not a fan of speak to chat on the headphones and im also not a fan of speak to chat on the earbuds. Now my problem with speak to chat is that its very easy to accidentally activate. Even if you’re talking to yourself very quietly like this they’ll still get activated even if you’ve got them set to low. So to reduce interruptions I just turn speak to chat off on these earbuds. And besides I just feel taking one earbud out when you’re going to talk to someone works best…
And personally I am very happy to report that these earbuds do have proximity sensors on them so they will automatically play or pause your music when you take them out of your ears or put them back in. And I am pleasantly surprised that these earbuds have proximity sensors just cause of how small they are.
But finally here’s the microphone test… not this has never been Sony’s strong suit. Now there have been incremental improvements… and thanks to a few firmware updates the mic on the WF-1000XM4’s sounds a little better… But sony still has a a lot of work todo.
Now the microphone on the WF-C500 sounds very robotic… but I would actually argue that its easier to understand you with these earbuds than with the WF-1000XM4’s.
But finally here are the links buds, which overall have the best preforming microphone here… but that’s not really saying much. Now this microphone sounds very similar to the microphone on the WF-1000XM4’s but these are doing a slightly better job of focusing on my voice.
The links buds also do the best job of dealing with ambient noise here. As you can hear this microphone is doing a decent job of blocking out this road noise while keeping my voice front and center.
Where as with the C-500 I do sound rather choppy… but you can make out what im saying…
Where as with the WF-1000XM4’s I sound shallow and there’s some static in the background when im talking. But I do sound choppy like with the WF-C500.
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, the Sony WF-1000XM4’s sound shallow but there isn’t as much static in the background this time.
Where as with the WF-C500’s my voice is a lot more forward… but there is still some choppiness. Nonetheless, I prefer this mic over the WF-1000XM4’s.
But finally here are the link buds… now my voice sounds a little hollow… but nonetheless this microphone is doing a good job of isolating my voice from the chatter… and there’s no static in the background or any choppiness. Overall, I think the link buds have the best performing microphone here… But its still nowhere near as good as a lot of options out there like the Airpods 3.
But with all of that being said… I like the link buds and I think that they are a very cool concept. And I would love there to be a lot more none in ear earbuds out there… cause lets face it… everyone doesn’t like in ear earbuds. Earbuds like the Linkbuds, Airpods, Airpods 3, and Galaxy Buds Live all offer way better long term comfort than in ear earbuds. Sure they don’t sound as good and sure, they will let in more ambient noise. But for some people that is a fair trade off if they simply want to be able to wear their earbuds for extended periods of time without getting itchy or sweaty ear canals. Now I defneitly wouldn’t recommend the links buds if you’re a commuter, or if you’re someone that wants to actively listen to their music and appreciate the small details, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend them to someone as their main pair of earbuds. But if you want something that is super comfortable for extended periods of time, or something that you can wear while in a quieter environment while you work or study… then I say, sure the linkbuds are an option. However, I really hope that we see a second version of these… and on the second try sony should just keep it simple. The hole in the earbud is cool and all… but its really holding these earbuds back. Get rid of the hole so that we can get better sound, give us the option to let ambient sound in when we want or need it, and perhaps this will also allow sony to cram a larger battery into these earbuds and improve the battery life.