I feel that sony has always struggled with their truly wireless earbuds… But then when the WF-1000XM4’s came out I thought sony was finally on the right track, except, they really messed up with their foam ear tips… then they released a few other earbuds that were okay… but now we have the Linkbuds S and these earbuds are really good… but I do get a little sad cause Sony is clearly holding these earbuds back so that they don’t make their own WF-1000XM4’s look bad.
Now when it comes to pricing, the Linkbuds S retail for $200… not bad for a pair of higher end mid tier ANC earbuds… but for comparison sake the WF-1000XM4’s retail for $280, the Linkbuds retail for $180 and the entry level WF-C500’s retail for $100. Overall, I am really impressed by the Linkbuds S… but I do wonder if we’re going to get a Linkbuds Pro. Nonetheless, if you want to pick these earbuds up they’ll be linked down below, or you can tap on the YouTube shopping button. Give it a try.
Now first lets talk about this case. The Linkbuds S have a really nice case for every day carry. This case has roughly the same foot print as the AirPods Pro’s case except, this case is a little thicker. Nonetheless, the Linkbuds S case is smaller than your Galaxy Buds 2 case, Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s case, Sennheiser CX Plus case and Beats Studio Buds case. So with this case, you’re not really going to notice it all that much when its in your pocket, which is great. Now when it comes to build quality… this case is made out of recycled plastic, just like the Linkbud’s case and just like the ear cups on the 1000XM5’s. However, this case does have more grip to it than the Linkbud’s case, plus its over all… this case is much easier to handle than the Linkbud’s case. The lid on the Linkbuds S case is easy to open and close… thankfully there is no button that you have to press like on the linkbuds, and the magnets in this case are decently strong as well. They aren’t weak like with the magnets found in the Linkbuds’s case and you don’t have to click your earbuds in. Overall, I have zero complaints about the case on the Linkbuds S. The only crucial thing that I do have to point out about this case is that it doesn’t have wireless charging. And I do feel that this is a major draw back about these earbuds… cause wireless charging is now a rather standard feature for earbuds in this price range… and personally I feel that this is one way that Sony is trying to handicap these earbuds so that they don’t embarrass the WF-1000XM4’s.
Regarding battery life, the Linkbuds S have relatively good battery life for both mid tier ANC earbuds, and for the size of their case. The linkbuds s have an advertised combined battery life of 20 hours with their Active Noise Cancelation turned ON. The earbuds themselves can go for up to 6 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges and some change. And this isn’t half bad.
However, if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancelation turned off… then the earbuds themselves can go for around 9 hours, which is great if you’re a retail worker… plus the 2 additional charges and some change… the linkbuds S have a combined battery life of around 27 hours if not a little more if you use them with their ANC turned off.
But as you would expect, the WF-1000XM4’s do have more battery life. These earbuds have a combined battery life of 24 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on and with their active noise cancellation turned off, they can go for as long as 36 hours which I think is insane.
And finally there’s the fast charging on these earbuds… its pretty standard. If you were to drop these earbuds into their case with a dead battery… a 5 minute charge is going to get you 1 hour of playback time. Right now this is pretty standard.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. The linkbuds s fit like your standard pair of in ear earbuds as in they go into your ear canals a decent amount like lets say the WF-C500’s, Galaxy Buds 2, Jabara Elite 7 Pro’s or any pair of sennheiser earbuds. These aren’t a pair of shallow fitting in ear earbuds like lets say the AirPods Pro or Beats Studio Buds. Nonetheless, the Linkbuds S offer really good lock down and they do a really good job of staying in place. But I feel the most important thing here about the linkbuds S is that they come included with silicon ear tips. So these ear tips don’t get super itchy after like 15 minutes like the WF-1000XM4’s do. Now I know this might not be the case for everyone and foam ear tips do have their advantages like better lock down and they passively block out more noise… but I just find the WF-1000XM4’s to be super uncomfortable. But that’s simply just not the case with the Linkbuds S. I can wear these earbuds for hours without any issues. But even though the linkbuds s do fit very well and they offer good lock down… since these earbuds don’t have ear fins or ear hooks… they can wiggle out if you’re working out hard with these earbuds. So these will might not be the best option for the gym.
Now when it comes to connectivity, 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 on all of our earbuds nowadays… and thankfully Sony has implemented this on all of their current earbuds.
Now even though these earbuds can only be connected to one device at a time… I still feel that these earbuds are suitable for power users cause these earbuds will jump from one device to another if another device asks to pair with them. Its not as convenient as hot swapping with AirPods or Galaxy Buds… but at least you don’t have to use an app or put these earbuds into pairing mode every single time you want to jump from one device to another.
But when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether youre using an iPhone or an android device… and when it comes to audio codecs, the linkbuds S have support for SBC, AAC and LDAC, which is sony’s own in house high res audio codec. Just keep in mind, if you want to take advantage of LDAC you do have to be an android user… and LDAC really takes it toll on the battery life.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds… overall the linkbuds s sound decent… but they sound like your typical pair of sony earbuds as in they sound a little narrow, they have a bass heavy sound signature with strong mids… and the instrumentals aren’t the most detailed things out there. And the bass on these earbuds strictly resonates… there’s very little if at all any punch to it. Overall, these earbuds sound good and obviously they sound better than the linkbdus and they sound much batter than the AirPods Pro… but I would mainly recommend the linkbuds s to someone who likes a warmer sound signature. Cause even though these earbuds do have a fully customizable EQ, and you can go in and lower the bass on these earbuds… if you’re someone that like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ, I don’t think these are going to be the best option cause these just simply don’t have the best instrument separation out there. So like I said, these are better suited for someone that like a bass heavy sound signature.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these earbuds… the linkbuds S are using touchpads just like the WF-1000XM4’s. And overall these touchpads are very accurate and they’re very easy to use… along side just have a huge touch pad on them… and through Sony’s app you can some what customize the layout of these touchpads. But unfortunately, the linkbdus s don’t have the wide tap area feature like the first linkbuds… where you don’t have to actually tap the earbuds themselves. Now even though this isn’t perfect… I was really hoping the Linkbuds S would have this, cause I really think that this is a cool concept. Sony’s just need to iron out the bugs.
However, these earbuds do have wear sensors so they will automatically play and pause your music if you take them out of your ears and put them back in… and if you’re an android user, you do have Hey Google support. So you can activate your voice assistant with just your voice.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds… and I am actually really excited to talk about the ANC on the Linkbuds S cause its really impressive. But I do want to taper expectations here. The ANC on these earbuds isn’t going to block out nearly as much noise as a proper pair of over ear ANC headphones like the Bose QC45’s, AirPods Max or Sony 1000XM5’s headphones… which are my top 3 performing ANC headphones.
Now the Sony WF-1000XM4’s are still number one here cause they block out a ton of noise. Albeit they do have an advantage cause of their itch foam ear tips which personally I am just not a fan of. But right below them are the Sony Linkbuds S which also block out a ton of noise… but since they are using silicon ear tips, they’re way more comfortable. So personally I do prefer them. Now right below them are the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s which also block out a ton of noise. Right below them are the Jabra elite 85T’s, below them are the AirPods Pro, below them are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, below them are the Beats fit pro and below them are the Galaxy Buds Pro.
So overall, the linkbuds S rank extremely well when it comes to active noise cancellation… these earbuds are blocking out more noise than a lot of other more premium ANC earbuds. And like I have mentioned a few times already… since these earbuds come included with silicon ear tips… they’re a lot more comfortable than the WF-1000XM4’s. So for me, the linkbuds S are my number one’s when it comes to Active noise cancellation.
But then there’s the ambient mode on these earbuds… it sounds really good… I actually feel that it sounds better than the ambient mode on the WF-1000XM4’s. Now the ambient mode on the Linkbuds S doesn’t sound as natural as the ambient mode on the AirPods Pro cause they do like to amplify your own voice which doesn’t feel natural… but it still is up there.
But more importantly, the microphone array on these earbuds does a great job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors thanks to the mesh covering the microphones on the Linkbuds S… very similar to the mesh that you’ll find on the AirPods Pro. So overall, I really enjoy both the active noise cancellation and ambient mode on the linkbuds S.
However, the linkbuds S also have speak to chat… and personally I thought Sony would reserve this for the WF-1000XM4’s… but 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 on low. So to reduce interruptions I just turn speak to chat off on these earbuds. And besides I just feel taking one earbud when you’re going to talk to someone works just fine.
But finally here’s the microphone test for the Linkbuds S. Overall sony has alway struggled with their microphones on their earbuds and headphones… but I think this microphone sounds decent enough while in a quite room.
But when it comes to blocking out ambient noise… these earbuds are trying… but they aren’t the best. Now they’re blocking out a decent amount of road noise… but my voice is very pushed down. And for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to hear all of this road noise. But if we were to switch back over to the linkbuds S, it is reduced… and so is my voice.
However, the linkbuds S are much better at handling noise pollution that then WF-1000XM4’s… cause with these earbuds there’s a lot of static in the background when I’m talking.
And when it comes to blocking out chatter… its the same thing. These earbuds are trying to block out this chatter… but my voice sounds very pushed down as well. So personally I would only recommend that you take phone calls with these earbuds while in a quieter environment.
But with all of that being said, I am still very impressed by the Sony Linkbuds S and I think these are the best earbuds Sony has ever put out. The standout characteristic of the Sony Linkbuds S is their active noise cancellation. For me these are my number two earbuds when it comes to active noise cancelation.. second only to the WF-1000XM4’s and that’s cause of their foam ear tips. The linkbuds S also have a really good sounding ambient mode and their microphone array does a great job of blocking out wind noise… almost as good as the AirPods Pro. The linkbuds S also have a very small case that’s great for everyday carry… and they have very impressive battery life whether you’re using them with their active noise cancelation turned on or off. But for higher end mid tier earbuds… the Linkbuds do fall short cause they don’t have wireless charging… and their microphone isn’t the greatest for phone calls. And personally, I am now really wondering if we’re going to be getting a Linbuds Pro. And if we do… after seeing the Linkbuds S… I have some really high hopes for the Linkbuds Pro.