detailedReviews: detailedReviews 1: content: Since we are in an overly saturated headphone market, specifically wireless earbuds, it can be difficult for companies to stand out amongst the competition. However, being the innovators as they are known for, Sony has somehow done just that with their new LinkBuds Open wireless earbuds. Please, allow me to explain. My wife, specifically, has always had an issue with finding wireless earbuds because of the size of her ears; they have relatively small openings therefore many of the earbuds I have used don’t work in her ears and tend to either not seat or seal correctly and/or constantly fall out regardless of what she is doing. Over the years, we have gone through several design and brand options and she ultimately just ends up going back to what she has been accustomed to in her, in my opinion, poorly designed well-known phone maker’s design that she still has issues with or simply giving up and using her speakerphone which is an issue considering she owns an in-home daycare where the noise level can be quite high. When Sony’s new LinkBud Open design was revealed, I was sure that we would end up in the same boat and figured I would just end up with another pair of earbuds for me that she couldn’t use. It was worth a LONG shot and I knew I ultimately wasn’t sacrificing anything because I would end up with a great pair of earbuds having experience with Sony’s line of headphones and what they are capable of.
The LinkBuds Open came in a small, extraordinarily plain box with little to no advertising information or technical features noted on the outside therefore you’ll have to do some homework to know what you are investing in. Even the small, gloss black charging case they earbuds come with isn’t something you would do a double take on however, as I’m sure everyone would agree on, it’s what’s inside that really counts. From prior experience, I think this is something that Sony’s headphone line has been known for and has become somewhat of an internet sensation as they continually rate higher than many other high-end headphone manufacturers. Perhaps this is because Sony has been in the headphone market for longer than most starting all the way back to before the Walkman and their trademark orange foam headphones came to existence (please create me a high-end retro remake of these, pretty please). One thing you’ll want to do before trying it yourself is to take the time and watch or review the guide on how to fit your new earbuds; they are not like many other earbuds that either dangle in your ear or use a vinyl or foam tip that squeezes into your ear canal, many of which have active noise cancelling (ANC) features. This does have a bit of a learning curve because if you don’t do it correctly, they will just fall out.
After a quick initial charge and syncing the LinkBuds to the Sony Smart Controller headphone application via Bluetooth, I was ready to rock. Having used numerous Sony headphones in the past, I know their focus is typically on the sound, specifically the loudness and deep bass. This especially rings true with these which is fantastic for a lifelong audiophile and considering how small earbuds are. Using large 11mm drivers and high-power neodymium magnets, they are incredibly loud in comparison to other earbuds I have tested, some of which are over double the price. Within the app there are several equalizer settings to tinker with including a manual mode and two custom EQ settings. There is also an interesting background music effect feature that will mimic background noises such as a café or your living room. I haven’t quite figured out what I would use this feature for but perhaps it is something someone else might want to use :/. I would recommend having the app analyze your ear shape to ensure a correct fitting; it’s very quick and easy to do using your smartphone. Back to my wife’s small ears, I was shocked to find out that they seated in her ears even better than they did in mine and were a perfect fit; I couldn’t believe it after all these years of trial and error.
One of the first things I noticed after setting them up is there is not an option in the app for ANC and, as I’ll explain later, this ends up being a great feature in my wife’s case. If you’re specifically in the market for ANC earbuds, you may still want to consider these as an option as they somehow still do the trick in blocking out unwanted noises while still allowing you to hear what’s going on around you, I assume hence the “Open” name. One of the features you can enable in the app is the ability to sense when you start talking or someone else starts talking to you and will pause what you re listening to. After a short amount of time or using the tap features, it will resume play. This is convenient for us, as parents of little children, as you can enjoy your music or podcasts but still know when someone else is trying to get your attention. You can customize certain tap features to perform functions such as automatically opening a music streaming service. Sony also has a cool 360 Reality Audio feature that you can use via another app and the LinkBuds come with a 30-day free trial.
Considering the plethora of headphones and earbuds I have been through over decades, we have finally found a pair that actually did have more of a universal fit compared to other manufacturers that made this claim and ended up not working for my wife. Even if that weren’t the case, the sound that Sony headphones and earbuds is able to produce is, in most cases, far superior than the competition and at a much more reasonable price compared to most high-end manufacturers.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Great fit for small ears, impressive sound quality
detailedReviews 2: content: First thing you notice when you open the package is the sleek rechargeable case these little buds travel in, it’s got a glossy marble affect with the Sony logo incorporated into the centre of it which looks great in what ever colour you will go for.
When opening you will get a green led light up for for a few seconds remove them for pairing with your Bluetooth device and by the way you can pair these with two devices at once and switch back and forth with ease.
Have to say these are the first pair of buds I have purchased to which I have been able to wear as I have never been able to use any in the past as they all caused me pain and discomfort with using them so for anyone with this problem you will be real happy with these as I am because they do not push into your ear they just sit in there and the sound is fantastic.
Because of the hollowed out centre you are able to just leave them in for as long as you wish so you can listen and communicate with people and your surroundings so they do not interfere in any way that’s a great feature on its own.
The sound quality is incredible from these as I was a bit sceptical about using them at first as I have tinitus in both my ears that I have to live with and the hollowed out centre design of the buds I was curious how this would work out with using them but to my surprise they work a treat I was shocked not only by the sound but the comfort combined with these shocked me. I am so happy for the first time in my life i am able to use ear buds that incredible for me.
They have a great little app called sound connect so when your buds are paired you can go in and use everything in the menu’s interface to customise these for your own needs and also do a firmware upgrade for future advancements in the product to which is also great that’s another big thumbs up for me with these from Sony.
The are of good build quality and super comfortable for anyone looking buy buy a new pair of buds with a difference to where I say if i find them great to use then and super comfortable without fatigue in any way then I will only assume they are great for everyone. These are the future of all ear buds if you ask me.
All in all these things are incredible in all ways from the sound quality and convenience of just leaving them in so you’re still in touch with the world around you and most of all incredibly comfortable.
Would I recommend them truthfully! You would be silly not to buy them they have the best of all worlds.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Incredible sound and comfort, future of earbuds
detailedReviews 3: content: I have and currently owned many pairs of earbuds. I will be honest I hate pretty much all of them because they get super uncomfortable to wear to a point of causing pain. These are a game changer as they are the most comfortable pair of earbuds I have ever had. I can wear these for hours on end and forget they are in my ear. The battery life also lasts a very long time and charging in the case is very quick as well.
The shape of these headphones to me is a little odd and figured they would fall out when walking or have just okay sound. I was wrong on both as they stay in place rather well and when walking they never once felt like they were going to pop out. I like that my ear is filled with music but due to the design of the earbuds I can still hear the ambient sound around me. I hate walking around and not hearing my surroundings and thankfully these let enough sound in that I can feel comfortable wearing them when walking outside.
While I do have some other earbuds that sound slightly better, but due to the comfort level these Sony earbuds blow away my other ones. The sound quality is pretty fantastic, you can even customize EQ settings via the app. I like a little more bass, so I was able to set the earbuds for my specific liking. Listening to music or watching movies, these headphones do not disappoint. You can also connect two sources to these headphones. I have them paired with my iPhone and Windows 11 computer. I love that you can use the two sources at once and not have to choose.
You definitely need to use the app to fully set these earbuds up. During the setup the app had me take pictures of both my ears to analyze my ears for the 360 reality audio setup. I did this and tested the 360 audio and wow did it sound great. The problem I have is you need to have a specific source for this immersive sound. The apps that Sony recommends are pay sites and will I love the way it sounds I do not need to pay for another service.
Even without paying a service to use the 360 sound these earbuds still are amazing. I have started to give away my other earbuds because of how uncomfortable they are to wear, whereas these are just perfect.
If you are looking for a great pair of earbuds, I highly recommend checking these out. After using for hours on end for a few days I'm still amazed at how great the Sony Earbuds are.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Most comfortable earbuds, great sound and app
detailedReviews 4: content: This LinkBuds is absolutely comfortable. I often struggle with earbuds in my ear because they cause me discomfort. But this is really different. Ensure the buds' soft wing slides nicely into the ear's Concha.
Powerful, clear sound, noise cancelling. With ear buds in my ear, I still feel aware of my surrounding with just a tap to pause. Alexa and Google Assistant built in is super convenient when turning off the lights after leaving the house. I have Sony TV in my bedroom, and had the buds connected to it. Going downstairs to the kitchen to make a coffee, and not a single break in connection at all. I didn't have to use it for long, but was on a 2 hour train to London and still had 96% left. The 360 Reality Audio is something else. Like, you wonder if the sound is coming from my head..lol. So comfortable.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Absolutely comfortable, powerful clear sound, great features
detailedReviews 5: content: A new category is born! Frankly Sony have invented a whole new concept and it's truly impressive.
I work from home and situational awareness is something that I absolutely need whilst taking calls, listening to meetings or just enjoying music/podcasts throughout the day.
Furthermore, call quality/mic has proven to be a hit with my colleagues and family on the other end of the line.
The charging case is absolutely tiny, super useful for portability, fits in any pocket. Even the unboxing experience had me shocked, beautiful eco friendly packaging that was miniscule.
The app experience is clear and concise and easy to follow. I quickly made a few tweaks using the equaliser to make a custom preset and voila I was off.
The audio quality is truly an experience. It's as if it's all coming from inside your head. Multi-tasking has become really easy since using these, I can concentrate on the audio coming from the LinkBuds whilst also hearing my surroundings. It's all very natural and open.
There's a surprising amount of bass for a product of this new category. I was expecting a thin sound, but nope... It has body and sounds great.
The battery life is perfectly comfortable to get me through a full day of usage, I usually put them away for lunch breaks in their case to top them off and resume another full session of listening.
Long story short. I absolutely love the LinkBuds, I have already recommended them to everyone. Bravo Sony!
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Innovative concept, impressive sound and battery life
detailedReviews 6: content: The first thing I noticed was the size, they are half the size of any of my previous pairs of in-ear buds and a lot lighter. They fit in the ear slightly differently to previous units, bit of a twist, then once in, they are very secure. Whether it is a brisk walk or doing the gardening I never felt they were going to drop out. Connecting to my phone was instant, can’t fault.
The sound quality is exceptional for such a small unit, good depth of bass and crystal-clear high notes. I have an eclectic taste in music and enjoyed putting my new LinkBuds through their paces. Classical (1812 overture, Tchaikovsky), rock (Queen and Pink Floyd), electro (Kraftwerk and Daft Punk) all sounded great. The cannons in the 1812th sounded like they were behind me. All together a great experience.
Using the touch and speech controls was simple and straight forward. Playing music was simple with all the usual actions you would expect (See specs for details) and receiving and answering calls whilst listening to music was quick and easy. The controls can be configured through the phone app which I think is essential if you want to get the best out of them.
I think the favourite part of these LinkBuds for me, is the slightly different way they fit in the ear, for me, comfier and far more secure. My best buds yet.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Exceptional sound quality, secure and comfortable fit
detailedReviews 7: content: So if someone said I’m going to make some earbuds with a hole in the middle I’d of thought they were a bit mad....but it turns out they were a bit of a genius.
Simply put, I love them.
They let you experience the world around you, but do so whilst enjoying music, voice calls and cover everything from work to pleasure.
Sound- let’s start here as it‘s clearly had to be adapted to working with the background. They have good bass and sound wide, open and natural. Allowing the background sound in makes them safe for walking around in public or for hearing that essential update on public transport.
The earbuds are super comfortable and very light- which is great as with this design you never need to take them out.
Think about it- we all take our ear buds out when we need to do something else- not anymore.....they solve a problem you didn't even realise you had.
They've been really good for working from home and they stay in all day quite easily.
Call quality is top draw.
Waterproof rating means that working out is no problem and the good (adjustable) fit means they stay put.
Set up was a doddle- up and running in a minute. The dedicated app allows more control and is intuitive.
As you would expect there are no issues with the Battery, gets me through a day no problem.
Top marks for the environmental credentials- no plastic in the package and they include recycled plastic for the product.
So genius is a big claim- but these ear buds really have changed how I use an everyday item.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Genius design, experience world with music
detailedReviews 8: content: So these were very intriguing when I seen the announcement stream; the hole in the middle to allow sound in for a safer listening experience had me intrigued about sound bleed where those noises would interfere with the listening experience. Also I was excited as these were the first ‘in-ear’ earphones, which don’t actually go inside the ear canal - I suffer with ear infections and so can’t really use earphones, because they make them worse or cause an infection as the ear canal can’t ‘breathe.’ These provided hope of a solution.
I want to personally thank Sony for these earphones, as I actually have a pair of ‘in-ear’ earphones I can use, as these allow me to experience wonderful sound quality and the convenience and portability of earphones, thanks to them not actually entering the ear canal. I am also delighted to say that Sony has worked some scientific magic with these earphones: sound quality is wonderful; voice isolation is fantastic and call quality is amongst the best I’ve had reported by one friend who is a particular pain about call quality. Now don’t misunderstand me, the sound quality is wonderful, but it doesn’t replace the dynamic range and quality of high-end headphones such as the Sony WH-1000XM4 or in-ear high-end earphones such as WF-1000XM4 - but it comes extraordinarily close! But if you’re expecting that, you’re missing the point of these earphones; the sound quality is good enough and so well balanced that you can listen to literally any genre (I tried every genre I could find) using a range of streaming services, set to highest quality - taking advantage of Sony’s proprietary DSEE wireless standard - and you lose very little detail in sound, a little bit of punch from the bass - though notably not much and these earphones are so light, comfortable and do their job so well, that for casual listening and/or phone calls, and especially price range, you can’t beat these in my opinion.
Oh and I felt this deserved its own little section, the pairing process is completely seamless and very, very similar to a competitors set of earphones connection process. You open the case and remove the earphones from the case near to an Android smartphone, and it will pop-up and say ‘Connect’ tap connect and that’s it, you’re done. There is a manual connection button on the case to connect to the iPhone; both work well, but you will get the best experience on Android thanks to the DSEE transfer protocol and the connection process. Also the use of recycled plastic and keeping the footprint as low as possible is something that shouldn’t be overlooked, but rather championed.
They’re not perfect, there is definitely a technique to placing them on the ear lobe correctly to ensure optimum sonic performance and for them to remain secure ‘in’ the ear. However once you do place them correctly you get long battery life; wonderful sound quality; great call quality and access to all the features one would expect in a higher-end pair of earphones. If you’re an audiophile who gets easily annoyed at less than perfectly punchy lows and full sonic dynamic range, then you wouldn’t be looking to use these anyway, as you already know the importance of a multitude of factors which make earphones incredibly difficult to give you a ‘perfect’ audio experience - though I stress that the compromises here are small and should only affect the most die-hard audiophiles. But for the vast majority of people and audiophiles who are willing to forgive the minor drop in dynamic range and slightly less punchy lows for the portability and comfort; these are a no-brainer option.
I tested movie playback, across all genres; podcasts; lectures and music across all genres and found the sound quality to be exemplary, especially for their size, weight and comfort.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Wonderful sound, comfort, and portability for casual listening
detailedReviews 9: content: First off, what a great design, I have never had open ear buds before and these work great, I can still hear my wife speak to me without her having to shout when I am using them. They are very comfortable to wear and easy to fit, just follow the instructions and they go in lovely. The tones are good and you can adjust via the app if you like. The app also lets you set up other features such as nodding your head to accept a phone call or shaking it to decline. I am a bit deaf in my left ear but when I am listening to music, audio books or whatever, wearing these Buds seems to overcome that hindrance. Also, I like they way they charge while sitting in there case and the case itself becomes a battery bank you take out with you once they are charged. Once you have them in your ears, after about a minute or two, you forget they are there. I have used them while out walking, cycling and sitting in the house and you can still hear ambient noise just below what you have on, which is another good feature in my opinion. So, really good design,lightweight,nice fit in the ear, good battery life and charging solution, work great and lots of options to customise your own use. I am very, very pleased with these LinkBuds.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Great design, comfortable, hear surroundings, good battery
detailedReviews 10: content: So underrated. Most comfortable and secure open earbuds on the market. Can wear for hours without fatigue. First Gen of the linkbuds were also underrated, but battery life was awful. Sony improved these by a significant amount and the wingtip is a very welcome addition to keep the buds secure in the ear. Compared to other open ear buds that lack bass, these give more depth than most of the open ear options. These are perfect for work environment, in open space or walking around during the day. Tested wearing and using them on and off for 3.5 hours straight and had no ear fatigue and was able to talk normally, as if ears did not have earbuds in.
marketplace: google
source: google
sourceLogo: https://i.flash.tech/a/rs:fill:300:400:0/g:sm/plain/s3://flash-creatives/images/merchants/google
starRating: 5
title: Most comfortable and secure open earbuds
