Do you remember those curious Sony headphones we reported on the other day? The Sony LinkBuds have now been officially launched! This also raises the question of how exactly you should wear the headphones in your ear. How much the headphones cost and what else there is to know, I’ll tell you in a short introduction!
- Sony introduces LinkBuds
- New headphone design to let more ambient noise through
- Available from mid-February for EUR 179.99
With the new LinkBuds, Sony has presented a real eye-catcher! The headphones don’t look particularly good, but they are original. Because, as you could see in a recent WinFuture news item, instead of a silicone tip that is inserted into the auditory canal, as is the case with most models, there is a kind of donut. According to Sony, the open ring design should let more ambient noise through when listening.
Donuts or rather motorcycles – what do you see in the Sony LinkBuds? / ©Sony
So basically the exact opposite of what most in-ear Bluetooth headphones try to do with ANC. Technically, Sony has made an opening in the middle of the speaker membranes through which noise can get into the ear. The design also contributes to the fact that the individual earbuds weigh just four grams.
Smart Earbuds with Fast Pair and Swift Pair
As you can see from the photos in the article, the Sony LinkBuds are placed in the ear. How good the hold and wearing comfort are can only be found out in a practical test. Technically, however, the headphones should offer a frequency response of 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz and support DSEE. In addition to Bluetooth 5.2, the support of Fast Pair and Swift Pair is particularly interesting for Android and Windows users. As you can read in the Beats Studio Buds test, the headphones are connected to the Google account and can easily be used on other devices.
The support for Bluetooth codecs looks pretty meager at first glance. There is AAC and SBC, but HD codecs such as AptX and Sony’s own codec LDAC are not on board. The battery life is also below average at 5.5 hours with active music playback. Many competitors last longer here, even with activated ANC.
The housing of the LinkBuds is compact. / ©Sony
There are touch-sensitive surfaces for control, which could lead to incorrect inputs in the rain – the headphones are IPX4-certified. Alternatively, you can use the voice assistants Alexa or Google Assistant. What I find interesting in Sony’s press release is an adaptive volume control that automatically adjusts the sound to the environment. As we know from the WF-1000XM4, Sony is pretty advanced when it comes to such technologies!
My comment on the LinkBuds:
“Sony’s new design looks interesting and is already being praised in the first reviews. However, I doubt that it offers many advantages over current ANC headphones, because they usually support transparency modes in which ambient noise is digitally injected. That works in practice very good and has one advantage: You can only use the LinkBuds as open headphones – ANC headphones are much more flexible.
One more thing: The battery life looks really poor for headphones without ANC. I’m curious to see whether Sony can improve this in the next generations despite the new design.
Last but not least, the price and availability: The LinkBuds, which Sony also calls “WF-L900”, will be available in white and anthracite colors from mid-February. To try it out, you have to put EUR 179.90 in your ear at the start – um take it in your hand! Pre-orders can easily get to Amazon here* or follow the link just below this article.
What do you think of the new Sony LinkBuds? Exciting or not? Let me know in the comments