Sony LinkBuds review: Uniquely inadequate

Points for creativity, but the LinkBuds are little more than an experiment

You've no doubt seen plenty of true wireless earbuds in recent years—they've expanded from a niche luxury product to an omnipresent smartphone accessory. You've never seen anything quite like the Sony LinkBuds, though. These TWEs eschew the traditional closed-ear design for a radical ring-shaped driver, keeping you in touch with the outside world while you're listening to tunes. Sony actually hopes people will just wear their LinkBuds around all day like AirPods, and the LinkBuds have several innovative features aimed at making this experience better. However, the LinkBuds don't work as well as I'd hoped, and the price tag is high for a device that has such a narrow use case.

Design, hardware, what's in the box

Yes, the LinkBuds look weird, but they have most of the same components as your average TWEs. The LinkBuds could fit in a very compact spherical package, but the driver is offset from the rest of the electronics (that's the loop section that encircles your ear canal). It's 12mm in diameter with a hole in the middle, so you can't make a direct comparison to other earbud drivers, which don't have gaping holes in them. The main body of the bud sits toward the back of your ear with small rubber wings for support.

Sony says it analyzed a lot of ears to make the LinkBuds as comfortable as possible. I was excited by that prospect because I love earbuds that I can pop in without obstructing my ear canal. However, the LinkBuds aren't as cozy as I'd hoped. My ears are not noticeably asymmetrical (you'll have to take my word on that), but the right bud feels fine while the left presses uncomfortably on the cartilage. I've tried a few different wings (the LinkBuds come with five sizes, which is appreciated), but I wouldn't say the LinkBuds are any more comfortable than your average buds.

Because the LinkBuds are so compact, there are no touch surfaces or buttons on them. Instead, there's a motion sensor that detects taps immediately in front of the bud, extending forward into the sideburn area. I was initially concerned about this "Wide Area Tap," but the LinkBuds respond to taps correctly almost every time, even with my bushy beard. When you think about it, the touchpads on most earbuds are quite hard to use, and the LinkBuds are about as reliable. However, the nature of the mechanism means that single taps aren't supported (it would be too hard to filter accidental taps), which limits how much you can do with the buds.

Even the pillow-shaped case is petite. Both it and the earbuds are composed of the same recycled, speckled plastic, which looks and feels surprisingly nice. It reminds me of the "bioresin" coating on the Pixel 5. The buds align with magnets, but unlike most other TWEs I've tested, these ones physically snap into the case as well. They're not hard to remove, and the firmness ensures they remain on the charging contacts. The case is small enough that it slips easily into the fifth pocket in my jeans, thanks in part to the lack of wireless charging coils. There's a USB-C port on the back for charging, but there's no charger in the box—just a very short USB-A-to-C cable.

Audio, features, and battery

It should come as no surprise that the LinkBuds lack noise canceling—there's a hole in them after all. Instead, Sony is leaning on adaptive volume control, which raises or lowers the volume to compensate for background noise. So... walk into a noisy cafe, and the volume goes up. Go outside, and the volume goes back down. It's nice in theory, but the adjustment is too fast, making it immediately noticeable and distracting. It's also too sensitive; even clearing my throat can cause the volume to spike.

As I mentioned above, the LinkBuds' area tap limits your control options. For instance, there's no Quick Attention, one of my favorite features of Sony's high-end audio devices. Quick Attention lets you long-press the touchpad to pipe in ambient sound, and then it's back to normalB when you release—great for quick conversations. The Link Buds do support Speak to Chat, which pauses your music automatically when they detect nearby speech. I found this feature too easy to trigger by accident, but I felt the same about Speak to Chat on other Sony audio products.

Sony is taking a different approach to audio on the LinkBuds as evidenced by the lack of support for LDAC. While the LinkBuds have the same V1 processor as the WF-1000MX4, Sony opted not to support the higher quality audio standard. I'm a little disappointed, but I get it. The LinkBuds have an open ear design, and I don't know that LDAC would make any discernable difference. Plus, it would worsen the already mediocre battery life. That's one of the most notable drawbacks here. Sony says the LinkBuds will run for 5.5 hours per charge. In my testing, it was more like 4.5 hours. They charge quickly in the case, but that only has two more charge cycles in it.

For some types of content, the LinkBuds will sound great. If you're listening to podcasts or YouTube videos, you'll like the clear mids and crisp highs. Things fall off a cliff at the low-end, which is almost entirely absent on the LinkBuds. That makes sense given the design, but you won't love the audio if you listen to bassy music. The audio performance in phone calls is the polar opposite—the LinkBuds sound better on both ends than most of the TWEs I've tested. If you're only going to wear one earbud, it has to be the left one. Sadly, there's no Bluetooth multipoint, either.

I don't usually use EQ presets, but some of the options in the Sony Headphones Connect app do make the LinkBuds sound better. Most of the dedicated apps for Bluetooth audio devices are mediocre at best. I wouldn't say Sony's app is good, but it's not bad. The app ignores current Android design conventions, managing to look unambiguously like something Sony would design. The features are all there, you can update the software, and there are settings for some of the more annoying LinkBud features like Speak to Chat.

Should you buy them?

Probably not. The Sony LinkBuds have a very specific use case in mind—they're for that person who always has one AirPod in, that person who always has to say "one sec" while they pause their music. It's not a bad idea, but the LinkBuds won't check the boxes for most people. The sound is good but lacking lows, and there's no noise isolation. Sony's volume adjustment is clever but too aggressive, and I would much rather use Quick Attention than Speak to Chat.

At $179, you have to be totally committed to the always-on lifestyle, but you can't really leave these things in your head all day. The battery life is barely passable, so you'll have to drop them back in the cute little charging case too often. And the case won't last long without a top-up, either. If you ask me (and I guess you are if you read this far), the LinkBuds aren't any more comfortable than other true wireless earbuds.

There are better, more versatile options in this price range, like the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro and (if you don't want ANC) the Sony WF-C500. And if you want something that won't completely block out the world, Samsung's Galaxy Buds Live are cheaper and more comfortable.

Buy it if...

• You want to hear what's happening around you while wearing earbuds
• The LinkBuds unusual design works for your ear shape

Don't buy it if...

• You demand high-quality audio
• Your earbuds need to last all day on a charge

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