Sony LinkBuds S Review: Sony’s Best Value Earbuds?

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The Sony LinkBuds S remain a stalwart pair of earbuds for the South Korean tech giant, even in 2025. But do they still hold up against newer competition, and more importantly, should you still buy them?

I’ve been loaned a pair by Back Market for the purposes of this review (spoiler: if you’re going to buy these headphones, this is where to go!) and, overall, I’m impressed by how three-year-old earbuds sound today. The audio profile is nicely balanced, the bass rich and the noise cancellation hard to beat in this price range.

Check out Back Market’s high-quality refurbished tech for excellent deals!

With that taster to whet your appetite, let’s get into my full Sony LinkBuds S review!

Design and comfort – comfy, but circular design may not fit smaller ears

Sony doesn’t do earbuds with stems. So if you like earbuds that have them, I’m sorry but you’re in the wrong place. But wait! Before you go, let me convert you.

I, as you may have guessed, quite like rounded earbuds. That’s for two reasons; they feel more secure in my ears and they produce less wind noise. I find that stems often stop you from pushing the earbud tip in far enough and that the rounded shape just sits in the natural curve of your ears better.

And as I mentioned, they produce far less roaring in windy conditions simply because there is less material to catch air. That means they are much better for exercise outdoors like running.

All of this also means that they are very comfortable earbuds, thanks in part to the very light weight of 4.8 grams. The LinkBuds S are also 40% smaller than the WF-1000XM4. I wore them all day at work and during workouts and had no issues.

I will say that if you have smaller ears, and I’m talking specifically about the exterior cartilage, not the canal, then the LinkBuds S may not fit very well. Even though they are small, they aren’t that small.

Have I convinced you towards no stem earbuds?

Sound quality – small package, surprisingly good bass

I’m not going to sit here and give you a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of what the Sony LinkBuds S sound like because they aren’t a pair of earbuds trying to do anything special. They aren’t ‘ultra’ or ‘pro’ headphone variants. If that’s what you want, then check our Mark’s Bose QuietComfort Ultra review.

But that’s not to say these earbuds sound bad. Not at all. They just won’t give you a revolutionary audio experience. What they will give you however is a very solid and complex audio profile that you would be hard-pressed to beat at this price point.

The mid-ranges are rich and clear, meaning vocals on music and voices on podcasts sound great. I had no issues at all when listening to tracks that had more overlays and components.

I was particularly impressed with the bass. Whilst it’s not sub-woofer levels of booming bass that Mark experienced in his Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 review, the LinkBuds S does offer surprisingly warm bass. What I like is that the bass never feels muddy or overpowering. All of that comes out of a remarkably tiny 5mm driver unit. 

Put simply, the Sony LinkBuds S sound great for a pair of everyday earbuds that you just want to take out of the box and start listening to. And that’s enough for me at this price.

Audio features – noise cancelling and ambient sound mode

Of course, you also get noise cancelling and ambient sound mode which is Sony’s version of transparency mode.

The noise cancelling is good, in fact, I’d say it’s above average for earbuds, but not world-beating by any stretch. My test for noise cancelling is always the London Underground which, if you’ve never ridden it before, often sounds like you’re sat next to an out-of-tune, very bad violinist.

The LinkBuds S deal with the tube well right up until those really piercing frequencies which I don’t think any non-over-ear headphones could ever tune out. In my recent Redmi Buds 6 Pro review, I said that they offered the best noise cancelling for under $100/£100 and that is still true after using the LinkBuds.

Sony’s ambient sound mode is ok. It struggles in crowded, noisier environments but works pretty well when in a room with one person talking to you. I am yet to be really blown away by one of these transparency modes.

My least favourite thing about these earbuds though is the Adaptive Sound Control mode. This is a feature that allows the LinkBuds S to automatically switch between noise cancelling and ambient sound depending on the environment you’re in. In my experience, it simply doesn’t work very well. 

In the gym, for example, it won’t ever make its mind up between using noise cancelling or ambient sound mode. Even in quiet rooms it never gets it spot on. If you buy these earbuds, I would leave this feature turned off.

Battery and case – exactly what you’d expect

You get a maximum of nine hours of listening time with noise cancelling in the LinkBuds S. That drops to six with it turned on. In my testing, I found this to be accurate. The case gives you an extra 20 hours.

Considering these were first released in 2022 and haven’t been updated since the battery tech in these earbuds still holds up today. Those Redmi Buds 6 Pro I mentioned earlier were released in 2025 and have the same battery stats. Impressive!

As for the case, it’s simple as and charged via USB-C. No frills and small enough for any pockets.

Conclusion – should you buy these earbuds?

This brings us back to the title of this post: are these Sony’s best-value earbuds? In short, yes! But only if you buy them refurbished to make it worthwhile. 

The LinkBuds S are a really solid pair of earbuds that will give you great audio quality as your go-to everyday choice and noise-cancelling that is hard to beat for the money. I like them a lot, but not enough to pay full price.

Sony sells these headphones new for $159/£139 at the time of writing, which is already at a discount. On Back Market, you can buy the LinkBuds S for $95/£94. That’s nearly the same price as the lower-tier Sony WF-C700N earbuds!

My LinkBuds came in perfect working order from Back Market and sound exactly the same as buying them new. Plus, you help the environment. It’s an absolute no-brainer.

Are the LinKbuds S still worth it in 2025? Let me know below!