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I do like a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Indeed, I have a ridiculous number in my studio; so many that I couldn’t help but make a buying guide video for them.
So, when Sony announced the WF-L900 (oh do come on, Sony – stop it) LinkBuds, my interest was immediately piqued.
Anyone who has seen the product shots probably had a similar reaction. They look totally weird – like a normal earbud, but with an odd ring thing inexplicably attached.
Sony tells us that its LinkBuds are designed to be worn around the clock, enabling users to “remain in touch with people and places, without ever having to pause your personal soundtrack”.
But what on earth does that mean? And are they for you?
What are Sony LinkBuds?
Sony’s £150 LinkBuds are, as the name might suggest, earbuds. I think the word ‘link’ refers to the Polo mint-like cylindrical addition, which is attached to the main earbud unit.
The sound is actually pumped through that ring, thanks to what must be a rather cleverly designed speaker driver wrapped around the circumference.
This results in a pair of earbuds that offer the exact opposite of noise-cancelling. The outside world floods through that little hole while you’re enjoying your playlist, podcast, or audiobook. They take calls, too, therefore if you’re speaking to your boss during a dog walk, the conversation will be soundtracked by passing traffic.
Sounds odd, right? In this world of brilliant noise-cancelling earbuds like Apple’s class-leading AirPods Pro, why on earth would you want a pair that offer no form of noise-cancelling whatsoever?
As it turns out, there are some brilliant use cases.
Sony LinkBuds specs
Let’s quickly cover off the LinkBuds specs, because they’re pretty interesting.
At just 4.1g, they’re probably the lightest earbuds I’ve ever worn and offer IPX4 water resistance for added keep-them-in-and-forget-about-them convenience.
LinkBuds are charged – as you’d guess – via USB-C (are you listening, Apple?), and offer 5.5 hours of battery life, which increases to 17.5 hours thanks to the 12 hours offered by the charging case. A quick 10-minute charge will provide an impressive 90 minutes of playback time.
So, that’s the most important convenience factor checked off. Nice work, Sony.
Sound-wise, the LinkBuds have a frequency response of 20Hz -20,000Hz and feature Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (DSEE) which claims to “faithfully restore” compressed music.
The case is one of my favourite elements of these earbuds. It’s cheap feeling, yes, but Sony has absolutely nailed the size. Although fatter than the AirPods Pro case, the LinkBuds case redeems itself with a lovely, trouser-friendly square design. Like the earbuds themselves, you barely know it’s there.
On the subject of build quality, the LinkBuds are thankfully a little less cheap feeling than their case. They feel solid, well-built, and are grippy enough for safe fitment and removal.
Fit, sound, and battery life
Sony tells us that they’ve designed LinkBuds by leaning on decades of “extensive ear shape data”.
No one knows what that means, but the results are pretty impressive. LinkBuds feature a rubber fitting aid on both earbuds, which can be swapped out for different sizes for the best fit. Placing the earbuds in your ears is actually really intuitive, although you’re clearly not supposed to push them too far into the ear canal, which is at times tempting.
I’ve walked, ran, and lifted weights with the LinkBuds and they’ve not once fallen out of my ears. The only slight concern is the right earbud, which feels a little looser than the left, presumably because of my weird ears.
They’re comfortable, too. In fact, if you get the fit right, you barely know they’re in your ears. Which I guess is the point.
When it comes to sound, LinkBuds sound exactly how you might expect. It’s worth keeping in mind that there’s no seal offered around your ear canal, which is the case with some earbuds like the AirPods Pro. As a result, LinkBuds sound much thinner with a noticeable lack of bottom end.
They’re clean-sounding, though, and, thankfully, don’t sound as tinny as I thought they might. The LinkBuds aren’t going to blow you away sonically, but I don’t think they’re designed to. Given the compromises forced by their hole-punch design, this is about as good as you’re going to get.
As for battery life, I’d argue that 5.5 hours playback time isn’t exactly ‘all day’, which is odd given Sony’s suggestion that you should keep them in your ears all day. In fairness, though, it’s about par for the course, and the impressive fast charging, coupled with the charging case, means you’ll rarely be without power.
But what are they like to use? Here are three scenarios in which I think LinkBuds are most likely to reveal their purpose.
Scenario 1: Around the house
If you’re like me, you probably use your earbuds of choice regularly while doing stuff around the house.
Whether it’s the washing up, cleaning the car, or finally getting on top of that DIY, I find the process far more enjoyable with a podcast in my ear.
There’s just one issue with this if your headphones of choice are of the noise-cancelling variety.
You can’t hear anyone.
There have been countless times when my girlfriend has inadvertently scared the living bejesus out of me or had entirely one-way conversations with a headphone-wearing buffoon. Neither scenario is much fun for either of us.
The LinkBuds solve this first world social problem immediately, because you can hear everything around you, all of the time, without any of the synthesised weirdness of transparency mics. It is genuinely life-changing.
Scenario 2: Working out
This morning, I wore the LinkBuds during a workout session. This involved a run to the gym, followed by a weights workout, and finished off with the return run back home.
The LinkBuds didn’t fall out once (despite that slightly troublesome right ear), and the persistent injection of the world around me made the run far safer than it usually is when crossing the road. And, while I prefer as much ‘me time’ as possible in the gym, it didn’t hurt to be ultra-aware of others around me while walking around with heavy(ish) weights.
The only slight caveat to all of this is that the LinkBuds aren’t particularly loud, therefore I had to crank my iPhone up to the max to hear the latest episode of Mac Power Users. Wind noise was also more problematic than on my AirPods Pro, but that’s to be expected with the open nature of these earbuds.
Scenario 3: Caregiving (as yet untested)
While discussing the LinkBuds on the latest episode of the Eight of Sixteen podcast, my co-host Rob suggested that they should be pretty great care-giving earbuds.
He was referring to my impending fatherhood, and the utility afforded by a pair of earbuds that will simultaneously enable me to keep all senses trained on our little bundle of joy while ensuring I don’t miss out on the latest episode of <insert Ali Abdaal podcast here>.
I hadn’t considered that, but I think Rob has made a pretty interesting suggestion with this one.
Later this year, I’ll let you know if he was right.
Conclusion: are Sony LinkBuds worth it?
Sony is apparently targeting the LinkBuds at a younger audience who may consider them to be not just an all-day pair of earbuds but a fashion item, too.
I’m not so sure about that; I think the LinkBuds have a much wider audience. They’re a fascinating pair of earbuds that stand resolutely by their purpose of delivering the exact opposite of noise-cancelling.
The three scenarios above could easily be expanded upon, and I’m already finding myself reaching for the LinkBuds more than my AirPods Pro. That’s impressive when you consider the fact that the AirPods Pro are easily the most useful pair of earbuds I own.
If noise-cancelling isn’t your thing, and you find yourself welded to your podcast app or carefully curated playlists, Sony’s LinkBuds offer serious bang-for-buck. They’re pretty easy to fall in love with for that reason.
Oh, and no, I didn’t test the calling ability. Apologies, but the team at SoundGuys suggest it’s perfectly acceptable.
2 Comments
AirPods give you the best of both worlds, isolation from the outside world when you want it, connected when needed. You never mentioned connectivity but I presume they work fine with all kit.
AirPods Pro do indeed, Martin. But I think for anyone who has zero interest in noise-cancellation (and there are compelling reasons for that), would be hard-pressed to look past these in terms of value and build quality. And, yep, standard Bluetooth – no hassles there at all.