Sony LinkBuds Review: A Radical Design With Unmatched Ambient Awareness
Sony’s latest true wireless earphones, the LinkBuds (WF-L900), are a bold departure from the conventional in-canal or outer-ear fit designs. Priced at ₹19,990, they are designed to offer a comfortable all-day fit, natural and unobstructed awareness of your surroundings, and excellent call and audio performance, all while promising a user experience vastly different from traditional premium TWS headsets.
But are the LinkBuds truly revolutionary, or just a gimmick? Let’s dive into this detailed review to find out.
Unique Design and Comfort
The Sony LinkBuds stand out with their radical design. Instead of traditional earpieces that fit inside or over your ear, the LinkBuds feature a donut-shaped hole in the driver chamber that allows ambient sound to pass through, creating a truly unobstructed hear-through experience. This means you can hear your surroundings almost as clearly as if you weren’t wearing any earphones at all, even without any audio playing.
While this innovative design is undeniably cool, it also affects the fit. The LinkBuds utilize arc support fittings for a comfortable fit but require careful adjustments to find the right size for maximum security. The smallest size offered may be most comfortable for some users, but it can affect the earphones’ stability, leading to occasional dislodging with brisk movements.
The earpieces themselves are lightweight, weighing only 4.1g each, and are IPX4 rated for water resistance. The touch-sensitive controls on the outer sides can be activated through Wide Area Tap, allowing you to tap on your cheek in front of your ear, eliminating the need to blindly fumble for the control area on the earpiece.
Compact Case and Limited Features
The charging case for the LinkBuds is notably smaller than those found on other true wireless headsets in its price range, making it incredibly pocketable. It features a USB Type-C port but surprisingly lacks wireless charging, which feels unjustifiable at this price point.
While the LinkBuds offer features like voice assistant support, Google Fast Pair, Spotify Tap, and 360 Reality Audio, they lack active noise cancellation. However, considering the deliberate design and intended use case, the absence of noise cancellation doesn’t feel like a significant drawback.
The Sony Headphones Connect App
The LinkBuds are compatible with the Sony Headphones Connect app, available on both iOS and Android, offering a considerable number of customizable features. These include:
- Speak To Chat: automatically pauses music when you speak.
- Equalizer: allows for fine-tuning of audio settings.
- 360 Reality Audio Configuration: optimizes the listening experience for immersive audio.
- Custom Tap Controls: personalize the touch controls to your preference.
- Adaptive Volume Control: automatically adjusts volume based on ambient noise levels.
- Auto Play/Pause: starts and stops audio when earphones are put on or taken off.
- Firmware Updates: keeps your earphones up-to-date.
Notable app features include Adaptive Volume Control, which helps manage volume adjustments based on ambient noise, and the Wide Area Tap toggle, which enables the previously mentioned touch control functionality without physically touching the earpieces.
Connectivity and Specifications
The Sony LinkBuds utilize Bluetooth 5.2 for a stable connection, supporting SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs. Sadly, they lack the support for advanced Bluetooth codecs, which is disappointing at their price point.
The earphones have a frequency response range of 20-20,000Hz, offering a decent, but not spectacular, audio range. The packaging includes five pairs of arc support fittings and a USB Type-C cable.
Performance and Battery Life: A Mixed Bag
The LinkBuds’ unique design prevents direct comparisons to traditional TWS earphones. While lacking passive noise isolation or active noise cancellation, their key strengths lie in comfort, ambient awareness, and versatility across various use cases.
While initially appearing outlandish, the LinkBuds deliver a surprisingly enjoyable overall experience that often made them my preferred choice over other earphones on my desk. Sony’s promise of all-day, all-purpose usability holds some merit, and the ambient awareness made them especially appealing for quiet home workspaces, workouts, and outdoor walks.
The ability to hear audio clearly without any passive noise isolation is remarkable. The LinkBuds deliver a pleasant listening experience in terms of volume and listenability but exhibit a distinctive sonic signature. The sub-bass frequencies are weak, and even the mid-bass lacks depth. This could be deliberate, prioritizing ambient awareness over a powerful bass response, but it definitely won’t satisfy bass-heavy music lovers.
While delivering balanced sound with decent clarity in the mid-range, the audio performance falls short compared to similarly priced headsets, like the Sony WF-1000XM4.
Outdoors, the LinkBuds struggle somewhat. While maintaining sufficient volume to hear the audio clearly, they lack the ability to completely block out ambient noise, especially in loud environments. This wasn’t as noticeable in quiet areas, but the sounds from busy streets were distracting.
The LinkBuds’ sound tuning makes them excellent for voice-based content, including audiobooks, movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos. Voices are crisp and well-defined, translating well to their call performance. Despite the lack of noise isolation, the hear-through design surprisingly enhances the natural feel of taking calls with the earphones.
Battery life on the LinkBuds is average for the segment and somewhat disappointing, considering the absence of features like active noise cancellation and advanced Bluetooth codecs. They offer 4 hours, 35 minutes of playback time at moderate volume levels, with the charging case adding two full charges for a total runtime of around 13 hours per charge cycle.
Verdict: A Niche Product With Potential
Sony, known for producing top-tier wireless headphones and earphones, has ventured into a niche market with the LinkBuds. They prioritize a unique user experience built around ambient awareness over traditional noise isolation, sacrificing a powerful bass response for a truly open listening experience.
The LinkBuds succeed in offering unparalleled comfort, exceptional ambient awareness, and sound geared towards overcoming the challenges of hearing your surroundings clearly. However, they fall short in loud environments and lack the punchy bass response preferred by many music lovers.
At ₹19,990, they are expensive, even at the pre-order price of ₹14,990. The LinkBuds target users prioritizing an open, unobstructed audio experience and ample ambient awareness, particularly for voice-based content or those seeking a more natural listening experience.
For those prioritizing powerful bass and a fully immersive listening experience, the similarly priced Sony WF-1000XM4 provides a significantly superior audio experience, but it comes with the trade-off of sacrificing open sound and ambient awareness.
In conclusion, the Sony LinkBuds are a unique product that might not be for everyone, but their radical design and innovative features make them a compelling option for those seeking a different kind of true wireless earbud experience.
