The Sony LinkBuds’ unique form facilitates continual listening.
True wireless earbuds have two fit categories. These include the in-canal design, which increases noise isolation and active noise cancellation, and the outer-ear fit made famous by the original Apple AirPods, which improves instant hearing. The LinkBuds (WF-L900), Sony’s newest true wireless earbuds in India, don’t fit either category and stand out due to their revolutionary design.
Sony LinkBuds, which cost Rs. 19,990 in India, offer a comfortable all-day fit, natural and unobstructed hearing, and excellent call and audio performance. Sony LinkBuds are actual wireless headphones that you can wear all day and use for a number of purposes, making them different from the usual high-end TWS headset. Does it deliver? This review explains.
Features and design of Sony LinkBuds
Many people may not recognise the Sony LinkBuds as earbuds at first appearance. The earpieces fit over the outer ear as there is no ear canal component or stem. The earpiece’s driver chamber contains a doughnut-shaped hole in the middle to let ambient sounds through.
I could hear my surroundings nearly as well with the Sony LinkBuds as without. It’s a natural, organic hear-through that’s constantly “on” and inescapable. If you value ambient awareness, you can’t find better earphones.
With “arc support fittings,” Sony’s unique design fit well. The set includes five pairs of different-sized fittings for a custom fit. My ear shape made the lowest size the most comfortable, although it affected fit. You should choose one that combines comfort and a good fit since head movement might loosen the earpieces.
Sony LinkBuds earpieces are water-resistant and weigh 4.1g apiece. Textured and visually attractive external surfaces with touch-sensitive controls. Wide Area Tap lets you operate the device without touching the earpieces.
When activated via the app, you may touch your cheek in front of your ear to have the same effect as tapping the earpiece. It also made using the device’s functions easier since I didn’t have to blindly feel for the earpieces’ little touch area.
Performance and battery life of Sony LinkBuds
Sony LinkBuds are unique and can’t be compared to other headphones in their price range. Sony doesn’t provide active noise cancellation or passive noise isolation, but it does offer comfort, environmental awareness, and universal applicability.
The LinkBuds provide a decent overall experience, and I often chose them over other, better alternatives on my desk, despite finding them first too radical to understand. The LinkBuds’ promise that they are all-day, all-purpose headphones is true, and the ambient awareness makes them my go-to earbuds while working at my quiet home workstation, exercising, or walking along the street.
The Sony LinkBuds gave a pleasant loudness and listenability experience without passive noise isolation. The audio was off-putting, with almost little sub-bass and weak mid-bass.
The sound was nicely balanced and detailed owing to the strong mid-range, but it sounded dreadful compared to similar-priced headsets like the Sony WF-1000XM4. This may be intended given the Sony LinkBuds’ design and need to hear ambient sound, but it won’t work for many musical genres.
Sony LinkBuds performed worse outside than inside. Even with the sound turned up to 80%, I could still hear what was going on around me. In more quiet locations, this wasn’t a major concern, but in Mumbai it was.
Because of how the Sony LinkBuds were calibrated, voice-based media worked effectively. The earbuds’ clean, beautiful voices carried over to calls. Despite not having noise isolation, the Sony Link Buds were great for calls as long as the volume was high. Open hear-through earphones made taking calls more natural.
Given the lack of energy-intensive features like active noise reduction and Bluetooth codec compatibility, the Sony LinkBuds’ battery life was disappointing. The charging case added two full charges, giving the earphones 13 hours each charge cycle. Moderate volume lasted 4 hours, 35 minutes.
