Open design is something that some companies have tried to get their hands on, the latest being Samsung with its “bean” headphones, the Buds Live. When it comes to noise cancellation they have not been a success. Now Sony, which is trying to fill the middle niche between the low model and its top model, has come out with a new headphone line called LinkBuds. And the uniqueness: these headphones have a hole. Like a pretzel or an American donut. In fact, in the ears of Sony people I called them “Donut”, and I’m sure I’m not the first to do so. I spent about two weeks with them, and these are my impressions.
Design and structure Of the Sony LinkBuds
By environmental awareness, I do not only mean the possibility of being aware of your environment thanks to the hole in her ears, but also of the planet.
The packaging, body and carrier of LinkBuds are environmentally friendly: the packaging is made entirely of recyclable cardboard, while the carrier and headphone body are made of recycled plastic, in fact these are used shredded drinking bottles. The result is a white headset and carrier, dotted with the gray of the recycled plastic flakes, and it is very handsome, similar to an Acer computer with recycled plastic we reviewed here recently.
The uniqueness of the LinkBuds continues in the carrier as well. It is square and smaller than other carriers, with smooth lines and looks a bit like a pebble. It’s all in dotted marble white (these headphones also have a gray-black design), with the Sony caption in gray. Very very aesthetic. I liked. On the front, there’s a light bulb and a release button for the lid, which is great – unlike the magnetic solution at other manufacturers, Sony went right on the latch, which is great. The headphones are also held in place with a small latch. They will not travel in your bag. And finally on the back of the carrier, there is the charging socket (USB-C) and a Bluetooth pairing button, which is also unconventional.
And if I said unusual – the headphones themselves are very different from anything you have ever encountered. They look more like a pair of earrings than headphones: in the front there is the driver with the hole in the middle, to which is attached a small ball that contains all the electronics and is also the interface unit. Together they form a kind of 8-digit number lying, or an infinity sign, when when inserted into the ear, the pretzel-like open part lies at the entrance to your ear canal, while the spherical part sits behind it inside the inner earpiece. What holds the headphones in place is a silicone loop that creates resistance in front of the earpiece ridge.
This is not a bad solution, and less routine, but requires a bit of play for a good match. Sony will be credited with providing no less than four different sizes of loops with the LinkBuds, making it easy to adjust the headphones to the ears. It should be noted that they are also water resistant, so you can go out with them for a run in the rain.
Their comfort is good overall, but Sony designed the LinkBuds so you would not remove them from the ears at all. Still, after a few hours of use, I did not feel firmly comfortable in my left ear (to be said I always have a hard time finding a fit for it), but the right one sat in surprising comfort and was not very noticeable. The open design is definitely helpful in relieving the feeling of pressure you always feel with headphones as they penetrate into the audio channel.
Sound quality
Sony’s bagel driver does a decent job, and I did not expect the least from Sony, who are known for their excellent sound quality. The trebles are sharp, and the bass is crisp. I intentionally wrote crispy and not powerful, because the open design hurts the bass a bit. In Enter Sandman you can hear the bass guitar, or instruments at low frequencies like the cello, but the very low notes like the bass drum (kick-drum) are a bit lacking in the range. The high frequencies however, are very nice. Human sounds through cymbals and bells, the sounds are very clean.
Indeed, their detail psycho. The new 12mm drivers, along with Sony’s excellent V1 processor, do an insane job of deciphering. , Or even the hum of the monitor speakers on stage. In such detail that I do not seem to have heard better headphones at their price level. In general, they have relative to their size – a large and resonant stage sound, which is very beautiful and an impressive technological achievement.
They also support 360-degree surround sound, which can be played with services like Tidal or Dizer, but I think in that specific, they are a bit less outstanding compared to their expensive sisters, the XM4. Indeed, they give an excellent stereophonic sound, with a clear and sharp separation. In short, their sound is good. I would have been happy for more power in the low bass, but that’s probably the small price you pay for an open design.
In terms of call quality, the results were inconsistent. Sometimes the call quality was excellent, sometimes my interlocutors complained that they did not hear me well.
Interface and battery life
The weak point of these headphones is the interface. In a typical choice, Sony went for a touch interface rather than a button, but this interface is problematic: every time you arrange the headphones in the ear, the headphones may interpret this as a push, which is a bit annoying. Several times the music stopped me because I put the earpiece in my ear. It would definitely have been better here to replace the touch interface with a button.
Due to their small size, Sony also allow the headphones to be activated by sensing the area near the ear, above the jawbone. Ostensibly, tapping the area should translate into an activation command, similar to touching LinkBuds themselves. In practice, this does not work well. The headphones sometimes detect the pat in the area and sometimes not. As mentioned, a simple button button would have been better here in my opinion.
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Also in the interface, the LinkBuds contain everything good: they support fast pairing in Android Windows (it actually works great), they will stop the music when you start talking to allow conversations with your office colleagues (a feature that characterizes more expensive headphones) as well as when you remove them from the ears, and adjust The volume of the ambient noise. It all works great. What is a bit lacking here, especially compared to headphones at a similar price level, is noise cancellation.
Sony’s app covers everything from updates to adjustments to the touch patches of the touch, but for some reason I was unable to edit the interface options and change the settings.
Due to their tiny size, we pay a bit here in battery life – these headphones will run about 5.5 hours of continuous playing time from a manufacturer’s statement, and you have another 12 hours of charging in the carrier. Enough for everyone, especially that you will not forget to return these headphones to the small and easy-to-carry carrier. Sony in this matter, promise and fulfill. The carrier was enough for us to listen for several days.
The bottom line Our regarding LinkBuds
The unique LinkBuds well fill Sony’s middle niche, between the cheap model and their expensive model, the XM4 (and for the first time bear a name that even humans understand and not meaningless letters…). They offer good comfort in the ear, and excellent sound quality, especially for lovers of live performances. Anyone looking for bass that will hit his ear should look for other headphones, here the bass are pleasant, but no more. Their design is also delicate and non-aggressive, and the fact that they are made from recycled materials may wink at people with environmental awareness. Their open design also allows you to be aware of your surroundings, although this is not always what people with headphones on the street want…
Where do they fall? Their touch interface is annoying and inaccurate (this Sony must improve, we’ll be happy to check it again after software updates that will surely come and report), and the absence of active noise cancellation, a feature that has almost become a threshold requirement, is also noticeable in its absence.
Finally, there is the issue of price – abroad they cost 180 euros, while in Israel they will sell for 800 shekels. It is a bit expensive, especially considering the fierce competition, and there are headphones that offer more features and with their own quality sound like Jabra, for example – for less Bottom line, it seems to me that the LinkBuds are designed and aimed at young Generation Z with environmental awareness, who want headphones unlike everyone else’s, which are small – but with a great sound.
Sony LinkBuds WF-L900
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Sony LinkBuds
800 shekels
We connected
- Fine sound with exceptional detail
- Eco-friendly
- Comfort in the ear
We did not connect
- No active noise cancellation
- Inaccurate touch interface