As a very spatially aware person who needs the security of knowing what’s happening around me at all times, the idea of earphones that let ambient sound in piqued my interest. Noise-cancelling headphones absolutely have their place, but the idea of transparent wireless earphones for moments when you don’t actually want to shut the world out makes sense to me. Enter the Sony LinkBuds.
There’s something very organic yet modern about the design that makes them aesthetically pleasing. Sony has combined rustic recycled plastic with a shiny metal doughnut ring for the design of the LinkBuds. I love the plastic-free packaging and that the charging case, and buds themselves, were made using recycled material. Bonus eco points. The charging case is dinky enough to throw into a handbag or pocket for on-the-go ease and delivers 12 hours of charge. I got a good few days’ worth of charge from the case while using the buds for an hour or two per day. This will vary depending on your listening time, but Sony boasts 5.5 hours from the buds added to the 12 hours of charge in the case, giving you a total of 17.5 hours of sweet tune time.
The sound quality is crisp and clear for phone calls, so much so that I could fully believe the person on the other end was sitting in the same room as me. The same goes for music. The sound quality is superb, with loads of settings and features to fiddle with on the headphone app. The automated Adaptive Volume Control is nifty for when you’re moving between spaces of different noise levels (like walking your phone call from inside to outside) and adjusts the volume for you while you move. This did, however, place a cap on the volume in certain settings when I wanted to blast a song but the room was quiet so it wouldn’t go above a certain level. This can be switched off, but remember that the buds are meant to be transparent at all times so these settings are designed this way for a reason.
I was mildly annoyed at having to download a whole new music app to experience the immersive 360 Reality Audio feature but that feeling rapidly evaporated. Having not only surround sound in your head but also what feels like a 3D listening experience, is worth the hype. I also appreciated Sony including a three-month trial voucher for the 360 Reality Audio in the box.
The ring-shaped inner earpiece lets noise in but also lets sound out, so be aware of being in dead-still rooms while you’re listening to your Serial Killers podcast. The sound emitted from the buds is not entirely distinguishable but may be disruptive to an office mate sitting nearby and certainly made me feel self-conscious about my music volume level.
The Wide Area Tap feature is neat for phone-free controls and works well, although I prefer to touch the buds themselves after having the “don’t touch your face” rhetoric drilled in since the pandemic. I like that the buds automatically pause when you remove them and resume seamlessly when you place them back in your ears but also found that holding them in my hand would trigger the heat sensors to resume play. You can easily toggle this off and on in the headphone app. Using the tap controls (volume, skip, start, stop) while out on a run was faultless. Every tap was registered without skipping a beat. I was also comforted to know the LinkBuds boast an IPX4 water-resistant rating so there was no stress of sweat ruining the soundtrack to my workout. The buds stayed put for a full 30 minutes of trail running without a hint of falling out. At 4.1g per bud, you don’t need to worry about them feeling heavy while your bounce around in a workout.
The fit is secure but not as comfortable as I hoped it’d be. This was the only drawback of the LinkBuds, and it’s kind of a biggie. When it comes to fitting comfortably into ears, these buds did not. I completed the ear analysis on the app and tried a range of silicone ear fins but still found that these buds were just not made for my (apparently?) freakishly small ears. I’ve never had a problem with earbuds being too large, so this was a surprise. The hard plastic part of the buds sits right up against the concha of my ear so having them in for longer than 15 minutes is a struggle. I so wanted to love the LinkBuds, but having my ears go numb then pulsate after 30 minutes of wear is an obvious deal-breaker.
The sound quality and transparency are worth it for very short bursts, but these are not the stay-in-all-day kind of earbuds I was hoping for. Also considering the recommended retail price is a stiff R3,999 in South Africa, limiting playback time due to discomfort is not a compromise I’m willing to make.