Sony LinkBuds

Always open design ; Clear and spacious audio ; Features offer lots of convenience ; Wide Area Tap function is very cool

Always open design ; Not the weightiest sounding pair ; Battery life may not be enough for some

A fascinating pair of true wireless earphones that look like no earbud you’ve seen before. If convenience and awareness is what you want, the LinkBuds offer it in spades.

Unique design

Sound quality varies with fit

Even with all of the handy tech Sony packs in, earbuds need to be comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time, and the area around the unique ring-shaped drivers is simply too hard to be accommodating. Consistent audio performance would make a...

Unique, sound-permeable design Very good "open" sound quality Excellent for voice and video calls Wide Area Tap feature Wear sensors EQ and control customization IPX4 water resistance

Poor battery life Not good for noisy environments Not very secure and may not fit some ears No wireless charging No Bluetooth Multipoint

“With the LinkBuds, tuning in your music doesn't mean tuning out everything else.”

Spacious sound ; Clever controls ; Tiny design

Bass could be stronger ; No wireless charging ; No multipoint pairing

Light and comfortable ; Excellent control options ; Open, well-organised and energetic sound

Never quite achieve convincing bass reproduction ; Unremarkable battery life ; Call quality is hit-and-miss

If you like small, light, comfortable and fine-sounding in-ear headphones, but you also like to know what’s going on in the outside world, Sony has answered your prayers

Balanced, natural sound ; Open and spacious presentation ; Lightweight and comfy

Sound lacks drive and dynamics ; Ordinary battery life ; No wireless charging

Sony’s LinkBuds deserve a round of applause for their clever design and for offering a different flavour of sound that many will find appealing

Unique style that’s very comfortable ; Fantastic voice call performance ; Keeps you aware of your surroundings

So-so battery life ; Not practical in loud environments ; No Bluetooth multipoint

Sony’s new LinkBuds have a very unique look and an open design that lets in outside noise so you can stay aware of what’s happening while listening to your music. They’re also among the best earbuds for voice calls.

One-of-a-kind design ; Wide Area Tap is revolutionary ; IPX4 water resistance ; Decent sound quality (most of the time)

Weird fit is not for everyone ; Limited bass ; Middling battery life ; Call quality could be better

The Sony LinkBuds are an amazingly unique idea: the next logical step in audio transparency and a huge step forward for how we control earbuds. But they need more time in the oven before they can reach perfection.

Interesting new concept ; Extremely light and comfortable ; Music playback is decent ; Packed with interesting features including adaptive volume control ; Great for video calling

Open ring driver design means the outside world is always audible ; Struggle to hear video dialogue when in a noisy environment

An oddity in the earphones world, the LinkBuds are specifically designed to let the outside world in as you listen to music or make a video call. And for that, they are perfectly suited, coming with an open ring driver design that avoids anything...