Customer Ratings & Reviews

I purchased these refurbished Sony earbuds. Much to my delight, it was like purchasing a brand new set at less than half of the full prize. The sound quality...excellent. The fit...perfect. Also came with extra earbud cover replacements. I've always bought Sony bluetooth earbuds. Never have they failed me. Normally, I buy them brand new. However the last two pair I purchased were refurbished. They lasted me a good two years. Very satisfied with my purchase!

This New Gen Sony LinkBuds Open set out to be earphones with a unique open-ear design and premium sound. As I am using this earbuds for a while, I can give you my honest opinion. Superior Architectural and Design Work: You can't help but notice the Sony LinkBuds Open’s distinctive open-ear appearance. By positioning themselves slightly outside the ear canal, these provide a more "open" listening experience compared to the conventional in-ear earbuds. For people who dislike the feeling of a gadget buried deep inside their ear for long periods of time, this design becomes more comfortable, even though it seems unusual at first considering our practice of inserting our ears into headphones for a more immersive experience. Crafted from a sturdy yet aesthetically pleasing matte plastic, these buds are not only lightweight but also fashionable. Additionally, a compact, spherical charging case is included, eliminating the need to carry a bulky case. You may easily include these Sony earphones into your daily routine because of their subtle design. For unwinding, I can say that having used numerous earbuds, the LinkBuds Open’s exceptional comfort was a pleasant surprise. Since they don't rest so deeply in your ear canal, they won't clog it up or cause any pressure like in-ear models. The fact that I could wear them for hours on end without getting tired or uncomfortable is a huge plus, particularly for things like walking, commuting, listening to music, or extended phone calls. The opposite is true if you plan on wearing them during strenuous physical exercise; you may not experience the most secure fit. Even while they remain placed well when used casually or while sitting at a computer, I had to reposition them numerous times while jogging. Clarity of Sound: Okay, let's get down to brass tacks—audio quality. Although the open-ear design may not provide the same amount of bass or sound isolation as closed-ear headphones, the sound quality is surprisingly good considering their form. Perfectly defined mids and highs highlight the instruments and singers, making them ideal for podcasts, acoustic music, or even traditional radio. Those who like bass-heavy or heavily electronic music, though, might find the lower frequencies lacking. You won't get the same punchy bass from these open-ear headphones as you would from traditional in-ear or over-ear designs. On the other hand, the soundstage is top-notch. You will adore this if you are seeking a more natural, ambient listening experience. It makes the sound seem more like it's surrounding you, rather than coming from your head. By simulating a speaker system rather than headphones, you can achieve a less isolating listening experience. The Sony LinkBuds Open’s ability to subtly handle ambient noise is one of their numerous impressive features. Because of its design, background noise can be easily detected without compromising audio quality. People who like to listen to music or talk on the phone at the same time as they listen to traffic, announcements, or other sounds may appreciate this function. The earbuds have the ability to adjust the volume, so you may listen to music loudly in a busy metropolis and softly in a quiet area. All of this is made possible by Sony's groundbreaking adaptive sound control technology. In spite of my frequent wishes for greater control over the adjustments, this tool serves its purpose admirably. Time Between Charges: The LinkBuds Open’s time between charges is adequate but nothing special. With moderate use or daily commutes, I was able to get around 5 or 6 hours of playback time on a full charge. However, if you're using them nonstop, you could need more juice. The charging case gives a good additional 14 hours of use, which should be more than enough for a day or more of typical use. With a quick 5-minute charge, you may enjoy up to 60 minutes of playtime, perfect for those moments when you're strapped for time but still want to play. It usually takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge. Features and Connections: There are a plethora of practical uses for these earbuds. Because they work with Google Assistant and Alexa, you can control your music, ask questions, and make calls without ever lifting a finger. The delicate touch controls on the sides of the earphones allow you to pause, skip tracks, and answer calls. By integrating with Sony's Headphones Connect app, you can customize these controls and adjust the equalization settings. From what I can tell, the connection has always been stable. I had no problems pairing them with my phone, and the Bluetooth connection stayed strong even as I moved around my office or home. The LinkBuds Open really won me over with its excellent call quality. Despite ambient noise, the other party assured me that they could hear me clearly thanks to the open-ear design that allowed the mics to pass through. Although the call quality isn't ideal, it's sufficient for casual use or light office tasks. Although the LinkBuds Open are very eco-conscious and comfortable, they do have a few drawbacks. The lack of bass may be off-putting to some, and they aren't ideal for crowded areas where you want to get into the music. Furthermore, there are earphones that cost the same yet have battery lives that are far longer. Additionally, fitness enthusiasts shouldn't choose them because of how they don't provide a solid fit throughout intense workouts. During regular use, they stay put, but when you work out, they could slide a bit. Overall, the Sony LinkBuds Open are a great pick for people who prefer music with less bass and more ambient sound and who value situational awareness. Their one-of-a-kind design is perfect for people who like to live in the now when traveling, but they might not be the best option for those who like to listen to music at a low level or who have to deal with a highly noisy workplace. If you care about comfort, natural sound, and the environment, these earbuds are a great choice. If you're looking for earbuds with top-notch noise cancellation and bass response though, you might want to look at other Sony models.

The Sony Linkbuds Open are very different from your usual wireless earbuds in that they offer a truly open listening experience. What’s that mean? Well, unlike regular earbuds that seal off your ear canal, the Linkbuds Open leave your ear canal completely open, allowing you to hear your surroundings while still enjoying your audiobooks, music, or podcasts. You might be thinking why anyone would want headphones that don’t block sound, but that person might just be you. Wearing these at home, in an office or when exercising can provide an unparalleled experience in comfort and usability, especially with all the features that Sony has baked into these headphones. Design The design is eye catching, because it looks very different. They are a one piece design that looks like two pieces, and the way they kind of rest inside your outer ear make them even more unique looking. You can also customize the buds with custom colors for the case and the buds themselves. The case is small and very lightweight, as are the ear buds. I’d definitely suggest you buy a silicone case from Sony to help add a little heft to the case so you don’t lose that along with your headphones. The headphones are also splash resistant, so you don’t have to worry about some rain or sweat ruining them. Sound Quality Despite the open ear design, the Linkbuds Open provide fantastic sound. The mids and highs sound incredible and although the lows aren’t as punchy as with closed earbuds, they are surprisingly still there. I was pleasantly surprised while listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks and even though your surroundings are still audible, you won’t have any issue listening to your favorite content. Features The Linkbuds Open really shines when you download the Sony | Sound Connect app on your phone. Make sure to update the firmware right away, as there are features that aren’t available without the newest firmware. Once you have the new firmware, you’ll be presented with many ways to customize the sound, audio quality, tapping preferences and even the way of the headphones interact with your voice. There’s a great setting that instantly pauses whatever you’re listening to whenever you speak, and that’s just such a great feature when you’re wearing them around the house or the office. I won’t even go into detail about the automatic volume adjustment based on your environment, the 360 degree audio capabilities, and the head tracking. Half the fun is finding out how you’ll be able to use those features to further bring value to these already incredible headphones. Just a tip, try the head gestures feature and the speak-to-chat, because I think you’ll like those a lot! Battery Life With the lack of noise cancellation, these headphones will give you up to 8 hours between charges and another 2–3 charges when put inside the case. That’s a super long battery life for how small and light the headphones and case are. Overall I’m enjoying the Sony Linkbuds Open more than I thought I would. I can wear them all day and never have to take them off when talking to people in person or on conference calls for work. They are so comfortable once you get adjusted to their unique fit that you won’t even feel like you’re wearing them. These headphones are unique enough to warrant their price tag and come with so much technology in them that I can’t help but recommend them to anyone looking for earbuds that won’t isolate them from their world. Pros: Unique design that doesn’t isolate you from the world Very comfortable to wear for long periods of time Surprisingly great sound quality with deep bass, clear mids, and crisp highs 8 hours of battery life and an additional 22 hours from the case is incredible Head tracking for 3d audio support Automatic volume adjustment based on environment Cons: These aren’t going to cancel any noise, so don’t expect that The fit is definitely different, so that’ll take a bit to get used to These probably wouldn’t work well in very loud environments

I have and currently owned many pairs of earbuds. I will be honest I hate pretty much all of them because they get super uncomfortable to wear to a point of causing pain. These are a game changer as they are the most comfortable pair of earbuds I have ever had. I can wear these for hours on end and forget they are in my ear. The battery life also lasts a very long time and charging in the case is very quick as well. The shape of these headphones to me is a little odd and figured they would fall out when walking or have just okay sound. I was wrong on both as they stay in place rather well and when walking they never once felt like they were going to pop out. I like that my ear is filled with music but due to the design of the earbuds I can still hear the ambient sound around me. I hate walking around and not hearing my surroundings and thankfully these let enough sound in that I can feel comfortable wearing them when walking outside. While I do have some other earbuds that sound slightly better, but due to the comfort level these Sony earbuds blow away my other ones. The sound quality is pretty fantastic, you can even customize EQ settings via the app. I like a little more bass, so I was able to set the earbuds for my specific liking. Listening to music or watching movies, these headphones do not disappoint. You can also connect two sources to these headphones. I have them paired with my iPhone and Windows 11 computer. I love that you can use the two sources at once and not have to choose. You definitely need to use the app to fully set these earbuds up. During the setup the app had me take pictures of both my ears to analyze my ears for the 360 reality audio setup. I did this and tested the 360 audio and wow did it sound great. The problem I have is you need to have a specific source for this immersive sound. The apps that Sony recommends are pay sites and will I love the way it sounds I do not need to pay for another service. Even without paying a service to use the 360 sound these earbuds still are amazing. I have started to give away my other earbuds because of how uncomfortable they are to wear, whereas these are just perfect. If you are looking for a great pair of earbuds, I highly recommend checking these out. After using for hours on end for a few days I'm still amazed at how great the Sony Earbuds are.

I recently received the Sony LinkBuds Open earbuds and have been listening to them for many hours the past few days. First and foremost for me, the sound is simply outstanding. I have a pair of Sony’s previous generation earbuds which were great, but the sound from the LinkBuds Open is even better. I used the Sony Sound Connect app to customize the sound to my liking using the equalizer functions and the sound is pretty incredible. Regarding the fit of the LinkBuds Open, it took me a bit of manipulating since the design is different than past ear buds I’ve owned. But once I figured out what works for my ears they are rock-solid. The do not move and stay in my ears much better than previous ear buds I’ve owned. Through weightlifting workouts and bike rides they never budged. Very comfortable, I can barely feel them. The tap function worked well if you want to pause/play music, skip to the next track, and increase/decrease the volume. Answering phone calls also works with the tap function. You have to tap three times to answer (and to hang up) so honestly, its probably easier for me just to use my phone for that. But if I’m some distance from my phone then yeah, I can see that being useful. Interestingly, you don’t have to tap the ear bud itself. You can, but you can also tap just in front of your ear and it works just as well. Sony says you get 22 hours of battery life with these which is excellent. I have not tested this to confirm, to me if I get 3 or 4 hours that’s more than enough. Electrical outlets are plentiful, its not that big a deal to me to recharge the case occasionally. In the documentation I received along with product, these are described as “Sony LinkBuds Open Noise Cancelling Headphones”. I’m guessing that was a typo for products sent out to testers like myself, because these do not have noise cancelling functionality. I went through the entire 147 page user manual and it is not there. So no, these are not noise cancelling ear buds. From my understanding and research, I believe the LinkBuds Fit will have noise cancelling functionality. Since this product was sent to me for testing and I don’t think they have been released yet, I do not know the cost of the LinkBuds Open or the Fit. I’m sure the LinkBuds Open will cost less since they don’t have noise cancelling. Personally, I really like noise cancelling and being able to turn it on or off for ambient sound. So keeping that in mind and knowing what functionality the LinkBuds Open do and do not have, I would say that these are outstanding ear buds, particularly for the sound and the comfort and I would highly recommend them if you don’t care about having noise cancelling capability.

Since we are in an overly saturated headphone market, specifically wireless earbuds, it can be difficult for companies to stand out amongst the competition. However, being the innovators as they are known for, Sony has somehow done just that with their new LinkBuds Open wireless earbuds. Please, allow me to explain. My wife, specifically, has always had an issue with finding wireless earbuds because of the size of her ears; they have relatively small openings therefore many of the earbuds I have used don’t work in her ears and tend to either not seat or seal correctly and/or constantly fall out regardless of what she is doing. Over the years, we have gone through several design and brand options and she ultimately just ends up going back to what she has been accustomed to in her, in my opinion, poorly designed well-known phone maker’s design that she still has issues with or simply giving up and using her speakerphone which is an issue considering she owns an in-home daycare where the noise level can be quite high. When Sony’s new LinkBud Open design was revealed, I was sure that we would end up in the same boat and figured I would just end up with another pair of earbuds for me that she couldn’t use. It was worth a LONG shot and I knew I ultimately wasn’t sacrificing anything because I would end up with a great pair of earbuds having experience with Sony’s line of headphones and what they are capable of. The LinkBuds Open came in a small, extraordinarily plain box with little to no advertising information or technical features noted on the outside therefore you’ll have to do some homework to know what you are investing in. Even the small, gloss black charging case they earbuds come with isn’t something you would do a double take on however, as I’m sure everyone would agree on, it’s what’s inside that really counts. From prior experience, I think this is something that Sony’s headphone line has been known for and has become somewhat of an internet sensation as they continually rate higher than many other high-end headphone manufacturers. Perhaps this is because Sony has been in the headphone market for longer than most starting all the way back to before the Walkman and their trademark orange foam headphones came to existence (please create me a high-end retro remake of these, pretty please). One thing you’ll want to do before trying it yourself is to take the time and watch or review the guide on how to fit your new earbuds; they are not like many other earbuds that either dangle in your ear or use a vinyl or foam tip that squeezes into your ear canal, many of which have active noise cancelling (ANC) features. This does have a bit of a learning curve because if you don’t do it correctly, they will just fall out. After a quick initial charge and syncing the LinkBuds to the Sony Smart Controller headphone application via Bluetooth, I was ready to rock. Having used numerous Sony headphones in the past, I know their focus is typically on the sound, specifically the loudness and deep bass. This especially rings true with these which is fantastic for a lifelong audiophile and considering how small earbuds are. Using large 11mm drivers and high-power neodymium magnets, they are incredibly loud in comparison to other earbuds I have tested, some of which are over double the price. Within the app there are several equalizer settings to tinker with including a manual mode and two custom EQ settings. There is also an interesting background music effect feature that will mimic background noises such as a café or your living room. I haven’t quite figured out what I would use this feature for but perhaps it is something someone else might want to use :/. I would recommend having the app analyze your ear shape to ensure a correct fitting; it’s very quick and easy to do using your smartphone. Back to my wife’s small ears, I was shocked to find out that they seated in her ears even better than they did in mine and were a perfect fit; I couldn’t believe it after all these years of trial and error. One of the first things I noticed after setting them up is there is not an option in the app for ANC and, as I’ll explain later, this ends up being a great feature in my wife’s case. If you’re specifically in the market for ANC earbuds, you may still want to consider these as an option as they somehow still do the trick in blocking out unwanted noises while still allowing you to hear what’s going on around you, I assume hence the “Open” name. One of the features you can enable in the app is the ability to sense when you start talking or someone else starts talking to you and will pause what you re listening to. After a short amount of time or using the tap features, it will resume play. This is convenient for us, as parents of little children, as you can enjoy your music or podcasts but still know when someone else is trying to get your attention. You can customize certain tap features to perform functions such as automatically opening a music streaming service. Sony also has a cool 360 Reality Audio feature that you can use via another app and the LinkBuds come with a 30-day free trial. Considering the plethora of headphones and earbuds I have been through over decades, we have finally found a pair that actually did have more of a universal fit compared to other manufacturers that made this claim and ended up not working for my wife. Even if that weren’t the case, the sound that Sony headphones and earbuds is able to produce is, in most cases, far superior than the competition and at a much more reasonable price compared to most high-end manufacturers.

These earbuds are awesome! I have used the old Sony Open Ear version and this new IMPROVED Sony version now. I love them both. This little silicone fitting arm took me a bit (an hour or so) to understand and get right. I have to tug my upper ear a little to open the ear canal some for these to fit easily. I also just bend the little arm over and shove them in my ears in a hurry. Both ways works just fine. Being able to hear around me and have situational awareness is key for me. The sound is fantastic. Voice or music. No more sweaty, itchy ears!! I am beyond happy with these earbuds. The price is worth it - new or refurbished. I have done both and been veey happy!!

I love the way the product fits inside my ears and the sound quality is amazing

These earbuds sound amazing and fit perfectly. I can barely tell the difference between having these in and using a high quality speaker.

Love this ear pieces there good for a daily walk or run they stay in place and lock out every other noise while in my ear love them

Excellent product. My husband love it. Perfect size.

Dope. I love Sony products. Especially headphones and earbuds.

I didn't think there was much that could be improved in an earbud, but Sony provided that was wrong in a big way. LinkBuds have totally revolutionized the earbud industry. The first thing that stood out was how small the packaging was. Sony did a great job of being environmentally friendly and not wasting material. The small box includes the earbuds in a charge case and short USB-C charge cable. The initial charge time was super really quick. Setup was as simple as downloading the Sony Connect app, removing the right earbud from the case and connecting to your phone's Bluetooth. The earbuds fit in your ear in a unique way by placing them in your ear and slightly twisting. The soft prong conforms very well to your ear, and you don't have to mess around with a bunch of various covers to get the correct fit. I could literally pull on them and they would not fall out, yet just a small twist in the opposite direction allows them to remove with ease. The Sound Connect app walks you through step by step with how to get the best listening performance. You can hold your phone out from your face and it actually tells you if they are positioned correctly. It also allows to take pictures of them in your ear and calibrates for your size. What really surprised was the sound sample of 360 Reality Audio off and on. The difference with it on is amazing. It is difficult to tell if the sounds are coming from the earbuds or are in the outside environment. The equalizer allows easy setup by listening to your favorite music and clicking on various circles with different preset settings. It allows you to easily customize to your listening enjoyment. A really unique feature is using hand gestures by just tapping on your jaw, below your earlobe, to control music and answer calls and notifications. They are more comfortable the longer they are worn. My first day I wore then all day at work and on a long walk in the evening and to bed at night. They were very comfortable even when laying down and did not fall out in my sleep like other earbuds I've used. The wealth of features rival those of devices costing much more. The only slight critique I have is that the charging case has slick black top and show up fingerprints well. Other than that, these are in my opinion the best earbuds I have ever worn. I plan to use them at work, exercising and when relaxing daily.

I like using these headphones and I can barely find any problems with them. First of all the voice is very clear and I don’t have any issues with hearing the music or sound. It works very well with any genre of music. I also installed the sound connect app and it made the use of headphones even more enjoyable. Second, I feel comfortable wearing them on and unlike other products that I had so far, these headphones are so much more comfortable. It has a soft and ergonomic linkbuds. They wont come off when I am running and I don’t need to be worry about losing them during workouts. Third, I have used some of the smart features such as instant play/pause or answer phones with head movements, which is one of my favorites, and I found them interesting. The touching feature of headphones is pretty powerful and with a single touch I can answer any phone calls. The last but not least is the battery life. I can fully charge them in 5 minutes and use them for almost 20 hours. They give me notifications when the battery is down. All in all I found them handy and easy to use which are really game changers.