Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've had these for about a month now. I bought them primarily for Zoom/Teams meetings for work. I have a pair of on-the-ear Sony's from a few years ago that have Sidetone and I actually enjoy that feature. However, those earphones are a bit uncomfortable. The main issue have with the LinkBuds S is that the Sidetone doesn't seem to pump my voice into my ears, rather it picks up everything else around me and amplifies it. For example, I have a small air purifier beside my desk that runs on the lowest setting. To the naked ear, you can barely notice it. When I engage the mic on the LinkBuds S, it sounds like I'm in a wind tunnel. It doesn't make the meeting experience intolerable, but it defeats the purpose of being in a meeting AND having ANC enabled. Otherwise, the sound quality for music is very good. If my Anker Soundcore Liberty 2's are a 9/10, the LinkBuds S are an 8/10. I'd give these 5 stars if it weren't for Sidetone defeating it's own purpose of allowing your voice to come through and not other things around you. Again, I don't really hear my voice at all through Sidetone yet everything else around me is picked up. Not how my older headphones work.

Previously using the WF-1000XM4, the Sony LinkBuds are in my opinion a cheaper, but an effective pair of earbuds. Noise-Canceling and Connectivity are both done very well with no issue at all. If you're looking for a cheaper pair of Sony earbuds that have good noise cancelling the Sony LinkBuds S are the right choice.

I've gone through a *lot* of wireless earbuds in recent years. Haven't owned any Bose, but have had Jabra 65s and 75s, as well as Sony WF-1000XM3s and XM4s, in addition to assorted cheaper options in a pinch. The higher-end Sonys have had great sound, but absolutely terrible fit; I couldn't wear either pair for more than maybe 30-45 minutes without some discomfort. The Jabras were way more comfortable, especially the 75t, but sound quality and ANC paled in comparison to the Sonys. These LinkBuds honestly marry the best qualities of other earbuds I've tried, and for the price and for most people I think are a way better buy than the top-end stuff from Sony or other makers. They are *incredibly* comfortable — I can wear them for hours, they stay in my ears while walking or jogging — and the sound quality is really exceptional. The higher-end models might have a *slight* edge, but for regular daily use I don't think I'm ever in a situation where I'd really notice a difference. I think the transparency mode is even better than the XM4s, which makes them even better for outdoor activities or just having awareness during work, with kids at home, and so on. ANC isn't mind-blowing — I can still hear people talking nearby and higher-frequency sounds get through — but they definitely cut a *lot* of sound out and if I'm listening to music, I don't really notice anything but the very loudest external sounds. Microphone quality is acceptable — better than the XM4s, I think, but they won't replace my Plantronics headset for serious work calls. And battery life is decent; I haven't done any serious testing, but I'm only charging the case once every few days and I use these buds a few hours every day. Really, really exceptional work here. If there's ever a LinkBuds S v2 I'll be first in line to get them.

These were my first sony buds purchased, though i have purchase over the ear phones from them before which I love and still use. For sound quality - these are about a 9/10. The features through the app are great, and noise cancelling is good, not great. I've had no problem with volume, bass level is strong for buds, and the sound quality is crisp. Battery life has been phenomenal, coming from pixel buds. The case is a bit on the large size, but not a problem for me. My biggest gripe is the fit. I've never had an issue with any bud before, and these don't seem to stay in my ears 100% of the time. It's generally not a problem, but moving around, leaning, and other movements will dislodge them, which isn't great for runners. Could just be my ear canals. Overall, these are great for the right price. Maybe not worth it at retail, but certainly for a discount. Good RMA ability too with Sony should you have any issues.

I want these to be 5 stars so bad. They’re my go-to earbuds and sound amazing and have really good noise cancelling. However, I have had problems with the battery life on these. This is my second pair that I got after my original pair started dying after about 30 minutes, and just after having these for a couple of months, they are starting to drain faster. As much as I love the sound quality and ease of use, I won’t be buying these again.

BACKGROUND: I'm 37, like hi-res audio mainly, I do have a lot of earbuds and headphones (shure, sony, senhnheiser, beat, skullcandy, audio-Technica, AKG, Bose) and I do not consider myself and audiophile but, I like to have earbuds for any type of music or situation lol, I bought this because my mom accidentally destroyed an AKG earbuds that I use at work, told her that it was ok, but she insisted to much to buy me a substitute, so I do not really wanted that my elder mom buy me a pricer earbuds, but also did not wanted to just have a scrappy pair, so the best option it came in my mind was this ones and that's how I got it and do not regret it, this are a great earbuds for EVERYDAY, they look cheap so it do not attract a lot of attention like the "shure's" lol. GOOD: The audio from this ones is "flat", which means that it's not "tunned", so you can tune them as your taste. This buds fit MUCH BETTER than many earbuds, you can run with them and will not fall from your ear since they are a little bit smaller and fit excellent inside the concha. Battery is great, you can use it like 8hr with a single charge (continously hearing), so I just charge them during my lunch time and they are good to go for the rest of the day! Price, this is BANG for your BUCKs, really.... this are a very nice hi-res audio earbuds and cheaper than audio-technica, shure's, sennheiser brands. Of course this are superior to beats, skullcandy, bose without a doubt but at the same price!!, so if your budget is limited, get this one's right away DOWNSIDE: Bluetooth connection sometimes fade in and fade out... not sure why it does that but for me is not like a big deal. Pairing this ones is just a bit harder than their sony top brother, since they do not have the shortcut of "touching both earbuds" to start pairing, you have to open box and push the small button for 10 secs and then you will be able to pair it, selecting it from the list, I mean... it takes like 3 minutes, once paired then it will remember, so for me not a big deal but is something you may consider if you pair this to more than 2 devices that are near each other, because they will connect to the last one you connected and you'll have to do all the process I meantioned to pair it to the other device (even that you already configured before). This earbuds isolate sound so well that you can hear your "chewing" or "footsteps" when you are running, I mean you can hear your "inner sounds". Mic is SO BAD for calls, they just simple lack behind on this one, I did not pretend to use it for "calling" but when I receive calls I change to speakear since people can't hear me at all, or with a lot of "ambient sound". OVERALL: great FLAT sound, nice price, excellent fit (even sweat)

Excellent sound quality and noise cancelling. I use them primarily for meetings in my home office and they do a great job cancelling external noise on both ends. In addition to delivering great sound quality to my ears, the build in microphone delivers great voice clarity when I'm speaking. Sometimes I use these for listening to music as well, and the sound quality and bass level are amazing! These are also the most comfortable ear buds I've ever used. I return the buds to the charging case between calls so that they stay well charged at all times. It's only when I have calls literally throughout an entire day that they start to report a low-battery state. In those cases, I just switch to speaker or my wired headphones for a short period while charging the buds back up.

Great great, and great. This the first pair of expensive earbuds that actually work with no problems that i bought. The active noise cancellation is freaking amazing and so futuristic. So these are so great that I told my daughter to throw away the earbuds she had and I gave her these. Im going to buy new earbuds.

The Sony Linkbuds S are my first pair of wireless earbuds from Sony. I've owned the Airpods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds 2, and JLab Epic Air ANC. I bought these becuse I was concerned about the claims that some Samsung earbuds tend to cuse more ear infections than other earbuds. I also wasn't particularly inpressed with how the Samsung Buds 2 sounded. Fit was also not great. I perfer the sound quality of the Sony Linkbuds S over the Samsung Buds 2. Noise cancelling also seems to be better on the Linkbud S compared to the Samsung Buds2. Overall, fit is somewhat better on the Linkbuds S. Sony's earbud tips for the Linkbuds S seem to have higher build quality than the Samsung Buds2. The 5 mm dynamic driver in these headphones makes things sound super clear and refined. Compared to the dual drivers in the Samsung Buds2, the single 5mm dynamic driver in the Sony Linkbuds S still doesn't dissapoint. In my opinion, It sounds different than the dual driver Samsung buds, but in a good way. If you are looking for over emphasized bass, just change the EQ settings. Out of the box, the freqency response sounds flat but soundstage is expansive and sound quality in general is impressive. This makes me bieve that these dont have an "adapt eq" feature like the Bose or Airpods Pro. Its nice to think that, with the sony Linkbuds S, I have more control over how my music sounds. How Sony acomplished this while also offering great active noise cancelling and wireless performance is a mystery to me, and I'm impressed by this everytime I use the Linkbuds S.

I bought these earbuds on sale for 128 dollars. They are worth every penny. Their anc is very good. Just make sure they fit correctly. They sound is actually pretty good. But you have to make sure you download the sony app to get most of them. They are very light and comfortable and sometimes i even forget im wearing them. I like earbuds with a high IP rating so i can use them for work ( i work outside) but this ones are only rated IPX4 which isn't great for what i do. But what ive done is i have two pairs. One for personal use ( linkbuds) and another pair for work ( ip57 minimum). Im sure the linkbuds can handle sweat so for working out they are probably good enough. I also dont love that you can only remap the buttons the way sony allows you to do it. Not many options. But you'll get used to it. I did. Lol. The buttons are very responsive and the ambient sound mode is actually pretty good but the battery life its pretty meh. Specially if you use LDAC and ANC at the same time. I hope this helps.

Amazing!!! Dont sleep on this. If you are a mucisian or someone that enjoys high fidelity music, this is a no brainer, specially if on sale. BuT! Its worth the price in my opinion. Has LDAC codec! Make sure you turn it on on your bluetooth setting once connected. I feel that bad reviews on this item may come from a place of misunderstanding and not using to full potential. Download the sony app! You can EQ to near perfection. I googled EQ settings for it and found a harman kardon target graph, and wow! Just be aware that if you have a little knowledge about how to set up, you're in for a treat! Not even the MX4 buds have the sound capabilities as these do. The mx4's have better ANC, but these are not too far behind. Only weak spot is call clarity, if there is too much noise, the other person will hear you far away. Other than that, these are def a winner. Again, get to know them!

I had been using the XM4 buds from Sony for a couple years and had to replace the batteries in them after a year of constant use. I loved the sound quality and ANC and even driving in a noisy truck calls were crisp and clear on both ends. I decided to opt for a new pair of buds once the charging case started acting up on my XM4s and after reading some reviews I opted for the LinkBuds S and the best buy warranty in case the batteries crap out after another year of constant use. I am very pleased with the sound of these even though they are much cheaper than the XM5, the tips don't get stuck in my ear like the XM foam ones did, and they are slim enough that I can comfortably sleep with them in and drown out the household noise! I prefer the texture of the Linkbuds over the smooth feel of the XM as well. Battery life is not as good as the XM series but the slimmer case and buds obviously come with a trade off in that department. Overall very pleased with these!

Awsome product, truly cancells out all noise (even heavy NY train noise). Would definitely recommend! Battery lasts a long time.

These headphones believe the perfect balance of noise canceling and safety for the runner, boxer and lifter that hates earbuds that fall out. These stay snug, don’t irritate, and have a super long battery standby and active mode. Perfect for yourself or a gift. Grab ‘em up!

I just bought these, so take what I have to say, as you will. These little guys are Shocking. I have a pair of Sony XM4, over ear headphones, that I absolutely love. When they released the XM4 earbuds I was super excited until I saw how big they were. I have worn earbuds over the years, and I can just tell when earbuds are not going to work for me. I passed on the XM4 buds, exclusively because of the size, and stuck with a pair I had had for years from another manufacturer. I happened to come across these during a sale and had never heard of this model. I did a little bit of research and felt like these might be my replacement to my older device. I went through and charged them up fully and updated the firmware, before a sound other than a chime was played through them. With them having ANC but being so tiny I was not expecting much. These are not my XM4 over the ears but are insanely good at blocking out noise for their size. I got that same Seal sound when I first powered them up just like my large headphones. I knew we were headed in a good direction. Other than the sound stage being more narrow, because these are jammed in your head, unlike over the ear headphones, these sound dead on like my XM4's. I cannot tell the difference. These little guys are a diamond in the rough if you love Sony's tunning, and have smaller ears. I also ran in these the first evening I had them and had no problem with the fit, or seal, although I did use the larger tips to get a better seal at home prior to leaving the house. There is software in the Sony app that can assist you if you just cannot decide whether they are fitting correctly or not. If you like Sony audio products, need some ultra compact earbuds for.....anything, these are your next buds. I was lucky enough to catch these on sale but to be honest, I would not have been upset paying regular price for them now that I have used them. If you love Sony's dynamic, punchy sound in over the ear head phones, they unbelievably recreated that here.

I have no complaints about the quality of the headphones. Sony made a great product and the music sounds great. No distortion from bass heavy music or high pitch vocals. Sony headphone app allows for the headphones to adapt how you enjoy listening to music. Battery life is superb and I’m a heavy user. Sound quality on phone calls was excellent. Rarely had to repeat myself. The only con is they did fall out of my ears on my long running days. Never tried them during vigorous workout because I assumed they would fall out as they did when I ran. I do tend to sweat a lot and that might have caused them to fall out so might not be a design problem. Overall, if it wasn’t for the falling out issue I would be using them headphones for all activities.

Despite what might be promised, ANC ear buds, or in ear monitors, are always going to come up short sound wise compared to wired and much more expensive options. However, these are meant to be convenient accessories to quell the drone of planes or busses and provide a decent sound quality in a light and affordable package. In these respects, these are perfectly fine and bring along a little of that Sony gravitas. They fit well, have good battery life, good customer support, and the noise canceling is pretty good. If absolute sound fidelity is your goal there are probably other options for more money. For Blue Tooth, these are squarely in the middle of doing everything pretty well, but not outrageously great, or costly, in most ways.

Great ear buds I use daily for gym workouts (about 1 hour) and daily walks (30min-1hr) without charging for a couple days. Noise cancellation works great to filter out the crowd/road noise. The adaptive works great when talking to someone while still listening to my podcast too. Also tried Apple, Bose and some others and these were the most comfortable fit for my ears. Soft rubber ftw vs hard plastic buds. However at the 1 year and 8 month mark the left bud will only hold a charge for about 15 minutes. So for $200 for 20 months that’s $10/month for decent ear buds. For me they’re worth the purchase ymmv.

I was impressed with the sound and function in the beginning. Less than a year in, my right earbud battery last half the time of the left earbud & since the left bud does not work without the right bud they are useless to me.

These sony earbuds had really good sound. They just would not stay in my ears so I returned them for that reason. The app is good to work with the buds. If they stayed in my ears I most likey would have kept them. This is not the only pair I had this probelms with so needless to say I have been through several test runs of in-ear buds but nothing seems to work to a point where I have been satisfied with in-ear buds. We all differ and in-ear buds are not for everyone. I just think it is nice to have noise canceling option for in ear buds, where as noise canceling for the out of ear buds greatly differs. If in-ear buds work for you these are very nice, but I cant advise on battery life because I returned them. As for me, maybe one day. Until then, best of luck.