Customer Ratings & Reviews

Love them, small compact and fits in ear well. Great price

I like the way they are in your ear without discomfort ! Very easy set up

Pros: The open ear concept is really nice and the wide area tap control is a great feature you can tap your cheek your chin even your hat instead of tapping the device. The earbuds build feels solid and lightweight for the size. The case is nice and lightweight and pretty durable from pocket height drops. The sound quality is pretty nice and crisp and with a proprietary Sony headphones app you can run the eq. Cons: The tap controls are nice however if you cough or sneeze it may pauses skip your songs. The battery life is great and the case is light weight however I find myself dropping or feel like dropping the case the way you commonly hold it and open the smooth satin case if you had to do it with one hand which is an ergonomic design flaw. The size of the ring was okay but the thickness of it definitely was uncomfortable at first and the housing of the earbud device where it keeps the battery and hardware in kind of hurt my ears after using it for more than 1-2hrs (assembly part is shape like a ball widening and pushing out natural ear shape). Audio is great but if you’re looking for deep or punchy bass you’re not going to find it here. I recently lost mine and /maybe/ considering picking up another pair I just wish there was a usable find my device function that worked with my Apple phone to locate it. Also the only way it connects to your phone is if you pull the earbuds out which powers the system on. Time to research the market for some new buds! :)

The Sony linkbuds are a fantastic addition to the bluetooth earbud market. These earbuds do not sit inside of your ear canal, they do not create a seal for noise canceling or bass increase. The sound of these buds is great, they produce deep full sound that left me feeling satisfied in a quiet environment. However, I do not see these being great buds for a noisy commute. The "fit" in my ears is almost perfect but I found that the buds fall out while chewing or talking (on the phone) which is a huge set back for me. I find myself readjusting the buds, even with the proper ear fittings, while I talk on the phone. The microphone quality is top-tier and is the redeeming quality of these earbuds. Even though the music is the primary purpose for these earbuds, I find myself using the audio-message feature in my messenger apps very often because of how clear my voice sounds. It's hard to say these are my favorite earbuds because of they fall out while I talk or eat. But I still can't help but to grab these earbuds over my other, now back-up, pair of earbuds. If you enjoy music, but also have a desire for audio-messenging, FaceTime, and Phone calls, the bud links are a great pair to try out.

I work in a fast paced environment that requires attention to phones, CB radio, and staff interactions. These tiny earbuds work amazingly well. I can enjoy my music or podcasts and still follow the flow of the office. Audio quality is fairly good, with mids and highs being very tight, but bass is very shallow due to the design. The app is very straight forward and makes customizing the earbuds to meet your needs easy. I love the technology that allows you to tap your cheek to control the earbuds. These are truly Star Trek level futuristic devices in our time! Only drawbacks are due to their small size, battery life is fairly unimpressive and their Bluetooth range seems to be 3/4 of my other Bluetooth headphones. Not a deal breaker, but just an odd quirk. Definitely a great gift idea for any hard working office assistant!

I tend to listen to some background noise whenever I am doing mundane tasks like cleaning or doing dishes. But the sound from having a video or listening to music in the background on my phone gets drowned out by the vacuum or water running … so headphones. Wireless earbuds specifically. The problem comes in when even when I am only wearing one earbud, my better half has a knack for ONLY approaching me on the side where I have an obstruction jammed in my head. Then gets annoyed that I could not hear her. Sometimes my solution to that is to have the bud in my ear loose so it does not seal my ear canal. But that leads to it falling out so definitely not ideal. Linkbuds have alleviated this issue by being an open backed earbud. I have very little experience with open back headphones but I have noticed they definitely sound airier and not as enclosed and sealed in. The unconventional hole allows me to hear those around me when they suddenly feel the need to have me listen to me and do so while creeping up on me. Now if I listen to something on a fairly high level this will defeat surrounding noises. But moderate sound level keeps me aware of others talking to me. While I definitely prefer these for wearing around the house while doing chores, they do not work so great in my noisy office setting. Either I listen LOUD or I have to deal with competing sounds. Sound wise bass does not hit as hard as I like, but I believe that is the nature of open stage headphones. Otherwise I have no complaints on how it sounds. The Linkbuds are a little strange to put in at first, but there is a sweet spot they are supposed to sit and once you get them in they fit RIGHT and are very comfortable. The Sony logo should be parallel to the ground. As soon as I took them out of the packaging, opened up the case and jammed them into my ears I was able to find them in my Bluetooth menu and they connected right away. I didn’t even have to use the pairing button on the back of the case. The Linkbuds are lightweight and stay in my ear for extended periods without working their way out while moving around. A huge plus for me is that they do not get the inside of my ear sweaty and itchy. I usually have a limit of time I use earbuds until I need to rip them out and rake the inside of my ears. I haven’t had to do that with these as my ear canals can breathe. The case I have mixed feelings about. I appreciate the inclusion of the pairing button (even though I didn’t use it) and its smallish size. Easily palmable but a touch on the girthy side, but still much smaller than my WF-1000XM4 and my Galaxy Buds Pro cases. I also like that the case has a release latch AND clips that hold the Linkbuds in. The other earbuds are held in magnetically and have no latch and will fly in opposite directions when they hit the ground. It is a law of physics that they will do this. My daughter dropped the Linkbuds already and the case did not throw up. I miss the inclusion of wireless charging but that is more of a minor inconvenience. The rated ~5hours for the Linkbuds can easily get me through the work day OR day of chores, especially with topping them off between uses. All that said if you are looking for a set of open stage earbuds that keep you aware of what is happening around you and/or you have issues like me keeping earbuds plugged in for long periods these are definitely worth a look. These are not for noisy environments where you want to block out the world. While the Linkbuds will not be my only set of ears in my bag of kit, they definitely have a solid daily use for me and would recommend them to anyone looking for the same.

If you're looking for earbuds that will isolate you from the world or make your ear drums rattle, these are not for you. These have been designed for those who want/need to still hear their environment when necessary and to experience wide audio sound like you would get from open back headphones. When you first open these, you'll find that the package is surprisingly well done. Everything except for the case and accessories are made from study cardboard which can be recycled. The case itself is extremely compact, being about the size of two key fobs stacked on top of each other, and has a secure latch so it won't open in your pocket. The earbuds are very unique. Instead of inserting a silicone piece into your inner ear, you rest these in the outer ear and the adjustable size ear pieces hold everything in place. Audio quality is good, but not perfect. I found that most music missed a bit of bass, even with the EQ maxed out. However, mids and highs felt great and comparable to my open back HD 558 headphones. I tried the spatial 360 surround audio in music and I feel that it just doesn't add enough for me to use it on the regular. Surround sound movies however sound amazing. It's like having an Atmos surround system attached to your head and makes video watching while traveling great. Mic sound was OK. When I made a few phone calls, people could hear what I was saying, but it had a weird tin/reverb on the recipients end. I would still take my trucker headset for conference calls where people need to hear me clearly and without distractions from the outside world. Sony plans on these being more than just your listening earbuds though. With the open back, these are meant to be worn all day long. There are settings in the app that stop your music when you start talking, allowing you to have conversations without reaching to pause your music. You can use the headphones with Google assistant and I'm guessing Siri as well. The wide area touch allows you to control your buds without having to touch them. For me, I tap the area in front of my ear and it activates the desired command. This is nice as I find with other buds that when I touch them to reposition them, I accidentally trigger commands, and this was not the case with the Sony buds. Now for the cons : Battery life is OK, but not great. This is due to the size of the product and just how much you can put into such a small package. Also, the way the ear buds sit do take a while to get used to. It took about a day and a half for my ears to be really comfortable with them. If I were to make a design change, I'd love to have silicone around the piece that sits in your outer ear, but then that may affect the wide area tap feature, and I really like that part. All in all, these are a great purpose built product and worth the investment if you work in an office or like to travel and watch movies with great spatial sound.

These were made to be perfect for activities, like going for a run, when you need to pay attention to your surroundings and traffic. You'd think that they'd make them with a secure fit. They did not. Unlike normal active headphones with a curved hook that fits under the front fold of your hear, these try to hang on to a tiny fold in your ear, a fold I barely have on one of my ears. Really, Sony could have just made one part of these unique, the "donut" opening to improve sound pass-through. Instead, they tried something odd with the way they fit in your ears, and the result is these will fit horribly in many people's ears, while fine in others. It all depends on just how folded your ears are. My left ear? I can comfortably wear these for an hour or so. Right ear? It's never comfortable or secure. Why'd they try to reinvent so many wheels? Sound is okay. There's not much bass, but there's a hole in the driver, that's to be expected. Syncing with multiple devices is a pain, so don't expect to be able to set this up on your Mac and your phone, as you'll have to completely reset the bluetooth settings on the headphones. It's a creative idea, and I'd love to get a version of these that are comfortable and stay in your ear, but those little ear grips shouldn't have left the factory.

I love the comfort. I'm not a fan of the inner earbuds. These lightweight beauties are light and sit in your ear without fear of falling out or hurting. The sound is great and loud. I would really recommend these to everyone.

I have issues with earbuds that go into my ears and I thought these would be better or similar to my galaxy buds live that I love. But they weren't. The battery only lasted maybe 4 hours and then I'd have to switch earbuds because one would die. Then after using them for about a week I got blisters in my ears. Blisters. So im definitely sticking to my galaxy buds live. But they do have really good sound at least for me. But i wouldnt suggest if you're going to use them for long periods of time

Beautiful comfortable design, decent sound quality for being open ear, battery life is actually pretty impressive, case is compact and securely closes. But these have the worst connection quality I've ever experienced in a Bluetooth product. I would hardly expect this from $25 knock-off garbage, not a $180 Sony product. I can't express how disappointed I am in these, I really wanted to like them and have tried many different scenarios but whether my phone is in my pocket, a wooden table 5 feet away, a counter 10 feet away or in my open hand 2 feet from the ear buds, the connection drops, music stutters and sound quality is bouncing all over the place. Yes, they are set to Best Connection Quality. Then you have the fact that with the Plex app for Android (admittedly not the most popular music app) I've been able to pause, skip forward or back with multiple models of cheap chinese knock-off ear buds, but these CONSISTENTLY stop interacting with any app, can't pause, or resume or skip. Oddly enough the Wide Area Tap functions flawlessly, but it's something about the headphone app on my phone randomly deciding it can't communicate with whatever music app I'm using that seems to fail as I still get the confirmation tone for double and triple taps. Very frustrating, very un-Sony-like and they will be returned.

These unique headphones from Sony offer a lot. They're small, comfortable and feel well built. However, the lack of "umph" in the lower end will have audiophiles thinking twice. But if you're looking for new buds and have an environmental-based need to be able to hear ambient noise while wearing buds, this is your go to. If you're a person that wants the compact style that buds have to offer, but don't want anything in your ear canal, then these are for you! Clarity of voices on phone calls and recorded speech was great. The battery life was as described, reaching over 5 hours of continued use at max volume. Pairing these buds with the phone app allows the user to adjust customizable features. The most notable in my opinion are the customizable "tap" options. Probably the best feature they have are the buds ability to pick up a double or triple "tap" on the side of the user's cheek, rather than directly on the bud itself. What an amazing feature! Gone are the days of tapping the bud and knocking it out of your ear. Speaking of staying in your ear, these buds have a removable silicone adjustor with various sizes supplied. They work as a sort of spring to hold the bud securely in the ear of the user. After some rigorous testing, these buds never popped out. I also like the "Speak to Chat" feature which pauses music when you start talking, however having it on when trying to sing with the music doesn't work :-) So as I said in the title, there's a lot of GREAT in these buds, but the limit on sound quality was the tipping point for me to switch back to my old buds. My wife on the other hand loves these buds. She mainly watches shows on her phone and uses them for phone calls. Having the hole in the middle mitigates hearing loss from keeping the buds in, so she wears them for most of the day without having to take them out. With this being a new design, I will optimistically watch for newer versions to come out that address sound quality. I would recommend these buds to family and friends with the caveat that if they're expecting high end sound, they may want to look elsewhere.

These are o-k, if you're looking for sound quality first - dont even entertain these, they are nothing like sony's xm4's. I bought these for walking the dog, work ect and while they do what they're advertised too.. the fit is horrible. I've tried every ear tip and only the left side stays in, the right earbud is constantly falling out and it's extremely annoying to say the least.. if youre not a fan of open back sound stay away from these. Thank me later.

I’ve used many Sony headphones over the years, and these are by far the most strange and awesome headphones I’ve used. The LinkBuds are a great pair of headphones with a completely different design. To start, the unboxing experience is very typical. The charging case uses USB-C but unfortunately no wireless charging. Paring to my iPhone was very simple and quick. You can download the Sony Connect app to access more features for the LinkBuds, like EQ and 3D Sound. The main thing with these headphones is the open-ear design. It literally has a hole in the earphone. This is great for hearing the environment around you when walking around and being alert to your surroundings. I also like the fact that the music pauses when I take the headphones out of my ears. With this design, the sound quality is still pretty decent. I could still hear my music quite clear with no distortion. Now if your looking for the best sounding headphones, then the higher end noise-cancelling ones would be the best choice. I’m really enjoying the LinkBuds. They have great sound and the open-ear design really comes in handy.

After being spoiled by noise canceling earbuds I wasn't sure how I would feel about this open design but I was pleasantly surprised. Fit-wise they are comfortable in my ears after extended wear...perhaps a little more comfortable than my usual option. Sound is pretty good considering the open ear design. It may not make the true audiophile happy but the rest of the population that enjoys their audio without lofty audiophile requirements will be happy with it. The bass isn't the best I've ever heard but it's definitely not bad. Sound gets sufficiently loud but if you have them too loud people around you will be able to hear your audio. Phone calls were excellent...very clear with no issues. I found these to be perfect for when I'm going on walks through the neighborhood where I absolutely want to hear my surroundings but I wouldn't use them somewhere that I want to tune out outside noise or mute it down a bit. And finally, the Tap feature is a great option...so far it works well every time and has become one of my favorite things (now I wish my other earbuds offered it). The only "negative" I've noticed so far would be the omission of Qi charging. It's not a requirement of course for functionality but it's definitely a convenience I would have liked to have. Otherwise, these are a great option for anyone that doesn't need noise canceling or doesn't like the artificial pass-through options out there

Love the concept of the Linkbuds. I use them in the office for teleconferences and listening to music. Because I have people wandering in to talk throughout the day, I like the open ear concept so I can hear them come in. With isolating earbuds, I was getting snuck up on too often. The Linkbuds check that box. The fit is good, at least for my ears although I did try all the size options before settling on one size. The sound is good for what it is. It does not have the audio quality of earbuds like Airpods or Bose, but those don't offer the open concept. They work great for teleconferences as I can hear easily and the mics seem to work well. My biggest issue, and it's one I've faced with other Sony earbuds, is the lack of multipoint bluetooth. It may not matter to some who use these for exercising or just listening to music. In my usage case, it's essential as I need to connect to my PC for teleconferences and still need to switch to my work phone if a call comes in. I can switch manually, but it's not smooth at all. My Jabra's have multipoint and the switching is seemless. I recommend the Linkbuds if you're looking for an open concept earbud. The hardware is well build and the gesture control works well. The lack of multipoint has me on the cusp of returning them though.

I'm about to return these. If I say anything at all or even cough, it acts as a double tap. I currently have that set to pause, so it will pause playback - but the oddest thing is that it will not resume playback if I speak again?! I have Wide Area Tap off and the latest software update but it still does this. Not having a quick way to pause ruins the experience for me. I can remove the buds to pause but that defeats the purpose of the open ear design. I have small ears and with the extra small rings these are a good fit although they do hurt after a while. I love this concept and I'm really disappointed that these are not working for me.

I was unimpressed with these buds. They are not very comfortable to wear for long durations. I tried the other silicone adapters but still kept falling out when at the gym. They are very small and that can be good ir bad depending on your preference. Set up was as expected with the exception of trying to calibrate the process of taking photos of your ears. I followed the directions to the letter and it still could only capture one side. I eventually gave up. This is kind of a useless process in my humble opinion. As far as sound, it under performed. I was expecting a lot more from Sony. Bass is lacking in a big way and overall sound range was in line with buds at half the price of what these cost. Maybe some re-engineering can fix these issues, but for now I wouldn't recommend them especially at their current price point.

Nice and comfortable ear pieces. The sound quality is great and very nice features for the price I paid.

I don't think this earset is designed for high fidelity. I believe they were made for the do-ers; People on the go. However, they are the best earsets* (ear donuts? They've got no "buds", best I've got is easets) I've ever used. Users are complaining about volume, this may be because of the default settings. You want to turn off adapive volume control, turn on DSEE, and ensure the connection is set to high quality. Initial impressions are good bass, simi low highs, and mids are good (there is a built in equilizer) . The biggest thing I like is the sound stage, there is something more than stereo going on... It's not like surround sound, but more 3D? Idk. The primary feature going for these buds are the unconventional ear piece shape. As far as I'm concerned, they work. I can carry a conversation with the set volume low. I'm gonna love these earsets for work, where I'm going to need to be attentive. The low profile with my big ears are gonna make these my primary sleep earsets. Lastly, I noticed other people are having an issue with uncomfortability. I personally find them more comfortable than my pixel buds. I think this is the primary downside. The smaller the ear, the more cumbersome these donuts may be. I can't vouch for this because I haven't seen anyone wear these things other than Linus from Linis Techtips. He's got a smaller head and it seemed to fit him fine. (TLDR, I've got a big head, I've got the large ear wings on the donuts, I really like these things.)