Sony - LinkBuds S True Wireless Noise Canceling Earbuds - Black

The packaging was small, minimal, compact, and recyclable. The packaging included information papers, different size replaceable ear pieces, and a super short usb-c charge cable, the headphones charge case and the earbuds. Charging It’s nice that they included a charge cable but it is one of the smallest cables I have ever seen, and it is not convenient or worth using. The cable would have to be connected to another device's usb port, or a brick if you already have one. Charging the headphone case by brick would require that the wall outlet would have to be pretty low to the ground or it would leave the headphone case hanging in the air. The best solution is to use an existing cable that you have with a longer length. The headphones are not capable of wireless charging. That is the biggest let down to me. I prefer and would like earbuds to have a wireless charging case, for ease of use with cell phones. I tried on a few charges hoping it would lol but nope. This feature would make them the perfect headphones. I charged the earbuds overnight, the specifications state that zero to full would be three hours. However, I have never had to charge them during the day, my use case lasts for the day and I put them on my monitor overnight. Case The charging case that holds the buds themselves is extremely light. The shape of the case is narrow and a bit long but just big enough to house the buds does not have any extra size to it. It does not take up excessive space in the pocket. The case is not smooth; it has a texture to it which helps keep it from being slippery and sliding out of your hands. I’ve not dropped the case yet. The texture also helps keep the case from looking all scratched up from items in your pocket. Or getting the greasy oily spots from the oil from your hands. I actually love the texture and think its a nice touch. Buds The buds are light and not heavy. I normally get ear fatigue pretty quickly from buds due to weight but have not experienced that as of yet. They fit pretty snuggly in the ear. The shape is great. When putting them in I notice that they suction in a bit more on their own to seal off. They have stayed put once in, they haven't fallen out or come loose. They can be worn left or right ear or both. I tend to do one at a time to extend the use time and switch out one and charge the other. The touch controls are super responsive, both on a call and while listening to music or watching a video. The pause and play regular tap did not require an extra touch it recognized the tap right away and also paused the video when taking the earbud out of the ear. Syncing the buds with the headphones required for me to use the sony app on my iphone prior to getting them to show up The button on the back of the case had to be held for about 7 seconds to put them in pairing mode. Once doing that synch process was fairly simple. Noise canceling worked as expected. I am not always the biggest fan of the feature since I always like to be aware of my surroundings plus at work i need to hear people without having to ask them to start over. Aslo why I tend to only have one bud in at a time. However for those that need it does the job. My main thing is call quality for meetings. This tends to be a pet peeve of mine with headphones. On the listening side the voices come through loud and clear, crsp. As for on the other end, call quality for the listener it came out pretty good. It's not the best but I am happy with it and gives me another option for headphones to use for meetings. It did not sound muffled and I felt comfortable to use them without worrying about the listener not being able to understand me. Video audio quality was good, just the same as watching movies. For Music, these are not for audiophiles. Now for the everyday, multipurpose user. Yes the music sounded clear and crisp with the right amount of bass. Definitely not base heavy. You can hear the highs, mids and lows all evenly distributed. Which works great for me. I like listening to the music and lyrics and not having the base roaring and distorting the song. Skipping the next track was quick and responsive with the double tap. Holding the left heat let’s you quickly lower the volume to hear someone talk to you with the music still playing very quietly in the background. Headphone app The sony headphone app is basic. The app is used for syncing and shows your ear buds individual battery level and marks if its the left or right bud. For the case you have to i orally hit show to display the case battery level. Here you can control the track playing as well and shows weather adaptive sound control is active , it also allows for you to turn off or on the actions detection, and has an option to switch based on locations you register in the app. There is a tab that has sound, ambient sound , noise canceling and changing levels of the ambient sound or turning the feature off. The ambient opinion has a check box to focus on voice and suppress noice. Speak to chat and the option to tune the equalizer. I don't really mess with this. I use the out of the box setting. Siri worked with the headphones and responded quickly. Quick abscess controls are able to be set up for double/triple tap. There several other things you can tinker with in the app. Everyday headphones to me are ones that can be grab and go. I can use them out of the box without having to fiddle with them, they shouldn't be complicated. But also have options for people who want to tinker with them. I like simple ease of use, all around headphones that can be thrown in my sling bag or pocket. For me I am really happy with the out of the box setting of the linkbuds. And they don't scream look at me. The black is really slick and blends in.I’m really loving them.

A pair of earbuds need to meet certain criteria to be considered a worthy product. They need to sound amazing where you can close your eyes and imagine every instrument in an orchestra. They need to fit your ears and stay comfortable for extended wear. Beyond that, it's just bonus. The Sony Linkbuds S bring all that to the table and throw in a few extra features like 360 degree sound and intuitive sound cancelling. The best part is the incredible bass reflex that's so deep, it's hard to believe they're not over the ear phones. Most earbuds have tinny bass and overly crisp treble. The Sony Connect app allows you to setup the earbuds and customize the sound with many preset equalizer settings. You can toggle the active noise cancelling and use 360 sound. There's a procedure which takes a picture of the contour of each ear to better customize the listening experience. I'm not sure if it does anything or not since the earbuds rest inside the canal and bypass the external part of the ear entirely. I suppose it gives you a sense of personalization that makes you think they're going above and beyond other brands. I think the case works well at securing and charging the buds, though I noticed after one full charge, the case had an orange light blinking suggesting it was at half power which means you might get 2 charges out of the case before it needs plugging in. I'm impressed with the style and sound of these earbuds so much, that I wouldn't even mind spending the higher price for them.

Great headphones, comparing to the xm4s, very similar sound quality but that's where the similarities end, these are VERY comfortable and fit super well, along with being super light whenever I go for a run or go to the gym, these stay in and I never have to push them to make sure they sit right, noise cancelling is amazing as well. Another pro is the price difference from something like the xm4s. I also really like the case and has an above average battery life. They're also fairly small and don't go too far out of my ear so they aren't super uncomfortable if I'm laying down on my side listening to music. Only cons I can think of is that the case doesn't have wireless charging, which is fine since I only need to charge it maybe once a week. Although I don't prefer spending $200 on headphones, getting these on sale would be amazing.

I am a big fan and this says alot from an audiophile with ober 900 completed audiobooks on audible. I have purchased true wireless since they first cam out (the early Eating brand) and have stayed current on the technology owning over twenty pairs of all brands. Currently the two Sony buds as soon in the photo are my exclusives. Just all around a perfect bud. Before the 500s came out (also a great bud) I never purchased songs industry leading ANC buds because they looked ugly as heck. They have changed thay an created a beautiful bud.

This will be the easiest review I write all year. Sony headphones are awesome. These Sony headphones are awesome. If you want wireless earbuds with great sound and noise cancelling then I can think of no reason not to get these if they suit your budget. They are super comfortable, they are water resistant, they are easy to pair and set up, and they have great battery life. Plus, they look cool. I have other Sony headphones, including my favorites the 1000M4. Those things rule. They're my go to for listening in the house, especially when watching shows or videos. Most comfortable pair of over-the-ear headphones I've ever used and they just keep going strong with no issues whatsoever over the life that I've had them. That said, they're big and take up more space in a bag than I want for a quick day trip or in certain use cases. Enter the LinkBuds S. It's like they made them for my specific needs. I looked at other non-Sony earbuds and almost pulled the trigger on a pair, until I read a review that said the noise-cancelling wasn't great. At the end of the day, I just didn't really want to pay for a step down in that area. I'm so glad I waited. Here's my test for noise cancelling: I wear headphones while I wash dishes and turn the disposal on. I'm telling you - I can't hear it with Sony's noise cancelling on the LinkBuds. Like, at all. We've been running an air purifier on full blast this week inside our house. Again, I can't even tell it's on when I've got these earbuds in and the noise cancelling on. Mowed the grass the other day with the LinkBuds S and it cut the mower's sound down to a bare minimum to make for easy podcast listening at a normal volume. The water resistance is nice, too, because I didn't have to worry about sweat being an issue. I haven't tried to work out with these earbuds, but I don't think that would be a problem at all. Fit is different from ear to ear and your mileage can vary, but all I can say is that they are a perfect fit for my ears. The package includes other sets of silicone tips, but I haven't tried them at all. Not unlike the big boys, these are the most comfortable earbuds I have ever used and that includes a long list of others, including some with Comply foam tips. I'm so, so happy in this department. I can wear them for hours without fatigue and I've never been able to do that with earbuds before. Also, I just like the look of them. Understated and clean. Simple. If there's one thing I can knock about the LinkBuds S at all it's that the plastic is fairly slippery. It won't be hard to drop these things. Getting them in the ear is pretty easy, but they're so small that the little bit of slipperiness means you may need to have a firmer grip than you might with some others. The same is true for the case. It looks great, it charges the earbuds, and it's absolutely fine. But it is the same slippery plastic. Also, some may lament the fact that the case itself cannot charge wirelessly. I imagine the sequel to these will have that feature, but it's just not a big deal to me. You're not going to need to charge it even every other day unless you are a heavier user than I am. Lastly, while the app isn't the greatest looking bit of software design in the world it works just fine. Pairing the earbuds initially is simple and quick through the app and then you never have to worry about it again. You can set up things like 360 audio and the ambient noise automation in the app very simply. There's also an EQ you can use and customize, as well as features you can activate like having it so that when you speak the headphones automatically turn off noise cancelling and pump in the environment so you can hear who you are talking and don't accidentally shout. It's a useful feature, though I've had it come on when I've coughed - so not perfect just yet. You can also set up the touch controls on the earbuds themselves. I don't use these a ton - they're not always perfect at registering a touch - but I also don't know a better way of implementing things like what Sony is trying to do. It's nice for a quick need to pause/play or turn on/off noise cancelling. You can also set it up to use Amazon and Google's voice assistants if you're into that. Sound is so subjective and I'm not an audiophile. All I can say is that to my ears they sound fantastic and very close to the over-the-ear 1000M4's. If you're at all familiar with Sony's sound profiles I can't imagine you'd be disappointed with these. If you're new to Sony, then welcome. You can tweak things to your liking and I imagine get a very bass-heavy profile if that's your cup of tea. But right out of the package I would say they just have a really nice, clear sound that doesn't overdo any sonic end of the spectrum. I know there's a ton of other options in this space, but I think if you're looking for a really great all-around earbud that will make most things sound the way they're supposed to, then these are a wonderful choice.

Real deal. These are way better than the flex tip beats. Which I bought initially but exchanged for these. ANC insane, super light, and color way is great. Workout no issues sweat proof and doesn't fall off.

I use ear buds so much! I utilize them at work, for working out and for play. That precisely is what the selling point of the new Sony Linbuds S is! The adaptive sound is AMAZING. Only thing is you need to use one of the music services that are able to provide that crazy good sound! Wow it is sick how good they sound… Initially I did not opt to try out the service (even if there is a free trial code provided). I just have a hard time moving away from my Apple Music playlists. Maybe I’ll try in the future. Out of the box the earbuds worked great. Very easy installation just take a picture and bam! It takes you to an installation website. Take the buds out of their case and my iPhone finds them right away. Sound. Much much better not even close to my apple Gen 2 AirPods, and different but also very similar to my Gen 3. What it has over the Gen 3 is comfort. Different sized earbud tips. Still shocked that apple decided to increase the size of the Gen3, I find them uncomfortable at times after long use exercising. That won’t be a problem with the Sony. So to me sound is equal to the Gen 3, but much better then the Gen 2 AirPods. Are you concerned that they will fall out while you exercise? Don’t be they fit very snug with a great design! Battery? I didn’t test but they are supposed to provide fast charge and last for 6 hours, not counting the case quick charge. Wow. Very well built and something I can see being my new favorite or at least sharing that distinction with my AirPods Gen 3. They can be used with my Nintendo OLED Switch and are really an excellent product

Unboxing: standard appearing charging case with short usb-c cable. Ear buds. Different sized tips with size SS, S, and LL. Setup: install app on your phone, which you can conveniently reach by scanning the included QR code. After that, follow the prompts in 3-4 steps depending on whether you want to use certain features or not. That’s it. Everything worked seamlessly and installing/connecting my ear buds took less than 2 minutes total. The standard earbud tips (size L) fit my ears perfectly with a good seal. But if they don’t fit well, you can try the other 3 sizes included. Sound quality was great, I didn’t note any tinniness. Sound was clear even on a crowded tram at Hartsfield, and the ANC helped cancel out Boeing 737 engine noise in the air. Felt comfortable after 4 hours in. I’m very happy with the sound quality, fit, and the noise cancellation. The case and buds have a matte black texture which feels nice and doesn’t pick up fingerprints. The included charging cable is short, but by this point, most people have at least a few usb-c cables lying around the house so I didn’t think that was a negative. If anything, not having a bunch of extra slack kept my desk space clean when I was charging the case.