Review: Sony Linkbuds Open

Open earbuds are on the rise, with an increasing number of earbud styles and designs aimed at keeping you constantly aware of the world as you jam out. Sony’s Linkbuds take a head-on approach, using unique donut-shaped drivers with a hole through the center that keeps your ear canal free and clear.

The second generation, dubbed the Linkbuds Open, makes some notable updates to the original pair (8/10, WIRED Recommends). The most obvious design change is skin deep, with an exterior skin that adds a stabilizer fin for a more secure fit. Other upgrades include a slightly smaller profile, boosted battery life, a redesigned driver (for better and for worse), and some new software features as part of Sony’s Headphones Connect app overhaul.

As with any pair of earbuds, it all comes down to the fit. If you can get the Linkbuds Open seated properly, they do a good job letting you sip some tunes without losing touch with your environment (or those in it). If you like that kind of suspension between worlds, the Linkbuds remain among the best to get you there, with a few compromises along the way.

Subtly Slimmer

Sony says the new Linkbuds have shrunk by 2 millimeters, allowing them to better slip into smaller ears, though their weight has actually increased from 4.1 to 5.1 grams per side. I didn’t notice a major change in either direction, apart from the fact that it’s slightly tougher to get the drivers aligned with my ear canals. I spent the first few days making a lot of micro-adjustments to get them in place, which is integral for proper sound (more on that below).

Otherwise, the buds are pretty comfy for extended listening, which is key to their aim of all-day wearability. Also key is a boosted battery that nearly doubles the talk time from 2.5 hours to 4.5, and provides up to 8 hours of listening time compared to the previous pair’s 5.5 hours. This addresses one of my biggest gripes about the O.G. Linkbuds and may partly account for the heftier weight. The slimmer charging case adds more time off the grid for 22 hours total, but as before, there’s no Qi wireless charging.

The new stabilizer fin is the biggest physical change. Like the previous pair’s loop, it’s accomplished via a silicone cover that stretches over the bulbous top of the buds’ figure-8 design. It does well to keep the buds in place during vigorous activities, and you can purchase a variety of extra skins in different colors for the buds and case, though I wish Sony would offer alternative sizes–or at least a backup in the main package. I don’t recommend messing with the skins much anyway, as it’s something of a struggle to get them back on.

Smarter Smarts

One of the original Linkbuds’ biggest drawbacks is their limited control system. The new buds are slightly better, letting you double-tap for play/pause and triple-tap for skipping forward, alongside a new quadruple tap to lower volume. That’s not exactly comprehensive, especially compared to the best earbuds we’ve tested. The touch controls aren’t always responsive, and raising their responsiveness to High in the updated Sound Connect app can make them too sensitive, resulting in accidental taps.

To account for this, the new Linkbuds have built-in voice controls. You can use your voice to raise or lower volume, skip songs (forward or backward), and even check your battery status hands-free. It’s a little slow and stilted (saying “Go next” for song skip is in public … a choice), but it’s much better than the odd face-tapping commands Sony offers as another alternative. There’s even an available Head Gesture control that lets you nod or shake your head to take or reject calls respectively, which can be useful, if a bit silly looking.

In true Sony fashion, the Linkbuds Open offer plenty of other extras like multipoint connection to pair with two devices at once, auto-pause sensors, and a speak-to-chat option that pauses sound when you talk. As with the previous Linkbuds, there’s also Adaptive Volume, which raises or lowers volume based on environmental sounds. I was hoping the V2 chip would make this more nuanced than before, but it’s still too touchy, raising volume unevenly with noises like a light gust of wind. Still, it could come in handy, considering there’s no form of noise-canceling (for obvious reasons).

Apple’s latest AirPods are the first semi-open earbuds I've seen that give noise-canceling a go but without a tight seal, it’s an uphill battle against the sheer physics of sound. So far WIRED staffers have been unimpressed with the results. It might suppress some low-end sounds like HVACs a bit, but as you’d imagine, it’s not going to do much for acute noises you encounter on the daily. That’s the rub with open earbuds–you’re letting in all the sounds, which seriously limits usability in noisy environments.

Softer Sound

The Linkbuds Open’s circular drivers take some getting used to, and their slightly smaller size seemed to equate to more room for getting misaligned with my ear canals. I had to really fight with them at first to get a clear and balanced stereo image. I've had a similar issue with Bose’s pricier Open Earbuds and other open-ear designs–the fit just isn’t as natural as buds that insert directly into my ear canal.

Even after I got the fit right, I noticed a darker, fuzzier sound signature than what I experienced in the original pair. This seems to be by design, as one of the main complaints before was a lack of bass, something with which nearly all open earbuds struggle. The new buds add some more punch down low, but it comes at the cost of clarity and presence in the midrange and treble.

Luckily, Sony’s Sound Connect app provides a capable EQ, and after some tinkering with the Excitement preset, including lowering the Clear Bass feature and raising the midrange a notch or two, I was able to squeeze out more crispness in instrumental attacks for everything from snares and guitars to vocals and horns. I still never got things as clear or vibrant as Bose’s pair, but at $100 less, that’s not all that surprising, and I think Sony gets the win for bass.

Open Season

You’re not really buying open earbuds for their sound quality, especially if you’re a picky audiophile like me. They’re much more about melding the vibes of your two realities: blasting podcasts or your favorite ‘80s playlist while keeping in touch with the world (and other humans). WIRED editor Adrienne So loves open earbuds for the gym or other public places where she feels more assured no one is sneaking up on her.

They’re also great for situations where regular buds simply don’t cut it. Like my beloved Bose Frames or the Ray-Ban Meta audio sunglasses, the Linkbuds are great for staying safe while cruising on your bike or ebike on a crisp fall day, where the wind shear would naturally overwhelm the tiny microphones in traditional buds using transparency mode.

I was also genuinely amazed at how well the Linkbuds Open suppressed exterior sounds during calls. On a recent chat with my mom, I could barely hear my own voice as I rolled the dumpsters in from the street, but she hardly noticed the bellowing of the plastic tires covering my voice–and she always lets me know when I'm too loud.

If I could only afford one pair, I’d still choose more rounded earbuds that can snuff out or let in the ambient world with noise canceling or transparency mode respectively, like Apple’s excellent AirPods Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends). I'd also consider the cheaper original Linkbuds, though the battery life is more limiting. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a pair that keeps you naturally present in virtually any scenario, and you don’t mind all the chaos that comes with it, the Linkbuds Open are a solid new option in this still-evolving segment.