LinkBuds Truly Wireless Earbud Headphones with an Open-Ring Design for Ambient Sounds and Alexa Built-in, Bluetooth Ear Buds Compatible with iPhone and Android, White

I LOVE these earbuds. They are my go to buds for casual use around the house or going for walks. I have in-ear buds with noise canceling for noisy environments and over-ear headphones for critical listening with tons of bass, but I hate them for casual use. In-ears hurt my ear canals after a short time, they make by ears feel hot and uncomfortable, and I don't like the noise isolation. My in-ear buds block outside sound, even with transparency mode enabled, so much that I can constantly hear my own breathing, chewing, and even walking around the thumps of my feet hitting the ground. When listening to loud music it's fine, especially when I want to drown out the outside world, but for casual use like watching TV or Youtube, podcasts or any spoken word, hearing the sound of my own bodily functions vibrating through my skull is very distracting and anxiety inducing. The LinkBuds are far more comfortable in the short term. They allow my ears to breath and sound to come in naturally so I don't feel claustrophobic. Even when listening to loud music I can hear when people call my name, or a knock at the door and I need that ability. I went from the medium size rings which pushed the buds too hard into the bottom of my ear to the small size and those fit perfectly in my ears. The XS size was a little too small and the part that sticks out to keep them in your ears didn't have enough spring to them so they started to hurt. They can take a little time to get used to inserting them properly. I found that I can put them in my ears perfectly as long as I don't mess with them after. If I try to adjust them while in my ear they can get uncomfortable quickly, so I take them out and pop them back in without messing with them after. They mostly just fade away from my awareness and I don't think about them until the battery runs low. They are small and light, and I have not been able to shake them out of my ears no matter how hard I try. They are hard plastic so they can start to hurt over long periods, especially if I rest the side of my head against a pillow. The battery lasts for the advertised 4-5 hours, so when the battery gets low I take them out and let them fully charge before using them again and by then my ears have recovered. For casual use in a mostly quiet environment they are amazing and they sound great as well. I enabled the bass boost EQ present in the app and even heavy-bass music sounds good. The clarity is great, I can hear each instrument in a band individually and not smeared together like poor quality bass-heavy buds and headphones. The LinkBuds are not ideal for noisy environments, however. You could probably get away with a podcast on the bus, or for background music to put on while you focus on something else, but they don't get loud enough to compete with a blender or construction site. I'm rarely in such a noisy place so for my routine they are perfect, but your mileage may vary. I have alternative buds for those situations, but if you can only buy one set of headphone you will need to weigh the pros and cons. Calls sound clear and people can hear and understand me just fine without raising my voice. My only real complaint is the wireless range can be lacking with certain devices. When they are paired to my Pixel 6 the range is excellent. Although I usually have my phone in my pocket, if I walk from one side of my house to the other without my phone on me I don't get any kind of stutter or interruption to my music. If I pair the LinkBuds to my laptop or my Chromecast with Google TV I will have stuttering or artifacts if I'm more than 10 feet away, especially if I don't have direct line of sight between me and the device they are paired to. The 1.0.4 firmware update seems to have improved this range a bit, at least I don't have range issues from my TV to my couch anymore, but this is pretty disappointing. I hope they improve the range further in future updates. I hope Sony takes this idea further and releases improved versions in the future, but the LinkBuds are still worth the price for me and worth recommending for someone to hates in-ear buds.

I'll keep my review short. These headphones are a niche product, but I really think this design choice deserves more credit. The open back nature of these headphones add a really natural effect to sound. However it does come at the cost of base and treble response since an open back earbud naturally does not create a seal. BUT.... that lack of seal was the exact reason I purchased these. Normal earbuds with rubber plugs are very irritating to my ears. Especially when using the controls, having to constantly seal them back in my ear, or taking them in and out to talk to people. Call quality was amazing as the listener, although the mics I would say are "adequate at best". The added benefit of them not muffling outside noises was a HUGE plus for talking to people, commuting, and just overall being comfortable. These where my favorite earbuds ever until.... These units started failing on me a little over the 1 year mark. The case often flashes orange when charging (indicating a charging issue), the right earbud rarely charges at all anymore and the left one has some kind of issue where the charge level is all over the place when in use and does not last very long. Even new though, the right bud would drain about 3x faster than the left one, but until recently was not an issue problematic enough for me to care about. I am not the type to abuse my tech, these never where exposed to water, I never left them in a hot car, etc. I contacted Sony about this 3 times in the span of the last 2 months. The first time they told me they would exchange it for a new pair but to contact them again in a week when they finished system repairs on their end to process it. The second time, they told me to do some trouble shooting steps first and then they would exchange it if it was still behaving weird. On the third time they told me I was outside of warranty and that they would not be exchanging it. They would not listen to me telling them the other 2 reps said they would exchange it, they did not care when I told them I had the chat transcripts to prove it. Only on the 3rd conversation did they tell me my device was purchased more than a year ago, then attempted to lie about the first 2 not knowing about that (even though that was the first question both of them asked) and then referred me to a repair center to pay it out of pocket myself. Which obviously, would cost more then the buds did themselves. Even explaining how the first 2 techs asked for purchase date as the first question did not phase them. I even had a case number, which I used to file a complaint and they still did not care. For anyone reading this, I am not upset my device was out of warranty. I am upset they doubled down on saying they would exchange it wasting weeks of my time to only at the end deny it like they where giving me the run around. Just stating the first time it was out of warranty would have been fine, and this review would be a lot better. To any Sony Rep thinking about sending the "Sorry you had a bad experience please contact us" copy/paste response to this, I am not interested, you have already shown how you communicate with existing customers and I am not interested in being lied to for a month again. Which is ashame considering how many Sony products I have purchased over the years.

*update..I have been using these for a while now over a year. The sound quality for this type of earbud is ok speaking to the type of headphones that they are…my problem with them which will make me retract a star is software support. I don’t know if I got a dud pair or maybe they have just gotten old but it seems like my right ear buds is always dieing faster than the left one. I will fully charge the units and use them and the right ear bud will be at 30% while the left one will be at 80%. Supposedly their was a software update early on that fixed this issue but it still persists. I have used other open ear buds since purchasing these that are louder…so the hunt for the perfect open earbuds continues. If I had to give someone a quick down and dirty written review of these headphones I think this would be it. I have been looking for earbuds like these for a while. I have a small ear canal so using earbuds that fit into my ear Canals comfortably is hard for me. The last earbuds that were every day drivers for me were the Samsung galaxy buds live and those were my favorite because they stayed in my ear and stayed stable regardless of the activity. These do the same thing also, they stay inside my ears regardless of what I'm doing and the fit is somewhat comfortable for long periods of wear they were mort comfortable before I switched to a large wing tip but they feel more secure now. These do not have noise canceling but I think if your looking for ear buds like that then these are not the earbuds for you. If you're getting them so you can hear the environments true outside sounds due to the open hole design its perfect at blending the two, outside sounds and inside sounds. I guess the volume at which you listen to media also determines how much of the outside you hear but don't get it twisted no matter how loud the music is you will still hear extremely loud and important things such as car horns sirens etc. If that is the kind of environment that you live or won't to operate these in then they are perfect. I have use a lot of headphones and earbuds that have accompanied software and I have to say that these have some of the best software that I have used. The companion Sony headphone app has all the useful feature like and EQ and more. It also has some features that I haven't seen before like like tap touch control but their different. Instead of taping the earbud you tap your jaw/temple area to active controls such as play pause etc which is a nice feature. Comes in handy when you're wearing a beanie or hat that covers your ears. They also have one great feature that I have never seen or used on earbuds before...maybe it a sony thing but its cool. The Earbuds will play and pause whatever you listening to when they detect you speaking to someone which is a great feature for me and maybe some of you. It take out that step of having to tap the earbuds or using your watch or phone to stop the music to speak with someone. I love this feature when I'm out grocery shopping and run into these random conversation scenarios. This feature can also be somewhat bothersome when you're into your music and you jamming out and you decide to sing to the song and the music stops. I guess it's not that much or a problem for me though because I just turn the feature on and off when I don't want to or want to use it. Something else that I want to touch on is the case. This is usually where the best headphone manufactures fall short. The case build will be crappy or built without other things in mine. One big thing that was a problem with my earbuds live was the case. If I dropped the case with the earbuds in it they would go flying out of the case when it hit the ground. The case for these is small compact with great reserve charging battery power. The case snaps closed and the ear buds snap into the case through magnets and clips and the are super secure in my opinion, just incase you drop them. The battery life is great on them also I use them for the past couple of days for long periods of time and I was not able to kill them in a single listen. The case battery life is less than usual but its it still comparable to other earbuds on the markets. You can pair the earbuds with devices with the bottom button on the case without the app which is good and the battery indicator light is basic and strait foward for as charging and and battery usage and you can see it regardless of if the case is opened or closed. These are usually things that the other manufactures mess up. Sound quality is fantastic for open design headphones but not as good as a sealed design. All and all these are my new favorite everyday driver headphones. This review pertains to the points that are important to me. I purchased them at the launch price and I think they are worth it. Get these if they are similar to what you prefer if they get a little cheaper or they go on sale, its a no brainer.

The short version of this review is that I think this is a product that will make a very limited set of people happy that are looking for something very specific or don’t care about a lot of the trade-offs that come with making a product like this. It is tough to recommend for a general audience. For that small group, maybe it is four stars, but for everyone else, I’d say it’s two stars, so three overall. Let me get into the why… So to start, I’m big into music and headphones, and I own a total of 12 pairs. Four of those are “consumer” headphones like AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Max, Sennheiser True Wireless 3, and all of the rest are true HiFi headphones like Audeze, Focal, Fostex, Denon, etc. and all of the accompanying amplifiers and DACs. I generally enjoy lots of different genres of music - rock, alternative, R&B, hip-hop, pop, some classical. I just point this out, to point out I do a LOT of detailed sound comparisons and appreciate lots of different types of music and how different headphones may impact the experience. So, with these, I think there are only a few specific reasons one should even consider these, as if you don’t fall into BOTH #1 AND at least one of the other reasons below, there are far better options for this price. #1 - you really don’t like the “closed” feeling of buds and want a more “open” sound (and as such don’t care at all about noise isolation - both from outside and others hearing your listen, which is standard for any open setup) #2 - you don’t care about sound quality much but want some wireless buds that are stable enough to do light workouts in or just want some really small/discrete buds #3 - you primarily listen to music like jazz and classical Now onto the logic and trade-offs. First, with respect to the sound. The tonal balance is extremely lacking in low end. The reviews that have said that these are a “balanced sound” are simply wrong. If you search around the net, you can see some sites have actually measured the frequency response of these, and not only is the bass very rolled off, it creeps up into the lower mids as well. This results in a very hollow listen. Music has nearly no low-end impact at all. Even with every bass setting cranked all the way up, it makes almost no noticeable difference because the drivers and design simply can’t handle it (which I’ll get back to). Further evidence of this, the EQ in the app only even goes down to 400Hz, which should be a sign, as most wouldn’t even consider it true “bass” until maybe 150Hz, and humans can hear down to 20Hz - yet the EQ doesn’t even let you adjust these frequencies. To call this balanced is just wrong. Good balanced headphones simply do not OVER-emphasize bass or let it bleed into the other frequencies - these lack bass, period. This is a very big difference if you listen to basically any Top 40 type music - hip-hop, pop, R&B, EDM, even rock or alternative. There will be no bass. This CAN be ok, however, if you’re a classical music listener or jazz or music that doesn’t have a lot of low-end (including bass drums, bass guitar, etc.). These would also be OK if you’re primarily going to use them for listening to voice stuff - podcasts, audiobooks, news, etc. The rest of the frequency response is overall just OK. You can adjust the mids and upper frequencies to your liking, and those adjustments make more of a difference than the bass adjustment, as I mentioned. So you can tone down or up the brightness to your liking, for example. They do an OK job at brining out detail, about what I would expect for buds in this price range. The semi-standout in the overall sound is the soundstage, or the way the music is presented in terms of position in space. Because of the “open” design, they are somewhat more natural sounding in terms of airiness and don’t have that “dome in your head” kind of feeling. That said, the stage itself is not hugely bigger than “regular” buds (goes ear to ear, maybe a tad outside the ear), it’s just a slightly more open stage. Because the buds are still sitting in your ear, versus when an over-ear open headphone has a driver sitting outside your ear, i would call these only semi-open sounding. The inside your head feeling is gone, but you still don’t get that great open naturalness of a true open-back headphone. The positioning is also good, meaning, individual pieces of the mix are fairly separated and identifiable, for this price range. The question is it worth the trade offs… Open back headphones of all types (buds, over-ear, etc.), all else equal, have less bass response than closed-backs. This is because there’s less pressure build up and resonance for the bass to build (in simple terms). So the tradeoff for losing that “in your head” feeling is less bass. Bigger, over ear headphones can counter this by using bigger drivers that can pump more bass and by still creating somewhat of a seal around your ear with the pads. in this case, these buds just sit in your ear, create no seal, and the drivers are tiny, so you get basically no bass. This is the biggest trade off of these. Whether that trade off is for you or not…your call. The other tradeoff is size. Smaller size leads to smaller drivers, which as I discussed means less bass, and it also means - way small batteries. Although the “up to” five hours of battery life may be accurate, there are some big issues with this. First, you have to turn off all of the electronic conveniences to hit this target - automatic voice detection, automatic volume adjustment, wide area tap - which are all pretty cool. Keep these on, and battery is more like two hours, which is FAR below, by more than half, what most buds get nowadays. Call performance is decent, and fit for me is also decent, though individual ears always vary with fit. The smallest included piece is what got me the best fit, and they are stable in my ears. What these actually remind me of are the first AirPods that were released, then upgraded to the AirPods Pro. The original AirPods also had a “sit in your ear” plastic design that was somewhat like this. While they were wireless and packed with nice new apple “magic” features, many had a view that they really still sounded like the $30 wired buds that came with iPods/iPhones at the time, but they were wireless. Then Apple released the AirPods Pro that claimed “far better sound”, and the biggest change was that they used a silicon tip to create a seal in the ear - and that added a way more appropriate low-end to the sound that was missing before, and NOW and AirPods Pro and Pro 2 are known as a mostly balanced set of buds. These are the opposite - by having no seal, combined with tiny drivers, I would say these have the sound profile of a $50 or less pair of buds, but you are paying for the true wireless stuff and fancy features. They MAY be worth it for you if you don’t mind the trade offs, but that’s not most.

As someone who has suffered his whole life with pain from wearing earbuds (most types) these are definitely a must have if you are in the same boat. For some reason I can’t handle iems. If they go in the ear, or even AirPods. My ears have always been so sensitive that any pressure results in pain or swelling. I try to stay away from most in ear styles for this main reason. A secondary reason is the pressure from the sound isolation has never been comfortable to me. Feeling like I’m underwater, rather than silence. It’s awful. AirPods 3 were my go to since their release late last year, but they still caused a bit of discomfort. They would also fall out. The convenience of using iOS and AirPods plus the higher than average sound quality made me push through. Before the AirPods 3 I used the Galaxy buds Live. They were great. Most comfortable I’ve ver used. No issues with comfort. Despite enjoying the ANC implementation whereas it focused on outside lower frequencies like hums and engines (opposed to something like the AirPods Pro which attempt to block all sound). I didn’t like how quiet they were. The sound quality was great in a decently loud room but when I was at work with heavy machinery it got hard to hear without cranking up the sound which caused a bit of distortion. Enter the Sony Linkbuds. Out of the box these things come with the medium wing tip which to my horror began causing some burning sensations from the pressure. I swapped them out for the small on both ears and voila. Perfect fit. Perfect volume. It feels like you have nothing in the ear. The Galaxy buds live were close to perfect but they did block sound a bit when you were wearing them. The whole in these Linkbuds make it so that’s a problem of the past. The auto speech detect works well. Too well honestly that I feel like I’m killing my battery by having it on. Speaking of batter it’s still to be seen how long they last. The app will show one percentage one minute and then it’ll jump down like 20%. I don’t think it updates frequently but it’s jarring. The extra features like spatial audio and Alexa are cool but I use iOS and those aren’t that well supported. Maybe in the future, but right now don’t buy the buds if you have iOS and want to make use of those features. The spatial audio is similar to AirPods 3 and pro implementation. It works very well with the supported apps. Seems highly unlikely more will add the feature though. I’m assuming on android it’s a system wide effect that can be toggled on or off. So if you have an android I’d look for more information elsewhere. The last thing I want to mention that makes these a must have is the wide area tap. Every time I tap it registers the proper gesture. EVERYTIME! That’s huge. With my Galaxy Buds I would always skip songs, or be unable to accept calls because the tapping was so inaccurate. Most tap to use headphones suck ass and for me, caused me physical pain to use. Here you don’t tap the headphone. You actually tap your temple… sort of. The side of your head. It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie and it works. Few quirks when using these with iOS but most are now standard fare if you don’t use AirPods. Stuff like sometimes the screen will come on when I use Siri so my thigh will cancel out commands. I don’t use Siri that much anyways. And when I do need an assistant it’s only to do math problems for me that I’m too slow to do on my own. But it is something to be wary about. Alexa implementation is good and works well, but again, Alexa can’t do as much as Siri: most of the things you’d ask her are like music selections. It’s kind of a non issue for me personally. Also the app to set these up is kind of annoying to use. Features work, but the menus are confusing to know if they are turned on or not. Certain apps seem like they are required to set up certain features but not really. I spent about five minutes in the soundscapes app wondering how to I use the spatial audio for movies only to realize the app was trying to tell me the soundscapes app is compatible with the buds and that’s the end of the integration. To use Alexa and Spotify features make sure to go to assign menu and change the left or right settings to the proper apps. Then the rest of the features will work. It’s very confusing at first. With time as I use these through the warm up period they might get better sounding but the fit and comfort are apparent from the start. If you have sensitive ears please try the xs wingtips. Those are the ones on all the promotional material but for some reason they come with the medium. This is my first review on Amazon and I just had to let everyone with similar problems to me that we’ve been saved. The perfect earbud is here. For everyone else you might feel a bit let down. They aren’t as bass heavy as IEM’s and definitely don’t block outside sound. Some people really don’t want to hear anything and these aren’t for those people. For everyone else these are it!!!

I am the type of person who is alone most of the time and needs to hear my surroundings. I'm not ever in a noisy environment, so noise cancellation isn't necessary for me. On top of that, I can't stand not being able to hear the world around me. It increases my anxiety, and I'm always paranoid when I can't hear. Enter the LinkBuds On paper, these are the perfect earbuds for me. No better "passthrough" audio than literal holes cut in your earbuds. I feel like these earbuds were created with exactly me in mind, so I decided to give them a shot. Unfortunately, almost every good thing brings something bad with it. The unique design will obviously be interesting since there's nothing else like it. I like the creative problem solving for making open earbuds. They include many different sizes of silicone rings so that they can try to fit any ear size... But they definitely will not fit everyone. They just won't. Unfortunately for me, apparently my inner portion of my ear is too small (which is shocking to me because I'm 6 feet tall and have a giant head). The smallest size ring creates a prominent bump on the top that feels like it is stabbing my ear after more than 5 minutes. I also can't remove the ring because they won't stay in without it. I've had to compromise by using a too large size and kind of just cram it in there for extra padding. Not ideal They are designed for all day usage since you can hear your surroundings while wearing them... But they aren't comfortable enough for me to wear them for more than an hour or two. There are no soft parts unlike normal buds, so the hard plastic constantly being crammed in your ear can definitely hurt after a while. Unfortunate. The design gives them more of an "open back" feel. Obviously the sound will never be as good as over ear headphones, but honestly, they are very clear and have solid sound quality. I find that most buds don't satisfy my audio quality standards, but these do satisfy me most of the time... But they also have practically no bass. Not a huge problem for my types of music and for podcasts, but I sometimes feel like I'm missing parts of the songs, especially when comparing with Sennheiser open back headphones. If you only listen to bass heavy music, do not buy these. You will hate them. For the average user, I suggest downloading the app and turning on the EQ settings so you can compensate better for the missing bass. The case is compact and the buds snap in securely. It's also made out of recycled plastic which hopefully is a plus for our planet... But the case feels hollow and very slippery. I wish it had a better texture so I wasn't afraid I'd drop it at all times. I wish it had a more premium feel for the price. One note about my ear shape. My ears are odd in that they kind of have a slope to them where the earbud would rest. I have a problem with *every* earbud I have ever used and trying to get them to stay in. Because of that, each ear fits differently with these. The unfortunate side effect is at times the audio can sound slightly different per ear which can make the audio experience unpleasant at times. The final incredibly unfortunate problem that is probably exclusive to me: because of my ear shape, the left bud sits at an angle and actually plugs my ear completely.... Which means the hole literally does nothing for my left ear except when I reposition it to a really specific way, but it always goes back to plugged after a while. I will continue working with it to see if I'm doing something wrong, but I seriously think they just don't work properly with my ears. Conclusion I'm giving this 2/5 stars because the idea is excellent, the sound quality is good (except for the bass), and that these buds are incredibly useful in situations where normal buds wouldn't work. Unfortunately, the execution was not done as well as I hoped. The discomfort I experience in these is incredibly disappointing. I hoped these would be buds I could use almost constantly, but they hurt me too much to do so. And with the left ear problem as listed above, it kind of negates the whole purpose for one of my ears. Just know these are not made to fit everyone, and if you've ever had issues with buds fitting, be cautious with these. I am considering trying to return them because I can't justify the price if they don't work for me 100%. I hope I can find a solution because I want them to work. I think these will be amazing for some people, but I'm honestly devastated I'm not one of them.

I already own a fantastic pair of open-back over-ear headphones (HiFiMan Sundara), but I've had to put up with closed-back earphones for years now because I had no other choice. Finally though, Sony has released the first ever open-back EARPHONES, and they offer features no closed-back ones could. You get a nicely-constructed recyclable case and earphones that come with several sized sets of ear hooks, which are key to keeping them secured within your ear. Unlike closed-back earphones, these DO NOT need to be inserted into your main ear canal (this helps with comfort), but instead sit in your outer-ear area with the help of those ear hooks. While wearing them, you hear everything around you the way it naturally sounds vs. ambient or transparency mode's "artificial recreation" of those same sounds (i.e., wind, running water, etc). It's much nicer this way. TWO MAIN POINTS need to be understood before buying these: 1) Fit is EVERYTHING: The goal with these earphones is to make sure you have the right fit while wearing them. It's even more important than with closed-back earphones IMO. You should be using the LARGEST EAR HOOK that you can COMFORTABLY handle wearing in your ear (you push the hook BEHIND the rear flap of you ear). This means a little patience and some trial & error, but once you find the right fit, you really can see & hear what these can do! For me, that meant going with the large ear hook on my left side, and extra large hook on my right (since my left ear is slightly smaller than the right one). This is what worked for me, but everyone's different. Once they're in your ears, rotate forward a bit, then slightly back for the BEST FIT! Having the right fit means you don't need to boost the volume up as loud because the earphones don't get any extra distance from your ear canal. It also means better isolation (and therefore, improved bass!!), as well as more comfort as well as clearer sound. I've found that these won't give you AS MUCH bass as closed-backs do, but it was enough for me since I'm not a basshead anyway. How you EQ them matters too................. 2) EQ'ing makes a difference: The Sony Headphones app will give you this option, so take advantage of it. You can EQ it manually yourself, or else just use any of the many presets. There's an even a Bass Boost option as well which you can adjust too. For now, I just leave the EQ in the Sony app off since I use a third-party app to play my downloaded music (Poweramp), and have just created an EQ in that app to use with the LinkBuds in there. But when using other apps like Spotify or Amazon Music, I may look into using one of the EQs in the Sony app. **Update: I've found that the "Bright" EQ preset sounds the best to me from that bunch.** **2nd update: If you like to stream, Poweramp JUST recently came out with an EQ app designed primarily for streaming music, available only on Android. Look for "Poweramp EQ" on Google Play Store, designed by MAX MP. Once downloaded, it will by default work automatically with Spotify and YouTube Music (and maybe Pandora??!). To make it work with Pandora, Amazon Music, regular YouTube, etc., you need to go to YouTube and search "How to enable Poweramp Equalizer for all music players (For Redmi, MI and POCO devices, etc.)" by Rinmawia. His video will show you a very quick & easy way to unlock the full potential of Poweramp EQ! Once you get it, I recommended pulling up the "Rock" EQ preset, then tweaking the pre-amp up to about 5-5.5, and the bass levels (1st 3 bars) down a couple notches. If listening on a train though or noisier area, I'd suggest actually bumping those bass levels up and the pre-amp to about a 3.** Moving on...........I mainly use these for when I do my cardio workouts outdoors. Since they are open-back, I can hear my surroundings, and therefore if someone is trying to talk to me in person, or one of the workers on my condo complex is coming up from behind in their mobile karts, I'm more likely to hear them coming now than before. You're just more aware of your surroundings, which is great. Of course, you have to put the volume up a bit louder vs. when you're indoors, but I still feel like I can hear what's going on around me better than ever before. With the right fit & proper EQ, these sound & feel FANTASTIC! Not only does my music sound crystal clear, but also I'm told when speaking to people on the phone that they sound crystal clear there too..........no echos, feedback, etc. Very highly recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i bought these based on a YouTube review. Really loved the idea of having earbuds that allowed me to be aware of my surroundings. Yes, hearing my music & such is important, but when I'm outside the house, I feel a need to know what's going on around me. These earbuds ticked every box I had: small, comfortable, portable, decent sound (for being open), the case is among the smallest I've seen in an earbud, and still allowing me to be aware. Seriously, they're wonderful. Until... After about 13 months (which is conveniently just outside the warranty), I noticed the left earbud would not charge properly, and frequently drained the case along with it. After a firmware update and carefully cleaning the contacts, I was really hoping to see an improvement. But no, the problem persists. They're still usable, but only for a very short time, and I need to have them plugged into a charger much more frequently than when they were new. I've never dropped them, got them wet, or otherwise misused them. They're in my ears or in their case. This is not the first Sony product I've had issues with. I have a Sony Blu-ray player that, well, left me a bit wanting. And don't even get me started on their Vaio lineup. Unfortunately, now I have to find another open earbud. The Raycon "Essential Open Earbuds" are not a good replacement. For those reading this, the audio lag makes watching videos impossible, though they're okay for audiobooks and basic music listening. Also, the case of the Raycon is literally twice the size of these Sony buds. I've tried the Nothing Open-Ear, but they pinch the top of my ears, making them uncomfortable after a short time. I have no experience with Shokz, so can't say one way or another, and for personal reasons I will not buy Anker. I need something more portable than a bone-conducting wrap-around headband. I think I'll go with the Bose. Wish me luck... these Sony LinkBuds weren't it.

لحسن الحظ تمكنت من ارجاع السماعة بعد ان قضيت معها قرابة الساعة اذا كنت من من يستمتع بالتغليق المبتكر ستستمتع بفتح علبة السماعة وللعلم لم يستخدم في السماعة اي بلاستيك وتم تصنيعها بالكلمل من اعادة تدوير قطع السيارات . كانت الفكرة قريبة جدا من فكرة samsung في budslive حيث لايوجد اي عزل صوتي عن العالم الخارجي وهي قكرة جميلة من حيث المبدأ ولكن تطبيقها حال دون التركيز تماما بالمحتوى الصوتي في وجود اي اصوات محيطة للاسف حيث لم استطع الاستمتاع بالاغاني او البودكاستات واضطررت لفصل البلوتوث واستخدام الجوال لاكمال محادثة تلفونية سوني تابى الا ان تضع بصمتها على جوالك حيث ستحتاج لتحميل عدد من التطبيقات لاستخدام السماعات وهذا لي شخصيا يعتبر شي غير جيد بعد كل هذا لا انكر انها اريح سماعة ارتديتها في الاذن اليمن "يقولون الاذان تختلف من شخص لشخص ولكن انا اكتشفت ان اذناي غير بعض " وقد بدأت اذني اليسرى بالاحمرار والحكة فقمت بطلب الارجاع بنفس اليوم

I love these earbuds. The sound quality is quite good, maybe not audiophile quality, but still better than many wireless earbuds I've used in the past. I love that they detect when I'm taking and automatically pause. A really nice feature when I'm out and about and run into someone and need to talk.

Really nice earbuds. It took a few goes to get them to sit comfortably but then yeah really great. Using them for work and to run. They hang in there really well

While I appreciate listening to music and podcasts on long runs, I tend not to use headphones as I am uncomfortable with the isolation earbuds provide, and find earbuds often make a booming noise due to bone conduction. I have used the Bose Sport Open Earbuds in the past with good results, and when Sony came out with their take I decided to give them a try. Here’s my opinion on the Sony units. Your mileage may vary. The Sony LinkBuds are small and light, and fit easily in your ear. The different sized stability loops ensure a proper fit. And a proper fit is essential to keep these in your ear and to dial in the sound. With the wrong sized loop, these sound thin and harsh and will pop out of your head. Experiment with the right sized loop for your ear, and the buds will feel locked in, and the sound will be acceptable. I hesitate to talk about the sound, as each of us has different requirements. I was not looking for hifi sound, just a pleasing sound that allowed me to listen to music while letting in ambient sound. The LinkBuds, once I had experimented with fit, met my needs perfectly. If you are bass-head, move on, as you cannot get booming bass out of an open backed earbud. One feature I thought I would love was the speech feature, which cuts the sound when you speak. This worked well on most days, but I find wind will trigger it, so I turn that feature off on very windy days (Which is basically every day on PEI.). I tested the LinkBuds with my iPhone XS, and the app worked flawlessly. I don’t run with my phone, and while I could use the LinkBuds on my older iPod, the app would not load, so functions were more limited. The charging case is tiny and provides an internal battery. I like how the earbuds snap into the case with a satisfying click. I also run with PowerBeats, and have found I often don’t get a correct fit in the case resulting in a dead earbud. Will these replace the Bose? No, as I prefer the warm, tubey Bose signature sound. But I do find the LinkBuds perform better in wind, and do not interfere with the googles I often have to wear in the winter. They each have their advantages, and I will use both happily. If I had to pick one pair, it would be the Bose, but I don’t think Bose is still selling these anymore. They cost the same. Hope that helps, and I wish you all miles of smiles, safely aware of your surroundings.

Excelentes en todo. El diseño muy llamativo, no lastiman en nada, no sea caen aun agitando la cabeza, aun con música escuchas tu entorno, aun con esta escucha la calidad es increíble, el volumen suficiente aun para exteriores, la batería de horas antes de necesitar usar el estuche el estuche carga super rápido y es super compacto aunque algo redondito por lo que aunque cabria en la bolsa pequeña de los jeans, lo sentirías un poco voluminoso aun para su tamaño. La app de sony ofrece muchísimas funciones Audio 360 y sonido espacial personalizados ya que te hacen un escaneo de tus oídos y cabeza. Pareo automático con BT y NFC vinculado a google. Control de todo tipo incluido control por toques Asistente de google Ajustes de todo tipo ecualizador, DSSE, pausa automática cuando comienzas a hablar con alguien, Conexión en simultaneo de 2 dispositivos, volumen adaptativo. Vinculación especial con las apps de audio mas importantes como spotify, amazon music, endel e incluso juegos como ingress Increíble todo lo que ofrece sin duda para audio y otras areas, no hay como SONY