Home Theater Systems Buying Guide
Product Information
Specifications
Specifications
- Battery
- Battery Life (continuous music playback time) (Buds+Case): Max. 20 hrs (6 hrs+14 hrs)
- Battery Charge Method: USB Charging (with case)
- Battery Charge Time (Buds): Approx. 2.0 hrs
- Bluetooth® Specification
- Bluetooth® version: Bluetooth Specification Version 5.2
- Effective Range: 32.81 ft
- Frequency Range: 2.4 GHz band (2.4000–2.4835 GHz)
- Profile: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP
- Supported Audio Format(s): SBC, AAC, LDAC
- Supported Content Protection: SCMS-T
- Charging Case
- Battery Charge Time: Approx. 3 hrs (USB charging)
- Dimension: Approx. 1.69" x 2.36" x 1.09"
- Weight: Approx. 1.23 oz
- General Features
- DSEE Extreme: Yes
- Driver Unit: 0.2"
- Frequency Response (Bluetooth® Communication): 20 Hz–20,000 Hz (44.1 kHz sampling) / 20 Hz–40,000 Hz (LDAC 96 kHz sampling 990 kbps)
- Headphone Type: Closed, dynamic
- Magnet: High-power neodymium magnets
- Waterproof: Yes (IPX4)
- Noise Canceling
- Ambient Sound Mode: Yes
- Quick Attention: Yes
- Size & Weight
- Weight (Buds): Approx. 0.17 oz (x2)
What's in the Box
What's in the Box
- LinkBuds S
- 4 Sizes of earbud tips
- USB-C Charging Cable
Reviews
Customer Reviews for Sony LinkBuds S Truly Wireless Noise Canceling Earbuds
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The sound quality is second to none with perfect clarity and a good degree of bass which many full size headphones fail to achieve. The adjustments within the settings allow many variations of adjustments to suit different types of music. I did however find getting to this part of the settings not the easiest in finding
I have only used them around the house at the moment but am looking forward to using them on a long flight to USA in a few months
The quality of the product starts with the packaging which is not cheap cardboard like many manufacturers use. I have only had to charge them once and this took about 4 hours although they still had some charge in them before I charged them .
The bluetooth connectin seems tonwork from quite a distance as they still wrok when I am at the bottom of the garden and my phone is in the house.
I would highly recommend this product to any of my friends and family
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I have had a succession of noise cancelling units over the years, usually to attempt to gain complete peace and quiet whilst travelling. These are not designed to do quite that...and they don't. They are for everyday, all day, use and they are rather good at it. I'm always aware of a little noise in the background and in a working environment such as an office this could be an asset. I find it easy to be sociable, keep my eye on the ball yet still enjoy my music.
They are small, light and very, very comfortable to wear for long periods of time, to the point where you can almost forget that you're wearing them. I need to listen to TV at a higher volume level than the people around me and with the help of a third party unit I have been doing this for some time although I believe that a direct wireless connection is possible with later Sony TVs. These buds are the most comfortable I've ever experienced. Maybe good for a whole box set perhaps
Ambient sound interruption easily becomes part of your daily use as do phone calls and this can be tweaked in the Headphones Connect App on your phone.
Pros:
Cool looking buds and a pleasure to wear.
I'm now quite comfortable with these LinkBuds in most situations. They are small, light, smooth and comfortable. I don't feel shut off from my surroundings when wearing them but still listen comfortably and yet I feel enabled to be more easily sociable and maybe a little safer with the awareness of what is around me.
Cons:
Slightly fiddly removing them from their lovely charging case but then again I am not a youngster.
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Being an individual who loves working, walking, exercising and reading with music; a good set of headphones/earphones is a must. Sony has been always my first choice, mainly because of the quality of their products and the constant innovation. Pioneers on noise-cancelling, 360 surround and other marvelous audio enhancements make Sony a referent when picking new headphones.
I received these earbuds and my overall impression is very good. Before doing this review I ran 10 rounds to have a better picture of their performance. I call ‘round’ to the interval with the battery at 100% until it was exhausted.
BATTERY – Enough for the day.
As the buds came with 80% battery, I exhausted the battery before start my review. I, then, took notes in 3 different rounds monitoring the % of juice every 30 minutes. In a very general way, the battery goes down by 10% every 30 minutes although that’s not entirely accurate. I listened music non-stop on round 4 whilst walking to the gym, exercising, walking back, going for a stroll and shopping and reading a book.
As you will see in the chart below, the 100% lasted for a full hour, which seemed promising but it then started to go down, as mentioned before, by 10% every half an hour. At 60% the battery did not show any decrease until on hour later and once it was on 30% it seemed like the battery was striving to last longer.
The earbuds battery management runs independently, in other words, the battery does not last exactly the same on each bud, yet the performance is quite similar. At 14:39 I’ve got the alert on the right bud that the battery was low. The reading on my mobile indicated 20%. 7 minutes later I’ve got the same alert for the left bud.
At 15:03 the right bud was off and 19’ later, the left bud followed.
So, nearly 7 hours of use with a full charge. As I mentioned before, the LinkBuds give you what you need for a day, considering in any given day our circumstances do not allow to listen music continuously as I did for this test. And, anyway, once you put the buds back in their case, they will recharge. And speaking about charging, I did not measure the time it takes for the buds to be recharged, but I estimate it is about 1 hour. So, go for lunch with your mates, socialise and your buds will be ready when you are back to your desk.
The test on the battery wasn’t done with Headphones Connect of Sony but, if you use it, you will be able to track the battery of the buds separately.
SETTING UP – What’s that?
The easiest part of this. Put them on, turn on your Bluetooth on the device you want them and you are ready. No hassle at all!
Of course, you can use the Headphones Connect of Sony which allows a lot of improvements such as adaptive sound based on your recorded locations and activities. It will take some time for the software to register your main places and activities but it is worth the effort. Plus, if you have previous headphones, the app will import the settings.
Calls – Better that a face-to-face conversation.
The reception of the microphone is just marvellous. I had a couple of calls one day at the gym and, thanks to the noise cancelling (see next section) I got nice chats with my friends despite the loud music and the guys around painfully grunting. Even one of my friends could hear a guy 2 benches ahead when he was breathing very fast. How cool is that!
NOISE CANCELLING
Just like with my previous tested pair, the WF-1000XM4, the noise cancelling works very well but, let’s keep the perspective on this. As they are not overhear devices, they cannot fully isolate you from the sounds around, however, the level of reduction is great.
Thanks to my wife, I’ve got a good test for reference which I call the ‘kettle test’. One morning, she turned on the kettle to cook some water for coffee and tea. Coincidentally, I was wearing the buds and entered the kitchen and stood next to the kettle. To give you an idea of the difference, imagine that you stick your ear to a punctured tyre and you hear the air escaping. Well, that’s the level of noise reduction you get.
In short, low wave sounds will be cancelled, mid-wave are seriously reduced (kettle test), high pitch will be still there which is not a bad thing. I could hear the ambulances whilst walking my way to the gym, for example. After all, it is important to be aware of our surroundings, isn’t.
COMFORT
Size: They are slightly smaller than the previous generation, the WF-1000XM4, and the comfort is pretty much the same.
Fitting: What I like the most is that the LinkBuds come with 4 pairs of silicon fitters, so just take your time to find the right ones. I tried just the middle size options. As my ears and the entrance of the ear canal are not identical, I ended up using two different sizes, one for each ear. If the fitter is not the correct one, you can feel some popping whilst walking as the earbud will be moving.
Move: I do not run so I cannot tell you if the impact will make the buds go off, but I can tell you that I did some rope skipping once and the buds were in place all the time. So, I presume that the same will happen when jogging or running.
Sweat: Again, it all goes down to the correct fit. But, if you use the correct size, no sweat will get into your ears and, more important, into your buds! As long as you clean your buds, they will be fine. Take into account that the mic is exposed but thanks to is position and the windscreen, they will be fine. So, just be a neat person and take a minute to wipe your buds after use, ok?
PACKING
Love the cardboard packing, not just resistant but also fully recyclable. I tend to keep the original pack of all my gadgets, but if you are thinking of disposing it, please put it the in right bin! The buds come with some instructions and guarantee in God know how many languages, a USB-USBc cable and the silicon fitters. If you need further instructions, just use the QR to access the full manual.
Downsides of MY buds.
Okay, this bit is only because I think that MY buds came defective and I relate the fails ONLY TO MY PRODUCT and not as a general issue. Based on my experience using Sony products, I am confident that this is an isolated case.
Buzzing: In a couple of rounds, the right bud started buzzing for no reason. In both occasions I removed the buds and put them back in their case. After five minutes or so, I put them back on and the buzz on the right bud was over.
Wind-like noise: The left bud, also with no apparent reason started to emit this noise as if you would be driving at high speed on a motorway with your windows open. It happened after the six or seven round whilst in the gym. I tried few times to resolve it by switching off and back on the noise cancelling, stopping the music and playing it back again to no avail. Just like with the buzzing problem, I had to put them back on the case before use them again.
The problem is, if you are in the gym and you remove your buds, you do not want to put them in the case straight after without wiping them, right? So, it was a bit annoying.
CONCLUSION
A perfect solution for music/podcast/radio lovers on their everyday lives. Portable and comfortable and with excellent performance on noise-cancelling and with a very decent battery life.
Any manufacturer’s downside will be covered by the guarantee so register your products as soon as you get them!
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The charging case is so smooth and looks awesome while being slightly thinner and longer than the previous LinkBuds case. Like other earphones the case features the flip-top configuration that makes for an easy set-up for your wireless earbuds.
After downloading the Sony Headphones Connect App for my non-Android Smartphone it is the easiest set up I’ve seen with a step by step guide to help you get the best feel in your ear, the superb steps to supporting you get the benefits from the use of finger touch controls on both left and right earbud to either use volume, pause and forward to next songs in your library.
I’ve listened to many headphones but earbuds and overhead sets and the Sony LinkBuds S are in a league of their own. The crisp and clear sounds heard while I excitedly shuffled through my music playlist brought to life the stunning clarity, sound and incredible bass. I fell in love instantly.
I am an outdoors enthusiast and I’ve searched many brands to find a set of earbuds that not only feel snug in my ear and safe while I’m moving across various terrain but I wanted earbuds that let me enjoy the music with simply stunning sound, complimented by outstanding noise reduction.
They fit my ears perfectly without going too deep inside my ear canal and as I’ve said, they were never in danger of falling out. Even for the few hikes and runs I took with the LinkBuds S, I was never concerned they would move or fall out and the IPX4 gives you extra peace of mind.
Set Up was again so easy and straightforward. While you can control play functions, calling, and noise canceling with touch controls on the sides, the excellent Sony Headphones app is brilliant for most features.
Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control, Speak-to-Chat, an equalizer with 12 sound profile settings with two custom options. 360 Reality Audio Setup with the Sony App.
Another brilliant feature is the Adaptive Sound Control that allows noise canceling with a transparency mode to be automated depending on what you’re activity is along with your location. So if you’re relaxing, walking running or using public transport this can all be assigned to have noise canceling on, Ambient Sound is featured with a 20-point sliding scale, or everything off.
So if you’re in a coffee shop and you need to hear the barista when getting your coffee? you can add your local coffee shop to the learned locations list in the Sony app and set the Ambient Sound to 20 so every time you walk in you’ll be able to hear what’s going on allowing you to order and collect your drink.
The Noice Cancelling is genuinely superb and so much better than other brands I’ve used particularly with crowd noise than the other branded Earbuds. The additional battery life is superb if you have planned a longer trip yet I always try when travelling to pack a travel battery charge pack. Even with the added ANC functionality, Sony have the LinkBuds S at 6 hours of use, this was so accurate and in fact I was getting close to 6.5 hours changing some volume settings.
The specs for the Sony LinkBuds S:
* Battery Life: Up to 6+ hours, 20 hours total with the case
* Fast charging: 5 minutes charge for 1 hour of listening
* Colors: Black, White
* Ambient sound modes: Adaptive Active Noise Canceling (ANC) with Sony V1 chip, Transparency mode
* Speakers: 5mm drivers
* Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2
* Audio codecs: AAC, LDAC, DSEE Extreme
* Dust/water resistance: IPX4
* Fit: Four sizes (SS, S, M, LL)
* Weight: 4.8 grams per bud, 35 grams for charging case
I believe the LinkBuds S are the perfect All-Rounder for most people and their lifestyle, they look great in either colours and the set up guide as described is streamline. You won’t go wrong with the LinkBuds S, so go ahead and give them a go, you will not be disappointed in fact you’ll be in awe of the pure sound, quality and overall aesthetics of a truly innovative product.
Well done Sony!
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I’ve struggled with ear pods in the past but these fit a treat & stay in place too. The sound & sound controls are brilliant ~ work extremely well with phone calls and music all of which is crisp and clear. The 360 Reality Audio is amazing. The noise cancelling technology is also 1st rate.
I’ve used these for 3-4 hours at a time with no problems at all, the battery life seems excellent too. The supplied charging cable is too short though.
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The quality of sound is second to none with even the bass being really effective. The preset levels are good but you definately need to set up your own to enjoy the full range if sound. The volume levels are nice and easy to adjust.
They look stunning and the box is very cleverly packaged. Charging time is very reasonable and I have used them all day and not had to charge them.
I think I prefer them to my usual headphones and would definitely recommend them to anybody.
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Naturally there's a specific 'app' to download to your phone to compliment the learning and use of the linkbuds
....it was quick and very straight forward to use...back to the unpacking ...the buds were already fitted with a set of 'tips...I just tried them in my ear and found them absolutely right.The other choice of 3 sets are still in their case and Ive no doubt there's a size to fit every ear...they are extremely comfortable.Ive tried other buds before and to be honest not really got on too well and have taken recently to wearing standard type bluetooth headphones. However those are now consigned to the 'drawer' as the linkbuds are so comfortable to wear..
Its necessary to set up the bluetooth connection to your first chosen device..in this case my Xperia...it was so easy and positive and connected immdediately..I have since paired my link buds with another mobile, 3 sony home televisions and my laptop...very easy to pair...Its great that when I open the 'home box', the buds automatically pair to my chosen switched on unit....(I do have a blue tooth app which allows me to immediately pair to any given device I want to use them with but the link buds know what device I'm using)
I'll give my age as 'senior' for the purpose of the reader knowing what my tech knowledge might be...I'm catching up fast in all things techie..but to me the specification and what the linkbuds will do is nothing short of brilliant ...I am not able to describe the processes of how the Linkbuds actually allow things to happen and Im still steadily learning as I find a use for each function available. The app tutorial is extremely detailed in the functions that are set into the linkbuds but very easy to follow and trial ...here's a summary ...remote answering and use of your mobile phone....each ear bud, left or right, can be programmed and customised to a particular function...volume control, track selection when listening to your favourite music app, for example Spotify..full use of 'hey Google'. I love the spoken notification of the arrival of e-mails or messages...the name 'Linkbuds' is extremely appropriate as the buds will team up with so many apps and functions.. and there is a built in 'learning' process by the buds and app to personalise the benefits of their functions to your own specific uses...like normal volume playback levels
I'm reviewing after approximately 2 weeks using the buds and there's more to learn ..Im quite certain that I'll still find plaenty to play with...I'd like to summarise with some quite simple basics...as fiollows ...the reproduction of sound detail is nothing short of perfect, the noise cancelling is second to none as far as my experience is concerned, the comfort for the wearer , again in my experience , just incredible...am I over the top? ...I dont think so ...I would tell anyone to experience the linkbuds and know what true personal sound reproduction can be like...
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