Sony LinkBuds S Truly Wireless Headphones Review

At first glance, these buds look nearly identical to the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless. However, they're made of recycled plastic, which gives them a different finish. They also have a single colorway and lack any accent colors. They come in a couple of different colors if you prefer to match them to your style: 'Black', 'White', 'Desert Sand', and 'Earth Blue'. There's also a limited-edition two-toned 'Violet' model with marble detailing. This model is produced in collaboration with the singer Olivia Rodrigo.

The Sony LinkBuds S have a comfortable fit. Although they're similar in look to the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless, they have a smaller and lighter design that puts less pressure on the ear, depending on their shape. They don't have an especially deep in-ear fit, and many options exist to find the best seal.

These buds have good controls. They have the same control scheme on their touch-sensitive surface as the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless. There are beeps as feedback to let you know when you've registered a command. However, there aren't volume controls by default. While you can remap their control scheme to add this feature, you will lose either ANC or playback controls. In addition, the touch controls are very sensitive, and if you need to adjust the buds in your ears, you can accidentally register commands.

On the left earbud:

• Single tap: Cycles between ANC mode and talk-through mode. This function can be customized in the app so that it also allows you to turn these features off.
• Press and hold: Activates 'Quick Attention' as long as you have your finger on the earbud. Turns down your audio and allows you to hear ambient sound.

On the right earbud:

• Single tap: Plays and pauses audio.
• Double tap: Skips the track forward.
• Triple tap: Skips the track backward.

On the either earbud:

• Double tap: Answers and ends a call.
• Press and hold: Rejects an incoming call.

Like most in-ears, these buds are portable. You can put them into most pockets and bags without a problem, even if they're stashed in their carrying case.

The carrying case is good. It's small, made with a matte plastic finish, and has a light in the middle of the case to let you know the battery status. There's also an indented pairing button at the back of the case. Unfortunately, like that of the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless, the lid feels a bit flimsy. Unlike the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless, this case doesn't support wireless charging.

These buds have a good build quality. They're mostly made of recycled plastic and are certified IPX4 for resistance against water splashes. However, they don't feel as sturdy as the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless. The plastic can also retain fingerprints if you have oily skin.

They have a stable design. Once you find the right fit, they won't move around in your ears or fall out. However, you may still need to reposition them over long periods if you find that they're popping out.

• Sony LinkBuds S earbuds
• 4x tip sizes
• Charging case
• USB-C to USB-A charging cable
• Manuals

These buds have a warm sound profile. Their default sound emphasizes the boom and punch of kick drums and produces a mostly mid-forward sound that can sound a bit cluttered and harsh, depending on your taste. Vocals and lead instruments are present and clear in mixes. The upper frequencies are smooth, but sibilants like cymbals lose their edge due to their rolled-off treble and can come across as relatively dull. You can customize their sound to your liking using the companion app's graphic EQ and EQ presets, though. They also sound a bit less rumbly in the bass range if you disable the ANC.

If you have the 'Violet' model, which is produced in collaboration with singer Olivia Rodrigo, you'll also have access to two custom EQs specifically designed for her two albums.

Some users online have reported that these buds make crackling or popping noises while in audio calls. We conducted a retest to try to make these noises appear but noticed no such sounds. Other users online have suggested cleaning their earbuds, so it's worth trying if you encounter the same issue.

These buds have fantastic frequency response consistency. Once you get a good fit and seal, you'll receive consistent bass and treble delivery each time you use them.

The Sony LinkBuds S have fantastic bass target compliance. The entire range is boosted relative to our curve, imparting a bit of extra boom and punch to kick drums in songs like bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo.

The Sony LinkBuds S' mid-range target compliance is excellent. Generally, the earbuds' mid-range is even, though it has a slight scoop. The elevated bass continues in the low-mids which adds a bit of clutter before the dip pushes down instruments like rhythm guitars in the mix a little. Vocals and higher-pitched melodies receive a boost in the upper mids, which can sound a little harsh, but this is also fairly minor.

Their treble profile's target compliance is poor. Virtually the entire response is underemphasized, so vocals and lead instruments are veiled and dark. Sibilants like hi-hats are also dull and lispy. If you're very sensitive to bright and piercing sounds, perhaps you'll like this sound, but it can make vocal-centric music sound muffled.

Their peaks and dips performance is very good, which indicates that, for the most part, the headphones can control their sound profile well. The bass is very smooth, with a slight dip and peak in the mids that cause vocals and lead synths to sound a little harsh. Most of the treble is even, exhibiting only slight deviations that add a bit of extra clarity to vocal articulation and detail to sibilants like cymbal hits. However, a steep and narrow roll-off followed by a peak at the edges of human hearing in the treble range imparts a closed-off sound with artificial-sounding airiness, depending on your hearing's sensitivity.

Their imaging performance is outstanding. Sony tends to have good quality control when it comes to ensuring that their drivers match, especially when the product is high-end. That said, imaging can still vary between units. However, our unit's L/R drivers are well-matched in group delay, phase response, amplitude, and frequency response, which is important for accurately placing and localizing objects like instruments in the stereo image.

These buds have a bad passive soundstage, but that's normal for closed-back in-ear headphones. They bypass your outer ear by design. However, the outer ear needs to be activated by sound resonances to create a more immersive sound. As a result, sound seems like it's coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed in the room around you. Their soundstage doesn't feel very open or immersive either.

Like the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless, the Sony LinkBuds S are compatible with Sony 360 Reality Audio. To use this feature, you must be subscribed to compatible services like Tidal or Artist Connection. When on, it can help create a more immersive experience, especially with songs like Pink Floyd's Money, which have sound objects that move between the L/R drivers.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is good. There are a couple of small peaks in the treble range at normal listening volumes, but this can be very hard to hear with real-life content unless you're an astute audiophile. The rest of the frequencies fall within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction.

These are the settings used to test the Sony LinkBuds S. Our results are only valid when used with these settings.

These buds have an excellent noise isolation performance. Unlike their open-ear counterpart, the Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless, they're noise cancelling (ANC) and can reduce quite a bit of ambient sound around you. They can even block out more noise than the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless. They can reduce bass range noise like bus and plane engine rumbles. They can also cut down mid range sounds like ambient chatter and the high-pitched hum of AC units.

While we originally tested these buds using the small ear tips, we achieved a better seal by using the medium ear tips, improving their noise isolation performance. However, remember that in real-life use, you'll also experience excellent noise isolation once you get a good fit.

These buds also have a great noise isolation performance when it comes to blocking out more dynamic sounds you'll encounter in your everyday life. They can isolate you from the sounds of busy offices and noisy streets. The rumbles of plane cabins are also reduced, too.

As wind directly interacts with the ANC's microphones, the ANC system creates undesired noise to counter it, even though the sound itself doesn't reach your ears. Unfortunately, these buds don't have a wind reduction feature, so if you're in a windy environment, you'll experience this noise, which can be loud and annoying.

These buds have an outstanding leakage performance. Audio bleed is spread across the range but is very hard to hear, even in moderately quiet environments. You won't disturb others around you if you like to listen to audio at high volumes.

The noise gate was an issue for testing the integrated mic's recording quality. This feature is supposed to automatically reduce ambient sound at a set threshold so that the mic can cut out unwanted background noise when you're not talking. However, this mic's noise gate cuts down almost all noise, including the pink noise we use during testing. It also takes a few seconds to adjust to sound, which caused issues with our measurements. As a result, in addition to the recording provided, we also made a recording using a Samsung S10e phone, which you can listen to here. There's distortion present in speech, especially when compared to the Sony WF-1000XM4 Truly Wireless. Your voice also sounds thin, but luckily, it's still clear and followable.

The microphone's noise handling performance is mediocre. The noise gate takes a few seconds to kick in, but it helps the mic separate your voice from moderate background noise. Unfortunately, the noise gate also causes a decline in speech quality. In addition to the included recordings, we also made Pink Noise and Subway Noise recordings using our Samsung S10e phone. When there are loud sounds, like a train passing, the mic completely cuts out your voice, as well as the subway noise. Taking important calls from a quiet environment is best to avoid having your voice completely drowned out.

The Sony LinkBuds S' battery performance is decent. The manufacturer advertises them to last six hours continuously when using the default SBC codec, which is longer than the 5.5 hours the manufacturer advertises for the original Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless. However, we measured over seven hours from the S model when using SBC, which will last long days on the go. If you switch to LDAC, the battery will drain quicker, and Sony advertises roughly 3.5-4.5 hours of playback when using this codec. Keep in mind that battery life can vary depending on use, though. Their carrying case supplies roughly 2.3 additional charges if you need a top-up, and they have a quick-charge feature that supplies an hour of playtime after five minutes of charging.

Some users have reported battery drainage issues with these earbuds recently, often with either the L or R driver discharging completely after a short time. We were unable to replicate this issue with our buds on the most recent firmware and throughout both testing and normal usage. If you do encounter this issue, warranty information is available on Sony's website.

The Sony | Headphones Connect is great. Unlike the Beats Solo Buds True Wireless, this app lets you access a graphic EQ and presets as well as their virtual soundstage feature to help you customize their sound. In addition, there's a 'Spatial Sound Optimization' feature, which measures the optimal angle of the headphones in your ear for spatial audio, as well as quick access to certain features like Spotify or even connect to Ingress Prime, which is a mobile augmented reality (AR) game. You can also turn Speak-to-Chat, auto-off, and smart-pause on and off. After updating the headphones to firmware 2.0.2, you can toggle multi-device pairing on and off.

These headphones come with a USB-C to USB-A, but this is only for charging their carrying case, so you can't use it to receive audio.

The Sony LinkBuds S have very good Bluetooth connectivity. With firmware 2.0.2, these buds support multi-device pairing, so you can connect them to your PC and smartphone simultaneously. They also have Fast Pair, letting you quickly pair Bluetooth devices together. That said, they have high latency on PCs via the default SBC codec, so your audio and visuals will be out of sync.

If you like to stream higher-quality audio, these buds support LDAC, which is Sony's proprietary codec for Hi-Res audio. LDAC isn't ideal for streaming video and can cause high lip-sync issues. However, it won't be an issue if you're only listening to audio. Some devices and apps compensate for latency, too.

The Sony LinkBuds S are fully compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs. However, you can't connect them to your PC in any other way.

The Sony LinkBuds S come with a carrying case that supplies 2.3 extra charges. It has a USB-C port for recharging the case. However, unlike the OnePlus Buds Pro 2 Truly Wireless' carrying case, it doesn't support wireless charging.