Sony LinkBuds Review

I noticed you changed the video thumbnail; looks good 👍🏻. I thought it was a video I hadn't seen yet when it recommended, and I was split-second disgruntled 😆.

Like a few others here, I bought them and to me they are chuffing excellent, so thank you so much for the video. Used to use (steal) my wife's aftershokz, and these work as an excellent alternative for running and cycling along various country roads etc. They're also chewing gum friendly, unlike regular buds.

Well, following your review, I bought a pair! And... I really like them. I've never been a great fan of ear buds because I found them to be uncomfortable, but these are fine, don't hurt at all, and the 'default' loops that were already attached, fit my ears well - I've not bothered to try any of the others that were supplied. Connecting to the BT transmitter attached to my PC was a bit of an annoyance, but once I achieved it (RTFM!), they work fine and I have replaced my Aeropex bone conducting headphones with these. I can hear the doorbell and other domestic demands pretty well whilst listening. The only really bad part of the design, as you pointed out, is the very small button on the case. I have glued a sliver of rubber to it that makes it slightly easier to open. One of the best features for me is that the Link Buds don't need to be powered on before use as the Aeropex do. Just take them out of the case and they connect automatically in a couple of seconds. Also, I think they sound pretty ok for music - no complaints. Range is a bit limited, and they are a bit less tolerant than other bluetooth devices if you move out of line of sight of the transmitter. Overall though, after 24 hours, I am very pleased with them. So, thanks Mat - it is always good to learn about such things from someone whose judgement you trust and who will give an unbiased review.

Nice production accents. Enjoyable as always. Take care of you and yours. We will always be patiently waiting here.

Maybe I’m the only one on the planet this happens to but, earbuds tend to put slight pressure in a particular spot in the inside of the ear. After a period of time that pressure causes my ear to hurt. For this reason I tend to go with over the ear style headphones as I find that they don’t place as much pressure in one spot.

Hey Mat just want to say I care about your family and health and wish you well.

I am glad you are not one of these people who agonize over if you should review what was sent to you for free or not. :) It is painful. Disclosure is appreciate and then let's see what it's like. I am glad you reviewed this. It was very interesting to watch your impressions. If someone can't decide if your dispositions (which you described flawlessly) applies to them or not... oh well. And if Sony doesn't like it because of what you said, I have no words. I suspect this will not be an issue for them. But you never know. The YouTuber stories are wild.

Certainly an interesting product idea, and you've covered the features very well, I'd say. It's up to consumers now to decide if it's what they want or need. If that isn't balanced and informed, I don't know what is.

This is EXACTLY what I would be interested in when I go for a run. I want to hear the car before it hits me. :)

Most of the time I'm more at the "block this world" end of the market, but I can see times when I'd want transparent headphones. My main question with these, though, is can other people hear what you're listening to? (If I already missed the answer, I will of course fling myself into a series of volcanos)

Wow, all my YouTube recommendations are for these earbuds now. Great review Mat, I wish there were more honest reviews like this about. Instead of gushing reviews or complete takedowns it was a practical look at all the features and how it performs in real life.

I think as reviews go it’s honest and truthful, not gushing, in short everything I expect from your good self!

Good luck Mat! I hope everything is going well

Excellent review, Mat. I would trust yours over any giddy vacuous unboxing from a fresh-faced teen! :-)

An interesting review and product, although my eyes were drawn to the piles of books on your desk, but I couldn't read any of the spines. Are they anything interesting?

Great review Mat, well balanced and glad you point out the cons as well as the Pros. Only in-ear phones I use are the ones that came with my Samsung A5 years ago, They fit, have great sound quality and have lasted ages. Like you, my ears have changed with age and I can't keep them in too long. For everything else it's my Sennheiser over the ear phones.

There's something else I just remembered to comment - is the next technologic advancement for humans to get chips implanted to 'listen to' music without any external physical media? Takes all the fun out of things, for sure. That is, after the chip shortage - leap that hurdle first. 😋 Edit: I'm not a proponent of this idea 👆

(Sorry for the comment re-type - Patreon apparently didn't like how many edits for clarity I was making and deleted the whole thread 🧐) I'll try to keep my comments sparse, or at least try my best. I am a committed headphone user, don't really care if I look stupid using them (I look stupid without them, anyway). Perhaps due to using a headset in my workplace, I'm used to it. I don't particularly like earbuds and the feeling of them in my ears, either, so I am with you totally on that. Best bits: *Chapter title music padding with 'airplane carts music' *Vehicle driving/sound testing and 'dog encounter car park' ? - (Is it pathetic how much I've missed dashcam/action cam video driving videos?) *"Let Me Be Your Fantasy" okay 👍 Holy Flippin' LinkBuds! Sony should send you their company shares. All the best regarding personal issues. Yesterday evening, my adopted Mom called me to casually say she'd been to the emergency room, and was back home again. 😮 She's had heart problems. Freaked me out.

What a ridiculous product to send to you… disappointing that Sony won’t send you something of substance… huge company and they send you crappy earbuds. Next.

I hope whatever has been happening personal is going well, sir!

Another Excellent Video, good sir. The idea of anything that goes into or covers the ears... with a hole in them is a 'why wasn't this done before'. Since I am also of the older vintage, I too can't have things in my ears, probably due to the hairs old farts like me grow in there. BUT, if I can get the hairs to go out of the hole....

Quite a tight- well paced review. Very well done. The product detail that jumped out to me was the snap closure on a case design that is more horizontal in nature, where most bud cases are vertical with a tension closure... thus far more practical and easy to "one hand it". bad design in my opinion- and yours. Great video.

I watched Linus from Linus tech tips Youtube channel this was an intresting review video Matt

Great review - thank you! I use the wired buds that came with some iPhone at some point (the SE no longer comes with earbuds or a charging block, only a USB-C-Lightning cable). Seems sufficient to me. Not quite sure how that noise cancelling works given that you are supposed to be able to hear ambient noise ... that gets cancelled ... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What I don't like is the "music" at the chapter titles! Titles are fine as are the actual chapters (which I don't bother with) ... but maybe rethink the musical interlude?

I used to like in-ear headphones too. I had those wired silicone tipped in-ears from Apple. When they stopped including the smallest tip with them I stopped using them (the cables tend to break after a year of heavy use). Now, I just can’t bear anything in my ears. Probably an age thing, thanks for sharing. About the Aftershockz: I really love them, but combining them with glasses, long hair and a face mask tends to be challenging…

Congrats on becoming an official influencer, Mat. 😃 Maybe Sony is hoping the Techmoan Effect will rub off onto its new buds? BTW wireless earbuds aren't for me. I have a bad habit of putting pairs of earbuds down and forgetting where I put them. The last thing I need is that, but without the cord to give me a clue (and the ability to misplace one at a time rather than both ears at once).

I just left my longest ever YouTube comment, aimed at Sony. Long story short, Polo Earbuds seemed stupid to me at first, but the talk-to-pause and custom-taps feature won me round for home use. Price is too high for me especially because I already own probably 20 alternatives. I can't use any headphones with a band on them because they put a crimp in my mullet 😁

Ah, but how much are they in Fijian $?

When I lived in downtown Toronto, I wore "AfterShokz". It was safer, as I could hear if someone sketchy was coming up behind me. (It happened 3-4 times.) I was able to stop them from robbing me, or assaulting me from behind.

I do like the Aftershocks which I got after your reviews, but it is annoying that you can’t even lean back in a chair with a head rest, let alone lie down in them. Also, they’re fiddly to power on without looking at the buttons. So, I can see the attraction of these Link Buds. Are they permanently powered on when not in their case, I wonder? Thanks for an honest and informative review, Mat. Really, you have to hope Sony don’t send you stuff on a regular basis, or once you’ve done three reviews, people will assume you’re on their pay roll - like people unfairly did about Tony Northrop, a YouTube camera reviewer.

I can definitely see the value in these, as much as I like my WI-1000X headset it's no not really good for use in the car. I now find myself with three cars and none have very good audio playing capabilities so these might be useful. I wish I could try them and see. Regardless, I think there's a missed opportunity for a tie-in with Polo here. It's nice that they aren't just white though, I won't even consider Airpods until they're offered in other colours.

This reminds me of my recent Oticon hearing aids, which allow you to stream audio from your phone and still hear what's going on through the microphones. Sometimes it's convenient to hear something urgent in the environment, like you said, but other times it's not and I just put on my noise canceling headphones instead. It's also hard to use in the car because it just doesn't get loud enough, but it's still a cool feature...

“180 pounds in euros” is a new one. Skimming the YT comments you seem to have gotten away with it.

I found the e-mail from WSJ just before yours. Theirs is at https://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-linkbuds-review-wireless-earbuds-11644938911?mod=djemptech_t but I'm only reading it AFTER yours since I originally had no intention of reading their review of this product. I, like you, wouldn't have bothered looking at this product at all, but for your review. Now I'm curious.

As a fellow aftershokz user when I go out walking the dog, I find these interesting. I also listen to podcasts & audiobooks on them, and also come across the issue of the headband on the aftershokz causing issues with the collar on some coats pushing them off the ears forcing me to have to wear a beanie which makes them uncomfortable. It does seem like these Sony buds are aimed at someone like dog walkers, runners or cyclists - so you can hear people and ambient noise such as cars etc whilst still being able to hear the audio you want to. Especially the pause on talk & auto volume piece (I have to pause my aftershokz when I get close to busy traffic as I can’t hear the audio). So I can see the use case. 👍 And a great honest review too.

They're not for me either. I've already tried using my Anker buds in "voice-through" mode at home and on the bicycle. It never really worked for me at home, my ears start to hurt after a while, I do prefer over-ears. I solved the doorbell issue by hooking it and the door phone up to home automation, so I get a notification with a doorbell sound in my headphones whenever someone is at the door. On the bicycle I've found that the low rumble-targeted noise cancelling works better, still letting through cues without drowning my podcast. In public transport I use full on noise cancelling of course. Same on the job, the danger there is vapid concentration-killing gossip, not machinery. All the best for your family.

The internet would be a better place if everyone who did reviews had at least half your honesty and dignity, Matt. Damn. That one quote had me rolling.

I hope the family issues get better soon. After looking at the comments on the video, I can completely see why they're frustrating.

"Dear Sony, have you got anything unusual lying round the back of the warehouse, forgotten for 30 years??" ... You never know...

Now that you have a relationship with Sony they might give you access to some of the super rare and funky stuff they have released throughout the decades. I might be reaching a bit though... Great and very insightful review either way. I doubt many other reviewers would have covered flaws such as the eating being mistaken for a tap issue.

Sorry about your family issues, that should always take priority and we completely understand if you need to step away and take a break for a while.

I haven't seen it yet, but I guess congratulations are in order. I would expect from Sony to have done their homework so they targeted you. I also think they might see you in a very positive light as you have shown many Sony products and their quirks. I have to get around to send you a couple of questions about the mp3 on your hifi though. Seen its discontinued and wonder a good source to get one

Sorry to hear about your family issues, Mat. I hope things get better, in whatever way that applies, soon.

Obviously I'll watch this but I did think of you when I saw the new Walkman announcement and would have been far more interested in seeing you get your hands on that.

You got to review something that required a NDA? You've hit the big time, Mat! No one's gonna be upset about the same time debut, though. No one worth listening to, at any rate.

It's okay, because, while I personally AM a fan of this style of headphones, most of us who subscribe to your channel have similar values to you and will get use out of this.