In early 2022, Sony took a chance on a new type of wireless earbud. The LinkBuds were designed around an 11mm doughnut-shaped driver so the wearer could wear them all day while listening to whatever they wanted but remain connected to the outside world. As far as first-of-its-kind products go, they weren’t completely terrible.
It wasn’t long before the LinkBuds S joined the family, just a few months later. Now, Sony’s bringing two more earbuds into the fold, as well as a new speaker.
The LinkBuds family grows
The LinkBuds Open are a direct sequel to the original LinkBuds. They have a similar design but are slightly smaller and use a new 11mm doughnut-shaped driver for supposedly better audio quality. We didn’t have issues with the first LinkBuds staying in our ears but we were in the minority. Sony has redesigned the silicone bits that keep them in place, ditching the silicone loops for what it calls “Air Fitting Supporters.”
The changes aren’t just external, either. Sony’s given the ‘buds their own voice controls meaning you won’t have to rely on Siri or Google Assistant/Gemini to do your bidding. That’s particularly useful when the device you’re connected to doesn’t support voice assistants.
Battery life for the Linkbuds Open has also increased. You can expect eight hours from the buds and 22 hours in total with the case. That’s a decent increase over the five-and-a-half and 17.5 hours of the first LinkBuds. Charging for three minutes will net you an hour of music playback.
As for connectivity, the LinkBuds Open uses Bluetooth 5.3 and features the same V2 chip as the flagship WF-1000XM5s for a more stable connection. Multi-device connectivity is supported along with support for the SBC, AAC, and LC3 codecs. No support for Sony’s Hi-Res LDAC, however.
Shoving ’em deeper
If you’re less interested in always being connected to the world around you, the new LinkBuds Fit might be more your speed. They’re supposedly a smaller and lighter version of the LinkBuds S and forego the doughnut-shaped driver design for a more traditional silicone-tip construction that you can shove into your ear. This also means they’ll be able to actively cancel out external noise.
They might be smaller but that comes at the cost of battery life. Although you’re only losing 30 minutes from the LinkBuds S’ six hours. That’s made up for with the case which now provides an overall battery life of 21 hours and boasts the same quick charging as the LinkBuds Open.
Like the LinkBuds Open, the LinkBuds Fit also sports Sony’s V2 chip for stable connections, will connect to two devices at a time, and supports the same audio codecs as the LinkBuds Open along with Sony’s LDAC for Hi-Res audio.
Stranger-looking earbuds, this
Sony is also launching the LinkBuds Speaker which is meant to complement your new ‘buds by offering to automatically hand off audio when you get close enough. Along with the new LinkBuds Open and Fit, the speaker also supports automatic audio handoff with the original LinkBuds S and Sony’s flagship WH-1000XM5 and WF-1000XM5.
Inside the speaker, you’ll find a single tweeter and woofer with a passive radiator. It also comes with a charging case and an IPX4 rating so maybe keep it away from the pool or tub. According to Sony, you’re looking at 25 hours of battery life at sensible volumes or as little as six hours at max volume. That makes us wonder how loud this thing will go.
The LinkBuds Open, Fit and Speaker are available for pre-order in the US today with the earbuds going for $200 (R3,460) and the speaker costing $180 (R3,120) but there’s no word on when they’ll be arriving in SA or what they’ll cost when they do. We’ll update this story if that changes.