Sony Linkbuds review: is a half-step the right idea?

Listening to music while riding a bike is a surprisingly divisive subject. If you are riding indoors on a trainer music is almost a requirement to get through the effort. Outside though there’s a lot of worry about spatial awareness and if it makes sense to ride with headphones.

The reality is that there are a lot of use cases and it’s for that reason we put together a list of the best headphones for cycling. As I look to evolve that list, something I continue to investigate are headphones that preserve spatial awareness. There are a lot of different ways that modern technology looks to solve this problem but Sony has managed to do something completely unique with the Sony Linkbuds.

A pair of true wireless headphones that don’t seal the ear canal is an intriguing idea so I set out to see if it works. Having spent time testing in a variety of situations I am ready to share what they do well, and what could use some rethinking. If you are considering headphones for riding a bike keep reading to see if the Sony Linkbuds are the best option for you.

Environmentally conscious packaging and recycled plastic area nice touch (Image credit: Josh Ross) Design and aesthetics The packaging the Sony Linkbuds arrive in is a tiny cube just a bit bigger than the headphones themselves. Everything inside is as tight as possible and while there’s a printed outside the box uses an unbleached paperstock with an embossed logo. The small size means less material needed, and less fossil fuels used for transportation too, while the unbleached paper means a greener production process.

The Sony Linkbuds are the first Sony earbuds to use recycled plastic construction. The colour options reflect this with a choice between a soft speckled white or a darker gray with the same speckles. There is, of course, no requirement that recycled plastic look this way but it’s an obvious outward nod to the sustainability story that Sony is looking to tell.

Even if you don’t believe Sony is being genuine with that story, the Linkbuds are tiny so there’s not much need for extra packaging. The case is 41. 4 x 48.

5 x 30. 9mm and only weighs 39 grams even with the earbuds included. The downside of the small case is that the battery is small as well and you can see that borne out in the specs.

Sony gives a 5. 5 hour listening time rating to the earbuds and the case is good for an extra 12 hours. Ten minutes in the change case will add an extra ninety minutes of listening time but you’ll have to make sure your settings are correct if you want to swap back and forth between earbuds.

Press the button on the front of the case to unlock it and it will open to reveal the earbuds themselves. This is the point at which you’ll see just how different they are. The body of the earbuds are two pieces; a disc with a chrome hole in the centre and a circle with a dome.

Each piece uses the same diameter circle making for a bit of a Venn diagram visual even though the domed circle is, obviously, taller. They also don’t sit flush to each other at the bottom so they won’t sit flat on a table. Image 1 of 2It looks like that hole might sit over your ear canal but the whole circle actually sits inside the same way a typical earbud does (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 2 of 2There is no traditional speaker driver (Image credit: Josh Ross) The way the design works is equally novel.

The whole concept revolves around the disk with the hole in it which Sony calls a ring driver. Most true wireless earbuds use some system where the driver sits inside the body and there’s a seal created with the ear canal. With the Linkbuds the driver is the ring and it inserts into the ear canal with no seal.

As is more typical, there is also a companion app. It doesn’t follow any Android design conventions and looks completely different but it does offer an impressive array of control options. The “Headphones” tab breaks into four subsections with battery life on the “Status” screen.

Flip over to “Sound” and that’s where you can find the options for customising the equaliser as well as setting up spatial audio. The “System” tab is where Sony houses controls for turning on and off features as well as where you can customise how the earbuds respond to taps. Pay attention to the assistant settings in this section, they are going to be important depending on your use needs.

Performance Figuring out how to use the Sony Linkbuds took me a solid two days. I went through all of the included silicone wings (there are five pairs in total), and swapped them back and forth. It seemed like I needed the smallest option and I could sometimes get the Linkbuds to feel secure in the ear but it always took a long time.

It wasn’t until I shared them with my son that the system actually made sense. Putting the earbud into his ear and visually seeing how it fit unlocked my understanding. I must not be the only one to have this trouble because Sony has a video on the product page that illustrates the challenge.

The part that was clear from the beginning was how the ringed piece works. When I initially saw it in pictures, I thought the ring sat outside the ear canal. Instead, think of the ring as the same thing as the rubberized tips most earbuds use.

It sits much farther into the ear canal than you’d expect. Then the wings catch under the ridges of your outer ear. I actually needed the largest of the wings to make it all work but once I figured it out they are rock solid in my ear.

With no reliance on friction in the ear canal, it doesn’t matter how sweaty you get, the Linkbuds won’t come loose. Most headphones have three wing sizes, while Sony includes five counting the medium that comes preinstalled (Image credit: Josh Ross) Despite the ring working a little differently than pictures might suggest, this part of the Linkbuds is brilliant. Put them in your ear and your hearing is completely unimpeded.

Out on the bike, you can enjoy full spatial awareness, you can carry on a normal conversation in any setting, and if you are eating your chewing won’t be a maddening noise in your head. The sound quality with this arrangement is also pretty impressive. That’s not to say that the sound quality is perfect, it’s just impressive for what it is.

It’s also impressive in the context of what Shokz offers in their headphones. Much of what the Sony Linkbuds promise is also offered by the Shokz headphones so I started by comparing the two while listening to My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit. I haven’t been all that bothered by the sound quality of the Shokz but going back and forth the Linkbuds make them sound almost underwater.

Image 1 of 3The case is tiny and mirrors the carboard used in the packaging (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 2 of 3The lock holds the earbuds in the case and dropping the case won’t spill them across the floor (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 3 of 3USB-C is standard at this point but there’s no wireless charging (Image credit: Josh Ross) No one claims the Shokz headphones sound amazing though so that’s a low bar. The next comparison I tried was the Sennheiser Momentum 3 True Wireless and when you put them on there’s suddenly a whole extra layer on the low end. It’s such a drastic change I jumped into the Sony app to see if I just had the equaliser set wrong.

I did have it set to vocal boost but switching to Bass Boost did very little, there’s just no low end to the Sony Linkbuds. I switched it back to Vocal Boost since devoting frequency to a nonexistent low end was a wasted effort. Aside for the equaliser there are also a number of seemingly impressive features in the Sony companion app.

The problem is that in my experience with a Google Pixel 6a and Youtube Music, almost all of them were unusable. I analysed my ears to try 360 reality audio only to realise I need a different music app. I looked into spatial sound optimization but that’s for video.

There are also connections that rely on Endel or Spotify but I don’t have accounts with either. Wide area tap is an interesting one that means you can tap in front of the earbuds as well as on them. Not sure it’s hugely useful though and if it disappeared, I’d never miss it.

Actually, for my use, about three quarters of what you find in the companion app could disappear and I wouldn’t miss anything. One thing I do miss is the ability to connect both Linkbuds to the source regardless of the settings. Understanding this took some investigation on my part and I initially thought only the right earbud would connect.

The strange thing about it was that another reviewer casually mentioned only the left earbud would connect. Initially I brushed that off as a typo but Sony mentions in the app that if you turn on Service Link setting only the right earbud would work on its own. Turns out Sony has a support page covering the issue and the answer is both frustrating and simple.

If you want to be able to use either Linkbud as a single unit, and you want to swap back and forth, you can’t assign a voice assistant to the tap function. As I said, simple but frustrating. One of the more useful features for riding a bike with headphones is the feature of the Google Pixel Buds that reads your notifications.

If you assign the Google Assistant to the Linkbuds a triple tap will do the same thing. It would be well worth trading the convenience of swapping which single headphone will work if not for the short battery life. Five and a half hours of earbud life isn’t much of a hassle when you can put one earbud in the case for ten minutes then remove it and put the other one in.

I’ve done that dance many times during long Zwift sessions but if only one headphone will work on its own then that’s not an option. In the end I unassigned the voice assistant, but it’s a loss. Image 1 of 6The main screen of the app shows the battery levels and connection status (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 2 of 6One of the stranger sections of the app is a gamification piece that gives badges (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 3 of 6More welcome than badges is a quality equaliser (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 4 of 6Unfortunately there’s no low to speak of so stick with optimising for treble (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 5 of 6You will also want to avoid assigning a voice assistant to the touch controls (Image credit: Josh Ross)Image 6 of 6These options will be helpful for some people but I don’t use any of the apps needed (Image credit: Josh Ross) Verdict As you read through my review you might get the sense that I don’t love the Sony Linkbuds.

I talk about the short battery life, I talk a lot about the quirks of the app, and I discuss how long it took me to figure these out. Those are all drawbacks but it’s not that I don’t like the Linkbuds, it’s just that they are a specialised choice. The more I review headphones the more I see a split in their focus.

The best headphones for riding a bike are not the same headphones for off the bike. This is especially true if we talk about riding outside. If you are only going to buy one pair of headphones, you will have to decide what they focus on.

The Shokz offer better battery life but they lack the convenience of true wireless headphones and the sound quality suffers. The Sony Linkbuds let you hear the world around you while riding, they have better sound quality than the Shokz, and they have the convenience of true wireless headphones. On the other hand, they won’t match the battery life of the Shokz or the sound quality of other true wireless options.

The Sony Linkbuds are a half step towards general use and you’ll have to decide if that makes them a better choice for you. Testing scorecard and notes Sound qualityBetter than the Shokz but they completely lack bottom end and that reduces the overall presence. 5/10ComfortNot having your ear sealed feels better after a while but they are still hard plastic against your ear.

7/10Companion AppIt works well but there’s lots of unnecessary pieces as well as a lot of things that are only going to work for some people. The classic choice of options you can’t use vs no options. 8/10FeaturesConsider that increased spatial awareness is as important as any other feature.

10/10ValuePricing moves around a little but Sony tends to price these just slightly higher than the competition and they are somewhat specialised. 8/10Overall76% Tech Specs: Sony Linkbuds Price: £149 / $179. 99 / €180 / AU$249Colour options: Gray, WhitePlay Time: Play Time: 5.

5 hours + 12 additional hours stores in case batteryCharge Time: Quick charge: 10 min gives you 90 minutes of playtime. Earbud time to full charge: 1. 5 hours Touch Response Functions: Playback control, Volume Control, Voice Assist Function, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Quick AccessWireless Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.

2Water Resistance: IPX4.