Sony reteams with Olivia Rodrigo as it fleshes out the LinkBuds series
Sony’s LinkBuds Fit and LinkBuds Open get a unique style and tuning developed with Olivia Rodrigo and the LinkBuds Speaker makes its debut
Today, Sony has unveiled several new entries into its LinkBuds series of audio products. The most notable of these is the curiously named Sony LinkBuds Speaker – the first Bluetooth speaker to join the range. Alongside that are the LinkBuds Open, which feel like a natural successor to the original Sony LinkBuds, and the LinkBuds Fit, which are closer in design to the Sony LinkBuds S.
As the most novel entry, we’ll look at the speaker first. If you’re only interested in the new earbuds, you can use the links below to skip straight to them.
Not fussed about the LinkBuds Speaker?Sony LinkBuds Speaker
The name is a little clunky and makes it sound like a hybrid of wireless earbuds and speaker, but in reality, the Sony LinkBuds Speaker is a fairly straightforward Bluetooth speaker. The body is a squat cylinder with a rounded top – available in the same black and eggshell white styles offered by the LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Fit – and it’s rated IPX4 for splash resistance.
The speaker arrangement is fairly straightforward, with a woofer and tweeter firing outwards from the front and a passive radiator on either side. On the top are buttons for power, media control and volume, as well as a single microphone that allows you to direct calls through the speaker. There’s no word on Bluetooth version or codec support yet but Sony did confirm the LinkBuds Speaker supports Bluetooth Multipoint.
There’s a strap on the rear of the speaker to allow for easier carrying, and you get a slim charging dock included in the box, too. Pop the speaker on this for just ten minutes and you’ll apparently get enough charge for 70 minutes of audio playback. At full charge, the speaker should last 25 hours – although that figure is specifically based on volume level 23, so expect that to vary depending on your usage.
As tends to be the case with these types of Bluetooth speakers, you can pair two LinkBuds Speakers together to create stereo output, but the tricks don’t end there. Sony was also keen to highlight the new Auto Switch feature, which is compatible with the LinkBuds Fit and LinkBuds Open, as well as the flagship Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds and Sony WH-1000XM5 over-ear headphones.
With any of these, you’ll be able to simply open the case or turn them on and audio will automatically switch from the LinkBuds Speaker to your earbuds or headphones. Equally, put the buds away or turn the headphones off, and audio will jump over to the speaker. That’s a fun gimmick but I don’t see it being all that useful as it can’t be customised at all, so you’d need to turn the feature off before coming home late at night, for instance, to keep your speaker from blasting out and waking everyone up.
READ NEXT: Best PC speakers
Sony LinkBuds Open
Next up are the Sony LinkBuds Open, a familiar pair of earbuds that carry over the ring driver design of the original LinkBuds. They’re not carbon copies, however, as the main body now has a small “air cushion” – a small tail of silicone that’s filled with air designed to provide additional stability and a more flexible fit. The buds are approximately 5.1g apiece, which is a little heavier than the original LinkBuds, so hopefully these stabilisers will help the additional weight distribution.
The ring driver is designed to allow external sound to pass through the buds and aims to keep you aware of your surroundings without sacrificing audio quality. We’ll need to get them in our ears to know how well this works out but they’ve got their work cut out for them, as we found the original LinkBuds near-enough impossible to listen to in noisy environments. Here’s hoping the new Integrated Processor V2 chipset has some better tricks up its sleeve.
Battery life, at least, is much better than the original LinkBuds. The LinkBuds Open can apparently last eight hours, with the charging case bringing the total to 22 hours. Even better, a mere three minutes of charging should yield a full hour of playback.
Sony LinkBuds Fit
The Sony LinkBuds Fit are mostly the same as their open counterparts, with the new air cushion design and a wonderfully lightweight build (roughly 4.9g per earbud). The Integrated Processor V2 turns up here as well, joined by the same Dynamic Driver X used in the Sony WF-1000XM5. Considering that we love how the latter sound, that bodes well for the LinkBuds Fit.
The noise cancelling used here is touted as being both automatic and adaptable, dynamically adjusting based on the changing sound of your environment. With this enabled, you’re looking at around 5.5 hours of battery life in-ear, with a total of 21 hours including the case (with ANC disabled, this rises to 8 hours and 21 hours – the same as the LinkBuds Open). There’s again no wireless charging for the case, but five minutes with the buds tucked away will apparently juice them up enough for a further hour of listening.
READ NEXT: Best cheap wireless earbuds
Sony LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Fit: Features
Just like the LinkBuds Speaker, both the Open and the Fit support Bluetooth Multipoint and are rated IPX4 for splash protection. Wear detection returns on both models, as does Sony’s Wide Tap Area feature, which lets you control the buds by tapping on your cheek (roughly around the temporomandibular joint) instead of on the buds themselves. We’ve found this feature to be hit and miss in the past, so hopefully it’s a little more refined this time.
There are some new features as well, including the all-new Sony Voice Control, which allows you to control playback by saying “hey headphones”, and there’s a completely redesigned Sound Connect App that allows you to control all of the LinkBuds entries (as well as future headphones, wireless earbuds and speakers) in one place.
The new Background Music Mode is the most interesting addition, as it sounds like a very specialised spatial audio mode. The idea is that, when enabled, audio will sound like it’s coming from the space around you, as opposed to headphones playing right into your ears. The options shown were “My Room”, “Living Room” and “Cafe”. It’s unclear at this point what the difference between the three is but I’d imagine that they’re scales of distance, with My Room feeling the closest and Cafe presenting the audio furthest away.
This is another one that we’ll need to test out before commenting on how effective it is but it’s an interesting idea. Would it not be simpler to just play music from your phone or a speaker? Sure, but I definitely see the appeal of achieving that vibe while riding the train or sitting up in bed while your partner is sleeping, for instance.
Sony LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Fit: Colours and accessories
The last thing to talk about is colours. The LinkBuds Fit get one style that the Open lack – a soft, muted green colour – but otherwise, both pairs are available in the same black and white as the LinkBuds Speaker, as well as a special edition vibrant purple colourway that was developed in partnership with Olivia Rodrigo (following a successful collaboration on the Sony LinkBuds S).
This is easily the most eye-catching of the design but it’s not all about the aesthetics. Sony has also included a specially tuned equaliser setting with this model, also developed by Olivia and her team.
The colour fun doesn’t end there, either. Sony also showed off a handful of colourful silicone covers for both the charging case and the air cushion supports on the buds, allowing you to mix and match your styles with green, pink, black, blue and purple accessories. The shades are a little muted, and only the LinkBuds Fit case appears to be available in the Olivia Rodrigo purple, but there’s no denying that the colourful combinations are interesting.
We’ll have more to say about the LinkBuds Fit, LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Speaker in the near future but for now, there are certainly some ideas here that should help them stand out in the overcrowded wireless earbuds and Bluetooth speaker markets. Will they succeed? Check back in soon for our reviews and find out.
