Audio gear has stayed the same for the longest with improvements which you can see depending on the category. One of the places Sony wasn’t afraid of venturing into: Experimental audio gears. One of them being the Xperia Ear Duo, an utterly unique Earbuds that works differently and combines both music and ambience is a whole another way. We never saw the successors to those until today, where Sony ditched the Xperia naming for it and calls it the Sony Linkbuds, and boy am I excited for this.

Sony LinkBuds

A Successor to the Xperia Ear Duo

For those who are not aware, back in 2018 – when the Sony Xperia division was alive with its plethora of smartphones, they did some interesting concepts that did go on sale but was aiming for a niche audience and the Xperia Ear Duo was for a niche audience. Having said that I personally have used before, it connects both the outside world and your virtual world in a way that the word “ambient” isn’t even the right way to describe it.

As someone who listens to a lot of music and spends time on the move meeting people, dealing with earphones was an absolute hassle and this was Sony’s unique take. It has not seen a successor until today where the company announced the Sony LinkBuds – eliminating the Xperia name and making it a part of their audio lineup.

Same Concept, Better Execution

Sony Linkbuds

Gone are the futuristic look that looks like an ear ornament that sticks around your ears that had a subjective fit for every user and comes a much more practical yet unique design that still stands out like an ornament, just that it now resides inside your ear. The design is a lot more simplistic, following their kando philosophy. Sony is one of the brands that takes recycling seriously and these earbuds are made with recycled plastic materials. In fact, it has similarities with its other earbuds that share similar texture.

The drivers are now different: from the tube-like driver that uses the ear tips to drive sound into the canal, comes a new ring-type driver unit and an open diaphragm design for the transparency – so that both the virtual and physical world blends together very well. They are also powered by Sony’s V1 Processor that produces good detail in sound and minimizes the distortion as much as it could. Paired with DSEE, it gives the right kind of boost to the listening experience.

Unique Controls

Now the controls of LinkBuds aren’t on the earbuds at all, in fact, it uses a Wide Area Tap technology that allows you to just tap near the ear and voila, it’s as simple as it can get. The volume gets adjusted depending on the kind of environment you are in, which makes it a life saver. Unlike the Xperia Ear Duo which had its own assistant, it ditches that for Google Assistant and Alexa, so it’s a lot more versatile.

As for the rest…

Sony LinkBuds offer some good numbers for the battery and other aspects. Such as:

  • 5 hours of battery life with Fast charging, giving you 90 minutes of playback time with 10 minutes of charging.
  • IPX4 for all that Splash Resistance from workout or in any wet situations.
  • A case that’s tiny and fits into any kind of pocket without any issues.

Not an AirPods Contender

Remember, these are not AirPods contenders and in fact, the Sony LinkBuds are in a different league of their own. In the past, no one, except Sony, has made an earphone that blends both the Online and Offline world in such a way that you don’t have to take these earbuds off to talk and go back to your music easily. Airpods on the other hand are just normal earbuds that do music and nothing else, which makes it a consumer-centric product.

That said, these are not in the same leagues and comparing it side by side is probably the wrong thing to do.

Sony LinkBuds Malaysia Availability

Lucky for us, Sony Malaysia will be releasing the Sony LinkBuds in two different colors: White and Grey and it will cost RM849. They did say that it will go on sale starting this 17th February – and it’s live on Shopee right now. So, that said, if you are keen on getting these earbuds, by all means – go ahead. We are very much interested as to see how it is, so hopefully we get our hands on them and share our verdict very soon.