Sony Linkbuds Clip Blends Virtual and Physical Audio Realm | Review

Sony is one brand that knows how to do open concept earbuds right and it all started with the Xperia Ear, followed by the Linkbuds Open, and now we have the Clip, which reinvents the concept into a clip-style earbuds. Now that its discounted, I would say it’s a good buy, granted if you are okay with what it does and how it handles. Read our Sony Linkbuds Clip Review to find out more.

Sony Linkbuds Clip Review

The Clip Finish is rather cute, I’d say

There are brands that has done some flashy jewellery-like designs that looks more like an accessory to your ear than like some earbuds. Whereas Sony has tried to keep a more clean, minimal design and it doesn’t quite look like an accessory but looks kind of like one. We got the Greige colour, which is beige really and it really looks good on my ears.

The clipping mechanism of the Sony Linkbuds Clip isn’t harsh on the ear either, in fact I could wear it for long and sometimes I don’t bother removing. In those cases, it has not caused any inconvenience or uneasy feeling. Sony retaining the same case profile is nice with a matte bottom and a glossy top. At times when I almost forgot them on my desk, I have always managed to spot the case and bring it with me.

You don’t need LDAC on this

You really don’t, because it is totally unnecessary for how it delivers audio to your ears. Instead of sitting in your ear canal, Sony Linkbuds Clip literally clips around your helix and anti-helix, and the driver sits around the concha. These earbuds are supposed to co-exist with your space and it does that very well.

Because of the lack of isolation, which means your canals are not obstructed, the audio delivered to your ear will be highly dependent on your surroundings. If it’s noisy, you might not be able to hear well, if its quiet, people might hear what you are listening to. But here’s the thing, Sony taught about it and included three modes to choose from:

In normal conditions, where noise isn’t a problem, like in an everyday setting, you want a decent listening experience, you can use “Standard”. If you are in a noisy environment, you can switch to Voice Boost and say you are in a meeting room, you can enable Sound Leakage mode. Pretty good. But…

The Update brought additional Features

The beauty about Sony products is the ability to update and get more features. So, Sony added a fourth mode for the Sony Linkbuds Clip, and that’s background music. You know when you go to café, stores, you have music playing in the background? It creates that sort of listening setting which is pretty cool, I might add. You can choose from three different room settings to have an ideal mode of your choice.

Other features that work well would be the Adaptive Volume Control, which uses the mics to adjust the volume, a neat trick. Then some honourable mentions would be EQ, DSEE, and Multilink, and you get the usual Sony features like 360 Reality Audio and such.

Vertigo-friendly Earbuds for those who get disoriented easily

In traditional earbuds, you get a seal, and there are many out there who cannot use them because they get vertigo and their balance goes off making them disoriented. So, these Sony Linkbuds Clip have the ability to clip and not close off the ear canals and with the granular mode controls Sony offers, can definitely benefit users who has vertigo.

Because it’s Open Ear designed…

The audio quality is definitely a little compromised with the Sony Linkbuds Clip, because you don’t have a proper seal to kind of keep the audio in a chamber, that is your ear canal, you do lose out on the lows, like almost in most cases, and entirely missing in some cases where the lows play a vital role in the music. The mids are okay, and the highs are bright for sure, but you won’t get the kind of listening experience you would like from traditional earbuds. Treat them like an almost open-back earbuds, if you will.

But that’s good I’d say because say when I am running on track, or on the streets, I want to be completely aware of my surroundings. And the Linkbuds Clip delivers. But it needs to be the kind of songs that would have the oomph so that I can get an almost rounded experience. You might think having Transparency mode might be a better option, and you are right, but when I am sweating, I don’t want my earbuds to be filthy and maintain these Clips are much easier I’d say.

So, I am going to say this: don’t buy it if you are looking to get some top tier audio that’s going to put ANC earbuds to shame, these are not it – in fact, clip type earbuds are never it.

But here’s my question…

When these Sony Linkbuds Clip came out, it was about RM 899, and now it’s been a few weeks to a little more than a month since its launch, and we see it go for RM 799. I find it a little pricey, I’ll admit. The additional features of the Linkbuds Clip to be able to tweak to your surroundings are nice; however, these clip-based earbuds are for a very niche audience who are looking for this specific kind of configuration.

So, if you are not the target audience, look elsewhere. However, if you are getting these clip-based earbuds, these are not too bad of an option to go for, especially with RM 100 less and sometimes on slightly huge discounts on Shopee during sales, you can even pick these up over the Shokz OpenDots, which are the same price as per SRP.

For more tech, gaming, and lifestyle content, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Better yet, stay tuned to The Adventures of Vesper.