After seeing Techmoan's review of Sony's Linkbuds I was captivated. Could these be the music delivery tech I've been waiting for since I realised I couldn't properly hear my garlic and onions frying with headphones in?
Short answer - yes! I've successfully cooked with Linkbuds in and heard everything as it was happening. I can clearly hear my cats meowing for food while I'm gaming (switch) and have no trouble hearing approaching vehicles when I'm walking home. I'd read that Linkbuds weren't great for commuting but to my joy I found them loud enough for me to clearly hear my music without needing to turn it up too high.
Nice clear sound too, with various options for adding bass. I've never been one for bass so while these are perfect for me I can see what other reviews mean when they say the bass isn't a strong point.
Overall very happy. There are five things that do bother me though that I would love to see improved in a Linkbuds 2 (not the S model that does sit right in your ear, but another truly open model)
1. The tap controls aren't customisable beyond choosing which options go to which ear. Ideally I would have: left ear - assistant notifications and raise volume. Right ear - play/pause and skip track.
But I'm only allowed to choose "assistant" for the left ear, which gives me "ask assistant" and "assistant notifications". I'm not interested in asking the assistant, I just want to hear my notifications (which does give you the option to reply to any messages)
2. Weirdly the assistant gives me instructions as though it's set to my right ear? "Double tap the right ear for…" When it's actually the left. Not a big issue but it feels like it was overlooked?
3. No multipoint pairing - simple enough. Complaint for any non-multipoint Bluetooth device really. If these are designed to link the digital and analogue world it would certainly be a better experience if I didn't have to manually connect every time between devices?
4. Audio dropouts. I'm leaning toward this being a device issue, but sometimes in my front pocket the connection will flick in and out for a second. Worse when I reach in to pull out my phone, basically goes to nothing until the phone is out of my pocket.
5. The fit is very secure and comfortable for me, but I have had various moments where I wonder if they've moved slightly and I'm not getting an entirely clear ear experience. I find I do need to focus on conversations with them in and music off to really follow along. Maybe best if the fit was a little more intuitive just so I could be confident they're in the right spot.
I don't use wireless charging and love the feel of the case so no complaints there.
Ultimately I would buy these again, absolutely. I really hope other companies come out with similarly open ear designs, I feel like this is an area with great potential that needs to be explored a bit more and glad I could listen in !
I thought most people bought these device for Noise Cancelling? :)