Aura Kasih
Sony’s entry into the burgeoning clip-on earbud market with the LinkBuds Clip has fallen short of expectations, failing to distinguish itself from a crowded field despite its premium price point. While building on the innovative open-ear design popularized by its predecessors, the LinkBuds and LinkBuds Open, the new model struggles to justify its $229.99 cost, offering a competent but ultimately unexceptional audio experience.
The design language of the LinkBuds Clip adopts the popular ear-cuff aesthetic, a trend that has gained significant traction in recent years. These earbuds feature a small, spherical speaker housing that rests just outside the ear canal, connected by a flexible band to a larger, capsule-shaped component that drapes over the outer ear. Sony’s aesthetic choices for the Clip are understated yet sophisticated, with a subtly glossy finish available in a palette of muted tones, including lavender, green, greige, and black. The provided green review unit showcased a pleasing visual appeal, though some consumers might gravitate towards more vibrant colorways. Further personalization is offered through five interchangeable case covers—black, green, blue, coral, and lavender—allowing users to tailor the look to their individual preferences.
While the visual design is commendable, the practical implementation of the clip mechanism presents a mixed bag. The LinkBuds Clip are engineered to sit midway up the ear’s helix. However, the inherent variability in human ear anatomy means that achieving an optimal and secure fit can require a degree of experimentation. For some users, including the reviewer, this ideal position might be found slightly lower on the ear. Once this "sweet spot" is identified, the process of donning the earbuds becomes swift and uncomplicated. Nevertheless, the initial fit can feel somewhat loose, lacking the tenacious grip offered by more aggressively designed competitors. The flexibility of the connecting band, for instance, does not quite match that of the Shokz OpenDots One, which provides a demonstrably more secure embrace.
To address this potential looseness, Sony includes a set of silicone "cushions" designed to fit around the flexible band. These cushions, which also match the color of the interchangeable case covers, proved instrumental in achieving the desired secure fit. With the cushions in place, the LinkBuds Clip could be worn for extended periods, even an entire workday, without inducing discomfort. In fact, their open design, which permits ambient sound to pass through, made them so unobtrusive that they were occasionally forgotten, blending seamlessly into the user’s auditory environment. However, it is worth noting that individuals with larger ears might experience a more pronounced sensation of pressure, even when the cushions are not utilized.
The sound performance of the LinkBuds Clip, while generally good, is impacted by the compromises inherent in their open-ear design and the inclusion of the fit-enhancing cushions. The cushions, by positioning the speaker elements slightly further from the ear canal, can subtly diminish bass response. Indeed, like many open-ear earbuds, the Clip exhibit a certain reticence in delivering deep, resonant bass. Sony has implemented three primary listening modes: standard, voice boost, and sound leakage reduction, each offering a distinct auditory profile.
The standard mode presents the most natural soundstage, characterized by a clear midrange that avoids overpowering the higher frequencies. The voice boost mode, while enhancing clarity for spoken word content such as podcasts and news broadcasts, can become somewhat oppressive during extended music listening sessions due to an exaggerated vocal presence. The sound leakage reduction mode, intended to minimize audio bleed into the environment, achieves this by attenuating high-end frequencies, which unfortunately results in a muffled and dull overall sound. Curiously, the reviewer found that significant sound leakage was not a pronounced issue even in the standard and voice boost modes, suggesting that the effectiveness of this particular feature might be overstated.
Sony’s accompanying Sound Connect application provides users with a degree of sonic customization. Within the app, a selection of presets is available, alongside a 10-band equalizer, empowering users to fine-tune specific frequency ranges. For genres demanding a more robust low-end presence, such as certain rock tracks, manually boosting the bass and low-mid frequencies can yield a more satisfying listening experience. The application also incorporates Sony’s DSEE technology, which aims to enhance the audio quality of compressed digital music files, offering a marginal improvement to fidelity.
Where the LinkBuds Clip truly excel is in their call quality. A sophisticated AI noise-reduction chip, coupled with a bone-conduction sensor, is employed to prioritize the wearer’s voice and isolate it from ambient noise. During multiple test calls conducted in bustling urban environments, participants consistently reported clear reception of the wearer’s voice, with surrounding traffic noise effectively suppressed. While fleeting instances of wind gusts or distant sirens were occasionally audible to call participants, these interruptions were minor. Conversely, during these noisy conditions, the open design of the Clip made it somewhat challenging for the wearer to clearly discern the voices of those on the other end of the call.
The feature set of the LinkBuds Clip, particularly considering their $229.99 price tag, is notably lean. While they offer an impressive battery life of nine hours on a single charge, with an additional 28 hours provided by the charging case, the case itself omits wireless charging capabilities—a common convenience in this product category. Furthermore, the earbuds support only the standard SBC and AAC audio codecs, conspicuously lacking Sony’s proprietary high-resolution LDAC codec. Another missing feature is audio sharing, a functionality that is available on other Sony models, such as the WF-1000XM5, and is even found on earbuds priced only slightly higher than the Clip.
The touch controls, integrated into the flexible band of the earbuds, can be temperamental. The system relies on multiple taps for various commands—two taps for play/pause, three for skipping to the next track, and four taps to adjust volume. However, the tactile target area for these taps is quite small, meaning that even slight deviations in finger placement can lead to commands failing to register. This issue is exacerbated during physical activity, such as jogging, where maintaining precise contact becomes significantly more challenging. Users often find themselves needing to decelerate to a brisk walk to ensure reliable control input.
The Sound Connect app does offer a degree of advanced customization through scene-based listening profiles. This feature allows users to tailor the earbuds’ functionality based on specific activities or locations. For instance, a preferred playlist can be automatically initiated upon starting a run, or upon arriving home, the earbuds can seamlessly switch to a designated music streaming service. The app can also be configured to read out incoming notifications aloud. While this offers an intriguing level of personalization for users with established routines who are willing to invest the time in setup, it represents a niche benefit rather than a universally compelling feature.
The development of the LinkBuds Clip by Sony is a logical progression, given the company’s role in popularizing the open-ear audio segment with the original LinkBuds. The Clip earbuds present a visually appealing design, deliver a generally competent sound experience, and offer commendable comfort. However, at their current price point, they fail to establish a significant competitive advantage over other recently released open-ear earbuds, such as the more affordable Shokz OpenDots One and EarFun Clip. Unless a substantial price reduction or promotional sale occurs, the LinkBuds Clip are likely to appeal primarily to consumers who are particularly drawn to their unique aesthetic. For the broader market, a more prudent approach would be to await a more attractive pricing structure.
Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
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