Product Reviews

Perfect sound!!! Mostly because of how deep they are sitting in ear canal their NC is very good!!! As ex sound engineer I'm telling you they sound very natural in function of frequency and they are really dynamic. They are beating neewer xm5!!!Unfortunately I had them two times and both they failed about year with charging right headphone. Now is a almost a year with third one...we will see.

I bought the Sony WF-1000XM6 ear buds because I was told by a close friend that the upabove ear buds were a lot better than the headphones I currently have (which are Bose ear buds) and to my surprise he was correct which is not too often. I know they are two completely different products but the sound on the Sony buds is much clearer.

The earphones worked well for approx 3 years, then the batteries failed. Rapid drain and inaccurate battery level readings, I'll use the LinkBuds S starting out with more than 90% battery remaining in each, and after 5 minutes I will receive a low battery warning for one earphone, it will then immediately die, followed a few minutes later by the same issue for the other earphone. I was hoping it was just a dodgy software update that messed up the battery level reporting but after updating the firmware to latest, the problem still persists. Looking to replace them but having seen others report similar battery issues with Sony earphones, I've lost faith that another pair of the LinkBuds S or the more expensive WF-1000XM5 won't just do the same a few years down the line so considering other brands.

Good sound quality especially in noise cancelling mode - utilising my Sound Connect app on Android mobile to play with settings; even in no mode the sound is good with bass boost audio setting but in ambient noise mode the sound isn't as full but that can be useful when traveling out on the street...Ive had some piercing high tones randomly appear on a few occasions out of nowhere and now my right ear phone is making a whooshing windy noise that I can't seem to fix, just have to put the headphones away for a spell. Battery is probably the biggest downfall (previous to all these strange technical issues), in noise cancelling I only get 4hrs of battery, I'm probably charging the headphones and case every other day because of regular use. I will be looking to return/replace if still under warranty. Oh also the touch sensitive buttons react to my rain coat hood so basically impossible to listen to music with my rain hood up constantly pausing and switching ambient and noise cancelling settings.

This is my first ever purchase of earliest and I am astonished. Very comfortable to wear and outstanding sound quality. I should have bought sooner!

Great value and good product. I’ve not used in ear before and they are comfortable.

Although the sound quality and ANC was decent, unfortunately the battery of this product is extremely poor. I can’t even use the ANC function anymore because the battery drains within 20 minutes. Even without ANC I cannot get 30 minutes out of the left earbud. I will not be buying a Sony product again.

I bought this device a year ago and it still works like a charm! Good design and sound quality

I wanted some earbuds with option of using with a motorcycle helmet. These work fine once touch controls have been disabled with Sony’s excellent ‘connect’ app. Also great for everyday use. For the size of the buds, very impressed with sound performance and fit.

Bought these for sleeping in 2022. They are a perfect fit for me to be able to sleep on the side without feeling like something is in my ear. Noice cancelling is great and sound quality is exceptional for the size and price. But after 2 years, the batter life on the left earbud went from 7h to 15min while the right one could still easily live 6h. Then after not using them for 3 months. Left one doesn't charge and turn on at all and right one last 15min. Bought a 2nd set, the 2nd set started having issues 4 months in. Unacceptable quality control.

I purchased these in 2022 and all was fine - the quality was good, sound was good and they fitted well. About 2.5 years afterwards in the space of a couple of weeks the batteries lost all ability to hold charge. Initially they would last for 5+ hours on a charge, but they then went to losing practially all their charge in about half an hour, making them essentially useless. I googled this problem and it seems to be widely reported and discussed. My earbuds were obviously out of the 1 year warranty but I contacted Sony and they investigated but would not offer anything other than suggsting i pay for a repair. They accepted no liability for what is clearly a well known fault. To be left with something that is now no more than a paperwieght after only 2.5 years unless i pay to fix or replace it is unacceptable. I will not be buying another pair.

Initially I liked the linkbuds and was impressed with the noise cancelling. But i have found that wearing them for extended periods causes discomfort and pain. I also find that they can be awkward sometimes to create the proper seal which you need for ANC. After about 18 months I have also found that the battery drainage is severe. I can maybe listen to music for about 30 minutes maximum before they are out of charge. And this happened almost overnight, as 1 day they were fine and maintained charge for a good couple of hours at least, and the next they just died after half hour.

Over a week now, no complains. Anc is good Sound is good Connectivity- same Battery- Expected more but good A friend who uses airpod was convinced by the sound Kinda wish I can set ANC level

I'm happy at the moment, had issues with JBL product on 2 seperate occasions.

Had these for a month had other ear buds but the Sony ones are fantastic best buy

I loved these earbuds - great sound, lightweight and easy to wear all day. After having them for less than two years, however, the right bud suddenly (over a matter of a couple of weeks) started draining very quickly - at one point it only lasted 15 minutes. I suspect this may be a software problem, particularly as a reset increased the battery life to about an hour. I contacted Sony and was told I could pay £30 to have the fault assessed, plus an unknown amount for the actual repair - when I pointed out I believed this to be a fault given the suddenness of the problem and the number of other people online who reported the same issue, I received a rather curt reply with a link to the warranty policy. Wow Sony, 0/10 for customer service.

Only had these a few days before sending back to Amazon. Fully charged car and buds but battery life was awful. It actually struggled to update the firmware since the battery wouldnt last the 20mins needed! After 3 attempts managed to get latest version, but still didn't fix. 100% battery... After 5mins had 48%, after 10mins 2%. Sent back and bought another brand since the Sony warranty required posting to other side of the country and waiting. Sound quality was good though while it was on, and multipoint worked fine too. Maybe mine was from a bad batch :(

I was given a present of earbuds as I need Bluetooth connection for my phone. I have found them useful but a bit fiddlie to use and I am disappointed in the volume and noise cancelling, I couldn’t use them on a recent flight engine noise was to great.

After owning AirPods Pro 2 and these.. I definitely use these more as I like to sleep listening to music sometimes and these are so much comfier and can lie on the pillow with then in ear. As with AirPods you can’t.. sound quality is really good, and the battery like is more like 10-12 hours for the buds per charge especially if you turn the noise cancellation or ambient mode off. They last plenty long enough!

Good sound and comfortable to wear. Three issues. The cancelling feature is not very effective. They do not pair with Amazon Echo Dot. Cannot get Apple music streaming to work.

Christmas present really impressed with the comfort, the sound and the charging system.

Was really happy until one earbud started draining from 100% to 0% after less than 1 hour of use. They're out of warranty now, so nothing I can do without paying for an expensive repair.

I had this given as a Christmas present far better than my old wired ear plugs

The battery is very bad, keeping disconnecting every two to three minutes

After a year of use the case battery drops dramatically to the point I need to charge every two/three days

My second pair, first pair one earbud started discharging faster than the other and overheating when charged, second pair (brand new) now frequently get white noise in one earbud when using nose cancelling/ancient noise. Size/weight/price are perfect, just manufacturing appears to be low quality.

For everyday use they have all the features I think I need. The ANC works well for office use, but havent tried yet in a noisier environment. I had no issues with the music quality at any time. When running, they stay in comfortably without having to worry about them getting loose. The audio passthrough did pick up the wind noise when I tested them, but wasn't unusable. Battery life is acceptable, I don't do much long duration listening so didn't have an issue with that, the case and buds feels solid but a little plastic-y However, the Sound Connect app, in the current version (Nov24), needs to allow a lot more customisation for what you can do with the controls and it feels like I always need to go into it to change a setting when I want to listen to something

I am a long-time Airpods user however they finally died after 7 years. I used to sleep with them in every night but was looking for noise cancelling headphones so I bought the WH1000xm4, which I was so happy with that I decided to get the Linkbuds S (I'm a student and the WF1000xm4 didn't seem worth it for the price). Even across Apple devices they are very intuitive, and although I wish you could further adjust the controls on each they have been fantastic! Noise cancelling is incredibly impressive for such small headphones, and the ambient sound is really good. I didn't think I needed an app with so many settings that I could adjust for the earbuds but I've genuinely loved the custom EQ and being able to adjust the ambient sound and other controls. Sound quality is a 10/10 and the battery life is great, just such a convenient pair of headphones! I've been fully converted to a earbuds user now

I bought this in February this year. The noise cancellation works fine, as does the sound mixing on the app. I also appreciated the use of recycled material in the earbuds and box. However, connecting to Bluetooth on my iPhone sometimes takes a few tries. For months, I had an issue where the Linkbuds would connect to my Laptop and provide audio output for Youtube/Netflix videos, but have no audio output for Zoom/Whatsapp/Teams calls despite apparently being connected and working. I visited the Sony Store and the staff helped me to reset the Linkbuds, so the problem now seems to be solved. It's a fair purchase for the price, but is a bit glitchy at times.

Unfortunately these buds were still too big for my small ears as the bud didn't fit well in the shell of the ear and caused pressure which made them uncomfortable to wear. This made them not suitable for me, but probably fine for most other people. I liked the blue mottled colour effect and the packaging was very well designed. I didn't like how the pause to speak function kicked in when I didn't want it when i was working out. Also I had issues with the touch buttons being too sensitive and activating when I knocked them doing yoga.

I bought these ear buds about a year and a half ago, I would expect at least 2 years of solid reliable use from them, however after the 1 year mark they began to malfunction. Initially the left earbud battery would only last an hour or two, before I realised the magnet in the charging case was interfering with the recharging. If you have the AI assistant activated, this also reduces the battery life massively. Soon after managing to rectify this somewhat, I encountered the dreaded 'wind noise' issue with the right ear bud, meaning I can no longer use ambient sound mode. This seems to be a widespread issue with these buds and Sony will not fix after the years warranty. Beware if you plan to keep the ear buds for more than a year.

Great sound and fit very quick delivery just that product

So incredibly disappointed with this product. First off, the multipoint connection - it does not automatically have this and you have to download their app and a firmware add-on to get multi-point functionality. Even with the firmware added, it works horrendously. If my laptop and my phone are both connected - even if my phone is the first priority and is actively playing something - the headphones will not play any sound until I disconnect them from the laptop. And finally, one headphone has suddenly stopped holding its charge. Unfortunately they are now outside the 1 year warranty, so I have spent a lot of money on a flimsy product that lasted me less than 2 years. Avoid!!

So far these earbuds sound good, fit reasonably well, could be better though, have decent noise cancellation and ambient mode. I'm not a huge fan of the adaptive sound control though as it often swaps between modes too easily. Also on android the Sound Control app crashes far to regularly.

I wanted a pair earbuds that I could use with my Android phone, iPad and laptop. The things that primarily matter to me are: sound quality, comfort, decent battery life and bang for buck. After researching thoroughly I decided to go for the Sony Linkbud S earbuds - and I'm really glad I did. The comfort is superb and the sound well rounded and full. Although noise cancellation wasn't high on my priority list initially, I was impressed by the Linkbud S' in this department. Haven't tried them on a plane yet, but the noise cancellation does a great job of drowning out the TV if I'm using one of my devices for some private listening. The downloadable app provides a wealth of fine tuning options to get the earbuds sounding just how you want and the comfort, even for extended use is great. My experience using the Linkbud S earbuds for phone calls is pretty limited, but they seem to work pretty well. I haven't tried other brands of earbuds so providing a comparative review is not possible, but in my opinion I really don't need to look anywhere else. These tick all the right boxes.

I bought these earbuds in 2022 but now in 2024 only two years later the right earbud fails to hold a charge for more than 30 minutes after which the earbuds are then useless.The customer service option to return the earbuds for which a likely charge of upwards of £100 to replace the earbud is unacceptable. Something of this cost price should last considerably longer than 2+ years ?

It’s not been a month i got mine, and it’s been amazing

Battery has totally gone in both buds after just over a year. Won't charge fully and they die after 10mins use. Absolute waste of money. Sony once had a reputable name: not any more.

I bought LinkBuds S in May, and in less than 4 months the earbuds started to make a wind noise (even when I am indoors). I am not sure what caused it. It is a pity, the earbuds are nice and comfortable, but this wind noise makes it unbearable and unusable. I would suggest to anyone who is interested in buying it to look online about this issue, as it's a common one.

I purchased two of these headphones on the same day and I've experienced the same issue with both. the charge on one bud goes from 100% to 10% in less than 10 minutes. It's clearly an issue with this product as so many purchasers have faced the same issue and if you google issues on this product they are always the same, And following the advice if you encouter this problem (below) doesn't work.... 1-Make sure to update the headset to the latest version, as explained here: https://cutt.ly/reEjYAkg 2-Follow the steps mentioned here: https://cutt.ly/TeEjYB2x 3-Resetting the headset: https://cutt.ly/ceEjUeAG 4-Initializing the headset to restore factory settings: https://cutt.ly/UeEjUfNb If you need further assistance, you can contact us using this link: https://bit.ly/2NwYLXL I have purchased lots of Sony headphones over the years and this is the most frustrating as when they work they are great. I'd like to talk to someone about this is possible. Thanks!

Have had WF1000XM3 for a few years - superb sound quality but bit bulky when active. Spent time considering and went for LinkBuds S. Very Pleased I did .... once in they stay in no matter what, comfortable enough to wear all day and after tinkering a bit with custom EQ on the Sony app, the sound is very good even if not quite as good as XM3s

Purchased this as it had great reviews for an affordable price. However soon (within a week) discovered that the earbuds were causing me irritation in my ear canal - unclear of the cause (battery, etc) of the irritation. Unfortunately I am returning it. It's a shame as the quality of music and fit was quite good and not many earbuds out there for petite ears. I thought I had finally found the one! Would still recommend others to try it for the music quality and price. Touch functionality could improve as vs samsung this is highly complicated with numerous taps to adjust volume.

Good performance, lightweight and decent sound for the price

Sidetone cannot be turned off. Not possible to use for calls in any noisy environment like an office. Wind noise with anc is too strong

So far, the BT link has been excellent, love the sound quality and control. Great noise reduction too.

Battery life is highly questionable. The battery drain between the two earbuds varies wildly. Amazing sound quality and functionality, disappointing battery performance. Sometimes the right earbud won't turn on (the app doesn't seem to know it's there, only the left one and the case appear).

I bought these earbuds just over a year ago and now the battery of the left earbuds drains after 5 minutes. Extremely disappointed! Just because the product is a couple months over warranty, I am left with a nearly unusable product.

I recently bought a second pair after my first starting losing battery life after 3 years of wearing them. The left earbud would last 30min from full charge to empty. I've had the second set now for 2 weeks and already I'm experiencing an odd wind like noise in the left earbud. Firmware updates do not fix any of these issues so it's disappointing as the sound quality and functionality is excellent, just not very reliable.

I was fairly happy with the product but the quality of Sony's customer service has been below expectation for this brand. I now have to go on holiday without my LinkBuds ... with all the issues of privacy and freedom and lack of listening experience ... during holidays!

The earphones are amazing and they have great sound quality. They are feature packed. However..after a bit over a year then right one can't hold a charge. And the life span of the battery on the left got much worse. Too bad it let down the product. In the UK I couldn't even repair them officially so I just replaced them. I even bought a pair for a friend but I am gutted that they will probably have to go through this as well

I bought these earphones a few months back and quite enjoyed them, the nose cancelling is on par with the price range and the sound was good enough for runs or zoning out in coffee shops. An issue started to occur some weeks after I purchased them when after an hour or so of use the left earphone would start making static and crunching noises quite loudly. I've tried toggling the noise cancelling on and off and it has become a routing issue when using them. I can only count on them to "behave" for around a half hour to 2 hours before it starts to continuously make this painful noise in my ear. Hoping to resolve the issue under a warranty claim.

Good headphones but the battery now drains from the right headphone within 50 minutes. I have only owned this for 12 months

I bought it for my second half. And she's loving it. Everything it's good for the price range. Sound is well tuned. Battery life like with all similar products can be better, but it is good enough.

Bought these online today, tried other brands off earbuds, but these earbuds sound brilliant, I must say when I oppend the box I thought these are very light, but I must say they are the most comfortable pair I've ever bought, very happy with them, bass is strong but not over powering, mids are silky smooth, highs are pin point not distorted at any level,

I really like it. It is very beautiful color, and the functions are great, god noise cancelling and wear comfortably.

I've noticed with my link buds S case, that the battery goes very quickly in them, along with my buds which is a little bit disappointing, aside from that these are perfect for music and the noise cancelling is amazing, I can't hear anything with them on.

I bought this a couple of weeks ago. The main intent was to use them for online meetings (Teams and the like). A lot of reviews pointed to this being a great choice and praised strong mic performance, both for delivering clear sound and removing any background noise, as well as pretty good ANC. However, what none of them mentions (and Sony doesn't market, if you go to the product page it's never mentioned) is the Sidetone function. Essentially, the moment you enter a call, this feature activates automatically and it passes through to you all the voices of everyone else around you, regardless of your noise cancelling settings. In the end, I hear the people around me more loudly than without the earbuds, sometimes perhaps more loudly than you hear the person on the other side of the call. So I started googling my issue and in the end found an official help page that said that this behaviour is a feature, that it's by design, and that it couldn't be disabled. At all. Which means that the only way to have a meeting with these for me is to go sit in an empty office. At which point I could have gone with a $20 pair of earbuds and in those conditions they would have worked fine. People speculate why it's like this (no official explanation) and mostly think that it's a safety feature. Probably so that I don't get hit by a bus while I'm sitting in my office (because ANC has no issues with blocking the outside world while I'm out and about listening to music on the go - go figure!).

Love it. Sleek, powerful and innovative. I will definitely recommend.

I originally bought a pair of these earphones for my wife. She has tiny ears that push out every earphone design….until now. These are perfect for smaller ears. I borrows them one day and loved them so much that I decided to buy a pair for myself. It can take a bit of time to get the sound you prefer. There are lots of sound options on the app, but, with patience, you will find a sound that you like. They will never be a competitor for more expensive earphones, however, at this price point, they are outstanding value. The app takes a while to navigate around. Sony set theirs out differently from others, but 20 mins and perhaps a you tube tutorial will help you accelerate your learning to get the best out of them. Battery life feels the same as my Jabra 85T’s. About 2.5 hours on a full noise cancelling session. The inserts are comprehensive silicone inserts. I prefer a softer in ear foam insert and bought something I’ve used for years. Sonic Foam memory ear tips.You can find them in Amazon. Once rolled and compressed in the finger and thumb before positioning, they expand for a tight fit and plenty of good bass and treble. They fit well into the case and close crisply with the alternative ear insert. I scored them down from 5 star to 4 star as the case doesn’t have a Q charging facility like others. You have to plug the case in for charging. It’s not really a problem, but it’s also not like the competitors. The material is recycled plastic and has a slightly rougher feel. It works perfectly welll. You can personalise single taps between 1 and 4 for each ear to program up to 8 functions. I can often travel by air and these buds have cleared out the screaming children, adults and engine noise pretty well with their noise cancelling. It won’t take everything away. More like 70-80%. The rest disappears when you have music playing. I remain glad to have purchased these. I suppose a good test would be to ask what I would do if I lost them? I’d buy another pair immediately.

I bought these for traveling. They are comfortable to wear and give a good sound quality. Could benefit from a bit more noise cancelling but overall very happy

These were my favourite headphones... for just over a year. My only advice I can give is, don't ignore the 1 star reviews like I did. I tend to think these problems won't happen to me, but looking back I have had the exact same issues as countless other people. A loud, high-pitched noise that nearly burst my eardrum, followed by a constant wind sound that makes the headphones completely unusable. Sony customer support was useless, as the warranty period was over by 2 weeks. You be the judge on whether an expensive pair of headphones like these should last for barely more than a year. I will be looking at Bose in the future.

Since the last update 4.0.0, the left earbud loses entire charge in 15 to 18 Minutes. It plunges to 0% from 60%. How to fix that? The right earbud still is at 89%. And I always put on the right earbud first. When is the next update expected to fix this?

Was really happy with these intially, a good sound (improved by Wavelet AutoEQ), and really great ANC, and low profile, only to find that I couldn't turn off certain chimes/spoken notifications. The low battery notification is particularly bad, as if you fall asleep with these in, it will wake you up and ruin a good nights sleep. As an insomnia sufferer this is unforgivable. Would have been 5 stars with the ability to customise notification sounds, but now they've gone on the back burner, and I'm using Pixel Buds Pro.

+ Good price + Comfortable and light + Decent noise cancelling and microphone + Good sound once adjusted - Controls, volume in particular, do not work well - One of the buds loses sound on occasion - White noise which is present in some settings is annoying Some features, such as switching to ambient noise cancelling, are nice in theory but do not work well enough in practice. Multi device pairing is a nice feature but I have not used it enough to know how well it’s implemented.

I both these about 8 months ago and they’ve been great for the most part. But I’m the last month, they have this weird windy noise in both pass through and noise cancellation modes. Send a lot of people reporting the same.