Hot on the heels of the flagship WH-1000XM5, Sony has announced another new pair of headphones. This time around it’s the rumoured LinkBuds S so here’s everything you need to know.
These join the regular LinkBuds in the new family of wireless earbuds, although without an innovative doughnut-shaped design, the S model claims to offer a ‘Never Off’ wearing experience.
It’s a bit of a mouthful but Sony calls the LinkBuds S “the world’s smallest and lightest, noise cancelling, Hi-Res Truly wireless headphones.”
When is the LinkBuds S release date?
Although Sony said in a press release that the LinkBuds S would be available at the end of May, you can buy them on the Sony store now.
How much do the LinkBuds S cost?
The earbuds are priced at £179/$199/€199. This makes them a little bit more expensive than the regular LinkBuds and the exact same price as the Google Pixel Buds Pro.
They are available in black, cream or white.
What are the LinkBuds S specs and features?
Although these headphones are the second in the LinkBud series, they sit in between the regular LinkBuds and Sony’s flagship WF-1000XM4 earbuds – quite possibly, offering the perfect balance of value and features.
One of the key selling points is the compact design as each earbud is only 4.8g in weight. Combined with an ergonomic design matching the human ear, this is part of how Sony offers a ‘Never-Off’ wearing experience.
The small earbud size is made possible by using new 5mm drivers, but they still offer powerful bass, according to Sony.
Despite being a lot cheaper than the flagship XM4, the LinkBuds S come packing a lot of premium features including active noise cancelling (ANC) with the same Integrated Processor V1.
Furthermore, you still get Adaptive Sound Control which makes automatic adjustments based on where you are and Speak-to-Chat which automatically pauses music so you can hold a conversation with someone.
The LinkBuds S also support High-Resolution Audio Wireless thanks to Sony’s LDAC as well as DSEE Extreme for upscaling music to higher quality and 360 Reality Audio.
Sony is also pushing them for AR gaming as when you play Ingress using the earbuds, “the sensor and spatial sound technology will enable players to enjoy a new experience in which sound is delivered according to the direction they are facing.”
This will require an updated scheduled for ‘before summer’, though.
There’s more ground to cover here as the LinkBuds S have more technology to mention, starting with Bluetooth LE Audio for ultra low-latency gaming. They also feature Fast Pair and Swift Pair so you can get them connected to Android or Windows devices quicker, while Multipoint connection will automatically switch between Android devices.
You’ll also get ‘crystal clear calls’ thanks to Sony’s Precise Voice Pickup Technology which controls the mesh-covered microphones on each earbud to get the best signal from your voice. You’ll also use the mics for using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
You can use the touch controls to change your sound settings, activate Quick Attention, resume Spotify playback or Endel personalised soundscapes. And in terms of battery life, the LinkBuds S can last six hours with ANC on and get a further 14 hours from the charging case. A five-minute charge can get you one hour of playback.
Like recent headphones from Sony, there’s a focus on the environment so the packaging is plastic free and parts of the earbuds are made from recycled automobile parts. They also carry an IPX4 water resistance rating.