Sony LinkBuds S are at 26% Discount on Amazon right now. They are available at just $148 . On purchasing you can save up to $51.99 on the buds. They are truly wireless and with Alexa built-in . They are compatible with iPhone and Android. While the original LinkBuds were all about that open ring driver and purposefully allowing outside noise in, Sony has returned to a more traditional wireless earbuds design with the LinkBuds S, which features a new five millimetre driver. This includes eartubes and silicone eartips that sit inside the ear, as well as active noise cancellation (ANC) to keep the outside world at bay.
Sony has managed to keep the earpieces small despite changing the design and incorporating this additional technology. Very little. Sony claimed the earbuds were the world’s smallest noise-cancelling wireless earbuds when they were released. Sony claims they are 41% smaller and 33% lighter than the WF-1000XM4. The LinkBuds S is also very simple to operate. All on-ear functionality is controlled by tapping on the earbuds’ flat exterior sides. There are control profiles for doing the typical range of taps to handle switching between ANC and transparency mode, activating your virtual assistant, controlling volume, and controlling playback. There’s also an awareness mode, which you activate by holding the side of an earbud for a quick hit of transparency mode, similar to how Sony audio products like the ANC flagship WH-1000XM5 work.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]There’s nothing wrong with their overall equilibrium. Sonys have a penchant for the middle ground, and this is yet another evenhanded performance. The treble has no spikiness, nor does the bass sound tubby or fat. The lows are solid and tightly controlled, lending weight to the bass notes that hole-punch the pages of Luniz’s I Got 5 On It. There’s texture, and the individual notes have a good sense of depth. Percussion, on the other hand, sounds crisp and detailed. Sony positions the LinkBuds S (WF-LS900N) as a slightly more affordable alternative to the flagship WF-1000XM4, and it does have nearly all of the latter’s features. However, there are some notable differences that explain the price and positioning differences, the most important of which is sound quality.
The Sony LinkBuds S or WF-LS900N are excellent truly wireless earbuds. They excel at almost everything, but particularly at comfort, noise cancellation, and microphone quality. Both the sound quality and battery life are adequate, if not the best in class. My only complaint is that the app is becoming increasingly bloated and cluttered, and it desperately needs to be pruned.