Sony LinkBuds Open

SoundGuys’ Christian Thomas is mildly positive about the LinkBuds Open. He appreciates Sony’s clever open-ear approach, long battery life, LC3 support, useful app features and secure-but-comfy fit solution, calling them a clear improvement over the original — but his enthusiasm is measured. Thomas repeatedly warns that the open design sacrifices bass, isolation and call performance, can feel loose during activity, and struggles in noisy places, so they’re best for users who want to hear their surroundings rather than block them out. He praises features like the wide-area tap and spatial “background music” modes, but flags wind-prone mics and a middling subjective sound score that leaves them squarely middle-of-the-pack among open earbuds. Overall the review is cautiously approving: interesting and well-built for the right buyer, but not a universal recommendation.

What Hi‑Fi? gives the LinkBuds Open a generally positive but measured endorsement. The review praises Sony’s clever doughnut‑driver design and comfortable Air Fitting supports, calling them ideal for runners or anyone who dislikes intrusive eartips, and applauds thoughtful features (Bluetooth Multipoint, Auracast, solid battery life) and excellent call clarity. At the same time the tone is balanced and cautious: the open format leaks sound both ways, struggles with bass and overall sonic weight compared with rivals like the AirPods 4, and won’t satisfy listeners who put sound quality above comfort and awareness. In short, What Hi‑Fi? recommends the LinkBuds Open as an impressively comfortable, feature‑rich alternative for situational or everyday wear, while warning audiophiles that the trade‑offs in low‑end power and isolation are real.

Ted Kritsonis at Digital Trends comes away positively impressed but measured. He likes that the LinkBuds Open refine Sony’s open-ear idea with noticeably better bass, strong battery life, surprising passive isolation, and plenty of customization (EQ, spatial tweaks, LE Audio on Android), making them a genuine step up from the original; however, he tempers enthusiasm with concrete gripes about pricey accessory add-ons, a clunky and inconsistent Sound Connect app, awkward voice controls, occasional fit instability during movement, and uneven call performance in noisy places. Overall the review is upbeat and recommends the LinkBuds Open for listeners who value comfort, long runtimes, and a novel open-ear balance of sound and awareness, while warning that software rough edges and situational limits mean they aren’t a one-size-fits-all replacement for sealed ANC buds.

GSMArena’s Prasad is unimpressed overall. He admires the LinkBuds Open’s bold, inventive design and solid midrange clarity, but finds the execution fails where it matters: fit and bass. The one-size-fits-all open-ear pods simply wouldn’t stay in his ears without unnatural repositioning, which then harmed comfort and sound; the ring driver yields little true low-end, muted treble sparkle, and limited loudness, so music often feels hollow or incomplete. The app and features are functional but bloated; microphones, latency, and battery life are adequate, while the case feels flimsy. Prasad frames the product as an interesting proof of concept that doesn’t justify its $200 price for most people—clever in idea but flawed in practice, leaving him unable to recommend it except to a very specific handful of users with unusually large ear cavities.

PCMag’s Christian de Looper is generally positive about the Sony LinkBuds Open. He praises their surprisingly rich, well-balanced sound for an open design, comfortable secure fit once positioned correctly, compact case, and flexible app EQ and codec support, while calling out middling eight-hour battery life, lack of wireless charging, and fiddly initial positioning. De Looper thinks they outperform cheaper open alternatives on bass and comfort and are a smart pick for non‑iPhone users who want to stay aware of their surroundings, though iPhone owners may prefer the AirPods 4 for ANC and tighter integration. Overall his tone is measured and approving—he recommends them as the best-sounding open-ear option at this price despite a few practical trade-offs.

WIRED’s Ryan Waniata is generally positive but measured about the Sony Linkbuds Open. He appreciates the improved battery life, slimmer case, and stabilizer fin that make them more comfortable for all-day wear and safer for outdoor use, and likes the added bass compared with the original. At the same time he warns the open design means obvious trade-offs: tricky fit and alignment, softer, less-detailed mids and treble, fiddly touch controls, and finicky adaptive volume. He values Sony’s app EQ and useful extras (multipoint, voice and gesture controls), and thinks the buds are among the best if you want to stay aware of your surroundings, but he’d still choose sealed, noise-canceling earbuds for pure sound quality or noisy environments. Overall the review is approving yet pragmatic — recommending the Linkbuds Open for situational use rather than as an all‑purpose winner.

Billy Steele at Engadget comes down cautiously positive about the LinkBuds Open. He appreciates Sony’s sound upgrades — louder output, richer bass with EQ tweaks, and useful features ported from the 1000X line — but the emotional tone is one of tempered enthusiasm because the core open‑wear design still fails on comfort. Steele praises reliable cheek‑tap controls, decent call experience for the wearer, and solid battery life, yet repeatedly emphasizes that the hard plastic ring digs in after short use, making the earbuds unbearable for long sessions. He frames the Open as an improved but niche product: technically interesting and better sounding than the original, but ultimately limited by a design flaw that prevents it from being broadly recommended unless Sony softens the shell.

TechRadar’s Harry Padoan strikes a cautiously positive tone about the Sony LinkBuds Open. He likes their inventive ring-driver design, secure fit, and rich mids with surprisingly meaty bass for open earbuds, plus a very feature-packed, easy-to-use companion app and solid battery life. That said, he’s reserved: the spherical exterior can feel clunky, comfort isn’t best-in-class, the open form brings noticeable sound leakage and some treble harshness, and the overall tuning isn’t perfectly balanced without EQ. He also flags a few early reliability hiccups and questions whether the $199 price is justified given the inherent trade-offs of open-ear sound. In short, Padoan recommends them as a well-equipped, competent choice if you want open earbuds and don’t mind compromises — but not a must-buy for everyone.

Trusted Reviews' Kob Monney is generally positive about the LinkBuds Open. He appreciates the clearer, warmer sound and longer battery life versus the original, plus smart features like Background Music Effect, Wide Area Tap and reliable Bluetooth 5.3, calling them comfortable and a good, more affordable alternative to Bose’s pricier open-ears. At the same time he’s measured: the always-open design means poor isolation and average call performance, highs aren’t as defined as some rivals, and they’re not as loud in noisy settings as the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds. Overall the tone is approving but balanced — these are a satisfying, thoughtfully improved option for people who want situational awareness, just not the best choice if you need isolation, top-tier calls or the very best sound.

Tyler Hayes at Business Insider is cautiously positive about the LinkBuds Open. He appreciates Sony’s improved, more comfortable second‑generation fit, dependable stability for running, and the clever Wide Area Tap, but he finds the open‑ear design fundamentally limits sound quality—thin bass, compressed range, and the need to crank volume in noisy settings. Hayes calls them a niche product: excellent when you need full ambient awareness for casual listening or active use, but a poor choice for audiophiles or anyone wanting noise isolation. He also flags practical downsides—no wireless charging, fiddly and pricey color covers—and recommends alternatives (Bose’s Ultra Open or AirPods 4) for better audio or a more conventional balance of features. Overall, the review is measured: the LinkBuds Open solve a specific problem well, yet trade away much of the core headphone experience.