It’s been a big year for wireless earbuds news. We’ve had Apple dropping not one but two pairs of AirPods 4, including a noise-cancelling option for the very first time.
We’ve seen the arrival of a new flagship pair of wireless earbuds from Bowers & Wilkins in the shape of the Pi8. In our Pi8 review, we felt the set a new benchmark for sound quality at their price level and I’ve been suitably impressed during my long-term testing.
And back at the start of the year we had Bose announce the Ultra Open Earbuds, the brand’s first offering in the emerging category of open earbuds. They were impressive, if a little pricey, and got us excited for what might be possible from this relatively new style of earbud.
But it’s a recent Sony announcement (no, not the WF-1000XM6, unfortunately) that has me really hoping we could be about to see something special in this area.
You see, while the Bose are a great first effort, Sony is now onto its second generation of open earbuds. The LinkBuds Open (pictured below) claim to take the performance of the original LinkBuds (above) to a new level and I can’t wait to hear what they bring to the party this time.
I was surprised by just how much I liked the original LinkBuds (WF-L900). For anyone who doesn’t love the in-ear burrowing that happens with traditional wireless earbuds, I think they are a good alternative. Not only do I find them super-comfortable I’m also enamoured with one particular aspect of their sound.
Although they struggle to generate the drive and dynamics of the very best in-ears, the huge sense of openness and spaciousness that they produce is hugely impressive. In our review, we said it was “a real highlight and very different from anything you’ll have heard from more intrusive in-ear designs”.
Reading through Sony’s press release it appears the 2nd Generation ring driver (above) has been redesigned to be slightly smaller than the previous unit and from the images, you can see they now feature Sony’s new “Air Fitting Supporter”, an air cushion which is designed to aid comfort and stability. This replaces the plastic loops which did a similar job on the original model though.
More importantly, Sony also claims the level of sound pressure in the low and midrange have both been improved so they can go louder if you’re using them outdoors and need to go up against a lot of ambient noise. I found more atmospheric, delicate tracks could be drowned out quite easily, so any tweaks in this area could make for a big improvement and make them more versatile in different environments.
Add the fact that the LinkBuds Open use Sony’s Integrated Processor V2, which was first used in its superb WF-1000XM5, and its DSEE music enhancement engine to improve low-quality music files, and I think they could be the surprise package of 2024.
At £179 / $200 they are slightly more expensive than their predecessors (£150 / $180) but it isn’t a huge jump and still makes them markedly cheaper than the likes of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (£299 / $299).
Needless to say, a review sample has been requested and we'll hopefully be able to tell you just how the sound has (or hasn't) evolved once they've passed through the hands (and ears) of our test team.
MORE:
I think Sony’s latest launch raises some big questions about the WF-1000XM6 wireless earbuds
I lived with the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds – here are 3 things I loved (and 3 that need improving)
What are open earbuds? How do the headphones work and are they worth it?
