Sony LinkBuds Open (WF-L910) review

2024 was the year of the open earbud. Traditional wireless earbuds haven’t gone the way of the dinosaur, of course, but it was hard to escape the increasing numbers of open-style designs crowding the market last year which eschewed an in-ear fit for a whole new twist on the humble earbud. The Huawei FreeClip, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC; everyone wanted a slice of this rather differently shaped cake.

Sony would be within its rights to take much of the credit for the burgeoning trend. The company’s original LinkBuds (WF-L900) arrived in 2022 and, with their ringed configuration where the driver sits on the ear canal rather than inside it, the novel LinkBuds set a precedent for a brand-new way of wireless listening. Since then we’ve had quite a few products sporting the LinkBuds moniker – the LinkBuds S, the LinkBuds Fit, even a LinkBuds Bluetooth speaker – but the new Sony LinkBuds Open (WF-L910) most closely resemble 2022’s progenitors.

Sony’s latest have considerable expectations on their shoulders, then. Not only must they match – nay, exceed – the gauntlet laid down by their ancestors, but they also must outperform the increasing number of rivals now taking a swing at this blossoming open market.

Price

The Sony LinkBuds Open retail at £179 / $200 / AU$349, around the same price as their LinkBuds Fit stablemates. There’s increasing competition at this level, including the more conventional eartip-sporting Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2024 (tested at £180 / $179 / AU$289) and the open AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (£179 / $179 / AU$299), both of which came to market late last year.

Design & comfort

We’ve said before that we don’t fully know what a LinkBud actually is, given that Sony hasn’t settled on a consistent ethos for the range, but these new Open instinctively feel like the most LinkBud-esque exemplars of their particular line since the originals from 2022. After all, they sport the same ‘doughnut’ ring driver configuration as the very first LinkBuds, albeit with some key adjustments designed to grant greater security and comfort to the wearer.

The big difference you’ll notice is the inclusion of an in-ear wing hook replacing the smaller, subtler silicone loops of the originals. These new ‘Air Fitting supports’ will be familiar to anyone who has tried on a pair of the Sony LinkBuds Fit, consisting of a small, hollow protrusion filled with air which squashes down when gently squeezed or compressed. Sony’s supports were one of the facets of the LinkBuds Fit we liked the most, especially for runners and athletes who craved comfort and security, and it’s the same story with the LinkBuds Open – soft yet sturdy without digging into your ear’s inner ridge, they’re just what you need if you’re a regular marathon person for whom conventional designs don’t quite cut it.

It’s athletes and runners for whom that blend of an open ring configuration and a securing wing stabiliser makes the most sense, but there’s a great deal of appeal here for the average user who doesn’t like the intrusive nature of a more traditional in-ear configuration with eartips burrowing in. While the wings take care of anchoring the buds in place mile after mile, the open design does an excellent job of ensuring you’re always aware of your surroundings as you wend your way through the busy streets. We also found time to experiment with the LinkBuds Open's design in our office, noting just how much discernable chatter made its way through, provided you keep the volume of your music to below two-thirds full. From discussions about David Lynch to recitations of Pi to 50 digits, chatter passed through far more readily and clearly than via a conventional, ‘closed’ pair of earbuds.

Be warned that such truths cut both ways. An open configuration may be good for allowing external sound to pour into your ears, but it’s equally conducive to letting your music spill out into an office of bemused coworkers who are silently wondering why you keep listening to the same three Slipknot tracks on a loop. The admittance of external sounds is great for keeping you clued-in to your environment, but be warned that sufficiently loud noises will drown out your music as they pass freely through each doughnut’s signature ring.

There are no ear tip choices, naturally, so instead Sony has furnished you with five different sizes of ear support: XS, S, M, L and XL – that’s a decent array, meaning you’re likely to find a size that fits your needs. The supports comprise the hook itself attached to a rounded silicone sleeve, the latter of which wraps easily around the main body of the earpiece and is partially secured by a small nodule. It’s an easy process getting the sleeve off, but if you’re all fingers and thumbs then you’ll be spending most of your afternoon trying to get it back on again.

Features

We’ve never found the LinkBuds line to be lacking in features. In fact, Sony has always been particularly generous with the number of tricks and functions its wireless buds perform, even if a few of those functions understandably don’t appear with this particular set of in-ears.

The big omission is noise cancelling, as most open earbuds – the Apple AirPods Pro 4 with ANC being a notable exception – struggle to provide noise cancelling capabilities from such a configuration. What you do get as some form of compensation is a decent amount of battery life, with the LinkBuds Open offering eight hours from the buds on a single charge and a total of 22 hours with the case. Those are solid numbers, and while the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC grant more time in total (30 hours), they can only muster a paltry four or five hours from the buds.

Voice calls through the LinkBuds Open are impressively handled. Speech comes through as clear, natural and easy to listen to, avoiding the trap of sounding muffled or overly mechanical. We also note a pleasing lack of background noise as we conduct our calls, allowing us to focus on human speech rather than any hums or low-level distractions that can so easily impair a conversation.

Sony has gone big on usability features with the LinkBuds Open, offering the likes of Bluetooth Multipoint, head gesture controls, Sony 360 Reality Audio and auto play/pause whenever the buds are removed or restored to your ears. The exterior surfaces are touch-capacitive and reasonably responsive to our commands, and we’re pleased to see that we’re able to adjust the buds' sensitivity levels using the Sound Connect app. Sony’s admirably in-depth platform offers impressive levels of customisation for each touch control’s given command, too, though it’s a system built more around double and triple taps than single presses – it seems Sony is conscious of the possibility of accidentally brushing against each earpiece, and wanted a more deliberate system in place.

We’re also impressed to see the inclusion of Auracast, the Bluetooth protocol which allows for wireless streaming from a near-limitless number of compatible source devices. Auracast hasn’t quite taken over the mainstream just yet, but it’s good to see Sony looking to the future with a technology that has the potential to open up a whole new world of wireless communication.

Like the more traditionally designed LinkBuds Fit, the Open are intended to work within the LinkBuds ecosystem and, in particular, with the Sony LinkBuds Speaker. Like the Fit, playback from the Open buds will, when in range, start playing through the LinkBuds Speaker when the buds are placed in their compact charging case. If you want the sound to start playing from your headphones, remove them from their case and the music will automatically return to your buds.

Sound

Powered by the brand’s Integrated Processor V2 and delivered via a specially designed 11mm driver, Sony has promised “well-balanced, high-quality audio” from its novel buds. To overcome the challenges of a ring-shaped driver, Sony has employed a “high-compliance” diaphragm and neodymium magnet, both specially selected to reproduce mid-high frequency sounds with greater clarity. The LinkBuds also utilise Sony’s DSEE sound upscaling technology, a hardy perennial for the brand which aims to enhance the performance of low-quality audio files.

Pun intended, such claims ring true, as those midrange sounds are inescapably where the LinkBuds sound the most comfortable. Tinkling piano tones and gentle guitar strums are the buds’ happy place, so if you’re into indie ballads and soft rock crooning, they could be right up your street. Elliott Smith’s Needle In The Hay is a perfect example of a track playing to the LinkBuds’ strengths – with a soft, slightly whispered vocal line accompanied by simple guitar strums, it rarely strays to the excessively deep depths or unmanageably soaring highs where the Sony buds aren’t quite as comfortable.

If you do stray from this midrange comfort zone, the LinkBuds Open have a slightly tougher time of it. Heavy, bassy tracks suffer from understandable limitations thanks to the Open buds’ lack of sonic weight, and while that may be a dealbreaker for some, we find the bass reproduction here to be weightier and punchier than the original LinkBuds from 2022 could muster. Still, if you want open buds with more clout at the bottom, the AirPods 4 with ANC or the more costly Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (tested at £299 / $299 / AU$449) are more convincing in this regard.

Instead, spaciousness, general clarity and that appealing midrange are the cards held by the LinkBuds Open. Softer songs possess a pleasingly open, unobtrusive character thanks to the buds’ airy, non-commital approach, but the trade-off here is a lack of sonic weight and punch. Again, those rival AirPods 4 have far more solidity to their sound – the LinkBuds hit with the power of a spry featherweight, but they can’t match the AirPods’ Tyson-esque capabilities.

For an open performance, though, this isn’t a bad showing. Again, we’d stress that traditions eartip-equipped models or more convincing open rivals, such as the AirPods 4 with ANC, will grant not only more power but more dynamic headroom and a greater knack for revealing rhythms. But, all things considered, this isn’t a bad effort from Sony.

Verdict

Users for whom sound quality is paramount may find the LinkBuds Open a little lacking. Their overall musical performance doesn’t quite match similarly priced rivals, so if you need an open design with a sound that has a bit more oomph, the AirPods 4 with ANC would be a good place to start.

The true appeal of the Sony LinkBuds Open comes from their design. Blending ample security and sonic passthrough with some of the most appealing comfort we’ve yet experienced from an open set of wireless earbuds, the Open make sense not only for runners and ramblers who need to be aware of their surroundings at all times, but for everyday wearers who simply don’t like the feel of conventional, intrusive in-ear earbud designs. If you’ve been desperate to get hold of a pair of wireless earbuds but have always struggled with getting a good fit, Sony might have provided you with an answer.

First reviewed: January 2025

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Features 4
• Comfort 5

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Also consider the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC

Read our review of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Open

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