Sony LinkBuds – True Wireless Headphones with True Transparency

Over the past few weeks, many people have probably seen pictures of LinkBuds. At first glance, the concept behind the futuristic headphones isn’t immediately obvious, but it’s still simple.

The new LinkBuds look extremely unusual. One can assume that these are not headphones at all. Perhaps the most obvious is the ring in the ear with a hole in the middle. The Ring, on the other hand, contains a ring-shaped driver, in conjunction with the V1 processor known from the WF 1000XM4. Ring aims to do exactly the opposite of noise cancellation: complete and true transparency. Due to the hole in the middle, the headphones are not completely closed from the ear. This allows ambient noise to continue to penetrate. The purposes are varied, for example, your own voice can still be heard when making a call.

LinkBuds’ charging case brings up to 12 hours of extra runtime

Permanent transparency mode can also make a safety-relevant difference in road traffic. According to Sony, there was a special focus on wearing comfort during development, as the LinkBuds are designed to be worn for long periods of time. They are protected against splash water and sweat according to the IPX4 protection standard. Battery life is 5.5 hours and the charging case includes another 12 hours. There’s also an automatic volume control that adjusts the headphone’s volume to the environment. The Sony LinkBuds are available in black and white for around €180.

Via