The Sony Linkbuds S are a shrunk-down, improved version of the already excellent WF-1000XM4. I wasn't expecting this. Given the "Linkbuds" moniker I was expecting them to prioritize ambient sound features over all else, just like the original Linkbuds, but that simply isn't the case here.

Build: the Linkbuds S are impossibly small compared to the WF-1000XM4, Sony's previous noise canceling earphones. They actually resemble the Samsung Galaxy buds 2 in overall size and shape. They also sport a nice large touch sensitive area that no one should have trouble missing. The only gripe I do have is that the outer surface is textured and this can cause some discomfort if it rubs against the crus helix.

Case: the case is definitely one of the more pocketable out there. It's about the same size as the Airpods Pro case, but slightly shorter and narrower, albeit a bit thicker. However, it also has a textured surface which can make it a little difficult to slide in and out of pockets.

Fit: the Linkbuds S fit very similar to the Galaxy Buds 2 and deeper than the WF-1000XM4. They are a little fiddly to fit. In my case I have to rotate them back and forth to get them to seat correctly. Although Sony instructs users to rotate the buds backwards to get a good fit I actually found this uncomfortable because the buds would rub against my Crus Helix and cause discomfort. Rotating them forward slightly fixed the issue. Once the buds were in place I found the fit to be secure and that, combined with their light weight, meant that it was easy to forget they were there. My one complaint about the fit is that the buds are so small that it's very difficult to insert them without either accidentally hitting the touch area or rubbing a finger against the noise canceling microphone, resulting in some static noise.

Noise canceling: the noise canceling on the Linkbuds S is fantastic. Although the Linkbuds S are advertised as being open I actually found them to be more isolating than the WF-1000XM4s without noise canceling on. With noise canceling on I actually found the Linkbuds S to be slightly superior to the WF-1000XM4 in terms of blocking out background noise and they certainly blow the Galaxy Buds Pro/2 out of the water. I haven't had chance to test the Linkbuds S with very low frequency sounds (e.g. public transport, planes) but for blocking out office and household noise they're the best true wireless earphones I've tried.

Sound: I saved the best to last. I was very pleasantly surprised with the sound quality of the Linkbuds S. The WF-1000XM4s were a big disappointment in this regard, with an overly dark presentation for my taste that led to recessed mids and lackluster treble. The Linkbuds S by comparison adopt a Harman-like tuning that presents mids and treble brilliantly with a satisfying bass boost that doesn't dominate the overall sound. The Linkbuds S definitely beat the WF-1000XM4s for overall sound and they're up there with the Galaxy Buds Pro/2, which are the reigning champs. Comparing the Galaxy Buds side by side with the Linkbuds S I honestly can't pick a favorite amongst the three, which I think is a very good thing.

Other: in my limited tests the transparency features are great, as with the WF-1000XM4s. The only other thing that I think is worth noting is that the Linkbuds S struggle to maintain LDAC connectivity more than the WF-1000XM4s. This isn't surprising, given the small size, but is worth considering for anyone who wants to use LDAC in challenging environments or on the go.

Wrap up: previously if I wanted to recommend a pair of true wireless earphones for someone I would have to include a 'but'. The Airpods Pro have great noise canceling but the sound isn't top tier and they don't play well with Android devices. The Galaxy Buds sound fantastic but the noise canceling isn't great and they don't play well with iOS. The WF-1000XM4s have top tier noise canceling and work well with both iOS and Android devices, but their sound isn't the best. The Linkbuds S on the other hand have top tier noise canceling, work excellent with both iOS and Android, and have excellent sound. These are now my default recommendation to anyone looking for new True Wireless earphones.

Alternative picks: If it wasn't for the better Bluetooth connectivity of the WF-1000XM4s and the improved battery life the Linkbuds S would have made the XM4s redundant. Whether the increased price is worth it for those things will be up to the individual. I think there's still a case to be made for getting the cheaper Galaxy buds over the Linkbuds S if noise canceling isn't a priority. However, I think the only reason to pay more for the Airpods Pro would be if you really like the design and/or the enhanced integration with iOS is really important.

First the bad news... only one thing, these last generation buds do not have a way to control the volume ON the ear bud, rather you are still toggling the volume on the side of your phone. OTHER than that:

NOISE CANCELLATION is incredible (e.g., mowing the lawn reduces the noise of the mower to a faint hum, in the gym you're basically working-out in a vacuum, and the noise cancellation can work on top of your music which wasn't always the case with buds). REFURBISHED doesn't always mean junk, there are reviews where people maybe had defective buds, not me, mine work just fine. SOUND is rich, deep bass, with very clear vocals and mids. They are not quite AS rich as the Bose, however, the sound on these are worth every penny- aweome sound! I had a pair of the new Bose but returned them as they are rather large/bulky for 2022 buds- the Sony's are very small. WATER PROOF, my last JBL's died likely because of my workouts and some moisture over 4 years of continuous use. These Sony's have already been drenched in sweat and they still perform and act like new. CONNECTIVITY - never an issue, always connected on my Google 3 and now my new Google 7 Pixels. FIT- perfect fit, never fall out! ENDURANCE is great, I have yet to wear these to the limit but they are as advertised in the charging and speed.

END OF THE DAY, I'd take these over any of the others buds (and I did). Sony was the Mercedes of audio/visual brands in the 70's & 80's and up to today and they're STILL 'banging-out' hits!

BUYERS BEWARE - DO NOT BUY IF YOU VALUE YOUR MONEY!!! The charging life of these earbuds nose dive after about a year and a half of use! Don’t get me wrong, the earbuds sound really good, but the fact that after purchasing two different pairs of these earbuds, BOTH PAIRS had the same battery life / charging issues. After about a year and a half of use, the right earbud holds just enough of a charge to function for a little over an hour and then dies rather abruptly, while the left earbud still has well over half of its charge left.

I tried calling Sony tech support, and as I am sure you can guess, though the support person I spoke with was kind and patient, their troubleshooting did nothing to restore the battery life of my earbuds. I was then told to call a third party repair service, which just directed me to a website to submit a repair.

The SoundConnect app used to manage the earbud settings and features is clunky to use at the best of times, not to mention updating the firmware for the earbuds is a painfully slow and clunky process as well.

If you have an iPhone, be prepared to deal with connectivity issues when taking phone calls - and problems with the app on the iPhone working in sync with the earbuds themselves.

Because of the sound and lightweight quality of the earbuds, I wanted to love them. However, given the $200 price tag for obviously poorly constructed electronics, I CANNOT RECOMMEND THESE EARBUDS TO ANYONE, unless you want to just waste $200 of your hard earned money.

Take it from someone who has owned two pairs of these earbuds and can confirm, no matter how well you take care of the Sony Linkbuds earbuds, they will stop holding a charge rendering them pretty much useless after about about a year and a half of use, the SoundConnect app is less than good, updating the earbuds firmware is extremely slow and drawn out, connectivity issues when taking a call gets old fast…and now I’m finding my earbuds case looks like it isn’t holding a charge as well. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere!!!

UPDATE:

The "troubleshooting" the Sony customer service rep walked me through did nothing to help with my Linkbuds issues. As a matter of fact, now they are barely holding a charge...no joke. At least before the troubleshooting I got a little use out of them before the charge would die.

The site the Sony customer service rep referred me to that I mentioned in my original review was not set up to take repairs for the Sony Linkbuds S earbuds at all. The information on the repair site basically suggested I find a local electronics repair shop. So, I tried that. Not one business I called worked on the Sony earbuds - and I live in a large, tech-centric city. That was a total bust and waste of my time.

Then, through a random online search, I found a link to Sony webpage that directed me to call United Radio Service Inc. for repairs, so I did. The person I spoke with told me that the cost for parts and repair labor made it infeasible to repair the earbuds due to the fact that the cost of the repairs would be more than the purchase cost of the earbuds. Another bust.

Finally, I also found out that the earbuds and the USB transceiver are all pre-set with information that allows them to communicate with and from each other. These settings can only be configured at a Service Center with all components present. For this reason, you can't just simply replace one missing part yourself, i.e. a damaged earbud, say with one that you find refurbished online.

Bottom line: You can't actually get the earbuds repaired, and you can't replace a defective earbud. No matter what line of nonsense Sony tries to tell you. Once these stop working properly outside the timeframe of the warranty, you are out of luck.

***Again, Don't waste your money or time with these earbuds. Look elsewhere, you'll be glad in the long run that you did!***

(This is a lengthy review, so in case you are short on time I have included a quick Pros/Cons summary at the top. This gives an idea of my overall opinions, but for more details continue to read on below.)

(Note- I will mostly be comparing these to other earbuds that I have used and/or reviewed recently: AirPods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, Sony WF-1000XM4, Echo Buds2, and Klipsch T5 II )

THE GOOD:

--Comfort/Fit: So far, these are very comfortable to wear. They are slightly smaller than some of the other earbuds I've tested, and are up there with Airpods Pro in terms of comfort. They also feel very secure in the ear, unlike some other brands. No complaints here with comfort/design.

--Mic Quality: The mic quality of these is excellent. I tested out with calling friends, and these were either 1st or 2nd best sounding earbuds according to the people I called. My friend says that these mics are the best out the earbuds we tested in this range.

--Multiple Ecosystem Support: These work well with all ecosystems, whether you are using Apple or Android; and with assistants including Alexa and Google.

--Good ANC : The noise canceling on these is also fantastic. This technology has come a long way, and sometimes it can be hard to compare ANC, since each company produces earbuds that prioritize blocking out slightly different frequencies. To me these seem like they are close to the best , but maybe the XM4s and Airpods Pro are SLIGHTLY better, especially the XM4s at low frequency ranges. The Adaptive Sound Control is a neat feature that can change ambient sound settings based on your location, though I'm not sure how useful this will be in practice.

THE BAD:

--Overall Sound Comparison: With the default EQ settings, the overall sound quality actually seems slightly worse than the WF1000XM4s to me. I also prefer the sound of the Klipsch T5 IIs with most music, and even the Galaxy Pros with some songs; as these LinkBuds S can sometimes sound slightly muffled or dampened in comparison. Still good quality sound overall, just not as good as some of the other options in this range, and not my favorite with any type of music I tested.

--No Wireless Charging: This seems like a big disappointment for this price range. I would expect that ALL earbuds that are over $200 should have wireless charging at this point.

MORE DETAILS:

Here are my thoughts on each category, again mostly comparing to: Airpods Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, Sony WF-1000XM4, Echo Buds2, and Klipsch T5 II. (I also enlisted the help of a friend of mine that is an Audio Engineer, to give his opinions and to use some of his equipment.)

Sound - These sounded great to me when I first put them in and listened to a variety of music. I was not disappointed in overall sound quality at all, and if you aren't comparing these to anything else, you will also probably think that they sound great. It was only after rigorously measuring their output with my friend's mics, and also repeatedly comparing them to all of the other earbuds, that I was able to notice the slightly muffled sound compared to the other earbuds. The Airpods Pro, Klipsch T5 II, XM4, and Galaxy Pro all seem slightly more “clear”, with a broader range. The midrange on the Airpods Pro might be the biggest difference here, and when I switched back and forth between them I felt like I was missing some of those midrange frequencies with the LinkBuds S. Overall sound range/EQ preferences are of course very subjective and personal, but my friend and I both agree that these are definitively not our favorite in this category.

Design/Fit – I like the way that these fit in my ear, and they are right up there at the top with Airpods and Klipsch in terms of being lightweight and comfortable. For me, the Galaxy Pros were a little to clunky and felt like they might fall out sometimes, but the LinkBuds S fit great while also feeling secure. The texture of the buds themselves is almost a little scratchy, which took me a little while to get used to, but I think I prefer this texture for touch sensitivity. For me though, I have always preferred the press-able buttons on the Klipsch T5 IIs over all of these touch sensors, partly because I often wear a headband over the earbuds and a sweaty headband can mess with the touch sensors sometimes.

Calls – This is probably the best overall feature of these earbuds. The microphone quality seemed to be the best out of all the earbuds when testing out on my friend's equipment, and in real-world testing I experienced similar results. These were either the best sounding, or a close second best when compared to other earbuds when making calls. These sounded the best in almost every environment, maybe tied for best with Klipsch in noisy/windy environments.

Water Resistance - These have the same IPX4 rating as most of the other earbuds, but note that the Galaxy Buds Pro have a superior IPX7 rating, if that matters to you. So far these have been working great for exercise, but again personally I prefer more headband-friendly designs sometimes.

Charging/etc: These charge at about the same speed as the other earbuds, and have a similar battery life. The BIG difference is that these don't support wireless charging, which seems odd at this price range. These come with a short 9 inch usb-A to usb-C cable in the box, no plug/brick. This is my least favorite in terms of charging options compared to the other earbuds in this price range.

OVERALL: These are solid earbuds that feel great, produce good sound, have good ANC, and have excellent microphones for great call quality. They do just about everything well, but at this current price I can't say that they are my favorite, or even the best value. Overall my favorites are probably still the Klipsch T5 IIs, which are currently less expensive than these LinkBuds S earbuds at the time I'm writing this. My second favorite would either be the Galaxy Pros or the Airpod Pros, both of which are slightly less expensive and produce slightly better sound in my opinion. The only thing these LinkBuds S are the best at seems to be the mic/call quality, but even then the difference there isn't big enough for me to recommend choosing them overall. Personally I'm sticking with my Klipsch T5 IIs for regular use, but if you are a diehard Apple user, I would have recommend the Airpods Pro over these LinkBuds S at the current prices. If these drop in price in the future and are competitively priced with some of the other options, then they might be a good choice; especially if switching back and forth between ecosystems is important to you and you don't mind the lack of wireless charging.

Update July 2025: After over 2 years these are still going strong! I wear them 2-3 times a week when I'm walking to and from a remote parking area for work as well as during most lunch breaks, and the noise cancelling is perfectly fine for my needs and I can still hear traffic when it's coming up behind me (important as I have to cross the street and we don't use crosswalks in Mass). Bummed I missed out on the purple ones, but the blue is still nice. They're still easy to clean, still get a snug fit, and still holds its charge for me for a few weeks at a time when I'm using them about 4 hours a week.

Original:

I have small ears - I can’t wear earplugs to bed and all earbuds hurt my ears after 30 minutes. After searching the internet for earbuds that fit small ears and have good sound quality I found these. I use the smallest size eartips they included and they are comfortable. They stay on the earpiece snugly but also come off easily for regular cleaning. Sound quality is excellent, with a tap I can change the noise cancelling mode (three different levels) and I can adjust sound balance on the app. I only use these at work during breaks, on the bus to/from work (remote parking), and if I’m doing work around the house and need to block out other noises around the house. They hold their charge a decent amount of time and the case has survived many drops without issue.

First the positives - excellent sound quality for the price. Decent range and the features included like noise-cancelling and pairing to multiple devices all works well. The app is easy to use, you can customize what tapping, double-tapping, etc.. does. It all works well and I have zero complaints about any of that. I've truly enjoyed using these buds for the 2 years I've had them.

Now for the rub - the battery life is abysmal the further into using them you get. I used to be able to use these continuously for half the day. But after the first year, I started to notice the battery would drain faster and faster. Regardless, I could still get a couple or few solid hours out of them. Then just recently they've decided to really spiral. Now I can go from 100% charge to getting "low battery" alerts in about 10 minutes.

I went online to help troubleshoot and it appears this is a VERY COMMON problem with these buds. I tried updating them, fully discharging them and then fully charging, etc... you name it. No changes. They are effectively worthless now, unless I want to only listen to a couple songs quick lol.

I'd stay away from these. If Sony could find a way to release them with a functional battery that lasts more than a couple years, they'd be a solid recommendation. Until then though - stay far away. Spend your money elsewhere.

Update 5/30/25: Lowering my rating from 5 to 3. It was nice while it lasted, I guess. I did get replacement buds, and I don't know what happened, but Sony must've just dropped the ball on firmware. For the past couple of months, I've been having increasingly more issues with consistent connectivity with one or both earbuds; the connections just dropping, even when I have audio playing; and every so often, if they are set to ambient sound, there will be a random static noise that won't stop unless they are put in normal mode (i.e. switching to ANC doesn't make it stop, nor does switching to a different mode and going back to ambient sound). Other times, one of them just won't turn on, so I'd have to put it back in the case to reset, and sometimes this takes 2-3 tries before audio starts playing through them again.

So, while these earbuds seemed like a great fit for me when I first bought them, there are too many issues that are making them more frustrating than pleasant to use.

Update 04/27/24: These little guys are tough as nails, they just keep getting better!! They ended up in my washing machine because I'm dumb, but the buds still worked perfectly fine when I took them out! The case needed a few hours before it would hold a charge again, but it's back to normal operation. Thank you Sony, this ADHDer was saved from having to spend more on a new pair! 🙌🏾

Also, I recall seeing some other reviews say these buds can't be used separately, but I've used just the right one with the left still in the case with no issues. Your mileage may vary, I guess

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I don't leave reviews unless I'm truly blown away by a product and I know these LinkBuds are the best I've had, and I've only been using them for a few minutes! In the past three years, I have gone through Jabra Elite 75t -> Soundcore A40 -> Soundcore Sport X10. Here is where they fell short for me:

- The Elite 75t was pretty good imo, the battery just aged out of use and it started having a lot of connectivity issues

- The A40 sound was muffled and terrible, the noise canceling was a joke, and it would not stay in my ears unless I pushed the buds in super deep, which made them unpleasant to wear for an extended period

- The Sport X10 fixed the issue of having my buds fall out and the sound was really good, but they pushed on my crus of helix if they weren't constantly adjusted, and now I have a discolored mark on that part of my ear that's sensitive to the touch. Yippee... The battery was also super weak, I felt like I had to charge the buds almost every night to get just three hours out of them.

The LinkBuds have everything I was looking for, and then some!

+ They look large, but they are a perfect fit for my small ears! I didn't even have to swap out the cups. I can shake my head and it doesn't feel like they'll just fly out. Very snug and comfortably seated (and no pressure on my crus of helix, anymore!)

+ The control sensors are perfectly calibrated and responsive. I usually prefer buttons because sensors can be finicky (Looking at you, Soundcore...), but the amount of pressure and presses needed for the earbuds to respond feels very natural and consistent.

+ The EQ customization is versatile and very easy to set up. The default profile sounded kind of underwhelming, but after calibrating it to my preferred settings, it's hard to want to stop playing my tunes!

+ The noise canceling is phenomenal, I truly can't hear anything but my own thoughts when it's activated. Switching to ambient noise is very smooth too.

+ Speak-to-chat is a feature I've long missed having on my audio devices, so it was a pleasant surprise to see that option on the app.

Overall, I have zero complaints thus far and I hope to use the LinkBuds for a long time :)

It has taken me over a year and quite a bit of money to find some ear buds that won't fall out of my ears!! Apparently I have freakishly small ear canals. Hard ear buds like airpods hurt like a mofo after being in place for any amount of time and every soft ear bud I have tried will literally fall out when I'm sitting still.

These came up on a "Best of" earbud list for small ear canals and I decided to give them a go. To be fair, these are the most expensive pair I've tried to this point, so it's entirely possible that the 2-300+ dollar pairs might fit small ears easily, but I was trying to avoid paying that much. To be honest, I was trying to avoid paying more than 50 bucks, but after my third try, I knew that was a pipe dream.

I think the combination of the smaller size and the fact they are lighter than most ear buds, these finally are the ones that stay put!!

You do have to download a special app in order to get them to connect to your device - which is strange and kind of annoying - and sometimes the battery will just die without warning, but other than those two small complaints, I love these earbuds! Highly recommend for people with small ear canals and for the rest of you too! :)

Update 6/16/25: still LOVE these! In fact I bought a second pair. I’ve updated my star rating from a 4 to a 5 bc you don’t need the app to connect them, apparently I’m just an idiot.

Tl;Dr: Awesome for small ears and side sleepers. Good quality and easy to use. However, there's a whole app and a ton of features you might not use, making the price tag a little less worth it for you.

I absolutely recommend these earbuds if you have small ears like me. I've never had earbuds that (even with the tiniest buds) don't hurt my ears or gradually slip and fall out due to how small my ears are. These are the first earbuds I've ever had that fit like a glove and are comfortable for hours on end. You can tell how well they fit in the pictures I attached. Swear to God, doctors should prescribe you these earbuds if they notice your ears are tiny lol.

It's also awesome how low profile they are. Check out the attached picture for how little it sticks out from my ear. It's perfect if you like a lowkey style or if you like to lay on your side and listen to stuff. I can sleep on my side with both earbuds in for a good hour or two, which I really appreciate.

I also appreciate their ease of use. Pairing them to a device is simple; just press a button on the back of the case. I also like all the touch controls, e.g. tap once on the left to switch from noise cancelling to ambient, tap 4x on the right to raise volume, etc. They work well while also not being oversensitive. Your music won't pause just because your hat or hair hit your ear, which is great.

As far as quality goes, they're about what I'd expect for this price range. The sound quality is good and I like the different equalizer settings. I really like how it'll give you a little test and create an equalizer profile fit to your music taste. The noise cancelling is good enough and the ambient mode works well too. Lastly, the quality of the earbuds themselves is good. I didn't get the recycled plastic ones, but mine feel like good quality plastic.

My sole complaint is that I feel like the value for money is off a bit if you don't care about the extra software. If you don't want to install the app that goes with the earbuds and set up the extra features, it feels like a bit of a waste.

For example, there's this whole adaptive noise cancelling feature that will automatically adjust when (and how much?) noise is cancelled based on what you're doing and where you are. I haven't used this feature at all. Firstly, because it takes a set up process in a quiet place, which I never got around to doing. Secondly, it requires precise location data to be on and accessed at all times. Call me a boomer, but I don't think my earbuds need to or should know which cafés I frequent or what my schedule is like. It's a lot of work when it's already so easy to just manually switch them from noise cancelling to ambient when someone talks to you.

It also supports 360° Dolby atmos sound, which is cooler in theory than in practice. Very few music streaming platforms support this sound. Tidal was the only one I recognized, and it seems like it's dropping the service soon. I can't help but wonder if the price could have been lower if it didn't have this feature that most customers won't use.

Other people might feel the same about the equalizer settings or the ability to test and find the best fit for your ears. Anyway, if you don't care about these extra features, there might be a cheaper, simpler option for you.

Either way, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I've had them for 6 months now and although the $200 price tag wasn't easy for me, I never regret my decision. I'll probably keep buying these until they stop making them lol.

Utilizo o Sony Linkbuds S no home office, academia e nas corridas (longões) de final-de-semana. A qualidade dos microfones, som, ANC e som ambiente são excelentes, as funcionalidades de speak-to-chat e aprendizagem dos ambientes são muito divertidos e úteis, os LinkBuds S são confortáveis e muito estáveis, fixam bem e não caem durante os treinos de corrida. O únicos ponto que precisa melhorar e uma proteção maior conta água, suor e poeira, ele vem com IPX4.

Son muy cómodos y se adaptan muy bien al oído, incluyen 3 tamaños adicionales a los que vienen por defecto (son en total 4 tamaños). La calidad de sonido es impecable, cuentan con códec LDAC que es de lo mejor en bitrate para audífonos bluetooth. Los probé con Tidal HiFi Plus y separa muy bien los elementos, como lo son guitarras, bajos, batería, voces. Todo suena muy nítido, obviamente no al nivel de audífonos profesionales pero excelentemente bien para unos audífonos true wireless.

Probé varios días el sonido en Dolby Atmos y 360 Reality Audio, el sonido espacial es una experiencia nueva para mí. Me impactó la profundidad que pueden llegar a expresar pero considero que necesita trabajarse de manera más fiel a lo entregado en los masters originales (aunque eso ya es cosa de cada artista y casa productora, los audífonos cumplen su trabajo).

Recomendaría estos audífonos para personas que quieran escuchar música un poco más allá de la calidad MP3, con servicios como Tidal HiFi (no Plus), Amazon Music Unlimited o incluso Qobuz. Considerando que la tasa de bits máxima es de 990kbps, por lo que no podrás apreciar calidad Máster de estudio. La calidad CD es suficiente para la mayoría.

Estoy muy satisfecho con mi compra, la cancelación de ruido es excelente y el modo ambiente es extremadamente útil, sólo hizo falta una mayor personalización en las funciones de los paneles táctiles para controlar el volumen, cambiar de canción y demás sin perder otras funciones en el proceso.

Un último fallo es que el auricular derecho se descarga más rápido que el izquierdo por alguna razón, pero se pueden usar individualmente sin ningún problema y cuentan con carga rápida, por lo que con menos de 1hr de carga puedes continuar usándolos otra vez.

Recomendados ampliamente.

I got this for 7.6k during the great Indian sale which is a steal!!! This comes very close to Sony's flagship tws, WF-1000XM4. The audio quality is mind blowing. The ANC is really good. You can say that it comes to about 90% of XM4's ANC capability. The battery life is decent but it doesn't matter to me much as I don't wear it continuously for more than 2 hrs and I put it back in the case after use. The comfort is great unlike the XM4 and you can wear it for a long time. It has a quick charge feature where a 5 min charge gives you 60 mins of playback. As mentioned by another reviewer, don't use the Equalizer in the Sony Headphones app. Install the Wavelet app and use its auto equalizer for Linkbuds S. The difference in quality is huge. Another useful feature is that you can connect to 2 devices at the same time.

Do note that the right earbud is the primary unit and it consumes more power than the left one. There will be a slight difference in the battery to about 2 to 6% between both the earbuds. If you see a huge difference to about 12 to 20% or more, one of the earbuds is defective and you need to get it replaced.

The only drawback I felt in this device is that during phone calls, the voice sounds mechanical and not natural. When I called my friend via the earbuds, he immediately asked me if I'm using some earphones or headphones as the clarity wasn't great. So if you are buying this device for calls, I will not recommend it. You can look at other premium devices like Samsung Buds 2 Pro, Airpods Pro 2, Bose QC 2, Oppo Enco X2 and the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. The latest Sony flagship, WF-1000XM5, is the best version of the XM4 and the Linkbuds S as it has incorporated all the positives from both devices. If you have the budget, then definitely go for the XM5.

BOUGHT Nov 23, 2022 (was 4 stars): Needed to replace my Bose Soundsport bluetooth headphones for working out + travel (less bulky than the Sony WH-1000XM3). This was 44% cheaper during Black Friday sales so I took a chance amidst the mixed reviews. PROS: really comfortable, great for outdoor walks & workouts. Battery life is good with the charging case and very responsive for tap functions or linking to a variety of devices. CONS: some songs sound EXCELLENT, some (instrumental) sound awful like from a tin can. Limited sound adjustment but I knew nothing beats the VERY expensive WH-1000X series for sound (curious what THOSE earphones sound like!). Not perfect, but worthwhile at the SALE price; full/regular price, I wouldn't buy it.

UPDATE Sept 24, 2024 (now 1 star): I'm now getting the dreaded problem others have complained about. Even after a full charging session, the LEFT airbud and case are still reading at 99-100% but the RIGHT airbud starts at 94%, and its power starts to drop in real time, a percentage every 30 seconds or so of playing music! In short, after a 45 minute workout it's already at 20% with low battery warning.

When others complain to SONY, their customer service offers the same list of links with DID YOU TRY THIS, etc. I try them all to no change in behavior, and like at the end of every list, they give a link to contact them directly. It goes to a generic page listing every since SONY product except the Linkbud S in question, making most people give up.

I know. I was warned. I hoped it wouldn't happen to me but... I'll have to live with a super weak RIGHT earbud charge and start shopping for a replacement in the near future. It's a shame as I quite like their older over-ear WH-1000XM3 headphones which still work just fine.

Linkbuds however, turned into Linkduds. :-(