Sony Takes a Fresh Swing at Open-Ear Listening with the LinkBuds Clip

Sony has built a strong reputation in the audio world over the years, though wireless earbuds have never really been the one category where the company shines. The Japanese company is now taking a dramatic step into the open-ear arena with a new earbud design: the LinkBuds Clip, a set of earbuds that clip onto the outside of your ear rather than sitting inside it, allowing you to hear both the music and the world around you.

Open-ear earbuds have grown in popularity, and for good reason: they eliminate the “plugged in” feeling that standard in-ear models provide, allowing you to hear the world around you and preventing you from being exhausted from wearing earphones after a while. The LinkBuds Clip takes this concept and runs with it, with a curved C-shaped clip that softly clamps around the outside of your ear. Sound drivers lie just outside the ear canal, driving sound into your ear while keeping it open, allowing you to stay connected to your surroundings. You can also customize the fit by adding these optional small cushions that snap on for added support on various ear shapes, and they’re adjustable! The buds are amazingly light, and the flexible clip ensures they stay in your ear for commutes, walks, or simply goofing around.

Sony calibrated the audio for these new earbuds with the same care they put into their flagship 1000X series headphones, resulting in crystal clear, natural listening that captures all of the tiny details in recordings without distortion. Their Digital Sound Enhancement Engine performs an excellent job of taking compressed sounds and amplifying their depth and clarity. If you’re lucky enough to have access to compatible services, you can even receive that insane immersive spatial sound with 360 Reality Audio, as well as an even more subtle Background Music Effect that adds some ambiance to your listening experience. These new earbuds also feature three different listening modes, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your mood. Standard mode simply balances out the vocals and instruments, Voice Boost attempts to draw speech out from under noisy environments (ideal for city streets, for example), and Sound Leakage Reduction keeps things low in calm rooms.

Hands down, their call quality is one of the most impressive features, as powerful AI noise reduction technology and a bone conduction sensor work together to pick up your voice very cleanly, even in extremely windy or congested environments. The nicest feature is that it records your voice without making you sound robotic or if you’re in another room.

The battery lasts nine hours on a single charge, with the case adding another 28 hours for a total of 37 hours of listening time, and if you need a quick boost, you can get an hour of playback from a three-minute charge. IPX4 water resistance implies they can withstand some perspiration or light rain, but the case itself lacks this level of protection. Multipoint Bluetooth allows you to connect to two devices at once, and tap controls enable you to control playback, volume, and even mode switches. The Sony Sound Connect app has a 10-band equalizer as well as scene-based sound changes, allowing you to tailor the sound to your specific listening preferences.

There are four colors to pick from: black, greige, green, and lavender, with a glossy finish that gives them a premium appearance and feel. Finally, there are some amazing extra covers and cushions in coral, green, blue, lavender, and black that allow you to customize your earphones to better match your taste. The packaging is also a nice touch, as it contains no plastic, and the buds and case are created from recyclable materials. At $229.99, they are just in the center of the pack for open-ear alternatives available.