Sony LinkBuds Open first impressions

It’s been nearly eight years since Apple launched the first-generation AirPods, starting a wave of truly wireless audio products. Today, the word ‘earbuds’ is synonymous with the stemmed design and silicone tips. The design is functional – the stem offers gesture support, while the silicone tips keep unwanted noise out.

But what about those of us who don’t want to completely immerse ourselves every time we set our favourite playlists on loop? Well Sony has the answer – a pair of TWS earbuds with a donut-like hole down the middle.

ALSO READ: Sony WF-C510 review

Meet the Sony LinkBuds Open (WF-L910), which come with a design I probably wouldn’t take seriously if it was any other brand’s name slapped across the box. Sony, however, has a rich history in not just audio products, but sound itself. From the iconic Walkman to products like the W-series water-resistant neckbands that Sony sold in a water bottle, there’s quite some trust to get behind here.

Sony LinkBuds Open: What’s new?

The Sony LinkBuds Open come with a cute-looking square-ish case that looks like a dual-layered pastry straight out the bakery. The case is also pretty compact and can get into the coin pocket in most jeans.

The case gets the matte treatment, except for the top portion, which remains glossy. The pros? You get a nice dual-tone look when the case is shut, lying on a desk. A colleague also drew a comparison between the case and a black box of Impact Mints. Whether you want to agree with that, is entirely up to you.

There’s also a pairing button and a USB Type-C port on the back of the case, that makes charging and pairing a breeze.

Coming to the earbuds themselves, the design can be described best in three parts – the first is a main body that houses the drivers, the sensors and most of the other tech here. The second is the lower part of the body which is a circular structure with an opening in the middle.

This is the part that actually goes into your ear. However, it’s designed to stay out of the ear canal unlike most silicone tipped earbuds that would usually take a more penetrative approach.

Lastly, there’s a soft-touch angular horn on the top which helps the earbuds lock into the folds of the outer ear, and securely stay in place. In the ears, the design feels nicely weightless, but we’ll have to test it a little longer to see if it holds up to some movement and how the earbuds actually sound.

The sound quality on offer here also seems crisp, but I haven’t even touched the companion app and equaliser options yet, so I would like to take them on a longer test drive before delivering any verdicts on how the sound is.

There are also some other cool features on offer here. 11mm drivers, support for high-fidelity sound, 360-audio and touch free gestures with a feature called ‘wide area tap’. The latter is the most interesting pick of the bunch.

The earbuds allow you to control music playback and other aspects by simply tapping on the skin in front of the earbuds, not the earbuds themselves. This avoids the biggest problem with tap gestures on earbuds – the constant pressing into the ears every time you pause or go to the next song.

ALSO READ: Bose Ultra Open Earbuds review

At Rs 26,990, the Sony LinkBuds Open also charges a premium for its unique design. We will be testing out whether the buds feature the power to match that price in our full review very soon, as well as seeing if they go toe-to-toe with the Bose Ultra Open, which offer a similar approach to sound, so stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for the same.