What is the most important thing about earphones?My answer depends on the situation. When I listen to music at home, I prefer power and volume. If you’re at the gym, you’ll want something that’s sturdy and can block out sound. Sony’s new LinkBuds fit meets my needs.
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I had a chance to try out this pair over the past week or so, and they’ve quickly become my go-to workout companion. I never left home without them. Before I get into the various reasons I love these earphones, I want to give a quick compliment about the charging case.
The one I received is a pale green model with a marble lid and a soft rubber bottom. They look great together. I’m not sure if these materials help enhance it, but I’m a big fan of its aesthetic. Sony’s LinkBuds Fit has the nicest charging case I’ve ever had.
The LinkBuds Fit can be considered an evolution of Sony’s LinkBuds S. Like the older models, these are wireless noise-canceling earbuds with a few tweaks. Most importantly, Sony designed the new earphones to be more comfortable. According to the company, the casing has been shortened and covered with a “silicon supporter.” There is an air cushion inside this silicone.
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In my experience, this design change has two effects. This allows the earbuds to fit better in your ears, and the silicone cover protects your ears from chafing with the LinkBuds Fit’s hard plastic case. That means you’ll be comfortable all day long.
I even fell asleep with them on several times during the test, but my ears never hurt when I woke up. This is something you can’t say about other earphones that become uncomfortable over time.
The noise canceling on the LinkBuds Fit is solid. It’s active by default, so ANC (active noise canceling) will turn on the moment you put them both on. This feature is automatically disabled if you remove one of your earbuds.
Double-tap the outside of the left earbud to disable ANC. I don’t use gesture controls much, so the auto-disable feature was very useful.
The ANC feature blocks out varying amounts of sound depending on the environment. In our quiet room, we could hear more ambient sounds, including traffic outside the window. At the gym, things were much quieter. I could barely hear the pounding of weights or the music coming from the speaker system. I’m really impressed with this automatic optimization feature.
However, the ANC is not a panacea. A fairly loud sound will leak out.
Sony says the earbuds will last 5.5 hours on a single charge alone and 25 hours with the case. During testing, I was able to get the earbuds to work for almost 7 hours before I had to pick up the charger. Since I was playing music at a low volume with ANC on, it’s possible to extend the runtime with a few adjustments.
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The audio output of the earphones was good overall. The separation of instruments was great. The acoustic songs and singers sounded great. The only area where I felt this pair was weak was in the bass output. Pop and rap songs lacked that special punch.
ZDNET purchase advice
At the time of writing this article, Sony LinkBuds Fit Available for pre-order for $200. There are four colors: black, white, green, and purple. Additional accessories can be purchased. case cover Attach to a keychain or other colored object silicon supporter.
If you like robust ANC and incredible comfort, we recommend LinkBuds Fit. The $200 price is a tough sell, especially when there are better, cheaper options like Nothing Ear (a). If you prefer powerful audio output, we recommend the Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones.
