Friday, February 11th 2022
Peculiar Sony LinkBuds Leak, Appears to be Open Back
When it comes to headphones, Sony is not a company to shy away from trying new things and the leaked LinkBuds are unlike anything else currently in the market. What we're looking at seems to be a set of open back in-ear TWS earbuds, although it's highly unlikely that we'll see any form of noise cancelling support here. Sony did make something similar under its Xperia brand some years ago, although the Xperia Ear Duo XEA20 as they were called, weren't nearly as compact, but it's the only other open back in-ear type headphones we're aware of.
The LinkBuds, also known as the WF-L900 appear to be sitting entirely inside your ears and according to the leaked information, they lack any kind of physical buttons. This might not be a huge issue, as the LinkBuds are said to feature automatic volume control, based on the listening environment. They're supposedly built around Sony's V1 processor and are said to feature support for Sony's DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine). Although noise cancelling for the listener might be missing, AI noise suppression for voice is apparently present and is meant to be activated by touching the ear, rather than the earbuds. Other features should include support for voice assistants, Google Fast Pair and multi-pairing.
Judging by the speckled appearance, we're looking at yet another product that is using some form of recycled plastic and the upper half seems to have a removable, possibly silicon based part that will help with fitting. The LinkBuds should feature IPX4 certification and the battery is said to be good for up to 5.5 hours of music playback, with the charging case adding a further 12 hours of battery life. The rumoured pricing is US$249 or around €200-220. The LinkBuds are expected to be revealed on the 15th of February, as Sony already has an online event planned for that day.
Sources:
@TechInsiderBlog, WinFuture
The LinkBuds, also known as the WF-L900 appear to be sitting entirely inside your ears and according to the leaked information, they lack any kind of physical buttons. This might not be a huge issue, as the LinkBuds are said to feature automatic volume control, based on the listening environment. They're supposedly built around Sony's V1 processor and are said to feature support for Sony's DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine). Although noise cancelling for the listener might be missing, AI noise suppression for voice is apparently present and is meant to be activated by touching the ear, rather than the earbuds. Other features should include support for voice assistants, Google Fast Pair and multi-pairing.
12 Comments on Peculiar Sony LinkBuds Leak, Appears to be Open Back
i wounder how it perform and if it stay right in ear and not fall off.
It could be good in situations where you want small earbuds, but don't want to block out too much outside noise.
Interesting vid talking about these.
Assuming it's true, I could see some use cases; outdoor walking/jogging/running would be one, to better hear incoming cars (esp. quieter EVs or Hybrids at low speeds that only produce some noise to be "heard") and unleashed dogs, or at certain workplaces where one still needs to be able to hear but is allowed to wear them otherwise. At least, looking at some of the local store cashiers and stockers, who currently just have "one-in, one-charging" and have to either turn their head or remove the other earpiece when a customer comes up to them. Gets weirder with the ones working at stores that have headsets; one-in, one-charging, and one-store communicator that they just switch ears when they switch earbuds.
If they can get it to work and sound good I'd be down to try them.
I for one love to see more designs that aren't in-ears that you need to fully stick into your ear. I may at some point need to replace the Galaxy Beans and there really aren't that many options like that.
damn we get scammed every day in america don't we? lol
Relatively good sound while being able to hear around you is the holy grail of wireless IEM for basically anyone doing anything outside. Its a huge market and so far nobody has been able to get it right.