Review: Sony LinkBuds Clip

Sony’s original LinkBuds were among the first viable open earbuds I tried. Their unique, donut-shaped driver allows them to sit in your ear while letting in exterior sound to keep you aware in any situation. Serving as a sort of proof of concept, their success helped drive the new open-ear movement, with models at varying price points springing up from virtually every brand.

Sony’s latest LinkBuds, the Clip, are fine. They’re not the best sounding or lightest buds in their class, and their clip-on design cribs loads of earbuds before them, most notably from Anker's Soundcore line. Sony adds some fun colorways to mix things up, alongside some handy features, but their $230 price tag puts the Clip in double-take territory for buds you can't use in loud environments.

Otherwise, these are solid open earbuds with clear sound that deliver on the promise of letting you listen to tunes, podcasts, or videos all day while staying naturally aware of the world. If you’re a Sony fan, they’re worth considering (on sale, at least). Otherwise, there are plenty of other great open earbuds that provide a similar experience for less.

Have We Met?

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The LinkBuds series—which includes both the donut-hole style and (oddly) a noise-canceling pair—all come with the same delightfully small cube of a charging case. Its design reminds me of a sandwich cookie (in a good way), and it’s utterly easy to pocket. At this price, you’d expect Sony to finally add wireless charging to the latest pair, but alas, it’s still missing. You do get quick charging for up to an hour of playback on a three-minute charge. Like other LinkBuds, the Clip come in some fun colors, and you can mix and match further with available case covers in a rainbow of pastels.

Popping the top reveals more slabs of gloss and matte plastic in the form of clip-on buds that wrap around the back of your ears. As someone who’s tried dozens of open buds over the last few years, it’s hard not to be mildly underwhelmed by their basic aesthetic, which is somehow remarkably similar to Soundcore’s Aeroclip (and multiple other pairs) yet less striking. Their weight of 6.4 grams is heftier than my favorite pairs, but still light enough for all-day wear, and the beefy back barrel packs an impressive nine hours of battery play time, with 27 more in the case.

Sony’s choice to configure the case's magnetic stands so the buds face down toward the front instead of out to the sides proved slightly irksome in daily use. Nearly all other clip-on buds I’ve tried face outward, letting you naturally attach them to your ears in one motion. Sony's pair forces you to awkwardly twist one hand for insertion, and the other to put them back. It’s a small thing, but it remained awkward over multiple days.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

In keeping with the Aeroclip theme, the Clip smartly borrow Soundcore's best feature: touch controls on the loop that connects the two earbud pieces instead of at the back like so many cheaper models. This is worlds more convenient and well executed, allowing for play/pause, song skip, and volume control via double, triple, or rapid taps. Again, I have a small quibble in that Sony’s Connect app won’t allow you to program individual controls, only combos, which inevitably led to redundancies or controls I didn’t need.

The app unlocks a few Sony standards, like DSEE for enhanced wireless sound and 360 Reality Audio for spatial audio (if you’re into that). There’s also a customizable 10-band EQ and three sound modes, including Standard, Voice, and Sound Leakage, designed to keep you from disturbing others. I’ve never really had that problem with open buds, but hey, it’s there. Other options include multipoint pairing and quick access to Spotify and Amazon Music.

Mediocre Calling, Solid Tuneage

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

Lots of cheap open earbuds struggle with call quality, but I expected a bit more for the money with the Clip. Voices on my end were often tinny, sometimes sounding distorted, while on the other end, one caller said I sounded like I was on speakerphone. Sony says its AI Voice Pickup is designed to isolate your speech, even claiming to add bone-conduction to suppress exterior sounds, but the system struggled to deliver a satisfying experience for me.

Music playback fared much better. Open earbud tech has advanced quickly in the last couple of years, with even budget pairs finding a way to deliver satisfying sound without sealing up your ear canals—no small feat. Sony's pair rises above most cheap pairs, with solid clarity and warmth in the midrange, and weighty resonance in instrumental timbres, from woody guitars to piano and vocals. You're still not getting great bass, but that's essentially a matter of physics.

Pitting the Clip against my favorite pairs, the cheaper Aeroclip delivered a better overall presentation, with more detail and cleaner instrumental separation. On the higher end, Bose’s $300 Ultra Open Buds bested both models, thanks in part to their rollable clips that conform to your ear shape, letting you place the sound vents closer to your ear canals.

That rollable design makes Bose’s pair more of a pain to put on, but if you take the time, you’ll find better presence, deeper bass, and richer instrumental definition than in any other pair I’ve tried. Even so, while they’re a great option for flex budgets, it’s hard to ask flagship pricing for earbuds that can’t outclass even mid-tier traditional buds or perform well in loud environments.

Therein lies the rub. I love using open earbuds for all sorts of activities. They're especially suited to sports like cycling, but I've come to rely on them for everything from my daily dog walks to casually watching sports on my phone while conversing with friends at the bar. Yet, as I’ve said ad nauseam, they can’t be your everything buds, which makes pricing even more integral to their value proposition than regular noise-canceling earbuds.

Luckily, you don’t need to spend a lot to get a decent pair of open buds. One of my favorite options, the Acefast Acefit Air, starts at just $30 on sale, and there are loads of other step-up models, including the excellent Aeroclip, that still don't come close to Sony's $230 tax. If you’ve got the scratch, the LinkBuds Clip are solid performers, but this is a buyer's market, and the competition is still heating up.