Sony has recently launched a new series of earphones called Sony LinkBuds, whose first model is the Sony LinkBuds WF-L900 which not only comes with a compact design, but also very unique, where they use audio drivers that have a very unique design , in addition to some interesting new functions.
Designs And Specifications
Sony LinkBuds WF-L900
Open design TWS type
12mm driver
Microphone 2 microphones
5.5 hour/ 17.5 hour battery with pod
USB-C charger port
USB-C Wired Charging
CODEC AAC, SBC
All supported operating systems
Virtual assistant support Yes
Touchpad Yes
IPX4 waterproof capability
Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.2
Pause audio when removed Yes
Pulse scanner None
Selling Price RM 849
As said, the Sony LinkBuds WF-L900 comes with a very unique design, where they use a donut-shaped audio driver, where the design of the hole can be seen physically through the design of this earphone as well.
As you can see in the pictures taken, these earphones come with two different round shaped parts. The donut -shaped frame is named Open Ring Design which houses the Ring Driver Unit audio driver, which Sony says it helps in allowing users to not only hear ambient sounds well, but also slightly improve the stage sound for better audio quality.
The upper part of the audio driver is where the earphone -made intelligence chip is housed. It is responsible for functions like Speak To Chat, digital assistant controls like Ok Google and Alexa as well as the ability of these earphones to control audio volume based on your location.
The frame of these earphones. along with its charging frame is made from recycled materials, and these Sony LinkBuds earphones are no different. Just like the previous Sony WF-1000XM4 earphones, this earphone box is made of 100 percent recycled material and does not use any plastic material at all.
Speaking of the charging frame, these LinkBuds WF-L900 earphones also come with the most compact design so far with a smaller size even compared to the TWS WF-1000XM4 earphones. The LinkBuds frame width is seen to be only half that of the WF-1000XM4, and with lower height as well.
In fact, the Sony LinkBuds earphone frame and charging pod are made from recycled automotive industry plastic to help reduce the use of new plastic (virgin plastic) which has been seen to be increasingly popular lately with a number of other technology companies.
As TWS earphones in the premium class, these earphones also come with IP4X moisture-proof feature that allows you to use these earphones for light exercise purposes such as jogging or walking outside.
While all technology brands entering the audio arena show the Active Noise Canceling function as a mandatory feature, the Sony LinkBuds WF-L900 does not have that function due to its unique design. Is this an advantage or disadvantage to these earphones? We will explain a little more about it in the paragraphs below.
User Experience
If you're used to using Sony earphones or headphones before, you're probably familiar with how to attach their accessories to your devices. For Android users, these earphones come with Google Fast Pair function, while for iOS devices, you can use the Sony Headphones app.
What you may need to get used to is how to wear these Sony LinkBuds WF-L900 earphones for the first time. It can be easily fitted into the ear, but the rubber hook section will probably need to be customized to get the fit that provides the best audio listening experience.
Sony also gives users several rubber hooks of different sizes for those with smaller or larger ear holes, depending on your needs. this is to ensure that these earphones can hook into the inside of your ear comfortably, and not move so much when you go out for a walk with these earphones.
While these Sony LinkBuds earphones don’t have a built-in noise cancellation function, they still come with features like Speak-to-Chat and customizable shortcut support from the Sony Headphones app. Only this time, the shortcuts on these earphones are already set, and the customization options seem to be quite limited.
One aspect I really like about these earphones is their very compact size, in fact I can say that these Sony LinkBuds come in a very compact size, almost the same as Apple iPods.
Even so, with this small size, one of its shortcomings is evident from the battery life. Sony says that with a full charge, this tellinga phone can be used for 5.5 hours, and along with its charging frame, it comes with a full battery life of 17.5 hours.
Charging these earphones with its charging frame also doesn’t take that much time. The earphones are seen to take 1.5 hours to charge from empty to full, while the charging frame is also seen to take the same amount of time, which is why this Sony LinkBuds battery will take three hours to fully charge from empty to full.
Audio Quality
Sony's audio products usually come with a fairly good level of quality, and these Sony LinkBuds can also be said to have satisfactory audio quality for an earphone with this unique design. But with that said, it also has some very significant issues when used in a certain way.
Previously I have said that these earphones need to fit well for comfortable wear. Another reason why this is important is that the comfort of this load will affect the quality of the audio you will be able to hear. You need to get used to making these small adjustments every time you plug in the earphones to get the best audio experience.
Basically, these Sony LinkBuds come with quite satisfactory audio quality. Its open design allows users to enjoy various genres of songs, whether rock, ballads, instrumentals, studio recordings or live recorded songs.
When you listen to songs with treble levels as well as many high frequency notes, you can listen to these notes clearly without having to worry about noisy sound issues. If you prefer to listen to songs with more bass notes, at the original setting, the bass sound is not very clear, but it can be modified via the Headphones app to increase the bass level.
Listening to the vocal part of these earphones as well, for me the lyrics in question I can say are a bit drowned out maybe because the openness of these earphones makes hearing the vocal audio not so stand out. Just like the bass issue, you can increase this sound level through the settings in the same app.
The biggest problem of these Sony LinkBuds TWS earphones is present when you use these earphones outdoors. All the audio details I talked about before can all be thrown out the window as ambient noise will cause the audio quality of these earphones to plummet due to its open design.
You can try to increase the audio volume of these earphones, but it will hurt your ears, and you still will not get the desired fidelity. This is the biggest problem of these earphones because TWS earphones are commonly used for the purpose of commuting and want to block out noise.
Closing
The Sony LinkBuds WF-900L can be seen as an experiment from Sony on how more unique designs like these can provide a different earphone experience as well as audio quality,
It does come with a more unique design and functionality compared to the various TWS earphones available in the market today, but at the asking price of RM849, it is very difficult to recommend these earphones to the public, especially when you can buy TWS earphones others that come with more functions and good audio quality at the same price or even cheaper.
Earphones from other brands such as Oppo, Xiaomi, Apple are seen to come at the same price or cheaper, and come with more useful functions and audio quality that is more or less the same as these LinkBuds earphones.
Pro:
Compact design
Unique features
Comfortable in -ear load
Use of recycled materials
Attractive audio quality in indoor conditions
Cons:
Price
A battery that doesn't last that long
Audio quality degrades when used outdoors or at home