It’s a well-known story: sprinting to the train at 8:01 a.m., music pumping, then bam, a split second of terror and ping: one of the real wireless headphones I’m supposed to be trying out just hit the pavement. Luckily, he didn’t fall into a drain or puddle … not this time.
It’s not for lack of trying. The night before I try on a new set of in-ear headphones, I always rehearse. First of all, I duly remove the medium tips with which they are equipped with all the actual wireless headphones and replace them with the smallest option provided.
This is not something you want to do too quickly; can be uncomfortable. Then I push the ear buds until the pain barrier allows.
Then (as most manufacturers specify), I make a turn to lock them in place as I can, with a silent prayer and a small turn of my head from side to side.
Finally, I pull them out of my ears and let them start overnight, allowing the components to get closer and allowing these little drivers to get used to doing their job, before any sound analysis can begin.
As I go to sleep, I hope that maybe this time the design, while still a little big to me, has benefited from supreme ergonomic refinement, or lighter construction, or at least has a weight. different to hug instead of repelling the holes they are designed for. Maybe this time I’ll be lucky. Maybe this time I’ll win, when I run this train tomorrow.
After trying dozens of real wireless headphones for over three years, I’ve found that a good 60% of the models on the market today don’t fit my smaller ears comfortably or safely. And by the way, I mean my ear canal is too narrow to fit most medium sized tips (and even some small ones) and my outer ear is next to the jewel as well.
Do you want to become a technician? My shell, antitragus and tragus are a bit together for most designs. These designs can often look quite delicious in the palm of my hand, like little sound release jewelry, but they just want to be released as soon as I put them in my ears to listen to music.
Sure, they look great on my hand, but how do Sony LinkBuds S feel when used? (Image credit: TechRadar)
So it was with some uneasiness that I took out a set of new headphones from Sony, a company that I have historically found to be one of the major infractions when it comes to headphone size. (Refer to the Sony WF-XB700 for reference: 8 g per headset. Solid and economical sound, but check the size.)
The new Sony LinkBuds S driver casings don’t look that small either. And when you open the box, there’s this old three-step instructional chart that always makes me sigh. Turning the sprouts in place is the second step, it’s also the last thing you need to do before you can enjoy the actual music.
However, as I held a headset between my thumb and forefinger, the construction really felt light. The neck of the headset (the piece you send to your ear canal) also felt nice and narrow, and to my surprise, I found a set of very small headphones alongside the usual small and large options. It’s as if the creators had heard my silent prayer.
Small is beautiful
Sony has supplied special super small “SS” headphones for the LinkBuds S and I’m grateful for that (Image Credit: TechRadar)
After some research, the idea was confirmed: my wishes have not fallen on deaf ears (if they are likely to be of medium size). Engineers have been working very hard to distill drivers and noise cancellation technology into a smaller, lighter package. And I’m grateful, Sony.
You see, the LinkBuds S includes the same custom V1 sound and noise cancellation processor as Sony’s first-class WF-1000XM4 proposal, but they’re monumentally smaller than the XM4, weighing just 4.8g / 0.17 oz per shoot.
In comparison, each Sony WF-1000XM4 headset weighs 7.3 g / 0.26 oz, a big difference of 40% or 2.5 g per headset. That is, 5 g of headphones that no longer stand out from your peers in total, the same weight as a nickel!
One of the few designs my ears never seem to struggle with is Apple’s AirPods “toothbrush head” design; although the sound is far from audiophile, the fit is friendly.
Apple’s flagship AirPods Pro weigh 5.4g / 0.19 oz per shot, and this tried-and-tested design (from its EarPods once free, of course) means the weight doesn’t look like the headset was coming out. directly from the handset. ear, trying to get on the ground, but instead feels like you want to make good friends with your cheek during the day.
Okay, 0.6g lighter per headset (the difference between the Sony LinkBuds S and the Apple AirPods Pro) is not very large, but I’ll take all the decigrams I can get and thank you, if it relieves the tension of the my poor little one. lugholes.
When you consider the shallow design of the LinkBuds S, the weight of each lighter headset is well distributed and the spherical units are flush, almost embracing the part of the ear that I now know is called the external ear canal.
Are you ready for your foreground?
Sony LinkBuds S will hold when you run on a train, even if you have smaller ears (image credit: Sony)
Part of Sony’s setup for its immersive, patented 360 Reality audio is to take a picture of each of your ears without wearing headphones. I’ve often felt that this is making fun of me, because even though it recognizes my face well, it takes several passes to get it to recognize the existence of my ears.
Even then, I need to reduce the special Sony ear template, which you drag and drop over the ear so that the headphones and the Sony Headphones app can do their special optimization mapping.
While all of these journeys are still in progress (I ended up having to take these photos manually), the fact that I already knew these little headphones fit my ears well gave me the confidence to continue, and when you can achieve good performance. seal between the headphones and the ear, the sound quality will also be much better.
With Sony’s LinkBuds S, 360 Reality Audio works like a charm to me; I’ve never felt it so fleshy, so shocking, so directional, and frankly so alarming as through these fantastic little headphones.
Of course, this isn’t a fat-filled review (although beware of that soon) and I can’t guarantee those of us with bigger ears. But if, like me, you’ve struggled with your smallest listening device since the advent of real wireless headphones, I’d add the Sony LinkBuds S, which shouldn’t be confused with the new Sony LinkBuds, too. your list.