TWS headphones for ordinary consumers is no longer a fresh term, from the fall of 2016 Apple's first generation of AirPods turned out to be so far, TWS headphones have become the vast majority of people's headphones the main type of equipment. At present, although both emerging Internet device brands and established traditional audio manufacturers have launched their own TWS headphones, in general, there are only a few kinds of headphone styles on the market, such as airPods-like handle shapes, SONY wf-1000xm series bean shapes, sports headphones, etc.
No matter what kind of TWS headphones have a common feature, that is, they all use a closed in-ear structure to complete the sound. Although that unit form can maintain the maximum efficiency of music transmission, it also blocks the communication between the ear and the air to a certain extent, and because the in-ear earbuds are not disinfected, it is easy to wear such headphones for a long time to get ear verification such as otitis media.
In order to solve this kind of problem, many users with ear diseases have chosen bone conduction headphones, but the sound quality of such headphones is transmitted through bone vibration, which is really impossible to compliment in terms of sound quality, and for a time many users who have ear diseases or are worried about ear diseases are caught in a dilemma. But not long ago, Sony released a product to make such users shine, it is LinkBuds, this product can be regarded as the "sequel" of Sony Xperia Ear Duo in 2018, as an open headphone, how will it perform? We had a short hands-on experience at Sony's official direct store.
LinkBuds's box body uses recycled ABS material, implementing sony's concept of "environmental protection", the headphone box is small in size, biased towards a boxy shape, so that it has a certain degree of playability in the hand. Its surface has a layer of vulcanized silicone coating, so that the feel is very delicate, there is no traditional plastic smooth and cheap feeling, and at the same time there is a frosted texture on the surface, so that the overall texture of the headphones is more outstanding.
The back of the headphone case is equipped with a reset key and a Type-C charging interface, which can be seen that there are still certain gaps in the seam of the headphone box, which may be the reason why this new material cannot be particularly fine processed.
LinkBuds's lid is opened with a snap-on design that allows the headphones to fit more securely in the headphone case.
The first sight of the LinkBuds body is still quite a surprise, the design of this headset is different from almost all TWS headphones on the market today, and it is a completely innovative product.
The headphone body resembles two rings blending with each other, with an opening in the lower ring as the player. The design of the headphones is not only innovative but also has a strong sense of design, the material of the main body of the headphones is the same as the headphone box using recycled ABS material, and the surface has a special texture. There is also a metal ring decoration around the playback unit, which makes the headphones as a whole present a stronger sense of artistry.
On the inside of the headphones, there is a sound hole matrix and power contacts with regular in-ear headphones, as well as a proximity sensor.
LinkBuds is also different from the traditional headphones, which is designed with a silicone semi-circular ring buffer behind the main body of the headphones, which can fit the pinna of the ear to the greatest extent, and it is necessary to use your hands to easily adjust the position of the silicone ring when wearing, so as to obtain better comfort.
In terms of actual wearing experience, due to the small size of LinkBuds and the lack of ear shafts, the overall wearing experience is excellent, but it may also be the reason why both my colleagues and I are male, and girls with smaller ear cavity may have a little "support" feeling.
In the experience area, Sony adapted a Xperia 1 III for LinkBuds, and the headset APP adaptation interface has a strong "SONY" style.
In the connection mode of the headset, LinkBuds has two Bluetooth connection modes that can be adjusted, namely sound quality priority & stability priority, and it can also be seen in the Bluetooth setting interface that it uses the AAC/SBC transmission protocol, and supports Sony's own DBSS digital sound enhancement engine.
LinkBuds is equipped with SONY's newly developed ring driver unit with the latest integrated processor V1, so that the overall pronunciation tendency of the headset has been guaranteed, and SONY has set an adjustable EQ mode and "smart no-take" at the APP adaptation end, which can intelligently adjust the size of the headphone sound according to the user's environment, especially when talking to people.
At the same time, SONY also adapted the special function of analyzing ear shapes, which can be seen on other devices of SONY's own home, which prepares and optimizes the 360 Reality Audio function by shooting the shape and contour of the ear. In general, it is still a "big factory" technology, which is more practical for ordinary consumers, and can better optimize the sound quality performance according to its own characteristics.
In terms of sound quality performance, my subjective feeling is that the mid and high frequency segments of this product are still quite brilliant, for an open headphone, it is not easy to maintain the details of the music and the sweetness of the high frequencies in the ring driver, and it is also rare. However, at low frequencies, due to the lack of a "complete" diaphragm form, it may be lacking in the "volume" and "explosive power" of some low frequencies, making people feel slightly "thin". Overall, these headphones are suitable for listening to some vocal music, pop music, female poison music and so on.
At the same time, because it is an open structure, the impact of ambient sound on the texture of listening is more obvious, and it is easy to hear some music details in noisy places, so this headset is more suitable for use in offices, coffee shops, and quieter places at home.
In addition, there is a function that makes me feel fresh, the wide-area click function, which allows the user not to directly contact the main body of the headset, but to tap the skin around the headset to achieve the function of controlling the headset, I also demonstrated in the video below, the function can be well implemented in the current part of the TWS control area is small, occluded problem, is one of the most shining innovative points I feel on LinkBuds.
Video content: Including wear demonstration, no-pick mode demonstration, wide-area click demonstration function.
Summary: SONY LinkBuds is a rare and innovative TWS headphones, the open design allows it to be well targeted at users who pay attention to ear health, while the unique unit of 12mm and the addition of the V1 processor and the blessing of the DSEE engine make it also guarantee the quality of music, and will not lose the right to listen to good music because of openness.