I Like Sony's New LinkBuds Clip Earbuds, but They're Pricey

1 week ago 7

Pros

Well-designed and comfortable to wear with a premium glossy finish
Very good sound for open earbuds
Excellent voice-calling performance
Good battery life (up to 9 hours)

Cons

Pricey
Case doesn't support wireless charging
Touch controls are a tad finicky

I Like Sony's New LinkBuds Clip Earbuds, but They're Pricey
Open is in
Good sound, but not exceptionally good
Top-tier voice-calling performance
LinkBuds Clip final conclusions

When Sony launched its original stem-free, donut-shaped LinkBuds in 2022, I lauded them for being an innovative take on open earbuds after Apple had dominated the open earbuds genre with its AirPods for several years. The second-gen LinkBuds Open were released in 2024, and now Sony's added the LinkBuds Clip, its take on the increasingly popular clip-on genre of open buds.

The bad news is that there isn't anything terribly innovative or exciting about the LinkBuds Clip, especially given their high list price of $230. But the good news is they're nicely designed, fit my ears well, sound quite good (for clip-on buds anyway), have strong battery life and feature excellent voice-calling performance.

Read more: Best open earbuds of 2026

Open is in

As I said in my preview of earbud trends for 2026, noise-isolating earbuds with silicone eartips aren't going away, but companies are currently more focused on open designs that don't seal your ear canal and let you hear the outside world for "situational awareness." According to market research firms and headphone companies I've talked with, open earbuds are the fastest-growing segment of the headphones market. People tend to buy them for their design, whether it's because they find silicone eartips uncomfortable or because they don't have to worry about clip-on buds or ear hook-style buds falling out of their ears during sporting activities like running and biking, while allowing you to hear traffic or people around you for safety reasons.

The LinkBuds Clip in the green color sitting on a marble table

The LinkBuds Clip come in four color options -- green, lavender, "greige" and black -- and are distinguished by their premium glossy finish. Like a lot of the new clip-on buds, they have a firm but flexible C-shaped band that connects the battery and electronic components to a ball-shaped bud that contains the speaker driver. Included in the box are two little silicone "air fitting cushions" that those with smaller ears can attach to each band to get a snugger fit (I didn't need them).

As I said, they fit my medium-size ears comfortably and securely. In fact, I found them slightly more comfortable than Bose's Ultra Open Earbuds, but I can't guarantee these would be a good match for those with extra-large ears.

Shot of a single LinkBuds Clip bud in the lavender color on frozen surface

Sony suggests you wear the buds clipped to the midpoint of your ear. But like with all clip-on buds, you'll end up adjusting how high -- or low -- the bud sits on the ridge of your ear to find the most comfortable fit while offering the best sound quality (the glossy finish felt nice and smooth on my ears and allowed me to easily slide the buds up and down). The closer the driver sits to your ear canal, the better sound you'll get, particularly when it comes to bass. But sometimes achieving closer proximity comes at the expense of comfort, so it's a bit of a balancing act.

The case is quite compact and appears to be the same case that comes with the LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Fit. Like those models, Sony is offering covers for the case as an optional accessory. Alas, the case doesn't support wireless charging.

I was a little disappointed with the touch controls. The touch point is at the apex of the band, and you tap twice to pause a track, three times to advance a track or skip back and four times to raise and lower volume. I got to be fairly proficient at tapping in the right spot, but there were times when I missed slightly, and my taps didn't translate into action. I prefer physical control buttons, especially with buds that I might use for sports like running or biking, which these would be good for (they have an IPX4 splash-proof rating).

Good sound, but not exceptionally good

Sony generally makes exceptionally good-sounding headphones and earbuds, so I had fairly high expectations for the LinkBuds Clip. Bose initially set the sound quality standard for clip-on earbuds with its pricey Ultra Open Earbuds, which list for $300, but have dipped to as low as $230.

But at this point, the Ultra Open Earbuds, which are due for an upgrade this year, probably aren't the best buds for comparison. Models like the Shokz OpenDots One ($200) or the Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XC1 ($110) are newer and less expensive than the Bose and sound pretty similar to the Ultra Open Earbuds. Overall, the LinkBuds Clip sound a little more natural than those buds, but they're all sort of in the same ballpark for sound quality, with the Inspire XC1 being the best value.

The greige color of the LinkBuds Clip on a model's ear

Part of the problem is that none of these clip-on buds sound great. A pair of affordable noise-isolating buds like the Earfun Air Pro 4 Plus buds ($75) beat any of them for sound. Even the AirPods 4, which also have an open design, arguably sound a little better and cost less, though they won't fit some people's ears as securely as clip-on buds.

Still, for casual listening, most people should be happy with the LinkBuds Clip's sound quality, particularly in quieter environments. While they're a little bass shy, they do sound open, well-balanced and natural, with decent clarity.

The buds sound best in Standard mode (you tap the left earbud twice to change modes). But there's a Voice Boost setting that boosts the volume, particularly the midrange, for listening to podcasts and videos in noisier environments. Also, you can switch to Sound Leakage Reduction mode in quieter environments to reduce sound leakage (yes, there's some), but the sound degrades a bit. And finally, you can tweak the sound with a 10-band equalizer in the Sony Connect companion app for iOS and Android and activate Sony's Digital Sound Enhancement Engine to slightly improve the sound.

The SBC and AAC audio codecs are supported for Bluetooth streaming, but not Sony's LDAC codec. I didn't have any connectivity issues, as the buds maintained a hiccup-free connection with my phone while I walked the wireless-interference-laden streets of New York.

The Sony LinkBuds Clip earbuds in the reviewer's hand with the case open

Note that activating DSEE will impact battery life performance a bit, but the LinkBuds Clip are rated for up to 9 hours on a single charge at moderate volume levels, with an extra 28 hours in the case (that's good). The buds do support Bluetooth multipoint pairing, so you can pair them to two devices simultaneously.

Top-tier voice-calling performance

Voice-calling is the one area where the buds exceeded my expectations. They did an excellent job filtering out background noise on the clangorous streets of New York while keeping my voice sounding relatively clear and natural -- at least according to what my test callers told me.

Sony says the buds are equipped with advanced voice signal processing and high-precision voice pickup technology that includes a bone-conduction sensor to "precisely capture the user's voice." There's also an AI-based noise-reduction system.

At one point, I was walking by a garbage truck as it was compacting garbage and seemed extremely loud to me, only to be told by the person I was speaking to that he could hear me fine and barely heard anything in the background (he could hear some voice and a bit of wind noise when I spoke). That said, because the buds are open, I couldn't hear callers quite as well as I could with noise-canceling earbuds in noisy environments. But from my tests, I'd rate the LinkBuds Clip top-tier for voice-calling.

A young male model with a mustache wearing the LinkBuds Clip

LinkBuds Clip final conclusions

The LinkBuds Clip are pretty simple but well-designed clip-on earbuds. Considering their high list price, I was initially underwhelmed by them, but found myself liking them more as I compared them with other clip-on models I've tested. While they don't sound great compared with noise-isolating earbuds in the same price range, they measure up quite well to other top clip-on buds, none of which feature fantastic sound and aren't really designed for critical listening. Where they do seem to have a real competitive advantage is with their voice-calling performance, which is great if you like to chat when you go for a run or do other activities.

Judging the value of earbuds and headphones these days can be tricky because companies like Sony can place artificially high list prices on their products to leave room for discounting (current tariffs may also be a factor in that high list price, too). But the LinkBuds Clip seem a little overpriced at $230, which is why I have them rated just below four stars. Should they end up on sale on Amazon for $50 less, you can add a quarter star to my rating.

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