Execs
- Properly-designed and comfy to put on with a premium shiny end
- Superb sound for open earbuds
- Glorious voice-calling efficiency
- Good battery life (as much as 9 hours)
Cons
- Expensive
- Case would not help wi-fi charging
- Contact controls are a tad finicky
When Sony launched its authentic stem-free, donut-shaped LinkBuds in 2022, I lauded them for being an modern tackle open earbuds after Apple had dominated the open earbuds style with its AirPods for a number of years. The second-gen LinkBuds Open had been launched in 2024, and now Sony’s added the LinkBuds Clip, its tackle the more and more widespread clip-on genre of open buds.
The dangerous information is that there is not something terribly modern or thrilling in regards to the LinkBuds Clip, particularly given their excessive checklist worth of $230. However the excellent news is that they’re properly designed, match my ears properly, sound fairly good (for clip-on buds anyway), have sturdy battery life and have wonderful voice-calling efficiency.Â
Learn extra: Best open earbuds of 2026
Open is in
As I stated in my preview of earbud trends for 2026, noise-isolating earbuds with silicone eartips aren’t going away, however firms are at the moment extra targeted on open designs that do not seal your ear canal and allow you to hear the skin world for “situational consciousness.” In response to market analysis corporations and headphone firms I’ve talked with, open earbuds are the fastest-growing segment of the headphones market. Folks have a tendency to purchase them for his or her design, whether or not it is as a result of they discover silicone eartips uncomfortable or as a result of they do not have to fret about clip-on buds or ear hook-style buds falling out of their ears throughout sporting actions like working and biking, whereas permitting you to listen to site visitors or folks round you for security causes.Â
The Sony buds in inexperienced.
The LinkBuds Clip are available in 4 shade choices — inexperienced, lavender, “greige” and black — and are distinguished by their premium shiny end. Like numerous the brand new clip-on buds, they’ve a agency however versatile C-shaped band that connects the battery and digital parts to a ball-shaped bud that comprises the speaker driver. Included within the field are two little silicone “air becoming cushions” that these with smaller ears can connect to every band to get a snugger match (I did not want them).
As I stated, they match my medium-size ears comfortably and securely. In actual fact, I discovered them barely extra snug than Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, however I am unable to assure these can be a very good match for these with extra-large ears.
Shut up of the LinkBuds Clip in lavender.
Sony suggests you put on the buds clipped to the midpoint of your ear. However like with all clip-on buds, you may find yourself adjusting how excessive — or low — the bud sits on the ridge of your ear to search out essentially the most snug match whereas providing the perfect sound high quality (the shiny end felt good and easy on my ears and allowed me to simply slide the buds up and down). The nearer the driving force sits to your ear canal, the higher sound you may get, significantly in relation to bass. However typically reaching nearer proximity comes on the expense of consolation, so it’s kind of of a balancing act.
The case is kind of compact and seems to be the identical case that comes with the LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Fit. Like these fashions, Sony is providing covers for the case as an non-obligatory accent. Alas, the case would not help wi-fi charging.Â
Sony is as soon as once more promoting non-obligatory case covers for the LinkBuds Clip’s case together with further becoming cushions (two cushions are included within the field however different colours can be found).Â
I used to be somewhat upset with the contact controls. The contact level is on the apex of the band, and also you faucet twice to pause a monitor, thrice to advance a monitor or skip again and 4 occasions to boost and decrease quantity. I acquired to be pretty proficient at tapping in the correct spot, however there have been occasions after I missed barely, and my faucets did not translate into motion. I favor bodily management buttons, particularly with buds that I’d use for sports activities like working or biking, which these can be good for (they’ve an IPX4 splash-proof score).
Good sound, however not exceptionally good
Sony typically makes exceptionally good-sounding headphones and earbuds, so I had pretty excessive expectations for the LinkBuds Clip. Bose initially set the sound high quality commonplace for clip-on earbuds with its dear Ultra Open Earbuds, which checklist for $300, however have dipped to as little as $230.
However at this level, the Extremely Open Earbuds, that are due for an improve this yr, most likely aren’t the perfect buds for comparability. Fashions just like the Shokz OpenDots One ($200) or the Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XC1 ($110) are newer and cheaper than the Bose and sound fairly much like the Extremely Open Earbuds. General, the LinkBuds Clip sound somewhat extra pure than these buds, however they’re all type of in the identical ballpark for sound high quality, with the Encourage XC1 being the perfect worth.
Sony suggests you put on the buds like this, however adjusting the place the driving force sits in your ear will affect sound high quality.Â
A part of the issue is that none of those clip-on buds sound nice. A pair of inexpensive noise-isolating buds just like the Earfun Air Pro 4 Plus buds ($75) beat any of them for sound. Even the AirPods 4, which even have an open design, arguably sound somewhat higher and price much less, although they will not match some folks’s ears as securely as clip-on buds.
Nonetheless, for informal listening, most individuals needs to be pleased with the LinkBuds Clip’s sound high quality, significantly in quieter environments. Whereas they’re somewhat bass shy, they do sound open, well-balanced and pure, with first rate readability.
The buds sound greatest in Normal mode (you faucet the left earbud twice to alter modes). However there is a Voice Enhance setting that enhances the quantity, significantly the midrange, for listening to podcasts and movies in noisier environments. Additionally, you possibly can swap to Sound Leakage Discount mode in quieter environments to cut back sound leakage (sure, there’s some), however the sound degrades a bit. And eventually, you possibly can tweak the sound with a 10-band equalizer within the Sony Join companion app for iOS and Android and activate Sony’s Digital Sound Enhancement Engine to barely enhance the sound.
The SBC and AAC audio codecs are supported for Bluetooth streaming, however not Sony’s LDAC codec. I did not have any connectivity points, because the buds maintained a hiccup-free reference to my cellphone whereas I walked the wireless-interference-laden streets of New York. Â
The compact case is identical dimension because the case for Sony’s LinkBuds Open and LinkBuds Match earbuds. Sony is promoting non-obligatory protecting covers for the case.
Be aware that activating DSEE will affect battery life efficiency a bit, however the LinkBuds Clip are rated for as much as 9 hours on a single cost at reasonable quantity ranges, with an additional 28 hours within the case (that is good). The buds do help Bluetooth multipoint pairing, so you possibly can pair them to 2 gadgets concurrently. Â Â
High-tier voice-calling efficiency
Voice-calling is the one space the place the buds exceeded my expectations. They did a wonderful job filtering out background noise on the clangorous streets of New York whereas preserving my voice sounding comparatively clear and pure — a minimum of based on what my check callers informed me.
Sony says the buds are outfitted with superior voice sign processing and high-precision voice pickup know-how that features a bone-conduction sensor to “exactly seize the person’s voice.” There’s additionally an AI-based noise-reduction system. Â Â
At one level, I used to be strolling by a rubbish truck because it was compacting rubbish and appeared extraordinarily loud to me, solely to be informed by the individual I used to be chatting with that he may hear me wonderful and barely heard something within the background (he may hear some voice and a little bit of wind noise after I spoke). That stated, as a result of the buds are open, I could not hear callers fairly in addition to I may with noise-canceling earbuds in noisy environments. However from my assessments, I would charge the LinkBuds Clip top-tier for voice-calling.Â
The buds can be utilized with a wide range of ear shapes.
LinkBuds Clip closing conclusions
The LinkBuds Clip are fairly easy however well-designed clip-on earbuds. Contemplating their excessive checklist worth, I used to be initially underwhelmed by them, however discovered myself liking them extra as I in contrast them with different clip-on fashions I’ve examined. Whereas they do not sound nice in contrast with noise-isolating earbuds in the identical worth vary, they measure up fairly properly to different high clip-on buds, none of which function implausible sound and are not actually designed for crucial listening. The place they do appear to have an actual aggressive benefit is with their voice-calling efficiency, which is nice in case you like to talk if you go for a run or do different actions.
Judging the worth of earbuds and headphones nowadays could be tough as a result of firms like Sony can place artificially excessive checklist costs on their merchandise to go away room for discounting (present tariffs might also be a consider that top checklist worth, too). However the LinkBuds Clip appear somewhat overpriced at $230, which is why I’ve them rated slightly below 4 stars. Ought to they find yourself on sale on Amazon for $50 much less, you possibly can add 1 / 4 star to my score.
