Sony LinkBuds Fit Review: Comfort and Great Sound

Successors to the well-received LinkBuds S, Sony's new true-wireless LinkBuds Fit set out to be a sportier, less premium and more affordable version of the flagship WF-1000XM5. As a proper mid-range product, they arrive with all the refinements expected of modern Bluetooth earbuds: active noise cancellation, multipoint Bluetooth, LE Audio compatibility, a wealth of settings and robust battery life. Are they as capable as they are complete? This review is based on that published test, not on a hands-on trial of our own.

Keen to win over a younger crowd, the LinkBuds Fit wear a less formal, less earnest design than the WF-1000XM5. Sony offers three base colours — black, white and green — alongside a purple Olivia Rodrigo edition. Pleasingly, the firm has managed to shrink the earbuds noticeably compared with its high-end models while refining the lines further. Better still, a silicone protective sleeve ends in a stabiliser that tucks into the concha of the ear, making them genuinely well suited to sport, even if the very basic IPX4 rating leaves a little to be desired. Otherwise they are well made without being remarkable. The case follows the same logic — compact and unobtrusive — though its odd look, somewhere between a macaron and a mini-burger, takes some getting used to; optional coloured silicone covers are sold separately.

Forget the intrusive in-ear format of their elders: the LinkBuds Fit understand that universal comfort means a less invasive fit, so they use a very short, almost invisible nozzle and extremely soft silicone tips in four sizes. The reduced bulk and light weight — just 4.9 grams per earbud — the lack of any plugged-in sensation and the solid stability together place these among the most comfortable earbuds on the market, full stop. They are not overtly sporty in styling, yet they are perfectly cut out for that use.

Controls have never been Sony's strong suit, even on its flagships, and here they again rely on tapping — double, triple and a multi-tap (four or more) reserved for volume. The limited set of actions, grouped rather than freely assignable, means the buds simply do not cover everything you might want. More annoying still, the silicone sleeve seems to cushion the taps, so an action often has to be repeated to register. Wear sensors, at least, pause playback when a bud is removed. The app is the opposite story: reworked in recent months and now branded Sound Connect, it is exceptionally rich, with countless audio adjustments and ergonomic extras. It is more intuitive than the old Sony Headphones app, though the interface could still be simplified.

Driven by a Bluetooth 5.3 chip, the LinkBuds Fit offer almost everything you could ask of modern true wireless: Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair, multipoint connection and support for the SBC, AAC and LDAC codecs. They can also run under the LE Audio standard — in theory, at least, as the feature is still in beta and, for now, only appears on recent Sony Xperia phones. Most of the test passed off without a hitch, but a few connection dropouts cropped up, particularly with multipoint enabled or when moving away from the phone or slipping it into a padded pocket.

The WF-1000XM5 is the most isolating set on the market partly because of its intrusive shape; here, with a thin, non-intrusive design, passive isolation is inevitably lower. Two things stand out: the active noise cancellation is decent without being spectacular, and passive isolation is frankly average from the upper mids upward. The buds tame droning noises such as engines well, but are far less effective against voices and high-pitched sounds — so Sony barely stands out here, since plenty of cheaper rivals do at least as well. Transparency mode fares better, easy to implement given the low passive isolation, effective if slightly heavy on the mids at maximum. Call quality, never a Sony strength, is improved but no more than acceptable: fine in quiet surroundings, but the noise reduction tends to be heavy-handed, gradually swallowing the user's voice as background noise rises.

Smaller buds mean a smaller battery, and they are as power-hungry as Sony's other models, so they make no claim to match the WF-1000XM5 for stamina. Sony quotes 5 hours and a half with ANC and 7 hours without, under AAC; the published test measured almost exactly that. Add a little over three charges from the case and the total is respectable, the only real shortcoming being the lack of wireless charging for the case. On sound, Sony fits its finest transducer — the 8.4 mm Dynamic Driver X created for the WF-1000XM5. The signature is expressive but well controlled, intelligently lifted in the bass, with precise, enveloping low end only a notch below the XM5. Mids and highs are not perfectly linear, with a little wobble up top, but the result is coherent, versatile and rarely aggressive, and the Dynamic Driver X delivers a wide, deep soundstage full of detail. Some rivals, such as the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, dig out more detail, yet the Sony would still hold its own in the high-end. As so often, only the very highest frequencies want for more balance and extension — but few wireless earbuds convince there.

Both a continuation and an evolution of the first LinkBuds S, the LinkBuds Fit are convincing earbuds carried by high-end sound quality and comfort. By concentrating on design, Sony steps away from the rather austere, elitist formula of the WF-1000XM5, leaning instead on modernity: complete connectivity and an extremely rich app, with the sharply reduced size not costing much in battery life, even if stamina never dazzles. It is not all rosy — call quality, though improved, is nothing special, and isolation, decent in the bass and mids, becomes rather mediocre at high frequencies. Take those caveats on board, and the LinkBuds Fit are among the most comfortable, best-sounding earbuds you can slip in for a long day or a workout.