Sony is wasting no time in expanding its LinkBuds family of wireless earbuds. The company made a splash earlier this year with the oddly-shaped open-ear LinksBuds, and it recently added the new S model with a far more conventional design. Sony is positioning the Linkbuds S earbuds a step below the WF-1000XM4, meaning you don’t have to shell as much as you would for the flagship pair.
That’s also why I wasn’t expecting the LinkBuds S to come close to the quality of my $180 WF-100XM4 earbuds, but I was wrong. Not only has the Linkbuds S earned a spot in my earbuds’ rotation, but I use them more than any other pair, including the WF-1000XM4s sitting right in front of me on my desk.
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Sony Linkbuds S
Sony’s LinkBuds S earbuds will cost you just $130 right now. They come to close to matching the audio performance of the WF-1000XM4, and even offer some better features including Bluetooth Multipoint support, which the flagship pair is yet to get.
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Sony WF-1000XM4 Sony WF-1000XM4
The Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds are among the best pairs you can buy right now, and they come with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a flagship pair.
Sony LinkBuds S vs WF-1000XM4: Pricing and availability
Sony’s LinkBuds S earbuds are relatively new to the market but are already available at discounts. You can grab them for less than $130 right now, making them a lot cheaper than most other premium wired earbuds on the market. The WF-1000XM4 earbuds, on the other hand, are more than a year old but will still cost you $180. You may find them at discounted prices, but you’ll still be looking at around a $50 price difference between the two, if not higher.
The LinkdBuds S earbuds are available to purchase in Black, White, and Earth Blue colors, whereas the WF-1000XM4 are only available in Black and Silver.
Sony LinkBuds S vs WF-1000XM4: Specifications
Before we begin, here’s a quick look at some specifications and important features of these earbuds to find out what they bring to the table:
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Specification |
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Sony WF-1000XM4 |
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Dimensions & Weight |
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Battery and Charging |
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Speaker and Mic |
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Connectivity |
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Sensors and other features |
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Colors |
Design: The Linkbuds S earbuds are smaller and more comfortable to wear
Unlike the original pair, the Linkbuds S have a far more conventional design. I’ve been testing the black-colored LinkBuds S, which have a slightly coarse finish that reminds me a bit of the sandstone texture on the original OnePlus One. Both the earbuds and the case have this texture, which is mostly impervious to fingerprints and it feels better to hold than the smooth matte finish on the WF-1000XM4.
But more than the finish itself, I love how tiny the LinkBuds S earbuds are compared to the WF-1000XM4 earbuds. Sony’s tagline for the LinkBuds S earbuds is “Never off,” touting the lightweight, small design that makes them comfortable to wear all day. And Sony was correct. The LinkBuds S earbuds are surprisingly light, and they’re very comfortable to wear for hours. This is one of the main reasons why I’ve spent more time listening to music on the LinkBuds S compared to any other pair over the last few weeks. Each earbud weighs 4.8 grams, which means they’re a couple of grams lighter than the WF-1000XM4, which weigh 7.3 grams each. The LinkBuds S earbuds are also smaller and feature a more rounded shape, making them stay comfortably planted in my ears for hours.
Compared to the WF-1000XM4 earbuds, which usually start to fatigue my ears after just a couple of hours, the LinkBuds S feel like almost nothing. There are times when I even forget they’re in my ears. But that’s not to say they don’t offer a stable and snug fit to block out ambient noise. Yes, the WF-1000XM4 do a better job blocking out the noise with the included foam tips, but I find the LinkBuds S to be more comfortable. If you have smaller ears, and you find the bigger earbuds like the WF-1000XM4 or the Sennheiser Momentum earbuds too tight, then you’ll love these.
The charging case bundled with LinkBuds S is also slightly smaller and lighter than the one you get with the 1000XM4.
Both pairs of earbuds in this comparison support tap functions for toggling between ANC ambient mode, and pausing and skipping tracks, but I prefer using those functions more on the LinkBuds S since they don’t fit too tightly in my ears like the WF-1000XM4 earbuds. The latter also stick out of my ears when I wear them, whereas the LinkBuds S sit perfectly inside without making me want to dig deeper. The charging case bundled with LinkBuds S is also slightly smaller than the one you get with the WF-1000XM4.
Features: LinkBuds S are just as feature-rich as the WF-1000XM4
Both LinkBuds S and the WF-1000XM4 earbuds are pretty much identical in terms of features. They both connect to your smartphones via the Sony Headphones Connect app, which offers Adaptive Control, Speak-to-chat, EQ settings, and more. And all of these options work the same on both earbuds. The Adaptive Control, which I love the most because it can automatically tweak noise-cancelation settings, works very well with both earbuds. The Speak-to-chat feature, on the other hand, is equally annoying and very easy to trigger with both earbuds, which is why I’ve turned it off. You also get the same set of EQ settings for both earbuds, and I like how you can fine-tune how they sound depending on the music you like to listen to.
However, the LinkBuds S support Bluetooth Multipoint, which allows me to connect the earbuds to more than one device simultaneously. This particular feature comes in handy if you’re like me who constantly juggles between a phone and a laptop for audio. The fact that I don’t have to manually switch the earbuds’ Bluetooth connection to listen to a different audio source makes it that much more convenient, and I can’t do it with my WF-1000XM4 earbuds yet. Yes, it’s “coming soon” via a firmware update, but they’re not here yet, and I can’t recommend a product based on what they’re promised to offer in the future.
Both earbuds also support active noise cancelation (ANC) and the higher-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec. The LinkBuds S also add some additional novelty features and can start playing music as soon as you put them in or after you wrap up a work call. Both the LinkBuds S and the XM4 earbuds have an IPX4 resistance rating, meaning they can shrug off some water and are good for workouts.
Sound: The WF-1000XM4 are a step above
Sony had to go with a smaller 5mm driver to make the LinkBuds S earbuds smaller and lighter. That’s an obvious downside compared to the 6mm drivers used in the WF-1000XM4 earbuds. The size of the drivers doesn’t paint the full picture, but the LinkBuds S earbuds aren’t as bass-heavy. It has punchy bass that doesn’t sound muddy or lingers too long in the sound field, but the WF-1000XM4’s bass has a better impact in the sub-bass regions of a track. This is particularly noticeable in the hip-hop and pop music that makes up most of my Spotify Wrapped playlist.
The LinkBuds S, however, do justice to mids and vocals. Joji’s “Die for You” and Portor Robinson’s “Goodbye To a World” demonstrate how well these earbuds can handle tracks with tons of layers. You get smooth mids that aren’t overpowered by the bass or don’t get lost thanks to good audio separation. They’re on par with the WF-1000XM4 and even the OPPO Enco X2 in this regard. The highs sound like they have a bit of a rough texture or grain to them, but it’s not particularly noticeable and didn’t keep me from enjoying the high tones and instruments on Hozier’s “Movement.” I was also satisfied with the left and right imaging, but I have to admit that the WF-1000XM4 has a wider soundstage to give you a better sense of where the instrument audio is coming from.
The WF-1000XM4 earbuds offer better ANC, but the LinkBuds S also did a pretty good job cutting out a lot of ambient noise. I used them during a two-hour flight recently, and it was able to suppress the constant hum of the plane’s engines and other distractions. The transparency mode on the LinkaBuds S also works exactly as it does on the WF-1000XM4 earbuds, so no differences there. I just wish the automatic detection worked as well as it does on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, but I guess I’ll save that rant for another day.
Battery: LinkBuds S have good battery life, but no wireless charging support
Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earbuds can last for up to 8 hours on a single charge. They can last longer than pretty much all wireless earbuds I’ve tried in recent times, including the LinkBuds S, which can easily last around 6 hours before needing a quick top-up. You can get more usage out of them by turning off ANC, and that’s not bad considering how tiny they are compared to the WF-1000XM4 earbuds. You can always use the charging case to quickly top up the battery, so I had no issues with the battery life during my usage. The charging case bundled with both LinkBuds S and the WF-1000XM4 has a USB-C port, but only the latter supports wireless charging.
The charging case bundled with both earbuds has a USB-C port, but only the one that comes with WF-1000XM4 supports wireless charging.
Sony LinkBuds S vs WF-1000XM4: Which one should you buy?
I wasn’t expecting much when I started auditioning the LinkBuds S, but they’ve become my go-to earbuds mainly due to their comfort. The fact that I can barely tell when I am wearing these earbuds makes me want to use them more than any other pair I own. The WF-1000XM4, as I mentioned earlier, will get you slightly better ANC, sound, and battery life, but that’s not to say the LinkBuds S earbuds can’t keep up at all in those areas. They’re nearly there with comparable noise-canceling, punchy sound, and a very similar-sounding microphone for voice calls.
Sony is currently selling the LinkBuds S for $130 whereas the WF-1000XM4 will set you back $180. It’s not a significant price difference for all the flagship advantages the WF-1000XM4 earbuds bring to the table, but I’ve been leaning more toward the LinkBuds S lately. It’s the one I recommend, especially to those who are still on their quest to find a comfortable pair of earbuds to wear throughout the day. If that sounds like you, and if you think the WF-1000XM4 earbuds fit too tight for you, then you might want to save the extra cash and just buy the LinkBuds S.
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Sony Linkbuds S
Sony’s LinkBuds S earbuds will cost you just $130 right now. They come to close to matching the audio performance of the WF-1000XM4, and even offer some better features including Bluetooth Multipoint support, which the flagship pair is yet to get.
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Sony WF-1000XM4 Sony WF-1000XM4
The Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds are among the best pairs you can buy right now, and they come with all the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a flagship pair.
