The New Sony LinkBuds S

We finally have the full details for the new LinkBuds S after the image leak back in April. The new earbuds will be available in three colours, black, white, and cream. The price is 200 Euros ($199 USD, $299 CAD, 170 GBP) and they will be available at the end of May 2022.

Design

The design is very similar to the WF-C500, so they should be much more comfortable to wear than the larger WF-1000XM4. At 4.8g per earbud, these are fairly light, with the WF-C500 weighing 5.4g per earbud for comparison. A size comparison can be found in the Verge review. While I like the design, it feels a bit plain, especially for the price ($199 USD, $299 CAD). In fact the price conversion from USD to CAD is insane, $50 dollars more. I would highly suggest anyone in Canada to physically go over the border to buy one in the US or order one online since these are not worth $300 dollars, at most these should be $249 CD.

     

I am still wondering how dirty the engraved Sony logo will become after extended use. I am sure users on Reddit will post about it eventually, asking how to clean it.

The mesh around the microphone is specifically designed to minimize wind noise. 

The earbuds are made with recycled plastic, like the WH-1000XM5 and WF-1000XM4, with that speckled look of the plastic clearly visible in the above photo. I will point in some of the reviews, the earbuds (white model) come with the same earbud tips as the WF-C500, but the press photos show a different type of tip for the black model. So who knows if the black version has different tips or the press photos just show it like this.

Features

The LinkBuds S are packed with a lot of new features sharing some with the LinkBuds and WF-1000XM4. The earbuds support Hi-Res Audio with the LDAC codec, along with AAC and SBC. The press release mentions the earbuds are 'ready for LE Audio', with a product page foot note stating a firmware update will be available in 2022. This interesting news, not even the WH-1000XM5 had this information, so we might actually see LE Audio later this year. Of course, a compatible smartphone/audio player will be required as well.

There is support for DSEE Extreme and Sony's 360 Reality Audio. Spotify Tap and  Endel are both supported via a tap function but require separate apps and Sony's own headphone app to setup the tap function.

Just like the WH-1000XM5, the LinkBuds S support Fast pair for Android and Swift pair for Windows, for easier pairing. Using fast pair, one can locate where they left their earbuds by tone sound or check their last known location using Google's 'Find My Device' app on Android.

While the product page mentions multipoint connection for Android devices, the reviews mention it is absent. The 'multipoint' function Sony mentions requires a user to tap the play button to switch devices, perhaps this can be set up in the Sony headphone app. I guessing this tap facilities faster switching between 2 devices.

The earbuds are IPX4 certified, support Bluetooth 5.2, and come with a 5mm driver. The driver use a new high-compliance diaphragm, I wonder if this is the same material as the WH-1000XM5 driver diaphragm. Maybe this will be mentioned in any designer interviews.

Finally all of the personal assistants are supported, Google, Apple, and Amazon.

     

Battery Life

The rated battery life looks decent for this generation of earbuds, but yet again we do not know what settings were used in the numbers from Sony. One can expect up to 6 hours of use with NC on, and up to 9 hours with NC off. My guess again, this is with AAC for both times. Turning on Speak To chat, DSEE Extreme or Ambient sound mode will lower the battery life.

Edit, Sony Japan has specified the settings being used, AAC, NC on, with DSEE and equalizer set to off. Adding the times from the online manual below.

The charging case recharge will provide up to 14 more hours of NC on use, or up to 21 hours with NC off. This suggest a large capacity case battery, we could be looking a something similar to the WF-1000XM4, around 520mAh.

Unfortunate no wireless charging is present on the case, a feature probably offered by other manufacturers in this price range. A quick charge of 5 minutes provides up to 60 minutes of playback. The 60 minutes is with AAC, NC on but DSEE and Equalizer set to off. A full recharge of the earbuds takes 2 hours and 3 hours for the charging case.

Sony V1

The LinkBuds S make use of the Sony V1 or Mediatek MT2822 Bluetooth SoC. Using the same processor, one would expect the earbuds to perform just as good as the WF-1000XM4 with regards to noise cancellation and sound, but the Verge review says the LinkBuds S are a step below the WF-1000XM4.

The sound quality difference is most likely down to the smaller driver, even with the new diaphragm. As for the difference in NC performance, either this is how Sony tuned the LinkBuds S or we are not looking at a hybrid ANC setup like in the WF-1000XM4. So which is it?

Well the only internal photo is off the Sony website.

We can see the following:

1. Sony V1 (BT SoC - Mediatek MT2822)
2. Internal battery (looks like a coin cell)
3. Microphone #1
4. Microphone #2

Microphone #1 has the hole for sound facing outwards, meaning it picks up the sound from the environment. Microphone #2 has its hole for sound facing downwards, which could indicate it is picking up sound from the the inside. This could indicate that microphone #2 is the feedback mic and microphone #1 acts as the feedforward mic and voice mic. This is the assumption for the time being, and I might still be wrong and we might not be looking at a hybrid ANC setup. Edit, in the Designer interview, Sony clearly mentions dual noise sensor technology, so we are looking at two microphones, feedback and feedforward. This means the feedforward microphone also acts as the voice mic.

The battery in the diagram looks to be a coin cell, similar to the one found in the WF-1000XM4, perhaps a Varta CP1254. The internal packaging seems very efficient with what looks to be a really small PCB. A full teardown should provide us with a better look at how Sony designed these.

    

Sony Designer interview

Sony Japan has put up the interview, found here, and there are some goodies to be seen. For example the main PCB size has been significantly reduced with the board basically becoming a SiP, or System in Package.

Sony LinkBuds S - Main PCB - SiP

Flipping it over shows some components and they looked rather packed in. The main SoC seems to be removed and I think it goes onto of this.

Next up. we have a good view of the new 5mm driver. The deign is very similar to the WF-1000XM4 driver.

 

Sony LinkBuds S Driver

The problem with super small drives is bass reproduction since the diaphragm does not move that much. Sony solves this problem like in the WH-1000XM5. They made the edge of the diaphragm is more flexible where as the dome is more rigid, which helps with the amplitude of the diaphragm movement.

 

Apart from the smaller driver, Sony also said the microphones used are of smaller design, and the battery is thinner than previously. This could mean we are not looking at the CP1254 from Varta. We can see an exploded view of the earbuds below.

Click for larger size

While not a real teardown, the exploded view shows how all of it goes together. I feel the driver is connected using contacts rather than wires. There does appear to be second PCB near the bottom which connects to the charging pins.

Click for larger size

Sony went through a lot of design variations before settling onto the design we have today. Some are quite odd, while others just seem like variations on the same design.

The earbuds carry the WF-LS900N model designation, but Sony uses LinkBuds S on their product page, a first but most likely not a pattern going forwards.

That is it for now. While I like the design and features, I wish Sony offered more colour options, like blue or red even. My biggest gripe is the price, at $199 USD or $299 CAD, it seems a bit overpriced. The lack of wireless charging is a shame, but not a deal breaker. Finally the surprise for me was the mention of LE Audio with a firmware update coming in 2022.

If these were closer in price to say $150 USD or $200 CAD, then these would be a fantastic product, making the WF-C500 a bit redundant.

For photos of the earbuds, see my earlier post.