In every moment of relating to a product there must be a clear understanding of what that product is meant for, who it is meant for, and the goal of the product. Upon getting the Sony Linkbuds I failed to understand those three points before buying, which is my mistake. So upon looking at this after spending a couple of days of use with it, things started to reveal themselves to me.
For starters...This product doesn't replace any standard earphone product Sony currently has on the market today. This was a big but more obvious understanding once you sat down with the product. It helps clear up the talk about which is better. Something most reviewers are missing. You can't put this up against any other earphone product on the market because it's not like any other earbud product. It is designed to be something different. Different from the Airpods, different from the Sony Xm4's, etc, etc. So to ask this product to beat the Xm4's, Airpods, and or any other traditional earphone is wrong. But my problem with this is that most tried to baby their review or hide the truth about the product's inability to produce even acceptable bass to justify their purchase or to make Sony happy with their review. One reviewer went as far as to claim that having almost no bass creates better sound quality than things like the Airpod pros and others( he really needed that check I guess). And all this will do is lead others to buy the product only to return it and give low scores because they purchased the product as something it was never created for.
So then if this product wasn't meant to replace the current stock of Sony Earphones ...what was the purpose? Well, I believe this product is meant to finally put a nail in the coffin of Bone conductor earphones. You see the point of bone conductor earphones was to allow you to hear your surrounding and play the music to bleed in with the natural sounds of the surroundings and therefore this would make the music seem more spacious and yet still give the wearing nothing in the ears to block needed sounds during runs, conversations, or other events. Boss then tried to take things to another level with the shades(aka Boss Frames) that played music outside of your ear to allow sound in and interact with AR. Both styles are still on the market but not doing well. Well, this is Sony's version of that style of technology. And if there was a product evolution this would be for the Duo by Sony that attempted to do the same thing and failed. There would be no need for these products now that this product is out. And just like the Shades by Boss didn't replace the earphone lineup ...the Linkbuds aren't meant to do that either. No, this product is meant to wrap up this market niche of AR/Open design like bone-conducted and frame sound products.
Lastly, this product isn't meant to be a design that creates quality playback for all styles of music. You know this from Sony's own omission of LDAC and the almost complete absence of Bass for styles of music like RnB, Rap, Dance, and other genres. No, this design was meant to enhance vocals and classical presentation of music styles. So phone calls, Audiobooks, Asmr, and instrumental music are the key focused people. They have the xm4 for all other needs. So this is not a one-stop-shop for all your musical needs that will replace all your other earphones.
Conclusion...
Now that I know these things about the product, it's more relatable to me. I can now gauge the use and need for this product in my life. And so far I see a product that is useful to me in specific times, just not a reliable source for all moments and needs, which is understandable now. Would I recommend this product right now to others? At this time, probably not. $180 is a lot to pay for something that requires so many things to be in the right spot, with the right conditions to work best. It's a very specific product and one that I feel will fall heavily by the waste side like the bone conductors did because there are just too many people that live in the world where things are loud, do need to be cut off from noise when they want, wear earphones to drown out the noise when they want, or just flat out listen to more than just vocal or classical themed songs and audiobooks. But I will continue to use the product and hopefully find more ways to get around some of its limits. I will though say that the soundstage is pretty amazing that these create for Bluetooth and if there is a silver liner ... this would be it( *when I'm listening to the right instrumental piece). Hopefully, I can find more gems about this product before I decide to return it or keep it.
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