high-end Sony on these affordable headphones

High-quality audio quality combined with a design designed for physical activity. This is how to summarize the philosophy of these new LinkBuds Fit. They succeed the first generation of LinkBuds S, launched a little over two years ago and which struggled to convince at the time. To avoid repeating this, Sony has revised its copy from top to bottom, thanks to new components and design.

All round, these mid-range headphones offer quality commensurate with their price (launched at 200 euros, they are listed at 180 euros on the Sony website and even on sale at 150 euros at the time of writing these lines) . The shiny plastic is not high density, but does not give off a “cheap” look. This allows you to save weight with only 4.9 grams on the scale.

The case mixes shiny plastic for its upper part and matte for the lower part, thus presenting a strange hamburger profile. This form factor also penalizes it in thickness (47.2 x 47.2 x 32.6 mm), making it quite difficult to forget in a pants pocket. The hinge has a slight play, while on the back there is a pairing button and a USB-C port (very short UBS-C to USB-A cable provided); no wireless induction charging is integrated here.

Designed to move

The design of these sports headphones is classic, with a system of lugs that fit into the ear. However, it must be recognized that these flexible and hollow tips are simply perfect for holding the earbuds in place, as we observed during our running sessions. If these tips are only delivered in one size, four sizes of pairs of tips are provided to a priori be able to suit all types of ear canals. They are semi-in-ear type, minimally invasive for truly foolproof comfort. Combined with flawless support, this is one of the great successes of these LinkBuds Fit.

Their specific design for sports activities also allows them to display IPX4 certification, which a priori provides them with splash resistance. However, the Japanese manufacturer discreetly indicates on its site that protection is “guaranteed against splashing water on the entire surface of the headphones, with the exception of the sound output duct, the ventilation holes and the microphone holes in unity”. Not enough to give you confidence, especially if you decide to go running in the rain. In any case, even in this use, we did not notice any malfunction, but we preferred to wipe the LinkBuds Fit well before replacing them in their case.

A complete and complex application

These true wireless headphones are also well equipped at this price level: port detector to pause the music when you remove them, multipoint Bluetooth (5.3 with LE Audio) allowing SBC, AAC, LDAC codecs, but also the very recent LC3 and Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair. Other features can be configured via the ultra-complete Sony Sound Connect application (formerly Sony Headphones).

Despite the change of name and logo, nothing really changes on the interface side: it's difficult to be the most complete application on the market without being a little too complex. It takes time to master all the sections and options, it is worth it. However, the completeness offered here by Sony is to be welcomed: transparency level control, five-band manual equalizer, conversation detection, configuration of touch controls, head gesture detection, notification notification (including iOS) ; everything is there. We particularly appreciate the extended touch zone function which allows you to activate the controls not by tapping the headphones, but the area of ​​the ear located at the front (the tragus): super practical and effective when running for example .

Certainly, some functions are more of a gadget, but we at least have the choice to use them or not. Adaptive sound control – which modulates noise reduction and transparency depending on its activity and environment – ​​is, for example, not always relevant. Based on noises, movements and the location of the phone, it often hesitates between the most suitable modes. For example, we prefer Apple's system on its AirPods Pro, which is more fluid. The background music effect simulates listening as if it were taking place in a café, a living room or a bedroom. A way of simulating distance from the source of the subject to entertain it less. Not very successful, apart from perhaps the “room” mode which suffers the least from this strange reverberation effect.

Audio quality close to high-end

The two major technological innovations of these LinkBuds Fit are quite simply inherited from the WF-1000XM5, in other words some of the very best models on the true wireless market. These new models for less than 200 euros thus inherit the V2 processor for active noise reduction and the 8.4 mm Dynamic Driver X for audio quality. Despite using the same chip, the LinkBuds Fit remain a good notch below their elders, who are masters in the field. Continuous sounds (traffic, transport noise, etc.) are well filtered, but sudden or abrupt noises are much less so. Same thing for the transparency mode which does not sound as natural as on the WF-1000XM5. The processor is one thing, but the built-in mics are another and they're probably not the same quality models here. The hands-free mode also suffers from this, with a captured voice which seems distant and which is quickly degraded in a noisy environment by artifacts trying to hide unwanted sounds.

On the other hand, the transducers do perfect justice to the audio quality of the LinkBuds Fit. If they are less impressive than the high-end model, it is certainly because of their acoustic design, but the reproduction could not be more detailed and dynamic. Less neutral than the WF-1000XM5, they can be partially corrected via the equalizer to slightly reduce their bass, just to regain a little balance. But Sony is close to flawless here for headphones at this price, the competition will have difficulty doing better.

Finally, the autonomy is not impressive, but in any case consistent with what Sony announces (5:30). With the noise reduction mode activated, we approached 5:20 a.m. The case charges in approximately 2 hours, knowing that a fast charging option is offered to the headphones: 5 minutes of charging for 1 hour of 'listen.

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