Well-rounded wireless earbuds
The $199.99 Sony LinkBuds Fit are midrange earphones with a lot to offer. We particularly like their customizable wings that help them fit securely and their well-mixed, pleasing audio. If active noise cancellation (ANC) is your top priority, the $179 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds are also worth considering, with better ANC and battery life, but a bulkier design. Ultimately, the $199.99 JBL Live Beam 3 earbuds are our Editors‘ Choice in this price range thanks to their advanced charging case, excellent battery life, solid noise cancellation, and detailed sound.Design and Features: Focused on Fit
The Sony LinkBuds Fits have a bud-style design rather than a stem design. They have an IPX4 water resistance rating, which is enough to ensure that they can survive sweat and rain but not full submersion.
They come with swappable wings designed to keep them firmly in your ears during movement. The wings are flexible and should fit well in most ears. Sony sells the wings (and case covers) in various colors so you can customize the look. Sony worked with artist Olivia Rodrigo to develop the color palette, which includes Ash Blue, Ash Green, Ash Pink, Ash Violet, and Pure Black. The earbuds are comfortable to wear.
Touch controls let you manage playback and volume. By default, the left earbud controls noise modes with a double tap, cycling through active noise cancellation (ANC), ambient sound, and off. Repeated taps lower the volume. The right bud plays and pauses audio with a double tap or skips to the next track with a triple tap. A repeated tap raises the volume. You can customize these to a small degree. For example, you can set one earbud to control song selection, where a double tap skips to the next track, and a triple tap goes to the previous track. You can also use head gestures—a nod or shake will accept or reject an incoming call. This worked well in testing, but it’s not a feature I expect to use regularly.
The LinkBuds connect through Bluetooth 5.3 and support Google Fast Pair for easy pairing with compatible devices. They support Bluetooth multipoint for connectivity with two sources simultaneously. Internally, they have 8.3mm drivers with a frequency range of 20Hz to 40kHz. They support the AAC, LC3, LDAC, and SBC codecs and are certified for high-res audio.
The charging case is small and portable.
