Sony's perforated earphone "LinkBuds" is a new sensation that you can hear music and surrounding sounds firmly

Sony "LinkBuds WF-L900"

During music listening and online conferences on telework, I often notice the voice of a family member calling me or the sound of an intercom without hearing the surrounding sounds. Based on such a social situation, Sony's new concept complete wireless earphone "LinkBuds WF-L900" (Sony store price: 23,100 yen) that can hear outside sounds was released on February 25th. [See all photos] As a completely wireless earphone type device that can also hear outside sounds, there is a product called "sound earcuffs AM-TW01", an ear cuff type earphone of ambie, an affiliate of Sony. On the other hand, Sony's new "LinkBuds WF-L900" is a new style that has never been seen before, adopting a "ring type driver unit" with a hole in the center of the diaphragm that produces sound. We will check the actual machine of such a novel completely wireless earphone "LinkBuds WF-L900".

Not the best sound quality

The driver unit that originally closes the ear canal has a hole like a donut, so you can hear the sound from the earphones and the surrounding sounds.

There is no doubt that it is a completely wireless earphone as a product category, but it has a unique shape that connects the driver unit that makes a sound and the base part sideways. Since the driver unit that originally closes the ear canal has a hole like a donut, you can hear the sound from the earphones and the surrounding sounds. It's a little hard to see, but the "ring type driver unit" side is in the ear canal, and the base part fits perfectly in the same position as a general earphone. By the way, it is a wearing method that fits into the groove of the ear, and there is a slight gap because there is no earpiece. Fitting supporters come in 5 sizes, but they are made of silicon and are not firmly fixed. The smartphone is connected via Bluetooth and supports the SBC / AAC codec. There is no high resolution support. The battery lasts 5.5 hours for the main unit only, and 17.5 hours in total including the case charge. It also supports quick charging that can be played for 90 minutes with a 10-minute charge. Please note that the continuous playback of 5.5 hours on the main unit alone is not so long now, and the continuous talk time is as short as about 2.5 hours. The concept of "LinkBuds WF-L900" is "to live together for a day by playing music or having an online meeting while wearing it". So, I first tried it at home, but I felt that it was a big ant in terms of how the music was heard and how the surrounding sounds were heard. When muted, the surrounding sounds will be heard almost normally through the holes. And when you play music, depending on the volume, you can hear the sound from the earphones mixed with the surrounding sounds. It's nice to be able to see the surroundings, such as the delivery service coming and pets playing pranks while concentrating on the video. Check the sound quality you care about by pairing it with your iPhone. Hikaru Utada When you listen to "You", you may feel that the sound is fluffy, but the type that gives you information so that you can be naturally surrounded by the sound space over a wide area. You can also feel the rhythm of the bass moderately. However, it sounds more like an earbud earphone that listens to music naturally, rather than a high-quality earphone. Bruno Mars's "24K Magic" also develops the bass as a sound space and reproduces it in a good atmosphere. The previously verified ambie "sound earcuffs AM-TW01" sends sound from outside the ear through a sound conduit, so it felt like BGM was flowing in the distance, but this "LinkBuds WF-L900" is a general earphone. Closer. However, it seemed to be closer to the inner ear type that can be put on the ear, not the canal type (earplug type) that is the mainstream these days. And the unique thing is the operation method. Supports "wide area tap" that taps not only the earphone body but also the face with your finger a few times. By default, tap twice to play / pause both left and right. It's a strange feeling that music starts playing when you tap around your ears twice. The operation details can be changed from the app. You can also tap the volume and set Quick Access to Spotify Tap. However, I felt that I had been using it for a while, but it may be impossible to keep it on. No matter how much you can hear the surrounding sounds, it feels strange to wear earphones, so you just want to remove them. Besides, 5.5 hours of continuous playback and 2.5 hours of talk time are short for a day, aren't they? I'm worried about "sound leakage", but when I tried it on the train, there was no sound leakage to the surroundings, I could hear the noise of the train, and I almost noticed the announcement inside the train. If you want to attack the last minute without sound leakage, the volume of the iPhone is about 6 or 7. If you want to hear the content of the announcement, it would be better to lower the volume by one or two more. And, of course, the earphones have holes and there is no noise cancellation, so the running noise of the train can jump in. However, it did not interfere with music listening. Also, as a usage scene that you are interested in, there is also an online conference that is paired with a PC. I tried Zoom by connecting it to a MacBook Air, but the voice of the other party's call seems to be heard directly, and the clarity and ease of listening are outstanding. The microphone sound quality is also good, and it is also excellent as a business tool because it does not pick up surrounding sounds with "high-precision voice pickup technology utilizing AI technology". And I felt the compatibility was good with the contents that feel the space such as music, videos, and games. It is also a certified model of Sony's spatial audio "360 Reality Audio" that can be used with Amazon Music and Deezer, so when I listened to the corresponding music, the effect of spreading the sound around my head was also excellent.

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