Key Takeaways
- The Sony Linkbuds Fit have around 5.5 hours of battery life and a Wide Area Tap feature to more easily use media controls.
- Fit earbuds are comfortable and secure for running but can also be worn for all kinds of tasks.
- The earbuds feature good sound quality with mediocre noise-canceling.
The Sony Linkbuds Fit are the company’s new all-day earbuds, but they’re sporty enough to work well for running and fitness. They sound decent and come packed with software features, but the noise-canceling strength felt lacking, which probably won’t make them the best choice for the loudest environments, like an airplane.
Sony LinkBuds Fit
Linkbuds Fit are small, light, and smart, with a secure and comfortable fit–even when exercising–thanks to the newly developed Air Fitting Supporters and earbud tips, to keep you connected throughout your day.
- Comfortable fit
- Comprehensive sound
- Decently small charging case
- Noise-canceling could be stronger
- Accessories are pricey
- No wireless charging on case
Price and Availability
The Linkbuds Fit earbuds retail for $199.99 and will go on sale at the end of October. They join the Linkbuds Open and Linkbuds Speaker as Sony’s newest personal audio products in the series.
The Fit Might Be For Fitness
Sony unleashed two new earbuds: Linkbuds Open and Linkbuds Fit. The Open earbuds feature a circular design with a physical hole in the middle, while the Fit earbuds look more traditional and have a rubber wingtip—“Air Fitting supporters”—at the top. Both are pitched as all-day earbuds with great awareness.
With their unparalleled transparency, the Open seems like a good candidate for fitness activities, but I found them to let too much noise in while running outside. The Fit, with its Ambient Sound Mode enabled, worked better for times of movement during my testing.
When I put the Fit in my ears during regular three-mile runs, I listened for awareness of street noise while still being able to feel the rhythm of the music to keep me motivated. In general, I got those results.
I could hear what was going on around me, but I could also hear the depth of the songs I was listening to. The Linkbuds Fit performed well for running. They should also work well in other environments you might be exercising in, including at a busy gym.
The Design Is Built Around the Air Fitting Supporters
Part of the reason I liked using the Linkbuds Fit as my running earbuds is because of their fit. The rubber wingtips flexed enough to accommodate my ear shape but still held the buds in place so they didn’t jostle while I ran.
The earbuds were minimal enough to be comfortable, but they never felt like they might slip out, even when they eventually became covered in sweat.
The rubber wingtips are removable, so different colors can be swapped in, but the Fit aren’t really designed to be used without the covers. They definitely don’t sit as securely without them and even the charging case features a swooping indent specifically for the wingtips.
Although the Linkbuds Fit aren’t a direct replacement for the Linkbuds S in the product lineup, I found the Fit to be much more comfortable than the S. The Fit are less bulky and has a sleeker design that I found suitable for use throughout the day. That’s kind of the point too. Both of the newest Linkbuds earbuds are meant to be worn throughout the day, even while interacting with people.
So, even beyond using these earbuds for fitness, I thought they were just plain comfortable. The wingtips are genuinely feather-light and apply almost no pressure to my ear—while still keeping them in place. They’re great.
The Sound Quality Is Solid, But Noise Canceling Is Lacking
The default EQ has a mostly balanced sound but favors the mid-range and high-end instead of really boosting the low-end. I needed to fiddle around with different preset EQ settings to feel like I was tapping into the earbuds’ deep bass abilities. It’s fine to tweak the settings, but in general, I like to keep the sound profiles neutral so that songs from other genres don’t sound skewed in the future.
I wasn’t disappointed by the Linkbuds Fit default sound profile, but it wasn’t quite as booming and robust as I would have hoped. There are competing earbuds that can make you feel like you’re in the center of an arena concert venue, whereas these weren’t at that level of intensity.
Still, I liked how most of the music I listened to sounded while out running and moving around. The Fit earbuds provided enough oomph to be heard well and be motivating.
While the Linkbuds Fit offer noise-canceling capabilities, it’s not the reason I would buy them. The feature only performed fine. The earbuds could dampen some superfluous sounds while I was road-running, but they didn’t block as much noise in other environments as I wanted.
They didn’t help me focus when my kids got loud downstairs. They also didn’t silence as much noise while traveling as I would have hoped. This doesn’t mean the noise-canceling on the Fit earbuds is pointless, it just means you probably shouldn’t buy these to be your main travel earbuds. I would recommend the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds or Apple AirPods Pro 2 instead. Beyond the Ambient Sound Mode, Adaptive Sound Control can change sound controls based on your movements or at specific locations. I like the idea of the feature, but in practice, it just didn’t match my preferences, so I ended up turning it off.
Battery Life and Other Features Are (Mostly) Great
The Linkbuds Fit are rated for 5.5 hours of battery life per charge—21 hours total with the charging case. That’s not the longest on the market, but it’s comparable to AirPods. I found the battery to last long enough, especially because it’s constantly being topped off in the case. However, I am disappointed that these $200 earbuds don’t have a wireless charging case.
One of my most used features is Wide Area Tap. This allows you to tap on your cheekbone instead of touching the actual earbud to pause audio or skip tracks. In my testing, it worked surprisingly well, and I didn’t have any false positives. (I did have some troubles when testing a similar feature with the Sennheiser Momentum Sport.) Wide area tap is available on the original Linkbuds and Linkbuds Open, too, and it works just as well here on the Fit, too.
One of my biggest gripes about the Fit has little to do with the earbuds themselves but their available accessories. There are several colored silicone covers for the case and matching Air Fitting supporter replacements. The wingtip ones retail for $10, and the case covers cost $20. Even with the ability to alter the color of the earbuds, it’s just a steep price for what they are. They can even be a bit of a pain to get on quickly.
Sony Connect App Is What’s In
With the newest Linkbuds release, Sony has updated its mobile Headphones app to become Sony Connect—available for iPhone and Android. The app’s functionality largely feels the same to navigate and use as the previous app version. In other words, it remains a little rough around the edges in terms of design. But there are a lot of settings available to tweak and the app is rich in functionality.
Should You Buy the Sony Linkbuds Fit Earbuds?
As a pair of running earbuds, I love what the Sony Linkbuds Fit bring to the table. They’re comfortable to wear for long stretches and sit securely, even while sweating. Beyond exercising, I think they sound good and provide a lot of modern features, which should make them versatile for a lot of people.
In my experience, the Fit doesn’t have the strongest noise-canceling performance, and I’m not crazy about the expensive silicone accessories. I wish the case could be charged wirelessly, but overall, there’s not much to criticize about the earbuds that are meant to be worn throughout the day. They’re a solid choice for a wide range of people.
Sony LinkBuds Fit
Linkbuds Fit are small, light, and smart, with a secure and comfortable fit–even when exercising–thanks to the newly developed Air Fitting Supporters and earbud tips, to keep you connected throughout your day.
