When Sony launched the original stemless, Donut-shaped LinkBuds in 2022, I applaud them for being a new act open earbuds after Apple dominated the open earbuds genre with its AirPods for several years. The second-gen LinkBuds is open released in 2024, and now Sony has added the Donut-shaped LinkBudsits take on the more popular clip-on genre of open buds. While there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about them, especially given their high $230 list price, they’re well-designed, fit my ears well, sound great (for clip-on buds anyway), have great battery life and have excellent voice calling performance. Read the full review.

Reasons to buy

The LinkBuds Clip may not sound good compared to noise-isolating earbuds in the same price range, but it measures up well against other top clip-on buds, none of which sound great and are by no means designed for critical listening. Where they have a real competitive advantage is their voice calling performance, which is great if you want to chat while you run or do other activities.

Reasons to skip/continue searching

The LinkBuds Clip seems a bit overpriced at $230, so I rate them below four stars. If they ended up selling on Amazon for $50 less, you could add a quarter star to my rating.