I haven't tried the Linkbuds myself, but tbo I don't see any acoustic advantage of these compared to side-firing earbud TWS like the Airpods 3. Seems to me like Sony created an over-engineered solution to a problem that doesn't really exist, since I can get both huge open soundstage and low isolation situation awareness from side-firing open TWS too. Is there anything I might be missing with regards to this comparison?
Just for reference, here are Soundguys' measurements of Apple AirPods 3 and Sony LinkBuds. Note that I'm not even a fan of the Airpods, as I think one can get better sound quality for less money. But it's pretty obvious how the Airpods outperform the LinkBuds in the low range, while still presenting an open earbud-like soundstage.
Source:
https://www.soundguys.com/apple-airpods-3rd-generation-review-61295/
https://www.soundguys.com/sony-linkbuds-wf-l900-review-67631/
You need to try a really good set of classic earbuds to see what you are missing between the type of buds you are talking about. While the fruit devices are indeed open sounding, they are still limited on the soundstage and separation compared to true earbuds (which is what the Linkbuds are) because they are still directed by a narrow opening into the ear (they are more like an open IEM than a true earbud), whereas an earbud is round, sits outside your ear, and you hear it much like you would a set of speakers. Basically Sony created a set of classic earbuds that are TWS. I honestly don't think they overengineered these at all if you understand what they were trying to achieve with these. I don't think they were trying to copy the Airpods (but just more complicated) at all, but were trying to make true classic earbuds while having TWS.
While classic earbuds are a niche thing nowadays, they are still VERY popular (and for good reason). Take some of the best open back circumaural (over-ear) headphones, and shrink them into IEM size. IEMs and even semi-in-ears cannot match that staging; though semi-in-ear buds can come much closer than IEMs can.
Also, I wouldn't trust those graphs for any open or even semi-in-ear earbuds. Those measurement rigs were set up for IEMs and depend totally on a good seal to give accurate readings. And make no mistake, most TWS that have tips on them DO indeed rely on a seal to get their full sound whether shallow insertion or deep insertion is the intent.
There is no really good solution for measuring open earbuds yet. You can do a search on
this thread where there is a conversation about this very thing. The actual bass on the Linkbuds is nothing like it is shown on the graph. Granted, they will never reach Harmon levels of bass (read bass boosted), but this is the nature of open earbuds (though there are a few pairs that do VERY well, and can almost rival IEMs for quantity of bass), and until recently has also been the nature of open back headphones.
The Linkbuds actually sound a lot like the graph for the Airpods shows. Very full mid-bass and up, with sub-bass roll-off, though it isn't void and IS there.
Was idly checking amazon if there is any release price drop / extra points or anything else I missed for the MTW3 release ... and upon seeing this:
I am very much re-evaluating my purchase plan
... I can get so much more headphone for cheaper?
I always found the momentum over ears very sexy ,,,
I'm sure that these are newest revision of them, but I have the Momentum wireless 2.0 from years ago (before they had to change the name, and then back), and I still love to listen to them. They have stood the test of time and are still VERY good over ear BT (and wired, and USB) headphones. The ANC works very well, if one understands that it was never intended to block ALL sound, but only lower (plane, train, etc...) sounds.
Indeed, if you count the fact that there are four ways to enjoy music on these; wired w/ANC and without, BT only, USB DAC mode, combined with the sound quality, I think you would probably agree that the price for those is a pretty good deal IMHO. That is to say that they are tuned to the "Sennheiser house" sound with a bit of boosted bass (because they are considered mobile).
