Sony is a world-famous brand when it comes to audio gear. They make all sorts of audio solutions for all kinds of uses. They have the WH-1000X series of headphones for consumer level high-end noise-cancelling headphones. They make the MDR Z series headphones for audiophiles. If you prefer in-ear earphones, there is the WF-1000X series for consumers looking for the best truly wireless listening experience. You also have the IER series earphones if you prefer a wired audiophile solution. They do not stop at headphones though, they make vinyl players, portable media players, speakers, home theaters, recorders, and even microphones. They are also some of the biggest name in audio specific production work.
For years, the benchmark for studio and production monitoring has been Sony’s MDR-7506 over ear headphones. In fact, Sony’s MDR series monitoring headphones have been setting the standard in studio level monitoring equipment for more than three decades. Now, there is a new one – the MDR MV1.
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Unlike the MDR-7506, the MDR-MV1 offers an open-back design. That means you can expect more natural and cleaner audio response from the headphones, an advantage over closed back designs. Open back headphones also usually offer a more accurate sound reproduction with a wider sound stage, allowing for better and more accurate mixes. There is a small problem of ambient noise though, since there is nothing stopping noise from outside from coming in.
Apart from that accuracy, the MDR-MV1 also offers spatial sound capabilities. For Sony, their spatial sound algorithm is 360 Reality Audio. You can technically use the headphones to mix for Apple’s Spatial Audio and other surround sound implementations. With Hi-Res resolution compatibility, the MDR-MV1 offers a broad depth of monitoring capabilities allowing you to mix all kinds of music accurately. The headphones offer frequency responses between 5Hz all the way to 80kHz, which is more than wide enough for all kinds of sounds, even if you sit in a foley studio instead of a music recording studio.
Unlike older designed Sony MDR monitoring headphones, the MDR-MV1 offers a detachable AUX cable. You can technically use other similar cables, but why would you want to when Sony offers a highly durable high-quality cable with machined connectors. They also re-engineered their earpads with softer materials that is also lightweight so that you can work for much longer without taking off the headphones or hurting your neck and head.
Sony C-80
Source: Sony
Source: Sony
Alongside the MDR-MV1 open back monitoring headphone Sony also launched a new microphone made mostly for home recording and podcasts, the Sony C-80.
Sony’s C-80 is not the first microphone Sony makes. They have the C-100 and C-800G, both are aimed at recording studios mostly. The C-80 is more made for prosumers and hobbyist looking to have a professional grade gear in their homes.
The C-80 offers the best of both the C-100 and C-800G microphones. The capsule is derived from the C-100 while the shock-proof two-part metallic body is derived from the C-800G. They also innovated with something they call “Noise Elimination Construction” that prevents the mic from picking up noise from the body’s vibration itself offering a much cleaner sound almost free of noise while recording.
The C-80, like the mics that came before, is made mostly for vocal recordings. That does not mean that you cannot use it for anything other than vocal recording. You can technically use it for recording instruments like guitars. It is also a condenser, so you want to make sure you have mixer with 48v power through its XLR port.
Price and Availability
The Sony MDR-MV1 will be available in May 2023, alongside the C-80. There are no colour options here, so personalizing your headphones and mics will have to come down to your own efforts. The MDR-MV1 will set you back MYR 1,690, which is a little way off from the older MDR-7506. It is supposed to offer a lot more in terms of monitoring and mixing capabilities though. The C-80 will retail at MYR 2,190. More on Sony’s latest MDR-MV1 can be found on their website.
Let us first clarify what the title means for a second. It is really a reflection of the experience of the pair of earbuds itself, nothing to do with its build or even sound quality. It is a Sony headphone after all, one that retails for MYR 849.
This is an odd pair of kit. Sony is famous with their noise cancelling offerings. There is the very famous WH-1000XM4 and the WF-1000XM4. These are the best pair of noise cancelling headphones money can buy currently.
So, what was Sony thinking when they made the WF-L900 LinkBuds? Their marketing blurb says that it is the only headphones you will never have to take off. They also said that it is permanently on transparent mode.
On paper, you are getting a lot less than the WF-1000XM4 noise cancelling earbuds. The price tag is a little lower too for sure, but MYR 849 is not exactly cheap still. Is the asking price a fair one? Would this be a pair of headphones we never knew we needed? Would you be better off with a WF-1000XM4 instead? Let us find out
Design
The first thing that greets you, when you open your box made from the recycled paper, is not the two pairs of earbuds. It is the clamshell style case. It also looks like one.
The outer shell is made entirely out of what Sony claims to be recycled plastic. It looks the part too; most recycled plastic panels have the same texture and look. It feels grainy and smooth at the same time. It feels expectedly premium too.
Because it is made mostly of plastic, it is much lighter than what we expected. Curiously, the case can still charge the LinkBuds at least twice over. There is no wireless charging for this device though, that could explain its weight.
There are no magnets to keep the cap closed. The hinge is spring-loaded and swings open when you press the button at the front. There is a pairing button sitting beside a USB Type-C port. The case is very minimal, and very tiny.
Then you open it and find the LinkBuds with two large domes staring back at you with the chromed rings. The recess on the case for the ear loops looks oversized at first, until you rummage through the packaging to find extra ear loops. No multiple inserts for the ear tips here, there are no ear tips to begin with
The recess for the main body of the buds is quite shallow making cleaning as easy as dabbing the seats with a piece of cloth or tissue paper. The recess is also where you see the infrared sensors that senses the earbuds and two charging pins.
The earbuds are also designed with minimalism in mind. There are no additional magnets other than the ones in the ring drivers here. The LinkBuds themselves feature two recess that are made to be caught by latches on the case to secure the earbuds in the case, in case the magnets are not enough.
The earbuds, at 4g, is feather light. You can keep it in your hands, walk around, drop it and not feel a thing. You can put it into your ears, and then forget about it the entire day even when the battery runs out. Trust me, it happened to me.
Fit and Finish
Their odd shapes make for an odd fitting. Unlike regular earbuds, fitment of the LinkBuds really depends on the size of the ear loop that presses against the inner part of your ear. The ring part goes into the hole, but you cannot push it all the way in. Instead, it simply rests on your ears.
With a good fit, the LinkBuds should feel natural in your ears. It should stay in place even with heavy headbanging. After some time, you forget that it is in your ears.
Features
Of course, the most important feature of the Sony LinkBuds is its transparency mode. It allows you to keep your music on but be completely aware of your surroundings.
Always Transparent Mode
The transparency mode is a permanent feature. There is no proper way to seal the headphones. You can sort of stuff things into the middle of the ring, but we do not recommend that.
Because there is no artificial processing, you are getting clean, natural sounding ambient noise. You can have a completely normal conversation with your peers without taking off your headphones or stopping your music.
Oddly enough, there is a Speak-to-Chat function built into this pair of headphones. We never needed it and kept it off. I have tried ordering coffee with the set of headphones without any issues. I can have full conversations with my friends with the headphones on as well.
Oddly Intuitive Wide Tap Area Gesture Control
There are no touch controls on either bud. Accidentally turning down your volume, pause your music, or launch Google Assistant or Alexa by adjusting your earbuds is a thing of the past. There is a still gesture control. You need to tap right next to your ear to get it working. It does not work on a single tap too, which is another great way to prevent accidental inputs. It is either a double tap or triple tap, and it works well for us.
It is rather intuitive once you know what to do. Sure, you can only fit up to four commands in this case for the LinkBuds. Four is enough for most use cases.
The system is not perfect though. Despite the ‘wide’ moniker, you cannot tap too far away from the headphones to register an input. You want your taps to be distinct as well.
IPX4 Construction
Water resistance is important on this pair of headphones. In our minds, this is the type of headphones you wear for extended periods. There are already a few instances where we left the case in the car when we are out and about with the earphones in our ears.
You might take it for a quick run around your neighbourhood too. In that case, it will be exposed to the elements. It can take rain, shine, or even sweat with no issues.
Sony Headphones App
This being a premium Sony product, it gets Sony’s Headphone app. It is different from other headphones we are used to though. Obviously, The WF-L900 LinkBuds does not feature noise cancellation. You will find the ambient noise slider or toggle.
The controls for the Sony LinkBuds are more simplified than what we are used to as well. You still have control over the EQ presets, which we left to Bass Boost. You can change the gesture controls, DSEE settings, speak-to-chat function, and Sony 360 Reality Audio on the app. The ear analysis feature remains too. It works, but the difference is not night and day.
Performance
While part of the MYR 849 that you are paying is for the unique qualities of this truly wireless earphones, its main purpose is a personal listening gear. For that, it should also still perform like a Sony should. We are happy to report that it does, though with some trade off.
The Sony V1 Processor
It is the same one you can find on the more expensive and slightly older WF-1000XM4. It is missing a few key features on this model though.
You do not get to take advantage of the noise cancelling algorithm on the V1 anymore, for obvious reasons. But you also lose DSEE Extreme. In its place, it is still DSEE audio upscaling technology, which is still good, but not DSEE Extreme good.
The Calls
It is a strange experience, using the LinkBuds for calls. The person at the other end of the line sounds clear and crisp, enough at least for you to make up the words they are trying to convey. The person on the other end did not report any issues with the call quality. We did not try to use only one side of the earphone because I always seem to forget that I have the earphones on in the first place.
The strange part is that you are listening to the person on the other end, but you are also hearing the rest of the world at the same time. Sure, you can just concentrate on having a conversation with your friend, because he is in your ear. But when the environment gets noisy, it gets a little difficult to have a conversation since you are also very much receiving the noise from all around you.
In most cases, if you can hear your music, you should be able to hear into your calls very nicely.You hardly need to worry about privacy too.
Adaptive Volume
Adaptive volume is the unique feature of this pair of earphones. In effect the algorithm adjusts the volume of the audio according to your environment. If your environment gets a little louder, your audio becomes louder too.
You might not notice the volume increase and decrease too much in most cases though, since everything is done in accordance with your environment. It is rather seamless too; you hardly notice that the volume has changed at all. Then again, that is the whole point.
Much Enjoyment, Much Awareness
The experience that is offered by the LinkBuds can be more likened to the experience you get from open backed earphones. You get a rather wide, open feel to your music and audio. It feels like audio fills up the space around you. It is a different experience.
We use Tidal for most of our music listening and testing. The songs we used for the test is Freya Riding’s “Lost Without You”, Video Game Orchestra’s “Final Fantasy VII Medley”, “3 Hour Drive” by Alicia Keys Ft. Sampha, and Post Malone’s “Circles”. No, they are not necessarily what audiophiles would pick, but some of them represent some of the most popular music genres and styles today. We kept our volume to about 50% in most of our use case.
You can make out the bass lines on songs like “Circles” and “3 Hour Drive”, but they are not punchy at all. You do hear some of the details with Bass Boost turned on, but once you turn it off, it feels like the lower frequencies disappear. For Freya Riding’s “Lost Without You”, we get quite a natural reproduction of Freya Riding’s unique vocals. Her voice comes out very clear and you still can hear the depth of her voice in the song itself. On an orchestral reprisal that is the “Final Fantasy VII Medley”, you do miss some of its drama because the earphones lack that punchiness in the lower frequencies. It is far from terrible though; the music still sounds clear and crisp.
We use Spotify as our main podcast listening platform and the experience is a good one. You are still completely aware of what is happening around you, but you are also getting entertained. You lose a little bit of that radio voice, but the most important part of a podcast is usually its content.
The thing is, while we do want to give a hard time for it not having a thumping low-frequency punch, we still quite like the audio experience on the LinkBuds. Audio feels more natural thanks to the open back concept. Rather than getting as choke full of sounds pumped into your ear, music is lightly fed to your ears. It is a unique experience.
Battery Life
The Sony open back earbuds is quoted to have a battery life of up to 5.5 hours in regular listening mode. With the case, it is supposed to get up to 12 hours extra battery life. Our app says we have logged about 19 hours of listening time on the WF-L900 LinkBuds. We have only charged the device once since we got the device, which also means we have extracted more than the promised battery life.
Then again, we left the WF-L900 at half volume at most times and we hardly ever activate the wide area tap function. Adaptive volume was on, but again, volume is at 50% most of the time. We pick up calls with it too, which is supposed to drain its battery a little more. Our calls are placed with volumes above 75% most of the time just so that we can hear the other person clearly.
We believe that the batteries will last about 5 hours in a single use, especially when you leave the headphone on 70-75% volume. Our use case allows the battery life of the device to extend a little more than the quoted battery life, which is good when you do not want to take your headphones off.
You want to remember that each earbud only weighs 4g. It is one of the lightest pair of truly wireless headphones in the market, and it offers a battery life that matches some of the more premium offerings in the market. In that regard, the battery life is impressive.
The Sony WF-L900 LinkBuds – Unique is The Word, But There is a Little Bit More to It
In short, we enjoyed the Sony WF-L900 LinkBuds. It is a unique product, and it is not made for everyone. Inevitably, there will be “why do I need that?” questions. You don’t.
This is a unique product that fulfils a very specific need and solves a very specific problem. It is for the people who wants an earphone to be constantly in their ears. It is for people who wants a little more seamlessness in their day. It is for the people who are constantly on the go.
There are some compromises with this pair of headphones. It does not offer DSEE Extreme, just regular DSEE. There is Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, but we hardly notice its effects in our use time. It offers less battery life as well than the WF-1000XM4. The biggest drawback is that it lacks low-end punch.
You still get quite decent audio experience though, excellent high-end notes and crisp mid-range tones. At the same time, you are completely aware of what is happening around you while enjoying tunes or even podcasts. It is water resistant, important when you are constantly on the move. It is light and hardly noticeable in your ear once it goes in. You never have to take it off your ears until it needs a charge.
The MYR 849 goes into excellent audio while being able to go through the day completely uninterrupted. It buys a unique convenience, a sort of hybridization of lifestyles. It keeps you in the loop, while you are drifting away in a calm land. It keeps you focused, and entirely separated from everything that is happening around you simultaneously. It is weird, but it is a good kind of weird, and we like that.
