Sony’s mid-tier wireless earbuds, the LinkBuds S, are a rarity in that they’re one of the few Sony products with a proper name, instead of a string of unintelligible letters and numbers. But that’s no longer their only claim to fame, as they’ve just gotten an update with an interesting new colourway.
The Earth Blue model, as it’s called, is made out of recycled water cooler bottles, giving the buds and case their cerulean hue. Sony says the new product takes advantage of the “adhesive” properties of the bottles’ polycarbonate material, creating the distinctive marbled pattern that differs from unit to unit. The new colour joins the existing white, black and ecru options.
This isn’t Sony’s first foray into recycled materials—other LinkBuds models already incorporate components made from used car parts, in addition to using zero plastic in the packaging. This is part of the company’s long-term Road to Zero environmental plan, which aims to eliminate the group’s carbon footprint by 2050.
Sony is also finally adding multipoint Bluetooth connectivity to the LinkBuds series—yes, that includes the original Polo mints—in a software update next month. This enables the earbuds to connect to two devices at once, automatically switching between them as needed. This functionality will also be coming to the more expensive WF1000-XM4, but oddly only in the coming months.
To recap, the LinkBuds S are conventional wireless earbuds, dispensing with the bonkers design of the original LinkBuds. Billed as the “world’s smallest and lightest, noise canceling, Hi-Res truly wireless headphones,” they come with 5mm neodymium drivers, active noise cancellation with adaptive transparency and a claimed six hours of battery life (plus another 14 hours with the charging case).
The LinkBuds S in Earth Blue are priced at the same RM929 as the regular model (though they are available for RM629 right now on Shopee and Lazada, and can be had for under RM600 during online sales) and will go on sale in Malaysia on November 11.
