1 00:00:00,140 --> 00:00:04,993 - I'm really excited for these that the- - [Jono] Oh no, it broke. 2 00:00:04,993 --> 00:00:08,634 - [Brandon] Jono broke the press kit it's not Sony's fault. (Jono laughing) 3 00:00:08,634 --> 00:00:12,780 - Way to go Jono. (Jono laughing) - [Jono] It wasn't my fault. 4 00:00:12,780 --> 00:00:16,080 - [Brandon] It kinda was though. - Oh, there's goo on it. 5 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:20,990 The conventional wisdom has always been that in ear headphones isolate you from the outside world. 6 00:00:20,990 --> 00:00:24,200 And we've used technology to get around that to a degree 7 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:29,030 with things like transparent modes that use microphones to pass through ambient sounds. 8 00:00:29,030 --> 00:00:34,010 But the LinkBuds take a far more holistic approach to this problem with a shape 9 00:00:34,010 --> 00:00:37,240 that I would've actually never imagined ever seeing in an earphone. 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,770 Unfortunately, I have no idea how to open this box. 11 00:00:40,770 --> 00:00:44,402 - [Jono] Check that little cap on your right. (indistinct) - This paper. 12 00:00:45,847 --> 00:00:49,490 - [Jono] Yeah that part. - [Brandon] Sheer brute force. - [Jono] Oh, he forced it. 13 00:00:50,514 --> 00:00:51,347 - Okay. 14 00:00:55,010 --> 00:01:01,410 Oh, please tell me it's not an NFT. YouTube sent this cringe NFT display thing to me 15 00:01:01,410 --> 00:01:04,410 a little a while ago. Just didn't know what to say. 16 00:01:04,410 --> 00:01:08,540 Sustainability is extremely important to us at Sony which is why the LinkBuds and their charging case 17 00:01:08,540 --> 00:01:12,580 are made using recycled plastic materials and have plastic free packaging. 18 00:01:12,580 --> 00:01:14,230 Not the press version apparently. 19 00:01:16,140 --> 00:01:18,190 I swear to you, this thing's really cool. 20 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,530 I can't get the box open. And then I can't get the other box open. 21 00:01:23,690 --> 00:01:26,653 But trust me, it's really cool. Oh, all right. 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,433 Okay. This is actually pretty cool. It's all just cardboard padding. Like it. 23 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:39,590 Very compact charging case. No wireless charging on the charging case, 24 00:01:39,590 --> 00:01:43,400 but it has a lot of other redeeming qualities. USB-C charging. 25 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,740 There's your pairing button so nice, simple pairing process. 26 00:01:46,740 --> 00:01:51,110 It's really small. Here actually hold on. I've got my AirPods Pros in my pocket. 27 00:01:51,110 --> 00:01:55,720 So you can see it's thicker than the AirPods Pros, right? 28 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,300 But in both other dimensions it's actually substantially smaller. 29 00:02:00,300 --> 00:02:04,640 Like other wireless earphones. The case acts as a charger, holding 12 hours worth of juice 30 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:08,710 while the earphones themselves hold five and a half for a total of seventeen and a half. 31 00:02:08,710 --> 00:02:12,400 That should be good enough for most people's long day. 32 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:17,410 And if you want to top up the earphones quickly, Sony quotes, 90 minutes of use 33 00:02:17,410 --> 00:02:21,060 off of a 10 minute quick charge. And then I believe it's 90 minutes total 34 00:02:21,060 --> 00:02:27,500 to fully charge the assembly. Now this is where the similarities to other earphones 35 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:30,690 pretty much die in a fire. 36 00:02:30,690 --> 00:02:35,620 Look at these things, Brandon. - [Brandon] That's so cool. - They've got kind of this bulbous 37 00:02:36,610 --> 00:02:41,410 almost figure eight shape. And you can see the analogous components, right? 38 00:02:41,410 --> 00:02:47,330 Like here's the part that goes into the canal. And here's the part that sits in the little, like, 39 00:02:47,330 --> 00:02:52,120 you know concave spot in your ear, right? 40 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,710 So relative to the AirPod you can kind of see how it's gonna sit. 41 00:02:56,710 --> 00:02:59,443 But it's got a hole in it. 42 00:03:00,610 --> 00:03:06,020 - [Jono] It's a donut. - This is what I meant when I said they've taken a much more holistic approach. 43 00:03:06,020 --> 00:03:10,930 Get it? Pun very much intended. To making it so that you can hear your surroundings. 44 00:03:10,930 --> 00:03:14,580 The driver is actually a ring shaped driver 45 00:03:14,580 --> 00:03:20,230 around the outside here. So what they've done is they've created a completely 46 00:03:20,230 --> 00:03:24,720 actually open backed in ear headphone. 47 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,500 Okay, I'm gonna put it in. They've got these little silicone loops 48 00:03:28,500 --> 00:03:33,060 to help hold them into place. Hopefully my ears aren't too waxy today. 49 00:03:33,060 --> 00:03:38,460 So it kind of sits like that. One of their priorities for this product was all day comfort 50 00:03:38,460 --> 00:03:42,650 with the being that because they're not cutting you off from the rest of the world, 51 00:03:42,650 --> 00:03:46,420 you are able to wear them all day while still carrying on normal conversations 52 00:03:46,420 --> 00:03:51,360 or safely walking around in the city and not getting, you know, run over by a car or a train 53 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,480 or whatever the case may be. I believe they've actually partnered with Niantic. 54 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,950 And they've talked about Pokemon go as a specific use case for these headphones. 55 00:03:58,950 --> 00:04:02,220 They've also boasted that they have excellent ambient noise rejection 56 00:04:02,220 --> 00:04:06,831 for the microphone. So if you wanna carry on a conversation with someone, we'll have to do a test call with Jono. 57 00:04:06,831 --> 00:04:10,880 You gotta way to record it real quick. Actually okay, I guess I'm not gonna use this phone. 58 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,360 I'll use the one that is preloaded with their application because these aren't released yet 59 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:19,240 so you can't just grab it from the app store or the play store. Thanks to Vessi footwear for sponsoring this video. 60 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,650 Vessi shoes are known for being lightweight, easy to pack comfortable, and most importantly 61 00:04:23,650 --> 00:04:28,040 water resistant with their Dyma-tex technology. Their everyday move lineup is designed to keep up 62 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,230 with your active lifestyle with added support in the mid sole and better breathability. 63 00:04:32,230 --> 00:04:37,130 It's also got a pull tab to make taking them off and putting them on super easy and they're made creature free. 64 00:04:37,130 --> 00:04:43,210 So you don't have to worry about that. You'll wanna wear them everywhere. So keep your dry and save $ 25 by visiting the link 65 00:04:43,210 --> 00:04:47,150 in the video description and using offer code shortcircuit. 66 00:04:47,150 --> 00:04:51,280 Crap, Jono, you gotta sign into your Apple ID. I gotta say these typing sounds 67 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:56,670 are tripping me the crap out. Because I don't feel like I'm wearing headphones. 68 00:04:56,670 --> 00:05:01,489 So you know how with some headphones you get that like inside your skull sensation. 69 00:05:01,489 --> 00:05:04,730 - [Brandon] Yeah. - I'm definitely getting that a little bit. 70 00:05:04,730 --> 00:05:09,040 They're very comfortable. I mean, obviously I haven't spent an entire day with them 71 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:16,084 and I actually sleep with my AirPods Pros and my Tone Free FP8. 72 00:05:16,084 --> 00:05:20,370 But they're extremely comfortable for me. I don't know if I could say that about these yet. 73 00:05:20,370 --> 00:05:23,800 The XM4's from Sony I found were a little bit too bulky for that. 74 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,970 And the touch would often get activated by lying down on my pillow. 75 00:05:26,970 --> 00:05:31,370 So I wasn't able to do that with those, But these seem at least on first glance, 76 00:05:31,370 --> 00:05:34,400 extremely comfortable cause they don't put pressure on the canal. 77 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:39,230 It's all up here. They're really light too. Like extremely light. 78 00:05:39,230 --> 00:05:44,130 - [Jono] How are you doing today? - That's really weird. 79 00:05:44,130 --> 00:05:47,920 Just how, how do I describe this? 80 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:53,480 - [Jono] Is it like I'm right there? - With the typing sounds and with this phone call. 81 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,950 It sounds like you're coming from 82 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,930 like in between my ears. (Jono laughs) - [Jono] I'm in your head 83 00:06:00,930 --> 00:06:06,460 - Now this is interesting. The press deck for this talks about wide area tap. 84 00:06:06,460 --> 00:06:09,900 Whatever that means. And it seems like the guy in the picture 85 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:13,590 is like tapping his head. Whoa 86 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,990 - [Brandon] That's cool. - [Jono] Whoa - Could you hear that? 87 00:06:20,990 --> 00:06:22,740 - [Jono] Yeah, I can hear that. 88 00:06:29,431 --> 00:06:33,184 (group laughing) - [Jono] I can hear that from here though. 89 00:06:33,184 --> 00:06:37,380 - That's crazy. Yeah. So that was one of the things we asked Sony about. 90 00:06:37,380 --> 00:06:41,280 If I'm on the bus or if I'm in a quiet room, will people be able to hear my music? 91 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:46,100 The answer is sort of. Because they're in ears, 92 00:06:46,100 --> 00:06:50,270 what sounds loud to you is gonna be pretty quiet for everyone around you, 93 00:06:50,270 --> 00:06:55,270 but because they're open backed there's no isolating layer that will prevent sounds 94 00:06:55,270 --> 00:06:58,570 from leaking out of them. So yes, it's possible. 95 00:06:58,570 --> 00:07:01,890 They're also ridiculously loud right now. This is just the default. 96 00:07:01,890 --> 00:07:06,023 - [Brandon] Then it's not that bad probably. - [Jono] Yeah. - You definitely have to tap with intent. 97 00:07:07,710 --> 00:07:11,960 This is what I would consider to be a reasonable listening volume for me 98 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,070 when I'm not like jamming out, but I'm sitting and working. 99 00:07:15,070 --> 00:07:19,400 Can you guys hear it? - [Jono] No. - [Brandon] No. 100 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,821 - No, okay. This is like, I'm cleaning the house and I need energy. 101 00:07:23,821 --> 00:07:27,634 - [Jono] I think like a little bit. (indistinct) - These sound great. 102 00:07:27,634 --> 00:07:31,080 - [Brandon] Better than the XM4's? - They're different from the XM4's. 103 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:36,330 So the thing about the XM4's is that like most earphones they're a closed back design. 104 00:07:36,330 --> 00:07:40,510 So even though you can run them in a transparent mode, right? 105 00:07:40,510 --> 00:07:47,050 That's always gonna be artificial sounding and there's always gonna added background hiss 106 00:07:47,050 --> 00:07:50,290 or added artifacts from doing it that way. 107 00:07:50,290 --> 00:07:53,950 Whereas these are allowing ambient sound 108 00:07:53,950 --> 00:07:58,388 so I can hear the person who opened the door over there. Hi, how you doing? 109 00:07:58,388 --> 00:08:03,130 - [Denniss] Hello. - [Jono] Denniss. - But the music also has a more open and natural sound. 110 00:08:03,130 --> 00:08:08,620 That's one of the key benefits of open backed headphones when we're talking about full size headphones as well. 111 00:08:08,620 --> 00:08:11,770 So if you like an open back sound 112 00:08:11,770 --> 00:08:14,770 these are just gonna completely change your world. 113 00:08:14,770 --> 00:08:18,010 They sound really good. Oh, for crying out loud, 114 00:08:18,010 --> 00:08:21,210 you will not be able to listen to music while I go for through the app here. 115 00:08:22,770 --> 00:08:26,360 Speak to chat. You can start conversations while wearing the headphones 116 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,820 simply by starting to talk. Yeah. I wanna experience that. 117 00:08:29,820 --> 00:08:33,960 Try saying things like hello while music is, oh, okay. So it pauses your music. 118 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,930 Oh, that's really cool. It will resume while you are speaking 119 00:08:37,930 --> 00:08:43,870 and will close if approximately 15 seconds passes after you finish speaking or you've operated the headphones. 120 00:08:43,870 --> 00:08:48,730 I would make it less than 15 seconds. That seems like a lot. 121 00:08:48,730 --> 00:08:55,190 Although I guess if you're going back and forth with someone. They've got some EQ presets here. 122 00:08:55,190 --> 00:08:57,913 Pretty cool. And then I believe you can also edit it. 123 00:08:58,770 --> 00:09:04,160 Very nice. I wouldn't mind if these were a little more granular. 124 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:08,250 This is cool. The ear shape analysis thing, I've run this with previous Sony products before. 125 00:09:08,250 --> 00:09:11,482 It actually does appear to make a small difference. 126 00:09:11,482 --> 00:09:14,770 - [Brandon] You know honestly I almost can't tell your wearing headphones, with your hat. 127 00:09:14,770 --> 00:09:20,010 - Yeah. Cool, right? And they actually have what, I think a really cool look to them. 128 00:09:20,010 --> 00:09:24,420 Like I could see these being a conversation starter when someone does notice that you're wearing them. 129 00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:27,940 They've got support for adaptive volume control. So if the ambient sound gets louder, 130 00:09:27,940 --> 00:09:32,550 they will try to overpower it, If you're into that. Personally I think you should always 131 00:09:32,550 --> 00:09:35,900 control volume yourself to keep it at a safe level. 132 00:09:35,900 --> 00:09:41,240 Wide area tap. Super cool. That was on by default. And you can actually configure the tap operations. 133 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,970 So there's no single tap because obviously that would cause problems, right? 134 00:09:45,970 --> 00:09:50,060 If you just, you know, accidentally slapped yourself 135 00:09:50,060 --> 00:09:54,300 for example, that might start playing music. So it's only double and triple tap. 136 00:09:54,300 --> 00:09:59,700 That is one drawback could see to this product is that you can't have as many different functions, 137 00:09:59,700 --> 00:10:03,940 but because you can program the left and the right individually I think you can kind of overcome that. 138 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:07,770 Four functions is a fair bit. I'm gonna turn the screen recording off now 139 00:10:07,770 --> 00:10:11,013 cause I wanna listen to a little bit more music on this puppy. 140 00:10:11,931 --> 00:10:15,840 Man. Other earphones try to get this sound. 141 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,280 With if like digital sound processors and you know 142 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:24,963 adding like an auditorium effect or like a open sound stage wide sound stage effect. 143 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:30,930 Nothing is ever quite right. But an open backed earphone. 144 00:10:30,930 --> 00:10:34,470 Now to be clear there are far more open back earphones. 145 00:10:34,470 --> 00:10:39,793 The regular AirPods, for example have a much more open back sound than the AirPods Pros. 146 00:10:40,670 --> 00:10:45,320 But this is more open than I've ever experienced before. I can say that definitively. 147 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,120 There's a hole in it. It's open. I'm just talking to you. 148 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,470 And what's interesting about that. Is that actually carrying on a conversation with you 149 00:10:53,470 --> 00:10:57,610 is not as easy as an earphone like this 150 00:10:57,610 --> 00:11:02,240 in a specific transparent mode because they're using like voice detection 151 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:07,330 to find voices around you and amplify them for you and they're plumbing them right into your ears. 152 00:11:07,330 --> 00:11:12,816 But this is more natural. These sound great for $179.99. 153 00:11:12,816 --> 00:11:16,460 - [Brandon] 179 US? - Yeah. They're like reasonable actually 154 00:11:17,306 --> 00:11:21,820 - [Brandon] Oh Man, I'm tempted. - Man, I'm not gonna be able to daily drive them. 155 00:11:21,820 --> 00:11:26,560 Because ANC is actually a lot of what I use my earphones for. 156 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:29,560 A lot of the time I'm not even listening to anything. I just have the ANC on 157 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:33,223 because I find my life a little overwhelming. 158 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,390 But if it was just about the music, boy are these ever cool? 159 00:11:40,390 --> 00:11:47,100 - [Brandon] What about gaming? - Gaming's a tough one because I would say that gaming is more about immersion 160 00:11:47,100 --> 00:11:50,770 than a lot of the other things that I do. But the funny thing is that 161 00:11:50,770 --> 00:11:54,300 I actually use open back headphones for gaming. I use Sennheiser HD 600's 162 00:11:54,300 --> 00:11:58,320 because when I'm gaming, when I'm in my computer room 163 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:03,170 I don't have to worry about distractions or anything like that. I want the best possible sound. 164 00:12:03,170 --> 00:12:08,170 And for me, open backed is a more natural, better sound. 165 00:12:08,390 --> 00:12:11,390 So I would absolutely use them for gaming 166 00:12:11,390 --> 00:12:15,660 but maybe when I'm out in public where there's distractions all over the place 167 00:12:15,660 --> 00:12:19,330 where I want to dial in. Your mileage may vary though. 168 00:12:19,330 --> 00:12:23,450 Maybe you're on the bus and you like, need to hear the next stop or the train, right? 169 00:12:23,450 --> 00:12:27,090 So you guys can check them out. We're gonna have the link down below and you can subscribe to ShortCircuit 170 00:12:27,090 --> 00:12:29,943 where we do first impressions videos just like this one.