I ran 50km with the Sony LinkBuds Fit – and here’s how they performed

I’ve used a lot of earbuds and headphones – and since becoming serious about running, the mix of comfort and quality has become really important for me. You can have the best noise cancellation and sound quality but ultimately they need to be suited to long runs – be it marathons, half-marathons, park runs or in the gym.

After sticking to the Pro for most of my runs, I’ve put them to one side and put the Sony Linkbuds Fit to the test and after 50km. are a higher-end jump from Sony into the fitness market of earphones, coupling that great sound that Sony audio devices are known for as well as blending noise-cancelling in a lightweight design.

The Linkbuds Fit slot right into that category and having used many Sony headphones before, I gave them a go. 

The LinkBuds Fit perform well in terms of sound and performance. The LinkBuds Fit are very balanced out of the box and gives you a real kick in the eardrum when you’re out for a run.

Listening to Rise Against’s The Violence or Sabaton’s The Last Stand really give you a punch when you’re on the road and helps if you need your music to give you a boost on those tougher slow running days. However, I wouldn’t recommend them for more casual, nuanced listening as they performed quite short because of the very bassy profile out of the box but this can be adjusted with the EQ.

One of the best things about the earbuds is the Sound Connect app that goes along with them. Sony has managed to create such a brilliant and robust app that allows you to customise so many parts of the earbuds from the sound – all the way to the adaptive noise-cancellation and tips on how to get a good fit and much, much more.

Design and price

these are an expensive offering, especially when you start journeying into the valley of Apple AirPods 4 territory or other high-end earbuds from Jabra and . There’s a lot of competition and noise at this price range and explains why you don’t really hear much about the LinkBuds Fit.

The good news is that you can get these for a cheaper price at around £140 now which are a better price to jump at – and for what they offer, it’s a more compelling buy. The LinkBuds Fit are unique in-ear design with soft earhooks that Sony has dubbed ‘Fitting Supporters’ to help with a comfortable fit. Each buds is also superlight at less than 5g each, making it a great running companion.

When it comes to fit, this was a bigger problem with the LinkBuds Fit. My biggest issue was being unable to find a plastic eartip that would fit my right ear.

Sony provides only three sizes of eartip in the box – which honestly didn’t feel enough. I tried every single tip for my right ear and they still felt loose when I was running, leading me to feel like I had to put it back in during most runs. My left ear was completely fine and felt snug. 

Sound and performance

I had no problem connecting the LinkBuds Fit with my Garmin which can sometimes be a problem for my Apple AirPods Pro and there were no issues whatsoever with connection thanks to the Bluetooth 5.3 connection. I found battery life to be around six hours which is what I expected and what Sony touts in its marketing.

One of my biggest issue was the tap controls. Sony has introduced a ‘Tap’ system where you tap on either earbud to get a specific control like skipping songs or changing the noise cancellation. I felt that this didn’t work so well out of the box and sometimes I found it much quicker just to pretend it didn’t exist and use my watch to skip songs instead. You can increase the tap sensitivity on the Sound Connect app which took me a while to find and when I activated it, it didn’t seem to make a massive difference.

Noise-cancellation was also good – but don’t come to them if you want to completely get rid of noise. I noticed that even on noise-cancellation modes, I could still make out very sharp noises while on my run like sirens or horns but works well on cutting down on the ambiant hussle and bustle of day-to-day.

Conclusion

I’ve never been a massive in-ear earbud fan – and are a great example of something everyone will enjoy. Despite not being able to get a good fit for one of my ears, the comfort and the sound of the earbuds are brilliant and well-worth considering if you’re looking for a great pair of fitness earbuds.

Coupled with good battery life, an app that lets you massively customise your experience and resistance to water and sweat, the LinkBuds Fit are well-worth a buy. But with many people, I would advise to try them out first.

If you do want some alternatives to consider, I’ve currently been using the on my runs which you can get here for £169 from Currys. Or if in-ear is your thing, from Sony on Amazon here.