We tried a pair of earbuds designed by Olivia Rodrigo to see if they're actually good

The LinkBuds S provide immersive sound with a wide range of frequencies and barely any sound leaking. But are they really worth the money?
By Stacia Datskovska  on 
All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.
The LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo collab product laying outside on a mesh, blueish placemat
Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable
LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo Truly Wireless Earbuds
The Bottom Line
If you think getting these earbuds will somehow level up the experience of listening to Olivia Rodrigo's latest "GUTS" album over the regular Sony LinkBuds S, that's not going to happen. Still, these buds have mighty noise cancellation features, immersive sound sure to please, and are also super portable and workout-friendly.
Buying Options
Mashable Score 3.8
Wow Factor 3
User Friendliness 4.5
Performance 4
Bang for the Buck 3.5
The Good
  • Sound is immersive, with a wide range of frequencies and barely any sound leaking
  • Noise cancellation pops off
  • Great for working out (secure fit in ears)
  • Cool Sony Headphones app features like Adaptive Sound Control and ear shape analysis
The Bad
  • Custom EQs tuned by Olivia Rodrigo don't make much of a difference
  • Earbuds' look resembles hearing aids
  • Sony Headphones app is outdated and bothers with relentless notifications
  • Switching between voice control "inputs" is laggy

Full disclosure: I am not an Olivia Rodrigo die-hard fan by any means. I probably know three of her songs (great songs, admittedly) and have no interest in knowing any more. Still, I was excited when Sony dropped the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo wireless earbuds back in September.

From a tech standpoint, I found it thrilling that the buds are supposedly designed by Olivia — with two custom EQs tuned by her and producer Dan Nigro for optimal listening to the GUTS and SOUR albums. Key word: Supposedly, as, upon testing, it wasn't particularly obvious how these LinkBuds S differ in the sound they provide from Sony's regular LinkBuds S (which have the same list price as Olivia's spiced-up version but are often seen on sale for up to $50 off).

By now, you probably think I have something against either Sony or the 20-year-old pop star extraordinaire who first took the world by storm with her heart-shattering, tear-jerking "driver's license." None! Of! That! As I said before, though I wasn't even close to being in Olivia's top 0.5% of Spotify listeners this year, I respect the girl and like some of her music. I also found a lot to like in her LinkBuds S collab with Sony — including noise cancellation great for loud city streets or travel, a feature-packed compatible Sony app, and sound that felt like it was truly all-encompassing (which is always a win when it comes to compact earbuds).

The Olivia Rodrigo LinkBuds S resting in their case while placed on a mesh placemat
These lil' buds weigh just 35 grams. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

If you're interested in all of these perks and want pretty, violet-colored earbuds that differ from Sony's regular black/white/blue offerings in color if not functionality, you might want to add these babies to cart. Before you commit, though, here's everything I found right (and wrong) with them.

Active noise cancellation pops off and sound leaking is kept to a minimum

I first put the LinkBuds in my ears when taking a bus ride from NYC to Virginia, which was a good choice: I immediately noticed just how much background "din" the buds instantly eliminate when turned on. To play around with their noise cancellation, I kept tapping the feature on and off with a single press of the sensor located splat in the middle of the left earbud. When the option is disabled, the buds allow more ambient sound to pass through (you can actually regulate these levels from one to 20 on the app) — which sounds like all the little natural noises around you that you're already familiar with, but disconcertingly precise.

I felt trippy using this ambient mode, so I stayed away most of the time in favor of good ol' noise cancellation, which truly made me feel like I was insulated in a vacuum (even while I was riding the loud bus or walking through the notoriously hectic NYC). BTW, Sony offers an added layer of its own take on "transparency mode" by allowing you to choose the option of "voice passthrough," which suppresses most background noise save for voices. I haven't encountered this feature in any of my prior headphones or earbuds testing at Mashable, so I was undoubtedly impressed.

Both when playing songs that had a heavy bass undertone to them (read: Megan Thee Stallion's "Cobra (Rock Remix)") and songs that were of higher pitch (any Taylor Swift bop will do), the LinkBuds did an amazing job of replicating the full frequency range of the sound as well as providing that immersive, surround-sound feel which distinguishes mediocre headphones from truly awesome ones.

The author's dog curiously sniffing at the LinkBuds S she holds up in her hand
My dog, Umka, thought the buds were cute enough to eat. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

On the note of sound, one thing I always worry about is if strangers can hear me in a public space when I blast my music at levels which make even Apple concerned for my ear health. This is better known as the phenomenon of sound leaking, which budget headphones are more likely to succumb to than pricier versions. Compared to the AirPods Pro, the LinkBuds S can be considered in the "budget" category; so, imagine my delight when I tested out how much sound leaked from them by taking them out of my ears while the music kept playing and found out the answer — barely any.

In other words, if you love your music loud but don't want it to bother anyone else, you'll adore what the LinkBuds offer in that department.

Visually, earbuds can be improved upon

When I unboxed my new Olivia Rodrigo earbuds, I first marveled at how damn cute their color was (that violet marble pattern is definitely attractive to the eye), how pleasant to the touch they were, and how easy it was to get them ready for use. All the box came with was the buds in their case, three additional ear tip size options, a charging cord, and a user manual. That's it — no BS, no nonsense.

When I plopped them in my ears, though, I had to laugh. They were quite awkward and (there's no way around this) looked like hearing aids. As someone who's used to the sleek and ubiquitous design of simple white AirPods, I wouldn't say I was too pleased with the change. Then again, functionality > looks any day.

Throughout my weeks of testing the buds, I ran with them, cycled with them, stretched with them, and walked with them — trying to gauge just how secure of a fit they provided for vigorous exercise. Rest assured: These earbuds can accommodate even the most impassioned of head bops and dance parties. No wonder Olivia Rodrigo got behind them: She's practically begging you to have a solo dance sesh to the entire GUTS album in your new LinkBuds.

Sony seems to compensate for this product's resemblance to hearing aids by treating users to some cool features like the ability to analyze your ear shape and subsequently calibrate 360-degree audio functionality. To do this, you first have to take a photo of your ears (Sony guarantees that the pics are destroyed after 30 days, thank God), after which it analyzes your ears in a very mysterious way and allows you to send the results to select Sony-compatible streaming apps. If you are an active user of TIDAL, PeerTracks, something called nugs.net, or Artist Connection, you'll love this feature. Sadly, for the 99.99 percent of the world population (a guesstimate) that chooses to use Spotify or Apple Music, the ear analysis proves redundant.

Screenshot of Sony's in-app ear analysis feature taking a photo of the author's ears
The ear analysis feature made me LOL. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable
Author Stacia Datskovska wearing the LinkBuds S from Sony in one ear in a selfie
The violet color and marbled pattern on the buds is hella cute, though. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Some features are undercooked and laggy

I was excited to find out that you can use these earbuds with voice assistant — simply by prompting Siri to play something or, instead, pairing your LinkBuds to Amazon Alexa. You need to have the Alexa app downloaded and the account active for that, but, even then, the feature isn't perfect. I tested it out by having my earbuds in and saying "Alexa, play music." Alexa responded both in my ears and on my nearby Echo (4th Gen), playing different personalized music stations from both outputs. Chaos ensued. I decided to never, ever voice control the LinkBuds through Alexa again. Alas.

Whenever you do change voice control "input" options, the LinkBuds disconnect from Bluetooth and require manual reconnection. In fact, this seems to be their fatal flaw — they often unpaired from my Sony app, which wasn't very intuitive of them, and reconnection was oftentimes laggy.

Again, as if to make up for these shortcomings, Sony delivered when it came to allowing users to personalize Quick Access tap settings. In other words, you can tell the buds what to do when you tap them twice in quick succession or three times. I chose to signal to Sony that a double tap would mean opening Spotify and playing a recommended tune. It surprised me with "Feeling Whitney" by Post Malone — a throwback that brought on some much-needed high school nostalgia.

Screenshot of an in-app screen that shows the LinkBuds S not connecting
"Cannot connect" was an ominous and frequent phrase on the Sony Headphones app. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

With Adaptive Sound Control, you'll feel like you're living in the future

Probably my favorite feature of the Sony LinkBuds S was Adaptive Sound Control, which claims to "detect your actions and automatically switch how ambient sound is filtered in." Remember when I mentioned that a single tap of the left bud can switch from ANC to "ambient mode"? Yeah, this is one-upping all of that. You can go as far as registering personalized locations you frequent based on exact GPS coordinates and triggering a specific audio balance calibration whenever the buds detect that you're in that location.

The detected action options include A) staying, B) walking, C) running, and D) riding a vehicle. While switching back and forth from one to another, I noticed clear differences in audio filtering. "Running mode," for instance, filters in wayyy more ambient sound than "vehicle mode" (which is great for any runner's safety!). Once, I was cycling on a stationary bike and the LinkBuds recognized my activity as walking. Maybe I should've pedaled faster?

Screenshot of an in-app screen depicting the "Riding a Vehicle" Adaptive Sound Control option
"Riding a vehicle" Adaptive Sound Control option. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Olivia Rodrigo-specific EQ settings aren't all that

The whole premise of these buds is that they come with two never-before-seen EQ settings: Tailor-made by Olivia Rodrigo and producer Dan Nigro. One setting is strictly for listening to her GUTS album, and one is crafted for the earlier SOUR tracks. I demoed each by playing "lacy" and "deja vu," respectively, and let me tell you — the super special EQs made no difference compared to the control group of my experiment (AKA, songs played without messing with sound equalization).

Sony advertises these particular LinkBuds S as a purchase that will allow you to "listen like Olivia," but, TBH, I didn't have this experience at all (plus, my prediction is that Olivia has on a pair of classic wired Apple EarPods right about now and is not, in fact, using LinkBuds S). Such is the nature of celebrity product endorsements.

Screenshot of the custom GUTS EQ setting on the Sony app, programmed by Olivia Rodrigo and her producer
The "GUTS" EQ setting, programmed by Olivia herself, wasn't life-altering. Credit: Stacia Datskovska / Mashable

Battery life is just OK, but charging case packs a punch

I tested the earbuds' battery life by playing music on a loop through them after charging them up to 100 percent in both left and right buds, then seeing how many hours it took for the buds to run out of juice. The results? About 5.5 hours with ANC on and about seven hours with it off. Sony specifies that battery life for continuous music playback on these babies is a maximum of six hours (ANC on) and a maximum of nine hours (ANC off). The LinkBuds' case also provides 14 extra hours of charge — making it easy to quickly power them up without connecting to power via USB. Also, just five minutes of such USB charging boosts the buds' battery power by a whole hour (I can verify this statement).

For reference, comparable earbuds that I tested in a previous review — the Soundcore by Anker Liberty 4 NC wireless noise-canceling earbuds — lasted for 32 hours with ANC and 40 hours without ANC. Yeah, the difference is pretty stark.

The TL;DR to all of this: If you're someone who regularly forgets to charge their technology, the LinkBuds S might not be the safest option for ensuring you have access to a steady input of music, podcasts, and anything else you listen to throughout the day. However, if you methodically connect everything in your household to an outlet at the end of each day, you won't be mad about that 5.5-hour-with-ANC-on runtime — especially if you always put the buds back in their case after use.

The Olivia Rodrigo LinkBuds laying next to a purple scrunchie, rings, keys, and a notebook
Olivia apparently loves the purple aesthetic, so I hope you're on board with that. Credit: Sony

Are the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo earbuds worth it?

It's tempting to snatch up a celebrity headphones collab when it hits the scene, but such products always (clearly) need to be taken with a grain of salt. I'd have been way more impressed by the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo wireless earbuds if they were significantly distinct from the normal LinkBuds S (beyond just their quirky color, two fresh EQ options, and a pic of Olivia wearing them on the product's page). That wasn't the case at all, so unless you think that in 20 years' time you'd be able to resell them on eBay for a fat profit, these LinkBuds don't really fall in the "absolute need" category.

That being said, if your favorite color is violet and you've been dying to grab hold of the LinkBuds S before this whole star-studded collab even came about, I say go for it. Olivia Rodrigo would (be contractually obligated to) approve.

Topics Earbuds Music

How we tested

When the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo collab from Sony dropped on September 26, I knew I had to write a Mashable review on it. After all, it perfectly encapsulates what our publication is all about — tech, obsession with pop culture, and a devotion to finding out whether products are really worth the hype (before our readers waste $$$ on them).

To bring you this LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo wireless earbuds review, I basically embedded the buds into my life over the course of two to three weeks — taking them with me on my daily subway commute, exercising in them, using them for Zoom calls, blasting music on them while cooking... you get it.

Since the LinkBuds are equipped with Adaptive Sound Control, which claims to "detect your actions and automatically switch how ambient sound is filtered in," it was illuminating to see just how well they were able to follow through on that promise (more deets on that above!).

Additional factors taken into account during testing include:

  • Aesthetics/ease of functionality: Since one of the key (and only) differences between these special-edition LinkBuds S and their standard version is Olivia's violet-colored/marble-patterned redesign, I made sure to gauge just how much "cooler" they looked than any ol' pair of earbuds (hint: They're kind of shaped like hearing aids). As for the "ease of functionality" component, I determined this by taking into account factors like swiftness of tap-powered commands (play/pause, as well as less intuitive ones like opening Spotify), how effortless it was to pop them in my ears and go about my business without fear of them falling out, and also how user-friendly the LinkBuds' setup process is.

  • Audio quality/richness: I benchmarked how good the LinkBuds' sound was based on how immersive it felt (in other words, did it feel like I was surrounded on all sides by Olivia's rich, luscious voice?); how "wide" its range of frequencies was for various songs; whether the Olivia-Rodrigo-designed EQ settings actually did what they were supposed to; and whether the sound was strong enough to tune out background noise (particularly in a busy city street environment). In terms of the latter, I made sure to focus on the buds' noise-canceling properties and try to feel out the auditory difference the feature made when compared to Sony's "ambient mode" setting or having no outside sound alterations at all.

  • Multipoint connection: Most recent headphones/earbuds models allow for the concurrent connection of up to two devices (at least!), so that you can switch back and forth from laptop audio input, say, to queued-up tracks on your iPhone at ease. That being said, sometimes this feature isn't the beacon of ease at all and is instead quite laggy, so I tracked how quickly I was able to maneuver around the multipoint connections on my LinkBuds without having to manually tell them which audio input to focus on next.

  • Compatible app functions: Apps that accompany an earbuds purchase are always fun add-ons to take advantage of — especially when they grant access to customizable features that, literally and figuratively, amplify your listening experience. Knowing my way around quite a few headphones brands' apps from previous reviews I wrote, I looked into how user-friendly the Sony Headphones app is in particular (interface, functionality, and all that jazz), as well as whether the quality of in-app options actually matched their quantity. An example: Sony offers users an option to calibrate 360-degree audio functionality by analyzing their ear shape, but with the caveat of offering this 360 audio only through platforms like TIDAL or PeerTracks.

  • Battery capacity and charging power: As I always do when measuring the battery lifespan of any given headphones model I test, I charged my LinkBuds to 100 percent in each ear and then connected them via Bluetooth to a 24-hour meditation music video on YouTube, playing the video on a loop until the battery percentage drained to zero. I repeated this process twice (once with ANC on and once with the function off). As far as charging power is concerned, I tested just how quickly the LinkBuds' battery was able to boost itself after only five minutes of being connected to power via USB. As it turns out, LinkBuds perform very well in the "quick charging" department.

Frequently Asked Questions


Literally only their violet color, marbled pattern (due to being made out of recycled automobile parts and reclaimed water bottles!!), and two custom EQ levels designed by Olivia and her producer (labeled GUTS and SOUR in the Sony Headphones app's "Equalizer" settings section).

Though this latter point is evident by an accompanying visual of how the sound frequencies were toggled with, as compared to when the equalizer's off, only a trained ear would be able to hear the nuances in real time. In other words, listening to "vampire" via the Olivia Rodrigo Sony LinkBuds S won't be life-alteringly different from doing so with the regular version of the LinkBuds.


As I describe further in my roundup of the top wireless headphones under $100, active noise cancellation is essentially the real-life definition of "headphones on, world off." Earbuds packed with this feature tune out surroundings by using mics that capture exterior noises. Then, as Mashable's sister publication PCMag explained, "audio processing circuitry... takes those noises and generates their inverse to cancel them out in real-time."

There's also something called passive noise cancellation. Earbuds have this kind of noise cancellation handy — arising from the sheer shape of the earplug tips (these LinkBuds have three tip options in addition to the ones they're already fit with) that snuggle perfectly into your ear.

Like most headphones/earbuds that boast active noise cancellation, the LinkBuds S allow you to turn off this mode: Meaning you'll be able to let natural ambient sound through if you so choose. This feature proves super helpful for city dwellers who don't want to get hit by a car while getting a little too emotionally invested in an Olivia Rodrigo ballad. Seriously, active noise cancellation is great but sometimes you need to pay attention to all those "red lights, stop signs" or your friends "laughing over all the noise."


Technically, yes. The Sony Headphones app gives you an option of connecting up to two audio inputs at the same time and switching between them. However, when I personally tried to do so the first time around, it was an utter failure. The buds weren't even "discoverable" on the Bluetooth panel of my MacBook and the "connected device(s)" screen on the Sony app kept showing the word "connecting" without actually, well, doing so. I was relentless in my quest, however, and it eventually worked. When it did, I was thoroughly impressed with how instantaneously the buds switched from grabbing input from my laptop (when I played a YouTube video, for instance) to phone input like Apple Music or even a notification coming through.

Mashable Image
Stacia Datskovska
Mashable Shopping Intern

Stacia Datskovska is an NYU journalism major (graduating this December). Her work has appeared in USA Today, Boston Globe, Teen Vogue, HuffPost, Bustle, and more. When she's not writing something or other, Stacia can be spotted crying over poetry, making a home-cooked meal, or walking on an NYC pier. For her more half-baked thoughts: @staciadats on Twitter.


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