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Sony has unveiled a new Earth Blue color option for its most comfortable pair of wireless earbuds, the LinkBuds S. The finish is a beautiful blue marbled effect, which has been created using a material produced from recycled water dispensers, helping to further boost the LinkBuds S eco-friendly credentials.
The company has also pledged that $2 from every Sony LinkBuds S sale in Europe and Japan – not just the Earth Blue model – will be donated to US nonprofit Conservation International to support its ocean conservancy work.
This new pledge comes after Sony had already announced that all of its LinkBuds S models and their charging cases are made from a material that combines recycled plastic car parts with stone – a material that itself is apparently recyclable. Every version of the LinkBuds S is also shipped in unbleached, unprinted, and plastic-free packaging.
So even if you aren’t a fan of the new Earth Blue design, you know that whichever model you pick up will be more eco-friendly than many of the other best wireless earbuds out there.
Analysis: a drop in the ocean
While we are always pleased to see tech brands doing their bit for the environment, this latest effort by Sony is – almost literally – a drop in the ocean.
According to Conservation International and Sony statistics, each $2 will help the charity to protect roughly 58,824 square meters of our seas – that's equivalent to the area covered by around 47 Olympic-sized swimming pools, so according to our calculations Sony would need to sell around 6.2 billion pairs of its LinkBuds S to cover the entire ocean surface area of the planet.
Still, it's a laudable effort – so what about the LinkBuds S themselves?
In our four-star review, we commended the earbuds for their light and comfortable design – we could happily wear them for hours on end – and their six-hour battery life (nine with active-noise cancellation turned off) is respectable, if a tad shorter than we’d like.
Audio-wise we were impressed too. The enjoyable and unthreatening sound was full of detail and featured a well-balanced sound stage, though Sony’s buds could have been a bit more assertive; if you like to feel pumped up by bassy tunes then these might not be the best pick for you, and audiophiles may instead prefer a pair of the Sony WF-1000XM4 wireless earbuds.
But if they are for you, as well as owning a great pair of earbuds you'll also have the satisfaction of knowing that you're doing your bit to help save the planet, and specifically your own little piece of ocean.