Sony will release a pair of custom LinkBuds S headphones designed in collaboration with pop star Olivia Rodrigo. The collaboration goes beyond style: the pair of LinkBuds S will include two custom equalizer modes optimized for Rodrigo’s albums Sour and Guts.
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These profiles, tuned by Rodrigo and her producer Daniel Nigro, are made available by Sony's Headphones Connect app when you pair the iconic LinkBuds S via Bluetooth.
Both earphones feature a purple marbled exterior - which Sony also claims was designed by Rodrigo himself, as does the accompanying charging case. Sony says the marbling is due to changes in the recycled materials used to produce the hardware, "resulting in no two pairs of LinkBuds Sx Olivia Rodrigo being the same."
Aside from the unique casing, these LinkBuds are identical to other colors of LinkBuds currently sold by Sony. They're still one of the most comfortable wireless earbuds you can find. Active noise cancellation and sound quality are a few points behind the company's flagship WF-1000XM5 earbuds, but they're pretty good in their own right.
If you pay more attention to the lightweight wearing experience (and lower price), then it is easy to find reasons to buy LinkBuds, not to mention getting Sony's higher bit rate LDAC Bluetooth codec. Still, it's worth mentioning that the company has been working to address uneven battery drain on its earbuds, an issue that can become apparent after extended use.
Meanwhile, Sony is cooking up a marketing storm to steal the spotlight for these iconic earbuds. A series of marketing videos will be released soon, and the company will also feature the iconic LinkBuds on billboards in Times Square and launch media campaigns on Hulu, Spotify and Thursday Night Football.
LinkBudsS were first announced at a fan gathering hosted by Sony in Tokyo, which was also Rodrigo’s first event in Tokyo. How popular is she? It has more than 63.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, so even without a massive advertising push, it's likely to bring a lot of sales to Sony.
Sony's iconic Olivia Rodrigo LinkBuds S are available to pre-order starting today on Sony.com, Sony.com, Amazon or Best Buy.