What You Need to Know About Sony’s WH-1000XM5 & LinkBuds S Headphones – Billboard

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Sony Electronics transformed a stylish New York landmark into a stunning, interactive launch event celebrating the release of the new LinkBuds S and WH-10o0XM5 headphones.

The immersive event was held at the TWA Hotel at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York on Saturday (May 21) and featured a performance from Sony artist Tate McRae, who also hosted an exclusive, in-flight listening experience for her upcoming album, I Used to Think I Could Fly, for a small group of press and influencers.

The Sony electronics audio lineup of speakers, headphones and vintage electronics like the Sony Walkman, an old-school Playstation and CD player were on display at the event. There was also a station for guests to have their LinkBuds S headphones customized in the color and graphic of their choosing.

The latest edition to Sony Electronics’ audio lineup might give Apple’s coveted AirPods and AirPod Max headphones some much needed competition. The LinkBuds S leverage sensor and spatial sound technology to deliver new and immersive sound for music, calls, AR games and more. Released last Friday (May 20), Sony LinkBuds S retail for $199.99 and are available in dark gray, white and desert sand at Best Buy, Amazon, and Sony.com.

For music listeners, the newest LinkBuds retains the ultra-small, lightweight design and comfortable fit with adjustable earbuds, and the “Never Off” wearing experience that lets listeners interact with the world around them, or tune everything out with distraction-free, high-quality noise canceling technology. LinkBuds S provide up to six hours of listening time  and another 14 hours in the compact charging case.

The portable earbuds combine an ergonomic design with a shape that matches the human ear for a more stable and comfortable fit along with Adaptive Sound Control and “Auto Play 2” for seamless music listening. Additionally, Sony is collaborating with Niantic to bring AR technology to the Ingress augmented reality game.

Experience high-resolution audio with the LinkBuds S courtesy of a new 5mm driver unit that packs in stunning sound, crystal clear vocals and powerful bass, while Sony’s Integrated Processor V1, which improves noise canceling, enhances sound quality and reduces distortion.

Listeners will experience high-resolution audio wireless sound, with Sony’s industry-adopted audio coding technology, LDAC, and restore any kind of music back to high-range sound with the use of DSEE Extreme, which upscales digital music files in real time. The headphones include Speak-to-Chat, hands-free control and an intuitive touch sensor control panel that allows you to change the sound with a simple touch.

LinkBuds S are also designed with the environment in mind. Like the rest of the LinkBuds series, all packaging on the headphones are plastic free and the headphones use recycled materials from automobile parts.

Want something bigger? Sony’s WH-1000XM5 over-ear headphones retail for $399.99 at Amazon and Best Buy in addition to Sony.com. These stylish, over-ear headphones offer up to 30 hours of battery life (get three hours of battery power after a three-minute charge) and distraction-free listening that combines Sony’s best-ever noise canceling technology with superlative sound, the result of which is a truly remarkable listening experience that will fully immerse you in music, videos and any other audio content that you want to indulge in.

Besides exceptional noise-cancelling technology and awe-inspiring audio quality, the new  WH-1000XM5 Bluetooth, wireless headphones are calibrated to only pick up your voice and feature four beam-forming microphones, an improved signal-to-noise ratio to catch every single word (no matter how much noise is around) and a new, 30mm precision-engineered driver unit featuring a soft TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) edge that enhances noise canceling (especially in low frequency ranges), so that you can enjoy your music precisely without outside distractions. Plus, the light weight carbon fiber composite material and the high rigidity dome improves sound clarity.

The battery life, quick-charging abilities, superb sound quality, comfortable ear cushions and portable carrying case, make Sony’s WH-100XM5 headphones perfect for travel.

Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones also feature Speak-to-Chat software that pauses your music as soon as you start a conversations and they support Google Assistant and Alexa.