The open earbuds market is gaining more attention, with Sony kicking off 2026 with a revamped pair in the new LinkBuds Clip. They’re immediately going up against options from Bose and Motorola — Bose sells the Ultra Open earbuds, and Motorola’s Moto Buds Loop are powered by Bose sound. The latter two models retail for $300 at full price, while the LinkBuds Clip costs $230.
The first thing I noticed after unboxing the Sony LinkBuds Clip was how similar the earbuds’ design looks compared with the Moto Buds Loop. Motorola’s open earbuds are a bit flashier, especially the colorways with Swarovski crystals. Otherwise, both earbuds clip onto the midpoint of your earlobe with an orb-shaped audio driver resting outside your ear canal.
Sony’s LinkBuds Clip are better for everyday wear
If you haven’t tried open earbuds yet, they differ from traditional earbuds in a few key ways. For starters, open earbuds place the audio driver outside of your ear canal, increasing airflow and comfort. This makes open earbuds ideal for long listening sessions, as you can hear your tunes without your ears feeling clogged after a few hours. The downsides are obvious: sound quality is poor, there’s no noise isolation whatsoever, and others might hear your music due to sound leakage.
Some people prefer open earbuds for long days at the office, as they can use the microphone and audio drivers for video calls without having earbuds physically inside their ear canals. Others like them for working out, as they can hear ambient noise and reduce sweat compared to traditional earbuds. The smaller, sweatproof design of the LinkBuds Clip make them better suited in this regard.
Sony’s open earbuds are IPX4-certified, meaning they’ll survive sweat or a bit of light rain. In other words, they’re workout-friendly. IPX4 earbuds are pretty commonplace these days, but oddly, the Moto Buds Loop don’t have an IP rating at all — it’s hard to recommend them for everyday wear or workout use as a result.
Another reason the Sony LinkBuds Clip shines when used out and about is their “sound leakage reduction mode.” It’s essentially a smart equalizer setting that changes the sound signature of the open earbuds to limit parts of the frequency spectrum that “leak” out into your environment. Specifically, this mode slashes the mids and highs, which would usually be easy for someone sitting next to you to hear.
I wouldn’t dare listen to music on a pair of open earbuds or open-air speakers like those you’d find on smart glasses near others in public. This effectively rules out using them during a daily commute or in the office — anywhere you’re in very close proximity to others, sound leakage is a concern. Sony’s built-in sound leakage reduction mode nearly solves this problem in its entirety, and it only takes two taps to activate.
Notably, sound quality is considerably worse when the sound leakage reduction mode is active. This seems like a fair trade-off to continue to be able to use your earbuds in dense public situations, though. Sony’s IPX4 and sound leakage reduction mode support are two ways the LinkBuds Clip perform better as a pair of everyday earbuds than the Moto Buds Loop.
Motorola’s Moto Buds Loop nail design and sound quality
By comparison, the Moto Buds Loop work best as a pair of secondary earbuds. They lack a proper IP rating and don’t have a comparable sound leakage reduction mode, so it’ll be hard for them to pass as a pair of everyday buds. With that being said, the Buds Loop are much better sounding than the LinkBuds Clip. Motorola’s open earbuds are marketed as using sound by Bose, and it feels like Bose’s input really made a difference here.
Everything sounds fuller, richer, and more detailed out of the Moto Buds Loop. It’s not particularly about the bass, either — open earbuds don’t create a seal in your ear canal, and this makes it almost impossible for this form factor to deliver strong bass. I noticed the difference most in songs with a deep, present piano. Since the piano occupies the middle of the soundstage, it can exist in the Moto Buds Loop without being drowned out by the lows or highs. Listening to the same tracks with the LinkBuds Clip, those same sounds weren’t as strong.
This could come down to Bose’s excellent tuning, but it’s likely a side effect of the Moto Buds Loop offering larger 12mm drivers. These are on the bigger side for earbuds, and the extra size helps the Moto Buds Loop sound fuller and crisper than the LinkBuds Clip, which have 10mm drivers.
The sound quality difference is enough to make me reach for the Moto Buds Loop over the Sony LinkBuds Clip, but Motorola’s premium design is another advantage. Sony used glossy plastic for the LinkBuds Clip, and it simply makes the earbuds feel cheap. It doesn’t help that the stock design won’t fit well for everyone out of the box. Sony includes silicone fitting cushions in the box for users to add to the LinkBuds Clip for those who don’t initially find the fit secure.
I fell into that category, so I needed to attach the silicone spacers to the LinkBuds Clip. While it did improve the fit as advertised, it was annoying to need a cheap piece of silicone to wear the earbuds properly. I needed to hold down the silicone cushion every time I put on the LinkBuds Clip, or I’d risk the thing popping off.
All that is to say that the metal, unibody design of the Moto Buds Loop is much more comfortable, and it creates a better experience for the wearer. The crystal studs are a bit of a gimmick, but I’d take them over plastic and silicone every time.
The verdict: I’d buy the Moto Loop Buds
I wouldn’t buy a pair of open earbuds as my daily drivers — I like using multiple pairs of earbuds each for a specific purpose. While the Sony LinkBuds Clip are the better all-rounders, Motorola’s Moto Buds Loop sound better and feel more premium, and that won me over.
If you’re looking to buy a pair of open earbuds, it helps that prices for the Moto Buds Loop have cratered. They debuted at $300, but you can find them under $150 right now, which is an insane price. The current slate of Moto Buds Loop deals make the LinkBuds Clip look overpriced. Sony’s earbuds will likely see deals of their own in a few months, but until then, Motorola earns my recommendation.
Superior sound
The Moto Buds Loop are more premium and sound better, thanks to their large drivers and Bose tuning. They also fit more comfortably in my ears and are cheaper with current sales than the Sony offering.
Water-resistant design
Sony’s LinkBuds Clip are a bit smaller, sporting a water-resistant IPX4 build that’ll stand the test of time against sweat and light water drops. This, plus an audio mode that prevents excess sound leakage, makes the LinkBuds Clip better for everyday wear.
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