I think Sony's new "socially friendly" earbuds prove something pretty important about what people want

Sony has just taken the wraps off its latest pair of earbuds, and despite growing excitement about the possibility of new flagship WF-1000XM6 noise-cancelling buds, it's going in a very different direction for now.

The newly-announced LinkBuds Clip Open are a direct competitor to the likes of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro, offering a far more open-eared listening experience that should ensure you can hear the world around you as well as your choice of audio.

They look very similar in design to Bose's earbuds, in that they have a clip shape with some rubber cushions that should let them basically hang in your ear in a way that could be super comfortable for longer listening sessions.

To make sure that you can choose your type of audio experience, Sony says it's baking in three listening modes that you can swap between with just a tap on the earbuds. The "standard" mode will behave normally, while a "voice boost" mode will amplify voice channels to make them easier to hear, aiming at louder environments like stations or other crowded areas.

Finally, a "sound leakage reduction" mode will quieten things down to make it harder for people around you to hear your audio, a common problem with open earbuds. How well that works will come down to testing, of course, along with the question of whether it compromises music.

The LinkBuds Clip Open will come with DSEE, Sony's in-house music upscaling solution (which increasingly ships in most of its mid to high-end audio devices), and offers a 10-band EQ feature for more customisation.

The earbuds themselves will last up to nine hours on a single charge, with 28 more in the case for 37 hours in total without being plugged into a power source. Fast-charging means that just three minutes in the case will give you an hour of listening.

Rounding out the features, meanwhile, IPX4 water and dust resistance makes them fully weather and exercise-proof, and the option of multipoint connections should make swapping between devices straightforward.

All this comes at a fairly punchy price, though – £180 in the UK or $230 in the US is an interesting choice from Sony that makes these cheaper than Bose's earbuds, but still a distinctly higher-mid-range option. It also suggests once again that the market for open earbuds is growing, and people really want them. I've always preferred in-ear earbuds with good transparency modes, but who am I to swim against the tide?!