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- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: What you need to know
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Price and competition
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Comfort, connectivity and design
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Sound quality
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Verdict
- Best-in-class sound
- Comfortable
- Elegant
- Connectivity can be problematic
- Finicky touch controls
- Expensive
Sennheiser, might have started life in 1945 building voltmeters and microphones but weve come a long way since the days of valves and capacitors. The company’s latest product, the Momentum True Wireless, represent the German manufacturer’s first attempt at producing a pair of true wireless earbuds. Like the AirPods, these in-ears cut the cord not only between your ears and your smartphone but also between the earbuds themselves.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: What you need to know
The earphones come with a charging case that tops up the headphones battery while theyre not in use but thats where the similarities between these Sennheisers and Apples AirPods ends. The Momentum True Wireless are superior for sound quality, theyre more elegantly designed and more comfortable, too. As youll find if you read the rest of this review, however, theyre not without their flaws.
READ NEXT: RHA TrueConnect review: True wireless earbuds for audiophiles
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Price and competition
The biggest issue is price. At £279, these are the most expensive set of true wireless earbuds Ive ever come across. Theyre more expensive than the feature-packed Bragi Dash Pro, which have a heart-rate monitor and fitness-tracking features built in. Theyre almost double the price of the incredible-sounding RHA TrueConnect (£150) and theyre far more expensive than the Samsung Gear IconX (2018) at £129 and Mobvoi TicPods Free at £120.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Comfort, connectivity and design
Design is ingrained within the companys ethos and the Momentum True Wireless carry on the manufacturers philosophy. It starts with the grey fabric charging case. This simply oozes quality. Its stylish, pocketable and functional all at once.
As with most such earphones, the Momentum Trues case houses a battery, allowing it to double as a mobile power bank for the headphones. Pop the earphones into the cases magnetised recesses, flip down the lid and the battery in the case tops up the smaller cells in the earphones so theyre fully charged when youre ready to listen again.
The case charges via USB Type-C and supplies an additional two full charges of the headphones when full. When added to the four-hour battery life of the buds themselves, this tots up to 12 hours of total playback time. Alas, theres no fast-charging here: the case takes 1hr 30mins to charge from empty.
Moving onto the earbuds design, theres a ribbed silver pattern on the exterior of each one that serves a purpose higher than mere aesthetics. Theyre touch surfaces, granting control over media and volume, and granting access to your smartphones virtual assistant. You can also answer or decline incoming calls this way using these touchpads.
However, I generally find touch-sensitive controls rather finicky, and the Momentum True Wireless do nothing to change that opinion. Put simply, theyre overly sensitive you might accidentally trigger a command by wearing a beanie. By comparison, the RHA TrueConnect use physical buttons that are much easier to grasp.
The Momentum True Wireless are pretty chunky, too, with a large housing that sticks out quite a distance from your ears once youve plugged them in. Thats not to say theyre uncomfortable. In fact, theyre flawless in this department and Id go as far as to say theyre the most comfortable wireless earbuds Ive tried. The size means theyre not best suited to listening to podcasts in bed, though.
The two noise-cancelling mics on the earbuds provide stellar call quality; dont expect them to be better than your smartphone, but in comparison to its rivals, theyre among the best.
For wireless connectivity, the German manufacturer opts for Bluetooth 5 with support for SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX Low Latency codecs. As a result, range isnt an issue and neither is wireless transmission quality. Its certainly better than RHAs TrueConnect, which are limited to SBC and AAC. The Sennheisers broad codec support means potentially better sound quality, as long as your source supports the advanced tech, of course.
While quality and range are great, however, I do have a few concerns over the stability of the Bluetooth connection: the earbuds would sometimes, bewilderingly, unpair themselves from my smartphone altogether. No other wireless earbuds Ive reviewed wanted to escape my phones Bluetooth list like this. Connectivity between left and right earbuds can be troublesome, too. True wireless headphones typically work with one earpiece as the master device (in this case, the right one) and the other as the slave. In this case, if theres a distance of 10cm or more between them, the left earpiece wont pick up.
The Smart Pause function used to automatically pause music when one earbud is removed from the ear doesnt work perfectly, either. The feature works by identifying the distance between the two earbuds. Once you remove one from your ear, the other automatically pauses. The flaw is that if you place them down next to each other on your desk, theyll resume playback. I found this to be the case even when the earbuds were placed in their case for charging theyd remain paired to my phone and continue playing back music, instead of automatically switching off and charging.
At least the accompanying Sennheiser Smart Control app is decent. This allows you to tweak the earbuds settings, adjust the EQ and toggle the Transparent Hearing mode on and off. This uses the microphones to mix audio from the outside world and music together, so you can still hear oncoming traffic or public address announcements. I didnt find it as effective as Samsungs implementation on the Gear IconX (2018), though.
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Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Sound quality
Sennheiser has a long history and a well-earned reputation for producing headphones that sound great, so its not surprising to find that the Momentum True Wireless are no slouch in this department. In fact, theyre the best-sounding true wireless earbuds Ive come across to date. Just when I thought RHAs TrueConnect Wireless were the best in town (and still are for the price), along came the Sennheiser True Wireless to show how its really done.
The Momentum True Wireless sound open, airy and spacious use any descriptive word you can think of theyre incredible. Even when compared to wired in-ear monitors, these wireless earbuds are impressive. Instrument separation is sublime and tonality is perfect, too. I wish more earphones had this level of width and depth and, no, Im not comparing them to the ludicrous Sennheiser IE80, Im being realistic here. Put into perspective, the brass and synths in Snoop Dogg – Signs sound alive, prominent and arent subdued by the artists voice.
Bass tones, both in terms of presence and quality are tuned to perfection. Theres ample sub-bass rumble and tight, pronounced mid-bass that doesnt dominate the mids. Theyre far superior to the comparatively thin-sounding Mobvoi TicPods Free.
As for the vocals, theyre not as veiled as they are on the Samsung Gear IconX (2018) nor the RHA TrueConnect. The female vocals in Black Coast – TRNDSTTR (Lucian Remix) are more forward-sounding and pronounced than on rival earbuds. The highs also extend nicely, dont sound rolled off and arent sibilant.
READ NEXT: Mobvoi TicPods Free review: A colourful alternative to Apple’s AirPods
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless review: Verdict
The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless are the epitome of how wireless earbuds should sound. Theyre exciting, keep you engaged and dont sound congested or muddy in any way.
But theyre not without their issues. With disappointingly patchy wireless connectivity, finicky touch controls and a high price, its hard to give them a glowing review.
So what do you do if you want earbuds that dont break the bank and still sound spectacularly good? The nearest challengers are the RHA TrueConnect. They may not sound as great as the Momentums but they do work a lot better.
