Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless Earbuds: A Complete Review

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless: What’s inside the package?

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless comes in a compact cardboard box made in a modest but pleasant corporate identity. The box is opened by folding the front part, under which a foamy lodgement with a case and headphones is hidden.

Equipment

The standard package includes:

1. Case
2. Headphones
3. Set of three pairs of silicone ear pads
4. USB Type-C Charging Cable
5. Instruction manual
6. Warranty Card

Design of Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless

It has become a tradition to equip headphones of this form factor with a complete case with a built-in high-capacity battery, which simultaneously performs portable charging and protection.

Headphone housing

The Momentum TW case is completely plastic. On the outside, there is a company logo, which is also a touch panel. On the inside, next to the sound guide, there are multiple contacts needed to charge the headphones in the case. Next to the contacts on each of the headphones, a small LED signals the current status of connecting the headphones to the sound source. This is a good solution, which I liked more than competitors who have an LED on the outside. When the headphones are not connected to anything, it’s logical to get them out of your ear and look at the signal, but then, during listening, the LED does not attract others’ attention and does not make the Momentum TW look sloppy.

Each of the headphones is equipped with built-in microphones designed for telephone conversations and the “Transparent Mode” function.

“Transparent Mode” is designed to enhance the surrounding sounds so that you do not have to remove the earphone from your ear if someone has contacted you or if you are waiting at the airport for a boarding announcement.

Earpads

Four sizes of soft silicone earpads come with the headphones. Some are already worn on the headphones.
The set is not very rich, but the sizes are chosen well, from the smallest to the frighteningly large.
I did not notice any design features; the ear pads are made according to the classical scheme.

Microphone

A sensitive microphone is built into the headphones, which not only confidently transmits your voice to the interlocutor, but also copes well with the “Transparent Mode” functionality.

To test the quality of voice transmission, I made several calls over the cellular network. The interlocutors noted that the voice is transmitted cleanly, smoothly, almost without distortion. However, it would help if you did not talk in a noisy place, there is no noise reduction technology, and the interlocutor will hear almost all the sounds surrounding you.

For testing “Transparent Mode,” I went to the store and talked a lot with sellers without removing the headphones from my ears. I note that the headphones clearly process the sound in a certain way. They amplify the frequencies at which the human voice sounds. It is hilarious to hear, but at the same time effective. In ordinary life, I don’t hear how metal zippers clack on my autumn jacket, or am so used to it that I don’t notice it, and when I activated Transparent Mode, I heard them at every step.

During communication with sellers, I realized that, although I can hear them, but if music plays simultaneously, it is impossible to make out words. With the music turned off, there were no problems. I heard everything that happens around.

Case

The complete case turned out to be not as compact as that of Airpods, but more attractive. Carrying jeans in your pocket is not very convenient, and it looks messy. But it is completely covered with fabric, which makes its appearance stylish and unusual.

The hinged lid is magnetically fixed when closed and has a nice tactile feel when fully opened.

At the back, there is a small button for activating the LED informing about the charge level of the built-in battery or that the case is connected to the charger.

Inside the molded recesses for charging, unique to the left and right headphones, it will not be possible to put the right earphone into the hole from the left. During charging, the headphones are firmly fixed with their own magnets.

Wireless connection

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless is equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 module. They support codecs: SBC, aptX ™, aptX ™ Low Latency, AAC.

During normal use, paired with the phone, the signal was stable. For several days of many audio marathons hours, I overlooked a single failure in signal transmission.
The signal is received stably from the sound source up to 12 meters in an apartment and up to 15 meters in the street.

Battery life

The headphones’ declared battery life is 4 hours. During testing, I managed to achieve a result of 3 hours 48 minutes, which is very close to the declared value.
The battery of the case allows you to charge the headphones twice fully; thus, we get a total battery life of about 11 hours 30 minutes.
Autonomy Momentum True Wireless is not a record, but very good for such a compact form factor.

Convenience

The first thing you pay attention to when you are personally acquainted with the headphones is their size. They seem to be very large and will not fit in your ear. In practice, it turned out that their shape is combined with my ears without causing discomfort.

Although Momentum True Wireless does not have additional equipment for attaching to the ear, they remain confident even with sharp turns of the head and do not fall out.

For the experiment, I did a little jogging in the fresh air and performed several active exercises at home; in both cases, the headphones did not even have to be adjusted.

The presence of IPX4 water protection makes the Momentum TW an excellent candidate for a universal model. They are not afraid of either a vacation, a gym, or even a hike in the mountains.

I’m not a fan of touch control headphones because the sensors are often mistaken, and instead of increasing the volume, it turns out to switch the track or stop playing music. Sennheiser engineers have tried to design gesture recognition to minimize errors by breaking different commands between two headphones.

The left earphone sensor is responsible for controlling the music: switching tracks, start/stop playback and lowering the volume.

The right earphone controls the voice assistant, enables/disables the “Transparent Mode” function, picks up the phone when an incoming call, and increases the volume.

Separation of duties benefited; I had almost no false or false positives from the sensor during testing. Sensitivity to touch is also configured successfully. It is not enough to touch the earphone. The touch must be sure. This protects against false positives and erroneous gestures.

I estimate the noise isolation of the headphones above average. It allows you to walk along the city streets and ride buses comfortably, but when going down the subway, get ready for the music volume to be increased.

Generally speaking, I liked Momentum True Wireless. In terms of ergonomics and convenience, I did not notice a single serious flaw or miscalculation. This is one of the few products that you buy, without regret or disappointment; everything works as promised in the advertisement. I did not notice technical problems, even though the headphones have recently appeared on sale and are equipped with one of the firmware’s first versions.

Sennheiser Smart Control App

Sennheiser has released the Smart Control companion app for phones, which complements the headphone functionality with several important settings and an equalizer. The application is available for phones based on Android and iOS.

Equalizer. The setting takes place through the application, and the headphones remember it, and even if you later connect them to another device, they will save this setting. This is convenient when you are the sole owner of the headphones, but if several people use them alternately, this can become a problem if there is no application on all listeners’ phones.

-Mode the Transparent. Through the application, you can enable and disable this function; also, it can be done with a gesture on the headphones. But in the application, you can specify an additional setting that will allow you to continue listening to music when you turn on this model. Headphones also remember this setting.

A few additional settings:

1. Smart Pause – automatically stop playing music when you get at least one earphone out of your ear.
2. Automatic reception of incoming phone calls
3. Access Voice Assistant

The application’s functionality is not very large but useful, covers all the basic needs of the listener, and reveals all the headphones’ capabilities.

Sound quality in computer games

I usually don’t test wireless headphones in games because of the delay in sound output. However, I made an exception with Sennheiser Momentum TW, who recently became the Sennheiser BT T100 Bluetooth® Audio Transmitter owner, supporting aptX ™ Low Latency codec well as headphones, which means that there should be no delays in the sound output in movies and games.

I plugged in my headphones and ran some games – there is no sound or picture out of sync, as if I’m listening to wired headphones.

When watching movies, everything is fine. The sound is perfectly synchronized. I’m sure that with blind testing, I would not distinguish a wired model from a wireless model with aptX ™ Low Latency codec.

This time I will not paint each game’s sound. I will describe the general impressions. To some of my surprise, the Momentum TW was great for games by the nature of the sound. They did a great job playing any special effects that filled games like Battlefield, Apex Legends, or Alien Isolation. The explosions sound juicy and powerful while maintaining a high detail level, making it easy to navigate in virtual space. There has never been a situation where I did not understand where this or that sound came from.

At the same time, which is important, the headphones sound soft, which is very good for long gaming sessions. Hearing does not get tired, which means that you remain attentive longer and respond more quickly to rivals. There are no better allies for the game than optimism, a pleasant impression, and vigor.

The only drawback of the headphones during game use is the battery life – about four hours. If this is usually enough to listen to music along the way, it is not always enough for games. But if you play only in the evenings, an hour or two before going to bed, then you will not have any problems. But for me, this time is not enough. On a day off, I can fight much longer.

If you are seriously considering using Momentum TW for games, make sure your sound source supports the aptX ™ Low Latency codec. Only in this case, it is guaranteed that audio and image will not be out of sync, which is very important for games.

Momentum True Wireless Sound Quality

When it comes to the sound of fully wireless headphones, the first thing that comes to mind is a compromise. It seems that it is impossible to make these babies sound to not give a discount to their form factor and not to reassure themselves that the money was spent not on sound but convenience and practicality.

You can also read: Best Wireless Earbuds under $100

I met Momentum True Wireless with such thoughts, but for the first few minutes of listening to music, I was pleasantly surprised – the headphones sound powerful, rich, and, so to speak, bold. Not all wired headphones can boast of such a result, but here is a completely wireless model.

The sound is tuned in Momentum TW, provided that the equalizer is set to zero, and it reminded me very much of the Sennheiser HD 380 Pro. Of course, different driver sizes and a fundamentally different design make themselves felt. Still, the engineers managed to maintain a recognizable handwriting, and this is very good because Sennheiser headphones are respected all over the world for the signature sound.

There are no miracles in detail or the depth of sound development in Momentum TW. Let’s not forget that these are Bluetooth headphones. But they guarantee stable sound quality when listening to any material. Whether it be compressed mp3 or the audiophile DSD format on the source, the headphones provide a consistently high sound quality. This is manifested in a full sound. There are no noticeable failures, no peaks, no sibilants, or other distortions that can spoil even the highest quality recording.

After many hours of listening to various music, I came to the following conclusion: Sennheiser Momentum TW is the best fully wireless headphones. They allow listening to the same classic Hi-Fi sound, solid, deep, warm, and very pleasant. Yes, you can find headphones on the market that will sound more detailed or more powerful. Still, at the same time, they will have disadvantages, such as slipping sibilants or excessive sound processing, while Sennheiser reproduces sound calmly, stably, and professionally so that you enjoy it but didn’t mess with the equalizer, didn’t select the “right” sound source and didn’t ask the question “what did I spend the last money saved on dinners.”

You can also read: Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H95 headphone review

Low frequencies

Despite the relatively small diameter of the dynamic driver’s membrane of 7 mm, the headphones provide deep and rich bass, moderately fast, moderately detailed, but most importantly – clean. There is no rumble, any suspicious overtones, or rattles. The sound is pleasant, balanced, elastic. The proprietary application has the ability to adjust the equalizer over a wide range, so the headphones are suitable for both lovers of deep and powerful bass and those who like a lighter and more airy sound.

Mid frequencies

Mid frequencies are the highlight of Momentum TW. They sound crisp, clear, and without distortion while maintaining naturalness. If you look at the frequency response, you can see the rise at frequencies close to 10 kHz. However, when listening, this is only good. The sound seems detailed, pleasant, and at the same time, natural. If you do not see the graph, it is tough to determine this peak, which is easy to correct with an equalizer for those who want to achieve a perfectly neutral sound. I listened to headphones for the most part with the equalizer turned off, and I really liked their sound. It is soft and pleasant, like cocoa drunk in the evening with chocolate chip cookies.

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High frequencies

Headphones easily reproduce high frequencies, while I did not hear sibilants or other distortions. With the equalizer turned off, the high frequencies are quite a bit relegated to the background, but they can be heard very well, and if they play a leading role in the musical composition, you will fully hear and feel them. The headphone driver’s quality is evidenced by the fact that, even if you specifically significantly increase the high frequencies, they continue to sound pleasant. There will be no discomfort.

Conclusion: Should you buy Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless?

After meeting Sennheiser Momentum TW for the first time, I wanted to have fully wireless headphones and make them my primary for listening to music outside the home. They lie comfortably in your ears, sound pleasant, and have good autonomy.

Thanks to the aptX ™ Low Latency codec’s support, the headphones are great for music and for watching movies, and even for computer games, with no sound delay or its desync with the image.

For anyone looking for true Hi-Fi sound in fully wireless headphones, your search is over. Try Sennheiser Momentum TW, and you won’t be able o refuse them.

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