Music can offer a welcome pause in the day. As I write this, “Ruby my Dear” from the Palo Alto live album (1968/2020) plays. Thelonious Monk feels at home, as I do since this was a tough workday. I want to sit on the couch and close my eyes, but my wired headphones, DAC, and amp are not making an appearance, the desktop setup can wait, right now it’s time for the Sennheiser Momentum 4 True Wireless earbuds (USD 269.95) with their 24bit/96kHz capable audio resolution. The ease of this setup is savoured.

In my experience, if you’re looking for wireless headphones you are searching for convenience over sound. Wired headphones can deliver different colours, textures, and dynamics—when it comes to in-ear or over-the-ear high-res streaming, nothing beats them. For audiophiles, please give us a good DAC, a fiery amp, and some wired headphones and away we go. We are obsessive and picky and the “wired” crowd is relentless. However we “wire heads” can compromise, if you say: how about slightly less high-res and many more features to play with? Then we just might approve.

Of course, we expect a good app, first-rate noise-cancelling technology and transparency mode. We’d also like easy-to-download firmware updates and an easy setup (pairing to devices that will maintain good connectivity). There’s a big market for these types of true-wireless earbuds, and the Momentum 4 looks to make a splash on the scene.

The new Sennheiser Momentum 4 comes in black graphite, white silver, and black copper with textile and metallic finishes that are all easy on the eyes and have the look of premium materials. They also feel the part and the high standards that come with the brand are there. They are a little heavier than other earbuds but that just points to their durability. They are IP54 certified which means splash resistant so you can take them for a workout.

They have a good battery life (seven to eight hours on one charge), up to thirty hours with the charged case (according to Sennheiser), and I actually didn’t have to charge them for several days, so I believe Sennheiser here. The Momentum 4 has Qi Wireless Charging, which means you can charge your battery case wirelessly using compatible Qi chargers for hassle-free charging. Fast wireless charging as well: “Just eight minutes of charging thanks to our battery protect mode for one hour of playback”.

Specifications

Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 compliant, class 1, 10 mW (max); Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth LE Audio supported

Transmission frequency / modulation: 2,402 MHz to 2,480 MHz; GFSK, π/4 DQPSK / 8DPSK

Supported Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, TMAP, PBP

Supported codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX™, aptX™ Adaptive/Lossless, LC3

Speaker type/size: TrueResponse™ dynamic, 7mm diameter

Speaker frequency range: 5 Hz to 21 kHz

Speaker sensitivity: 107 dB SPL (1 kHz / 1 mW)

Speaker THD: <0,08% (1 kHz / 94 dB)

Active Noise Cancellation: Hybrid Adaptive ANC

Mics: 3 mics per earbud, beamforming for noise reduction

Battery lifespan: Up to 7.5 hrs music playtime with earbuds (ANC off); Up to 7.0 hrs music playtime with earbuds (ANC on) Up to 30 hrs overall music playtime with charging case (test condition: iPhone, mid-volume level 85 dB)

Battery type: Built-in Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries; Left/right earbud: 75 mAh, charging case: 820 mAh

Power Supply: 5 V⎓, 1000 mA max; USB charging via USB-C socket at charging case; Qi Wireless charging

Technology and App design

The first thing you’ll notice about these earbuds as you connect them to your device is that Sennheiser went all out with their app. I haven’t seen one better, the layout, the design and the ease of use—it is significantly better than the Sony headphone app. I compared the Momentum 4 app to other true-wireless earbud apps around the same price, like the Cambridge Audio Melomania, the Sony WF-1000XM5, the Sony LinkBuds-S, the Jabra Elite 8 Active and the PSB M4U Micro-Planar (review forthcoming). None of these apps compare with the Sennheiser Smart Control App. All the different ways you can interact with this app will make it more enjoyable for its users.

I have a pet peeve about smart controls on earbuds. Other users might love to control their earbuds with a simple touch, but I don’t like this feature. I always have in mind not to touch the sensor of the earbud, and this obsessive thought creeps up on me continually. I prefer the manual way of use (once you go analog, you don’t go back I guess?) through my phone and with the streaming app. You can customize each earbud's touch controls, making it easier to select how you want to “tap” each earbud for a specific function. The Sennheisers have a very easy way to deactivate touch controls and this I loved.

Another feature I enjoyed was the ease of connectivity—multi-point connectivity let me jump between my phone and my laptop (up to two devices) immediately. When receiving calls (6-mic system during calls), I asked the caller how my voice sounded and I continually got a “it’s good” thumbs up from them. Video calls had no lag time at all; these earbuds passed the Zoom and FaceTime tests.

The comfort of the earbuds and the fit (referring to a good seal or sound leakage) are salient with earbuds. They have a good seal and no sound leakage. They have a “Fit Test” feature that through sounds evaluates how they fit in your ear to ensure a good fit and seal for better audio quality and ANC.

However, they are not comfortable for long hours of use, I couldn’t handle an entire day of calls (tried them for six or seven hours of continuous use), and they were a little too heavy on my ears. I wouldn’t say this ruined my experience of them. The three-hour hour mark I’d say was my limit.

I found the active noise-cancelling a very good feature (Off- Anti Wind -On). The Momentum 4 (USD 269.95) is on the level of the AirPods Pro (2nd generation) and the Sony WF-XM5 earbuds. I even preferred the more natural-sounding “Transparency Mode”, of the Momentum 4 because you can choose the level of the outside noise (low, mid, high). You can also use several “Sound Zones” that enable the earbuds to know if you have a Sound-specific space, like your home, or gym office, so they automatically apply your sound settings entering or leaving.

Sound and Listening Experience

Sennheiser says it’s bringing out the best from their earbuds: “Sennheiser’s TrueResponse transducer system, which lets you hear every fine detail - and feel every emotion with up to 24bit/96kHz audio resolution. Best-in-class sound quality is ensured by support for lossless audio that brings flawless bit-for-bit transmission to wireless listening sound”.

But in all honesty, wireless headphones have a bit problem. Compared to their wired cousins (that can achieve lossless sound) true-wireless headphones with Bluetooth, let us say “fluctuate” in how they receive information. Different obstacles come with the lossless stream including reception from the streaming service and your connection to the internet. So when we read from Sennheiser (or any company) the word lossless, we need to take this into account.

Sennheiser gives no more real information about their new technology for sound on the site, they say: “Discover technologies that are set to revolutionize the way we share and stream audio with features such as Auracast and LE Audio”. In researching them, I found these are for Bluetooth connectivity and sound, and their goal is to do a better job to enable devices and less connectivity failure.

EQ

I listened for several months to these buds and their 5-band EQ, as well as different genres of music that exposed the way it handled these sounds. I was very impressed. I wouldn’t say that the sound of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 earbuds is the best from the comparisons I did, but the overall product just might be the best value for your money. Momentum is a heavyweight in this class because it offers more technology, an easy way to select what you want from them, and the sound right out of the box doesn’t lack any parameter in its frequencies. But, if you want another sound, its EQ can be customized to your preference.

This I found true: “TrueResponse transducer system that delivers a high-end sound experience with impactful bass and a refined treble response”. I think there’s no better bass response in the earbuds I compared them to. The bass of the Momentum 4 reminded me of the Sennheiser IE 600 (a great set of in-ear wired headphones) and yes the latter was better, but just the fact that I had to hear the difference is something to acknowledge.

Here’s more tech stuff that isn’t clearly described on the Sennheiser site, but I believe that it matters: Developed in partnership with Germany's Fraunhofer IDMT, Sound Personalization intelligently calibrates a custom audio profile from a sophisticated analysis of user reactions against a series of benchmark sound samples. From there, advanced audio processing algorithms shape the listening experience around the elements of music you find most pleasing.

I sat and listened to the entire Polar Bear album Held on the Tips of Fingers and the instruments delivered great imaging, drums, bass, and sax held the lines together into an enjoyable crescendo. Next up Arooj Aftab and her new album Night Reign with its rain and mist-like effects fell into a wave of beautiful sound, layers of crisp-tone filled the Sennheiser Momentum 4 headphones. Finally, I listened to the Alban Berg Quartet (with Sabine Meyer) as they performed a flawless Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor; the strings and wind instrument flowed effortlessly and with the neutral-sounding personalized EQ I had set up; it showed the Brahms masterpiece in a different light.

Conclusion

These earbuds deliver superior performance in true-wireless sound and technology. I expect the big companies to use words like “Lossless” when it comes to wireless headphones, and that might be a bit of a stretch because of what I described above. The sound of these earbuds was not night and day compared to others, but it had significantly better dynamics in their tuning for my taste, the best frequency is the low-mids and bass response, and because of this they can be enjoyed with many genres. For comparison, the more expensive Sony WF-XM5 buds sound less alive and with a more constricted soundstage. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 (USD 269.95) is the heavyweight of this class, a great and versatile component. Highly recommended.

Further information: Sennheiser