REVIEW: Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3

After the acclaim of its Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds, it was only a matter of time before Sennheiser released a follow-up. The Momentum True Wireless 3 is Sennheiser’s latest flagship wireless earbud. Sennheiser is known for delivering some of the best sound quality in the consumer audio market and I’m excited to get my hands on these.

Design & Build Quality

Like its predecessor, the Momentum 3 uses Sennheiser’s 7mm TrueResponse driver, which they say ensures smooth bass response and minimal distortion. The housing itself is IPX4 Splash resistant and is meant to be durable under several listening situations. Design wise, they’re more in line with Sennheiser’s more recent CX line than the previous True Wireless 2 earbuds so gone is the round, etched metallic disc on the outer surface of each earbud for a more ’rounded-off’ cube look and feel.

This change in shape definitely goes towards making the earbuds more comfortable and, another new design change is the inclusion of changeable wingtips to help ensure and even greater fit along with aiding in achieving better sound isolation which should, in turn, benefit the buds ANC efforts. The touch controls on each of the earbuds are highly responsive and very customizable with these controls, along with a number of other internal features controlled through Sennheiser’s Smart Control app.

Functionality & App Features

Sennheiser’s updated dedicated control app, Smart Control, makes a return for the Momentum 3. The Momentum 3 supports Bluetooth 5.2 and has several available codecs that you can choose in-app. In terms of customisation of the earbuds’ audio profile, the app also features a custom 3-Band EQ along with a number of additional preset modes including Rock, Pop and Dance.

If these don’t work for you, you can play around with the new ‘Sound Check’ feature which helps you create a ‘customised equaliser presets’ by asking you to play one of your favourite songs and ‘select the option that sounds best to you’.

While this is definitely different in terms of how other manufacturers would try and work out the best custom audio profile for the listener, it still definitely a good idea to run through the process when you start using these earbuds as it resulted in a better sound profile then the ‘out of the box’ sound.

Sound Quality

One thing I always expect from Sennheiser is a high-quality Soundstage. The Momentum 3 delivers on that front. It has a nice balance between its width, depth, and dynamics that create a shockingly natural soundstage not often found on Bluetooth earbuds. One thing that assists greatly is the superb noise cancellation, which puts you in an isolated and immersive space when active. The dynamics are great, though I did feel like I needed to crank these somewhat to hit a good volume.

I especially love the bass on the Momentum 3. It’s impactful but doesn’t overpower the other ranges. The bass response is clear and incredibly powerful as well.

ANC Quality

Unsurprisingly, the Momentum 3 has some of the best Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) on any earbuds currently on the market but, this time round, the ANC is actually adaptive, meaning it will change in intensity, depending on how much ambient background noise there is.

Going from an quieter office environment into a busy city centre area, you could really hear the ANC crank all the way up which is much handier than having to manually edit the ANC levels each time in the app.

There’s also an ‘Anti-Wind’ setting which does a great job of cancelling out that raspy, scratchy sound from wind rushing past the exterior noise cancelling microphones on each earbud.

Sennheiser also included another new addition called ‘Sound Zones’, which allows you to automate noise cancellation settings based on your location, which is incredibly useful. Overall, Smart Control is essential to get the full Momentum experience.

Battery Life

At full charge, the Momentum True Wireless 3 has a battery life of 28 hours, with the buds being able to handle 7 hours outside of the charging case. During our testing, we found these claims to be pretty much spot on with us getting close to 7 hours of overall use with ANC enabled. Ten minutes inside the case will give the earbuds around an hour of listening time. That should be around three total charges from the charging case, too.

There’s a USB-C port on the front of the case for recharging at the impressive speeds above, but you have a new option in the latest Sennheiser buds. If you don’t need the fastest recharge possible, you can simply place the case on any Qi wireless pad, and it’ll start charging.

Conclusion

Today’s True Wireless Earbud market can be an oversaturated nightmare at times, but sometimes something really special shines through. The Momentum True Wireless 3 is one of those special cases. Sennheiser outdid themselves with these earbuds; everything from the external design to the overall sound had a level of precision, quality and overall robustness that made this one of the best True Wireless Earbuds I’ve ever tried. They’re by no means perfect, but they are still an amazing option for anybody looking for a seamless pair of earbuds that will outperform their competitors. I would highly recommend it.

Pricing & Availability

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 are available now in Black, Graphite and White, starting at €249.90 from Sennheiser’s official website.