REVIEW: Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless

Sennheiser is one of the most well-known names in audio technology and their vast collection of high-quality headphones across all price points makes them one of the most versatile manufacturers out there right now. At just shy of €350, the Momentum 4 has a lot of steep competition, both in functionality and price. I recently reviewed the Momentum 3 TW Earbuds and liked them, so I’m excited to see what its wireless over-ear equivalent has to offer.

Design & Build Quality

The Momentum 4 adheres to Sennheiser’s core design aesthetic while including some notable improvements.

Visually, they look understated yet premium, sporting a sleek design and accented by the Sennheiser logo on either side of the headband. The ear cups’ rotation feels much smoother, with just the right amount of resistance to give it a sturdier feel while still adjusting to your head shape.

The ear cups themselves include just one button but the right earcup is also touch-sensitive for quick control over your listening. I found the padding perfectly comfortable, but not overly cushioned to the point where the headphones don’t feel secure on my head.

Features

Sennheiser’s Smart Control app makes a return on the Momentum 4. Once you connect the headphones to your smartphone via Bluetooth, you can seamlessly adjust the settings in Smart Control. Momentum 4 gives you a myriad of powerful features at your disposal.

The 3-band equalizer can save and name presets, as well as switches for bass boost and podcast modes, which slightly alter the tuning curve of the sound character to fit the listening style. The app also has a feature called Sound Check, which creates a custom EQ preset based on a short listening test. These EQ presets can be disabled at any time and you can make as many Sound Check presets as you need.

Sennheiser’s ANC makes a return, and features a slider mechanic rather than a simple on/off switch, giving you much more freedom with the degree of noise cancellation you desire. One of the most notable features is called Sound Zones. This uses location data to automatically adjust to different settings configurations based on your location.

You can have different settings for home, work, the gym, etc. that automatically apply different EQs and ANC settings when you enter that location. This is an extremely useful feature that worked well when I tested it. My one problem with the app is that you can’t customize the touch controls, but this is a very minor complaint as the touch controls are already very intuitive. Overall, the Sennheiser Smart Control app is a great tool to make the Momentum 4 even more powerful than it already is.

Having recently joined a product demo webinar with Dr. Christian Ern from Sennheiser, he also informed us that a more robust equaliser will be coming to the app in a future update along with a way to make the audio even more personalised over what’s achievable with the Sound Check mode now.

Sound, Call & ANC Quality

The soundstage on the Momentum 4 is greatly enhanced by its superb noise cancellation capabilities. With ANC mode set to full, I’m almost fully isolated from the outside world, making spatial details so much more immersive. The soundstage is wide and spacious, but in a way that feels comfortable. The separation and depth are present, but never nauseatingly so, which helps accentuate smaller details in the mix.

The lows on the Momentum hit a certain sweet spot that fits my preferences. I’m using neutral EQ settings, and the lows are firm and supportive. The mids have some noticeable alterations to them. Vocals feel especially polished on these, and snares have more pop than usual. The highs add a nice shimmer to the entire sound that I rarely hear in wireless headphones. Percussive elements have a snap in their articulation that makes them feel strong and clear. Good highs are a crucial part of how we perceive resolution, and the highs on the Momentum 4 feel crystal clear.

The Momentum 4 Wireless headphones have also undergone a leap-forward upgrade in terms of call and noise cancellation quality. For example, the microphones used for voice pickup have changed from the original two microphones on the Momentum 3s to two exposed microphones for each of the left and right earphones.

This ensures both call and ANC capabilities are much improved over the previous Momentum 3 headphones.

ANC in particular is extremely strong, especially when it comes to lower end sounds like engine noise or the general hum of a coffee shop. With it turned up to its max setting and music playing, you would have a really hard time hearing anything that’s going on around you. As expected, there’s also a transparency mode which lets you feed in external audio into the earcups if you do need to hear more from your surroundings and things sound natural and not too digitised.

Battery Life

As impressive as the audio quality is for these headphones, the most impressive thing is the battery life, which can last for up to 60 hours when the ANC mode is turned on. At the same time, The Momentum 4s also support fast charging so you can get 6 hours of listening time with only 10 minutes of charging. These really are the headphones to beat when it comes to battery life in the premium ANC headphones category.

Conclusion

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless headphones significantly raise the bar when it comes to overall improvements over their predecessors. Granted, the redesigned look won’t set these headphones out from the pack, but the 60-hour battery life raises the bar for the sector and makes it the one to beat. Add to that the impressively detailed and robust audio and good noise cancellation, and the Momentum 4 become some of the most impressive over-ear headphones of the year.

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless is an excellent pair of headphones with excellent noise cancellation, call quality, and sound quality and should definitely be on your list if you’re in the market for a new pair of true wireless headphones with fantastic battery life.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Pricing & Availability

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Headphones are available from today in Black or White, are are priced at €349,90.