Here at Minidisc we were big fans of the original Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless earphones, and
Sennheiser has followed up with a sequel named, you guessed it, the Momentum True Wireless 2.
Now this second generation model maintains the same great sound quality of the first version,
improves battery life and call quality, and introduces a much requested new feature:
active noise cancellation. Now besides our store demos I personally own a pair of the new True
Wireless 2, as well as their closest competitor, the Sony WF-1000XM3. Now after a month of usage
I think the Sennheiser is the one to beat. Let’s find out why. The changes to the new version start
with design. The TW2’s housing shape has been revised, and it’s now a little smaller and slimmer
than the 1st version. Now if you've got smaller ears, it is an improvement. But the new version
still takes up more space in the ear than competitors like the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8
3.0 and Sony WF1000XM3. For me, I still find the TW2 slightly on the larger side and I need to use
eartips that are longer than the stock included eartip to get a comfortable long term fit.
Eartips such as Final E Type or Azla Sednafit tips. The internal electronics have been updated,
so along with AptX and AAC support you now also get Bluetooth 5.1. In general I have found
wireless stability to be very good on this new model. While you still get the occasional glitch
it is more consistent than the Sony WF1000XM3 which constantly gives me wireless hiccups in
daily use. Battery Life has almost doubled on the new model, going from a maximum of 4 hours on the
original model to 7 hours on the new version, while the charging case now holds 21 hours
of charge. Now some of our customers reported battery life issues with the original version.
Now it’s not possible for us to confirm that these issues are fully resolved on the new version,
but what we CAN say is that we haven’t had any similar issues with our in store demos,
or my own personal unit, and so far we haven't had any reports of issues on the units that have gone
out to customers. Let us know in the comments about your own experience. A lot of people will
be interested in the new active noise cancellation feature on the TW2. Now Sennheiser is using an ANC
system with 1 microphone in each earpiece, and we can report that noise cancellation is okay,
but not fantastic. The TW2 does a pretty good job of cancelling low frequency noises like bus
engines or trains. Where it’s not as effective is in cancelling intermittent midrange sounds
like speech and music. Now one big advantage of the the noise cancelling and transparency modes on the
Sennheiser is that they produce much less wind noise than microphones on the Sony WF1000XM3.
Of course, like with the Sony, when you turn off the ANC and transparency modes on the Sennheiser
the wind noise disappears. In this case the Sennheiser will still offer strong passive
noise isolation like a regular pair of IEMs. The Sennheiser smart control app allows for extensive
control of the various features of Momentum True Wireless, including sound equalisation,
optional voice call sidetone and touch gesture controls. The configuration is saved to the
earphone so that it will be consistent across different devices and it will be remembered
each time you turn it on. In my experience call quality has been great, and I’ve gotten
no complaints during multi-hour voice calls with friends and family. In terms of sound quality, the
Momentum True Wireless 2 preserves the same great sound quality from the first generation unit,
and it still remains my favourite pick of the bunch of all the True Wireless earphones.
You get a meaty bass response with a nice sense of detail that doesn’t sound brittle or artificial
compared to other earphones. Now I would say the stock tips sound smooth and warm but roll off the
high frequencies substantially, so depending on your tastes you can EQ this back in or try
different tips to bring the treble back. I think for a lot of True Wireless earphones this same
kind of smooth, warm and slightly bassy profile is pretty common, but where the Sennheiser excels
is that besides just sounding warm, the sound is well defined and the driver has a good sense of
imaging and transient response. It’s not just the amount of high frequencies, because the Beoplay
E8 delivers that kind of high frequency detail, but the whole sound is more resolving from top to
bottom so instruments sound real and natural. And they sound far less congested and more
controlled than the Sony WF-1000XM3. Of course, you can get equivalent levels of resolution and
quality for less money in a wired set of IEMs, and I would say that at less than half the price
the Final Audio E4000 is actually remarkably similar to the Sennheiser in tone and timbre. But
for a lot of people, escaping the world of cables and dongles is worth every penny. Now personally
I’m happy to declare the Momentum True Wireless 2 as my new favourite true wireless in ear earphone.
But of course your mileage may vary. So pop in and have a listen or you can let us know what
you think in the comments! This is Lachlan for MinidiscTV, and we’ll see you next time!