When apple announced their AirPods, the market was quickly flooded by truly wireless earbuds
from other companies.
And most of them were sports wireless earbuds meant for working out.
But then premium truly wireless earbuds started to become a thing.
So given that AirPods are super popular and over all pretty good… is it worth paying
almost double for something like the Sennheiser Momentum True wireless ear buds??
Most premium truly wireless earbuds on the market right now retail between $250 and $300.
Where as AirPods retail for a what I think is reasonable $160.
But the Sennheiser Momentum’s we have here specifically retail for $300.
Louis Vuitton even just released their own branded truly wireless earbuds which command
a $1,000 asking price.
So it could definitely be worse.
So if you want to pick these earbuds up I’ll have them linked down below.
A common theme among premium truly wireless earbuds is that they try to use more premium
materials and have a more fashion forward design compared to the all plastic AirPods.
And the Sennheiser Momentum’s are no exception.
Starting with their carrying case, its completely covered in fabric, so its going to be scratch
resistant and personally it reminds me of the carrying cases that come included with
premium ANC headphones like the Sony 1000XM3 and surface headphones.
The earbuds them selves are in ear earbuds that don’t have ear fins but do feature
a touch pad on both ear buds.
Now I’ll go deeper into these touch pads in a minute but personally I wish these metallic
spin rings also came in a black option for those who don’t want their earbuds to stand
out as much.
Now when it comes to comfort, like I mentioned earlier these are in ear ear buds and you
get a total of 4 different sized silicon ear tips.
Personally I only like wearing in ear buds for short periods of time like when I’m
at the gym cause after awhile they do get itchy to me.
So I am a little biased towards the AirPods when it comes to all day comfort and wear.
But objectively, even though the Momentums don’t use ear fins, since they’re so light
weight and compact they do a very good job of staying in your ear and they don’t fall
out.
And since these are in ear ear buds, they do a much better job of blocking out ambient
noise compared to the AirPods.
But personally I cant wear the Momentums for nearly as long as AirPods, and even after
a while I forget I have my AirPods in… which just doesn’t happen with in ear earbuds
for me.
Regarding tech specs, the Momentum’s have a pretty average 12 hours of total play back
time.
The earbuds themselves are good for 4 hours of straight playback time and the case can
supply an additional 2 full charges.
Where as the AirPods have a total playback time of 24 hours.
The AirPods themselves are good for 5 straight hours of playback time and the case can supply
an additional 4 charges.
And the AirPods charging case is pretty impressive over all.
Cause even though its one of the smallest charging cases out there, its usually able
to supply more charges compared to larger charging cases.
But something the Momentum’s charging case has going for it is that it charges via a
USB C port.
And having a USB C charing port here can be particularly use full for android users cause
they can charge their phone and earbuds with the same cable just like iPhone users can
with their AirPods.
And android users are also going to have a better user experience when it comes to the
connectivity on the Momentums.
Now these earbuds are using bluetooth 5.0 and they have a master and slave set up like
most other non apple wireless earbuds where the right earbud is the master and the left
one is the slave.
And over all they have a stable connection that doesn’t cut out in either ear bud which
can be a problem in some other truly wireless earbuds.
They’re even good for watching videos on your phone cause they have very little latency.
Which again can be a problem with some other truly wireless earbuds out there.
But just keep in mind they do have a bit of latency when watching youtube videos on an
iPhone, but that latency goes away if you’re watching Netflix.
Where as these earbuds never have any latency when used with an android device and they
even support both APTX and APTX low Latency.
Now when it comes to sound quality, theres no denying these earbuds manage to sound better
than the AirPods.
Specifically, the Momentums have more detailed mids and better instrument separation compared
to the AirPods.
Where as I find the mids on AirPods to be a little muddy and they try to cover that
up with an excess amount of bass.
But the momentums also have an adjustable EQ, and even though this EQ is useful…
I wish I had more control over it.
I just find the joystick controls to be pretty limiting.
I wish I had more control over the EQ similar to the Jaybird Run XT.
But one of my favorite things about the Sennheiser Momentums is their touch pads on either ear
bud.
One of the problems a lot of other truly wireless earbuds have including AirPods… is that
they have very limited media controls, so if you want to do something as simple as skipping
a song or raising the volume you either have to rely on your voice assistant which can
be tedious compared to just using an in line controller like we used to do when wired earbuds
were more common or you have to just whip out your phone more often.
But thanks to these earbuds touch pads and Sennheiser’s well thought out button layout
you can fully control your music unlike the AirPods.
If you tap once on the left earbud you can play and pause your music, you can double
tap to skip a track and your can triple tap to go back a track.
And to raise the volume you can press and hold on the right ear bud and to lower the
volume you can press and hold on the left ear buds.
You’d be surprised to learn that not a lot of other truly wireless earbuds give you this
level of control over your music with their on board controls and it's a very welcomed
feature.
But these ear buds also feature a transparency mode which can be very useful if you're walking
around in the city or you can talk to someone without having to take your ear buds out of
your ears.
Bassicly if you're listening to music if you double tap on the right ear bud the momentum's
will pause your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you very similar to quick
attention on the Sony 1000XM3
And if you want you can even keep transparency mode on and play music at the same time so
it's like listening to music with open back headphones.
The only thing is that you can't control how much ambient noise these ear buds pump in.
But still I'm glad the momentum's have this feature.
These earbuds can also automatically pause your music when you take them out of your
ear just like airpods.
But unlike airpods...
Instead of using proximity sensors the momentum's pause their music when the earbuds are physically
separated from one another.
Just thought I would point that out.
But over all...
Sennheiser's truly wireless earbuds perform very well.
The Momentums have solid Bluetooth connections which is the most important thing to consider
when choosing truly wireless earbuds, they sound great, I like that you have full control
over your music playback thanks to the touch pads and I really appreciate their transparency
mode.
But I wish the Momentums were able to at least match the airpods 24 hours of total playback
time given that their carrying case is larger and I also wish they came in a black version
for those who want a more subtle look.
But at $300 I personally find it very hard to justify spending all that money on a pair
of wireless earbuds when there are cheaper options out there.
Specifically the airpods.
And almost for the same money you can get a pair of premium ANC headphones or for less
you can get a great pair $200 headphones like the Audio Technica Sir50's.
But I know some people just don't wanna wear headphones cause they're going to mess up
their hair on the way to work or they just don't want to lug them around.
And that's completely understandable.
So if you're dead set on getting the Momentums just know they're a good pair
of earbuds.