I’m going to start of by saying that the Sennheiser Momentum 2’s were my favorite
sounding earbuds, up until the Sennheiser CX Plus’s came out. The CX Plus’s just sounded a
little more open, and their bass was much more defined and hard hitting.
Plus, the smaller case was nice too. But now, we have the Momentum 3’s,
I’ve been using these things for the last month and half and I love them. They sound
better than the Momentum 2’s and they have a lot of important refinements to them as well.
Regarding pricing… the Momentum 3’s have actually gotten a price reduction. The
Momentum 3’s currently have a retail price of $250… where as the Momentum 2’s had a
retail price of $300 when they first came out. Now I still feel that paying upwards of $200
on a pair of ear buds is a lot… but the Momentum 3’s are still one of those things I’m
willing to splurge on. Nonetheless if you want to pick these earbuds up they’ll be
linked down… and honestly, I don’t think that you can’t go wrong with these earbuds.
Now first lets talk about the momentum 3’s new case. Now I have been begging for a smaller case
on the Momentum’s ever since Sennheiser released their CX line of earbuds. Now the Momentum 2’s
case isn’t huge… but it is on the border of being too big when compared to a lot of other earbuds
out there. And its basically the same story with the Momentum 3’s. Now at first glance it may seem
like this case is smaller than the Momentum 2’s case cause its a little shorter length wise… but
width wise it is a little longer… So basically these cases have relatively the same volume.
Overall, the Momentum 3’s case isn’t super big and you can still daily drive these earbuds…
but this case is rather noticeable when its in your pocket. But build quality wise,
I really can’t complain about this case. Just like before this case has a fabric outside,
the lid is very easy to open and close, and there are decently strong magnets in this case which
makes putting these earbuds away very easy. However, one important upgrade that this case
does have is that it finally has wireless charging… a first for Sennheiser earbuds.
Now I am very glad that this case has wireless charging, but I do think that it is over due.
Now when it comes to battery life,
even though the Momentum 3’s are sporting larger batteries in both the earbuds and case
from what’s found in the Momentum 2’s… numbers wise its the same. These earbuds
have an advertised combined battery life of 28 hours with their active noise cancellation turned
off. The earbuds themselves can go for 7 hours and the case can supply 3 additional charges.
Now a combined battery life of 28 hours is fine… but we are starting to see other earbuds trying
to hit that 30 hour mark… and keep in mind, if you were to use the ANC on these earbuds, that’s
going to drain their battery life faster. But also, Sennheiser still needs to improve
their fast charging numbers, cause if you were to drop these earbuds into their case with a
dead battery, a 10 minute charge is going to get you 1 hour of playback time. Versus lets say
the AirPods 3’s… they’ll get you that same hour of playback time with a 5 minute charge.
So overall, the momentum 3’s still have decent battery lives for earbuds in 2022… But there
haven’t been any upgrades performance wise when compared to the Momentum 2’s…
And personally, I still wish the case could hold lets say a fourth charge,
but at least this new case now has wireless charging which is good if your phone
supports power sharing or if you’ve already invested in multiple wireless charging mats.
But now lets talk about the earbuds themselves. Regarding sculpt, the Momentum 3’s are completely
different from the the 2’s. They have a much more sublet design to them now, which I feel
some people are going to appreciate cause the momentum 2’s were a little loud. But fit wise,
these earbuds are basically the same. Both the Momentum 3’s and Momentum 2’s fit like
your standard pair of in ear earbuds. They both go into your ear canal a decent amount like lets say
the CX Plus, Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, or Galaxy Buds 2’s. They aren’t shallow fitting in ear earbuds
like lets say the AirPods Pro or Jabra Elite 85T’s which also have oval ear tips… and thankfully
the Momentum 3’s still come included with your standard round silicon ear tips.
So these earbuds do a good job of blocking out noise without getting super itchy very quickly
like lets say the foam ear tips found on the Sony WF-1000XM4’s. However, one difference
the momentum 3’s have over the momentum 2’s is that they now have customizable ear fins. But
these ear fins aren’t super big like the ear fins that you’ll find on the Sennheiser Sport
or Beats Fit Pro… so these ear fins aren’t going to provide as much lock down as these
other ear fins. So overall, I wouldn’t try to exercises with these earbuds cause they
can still wiggle out if you’re jogging… and plus, they only have an IPX4 rating.
However, one major upgrade the Momentum 3’s have over the momentum 2’s is that with the momentum
3’s each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you want to use one earbud at a time,
you can use either one it doesn’t matter. And this is the connection set up that we expect to see
on our earbuds nowadays… and to be honest, sennheiser is a little late to the party here.
Cause up until now, the momentum 2’s were using a hero and sidekick set up, meaning that one earbud,
the hero earbud, in this case the right earbud actually establishes a connection with your phone,
and then relays that connection to the left earbud. So if you want to use one earbud at
a time, you gotta use the correct earbud, or in this case, the right earbud, the hero earbud.
But ultimately, the Momentum 3’s are better suited to be used with
one primary device. If you’re a power user that wants to use these earbuds with multiple devices
then the Momentum 3’s aren’t the best option. Now you can switch from one device to another
with these earbuds, but you gotta do through their app. You can’t hot swap between devices
like you can with AirPods or with headphones… and the momentum 3’s won’t just jump over to
another device if another device is asking to pair to them like lets say the Studio Buds do.
But when it comes to overall performance, these earbuds have zero latency across the board when
watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android devices…
But when it comes to audio codecs, these earbuds have support for SBC, AAC, APXT,
and APXT Adaptive. And APTX adaptive is a new addition here cause the momentum 2’s don’t have
APTX adaptive. But if you want to take advantage of APTX then you do have to be
an android user cause iPhone top out at AAC, which is still perfectly fine.
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these earbuds. Now the Momentum
3’s sound and perform just like the CX Plus, and that is not a bad thing at all. Now both
the momentum 3’s and CX Plus have the same great instrument separation as the momentum 2’s.
But the major difference here is that the bass on the momentum 3’s punches much harder and resonates
cleaner as well. Where as the bass on the Momentum 2’s mostly just resonates and it isn’t as
tight… and it punches far less. So by comparison to the Momentum 3’s… the Momentum 2’s sound flat.
But also, the momentum 3’s and CX plus have a much more balanced sounding stock sound signature
then the Momentum 2’s. Out of the box, the Momentum 2’s sound a little bright cause the
highs are noticeably more elevated. Where as with Sennheiser’s new generation of earbuds…
their highs are much more relaxed but their bass is a little more raised. Overall I like how
Sennheiser’s new earbuds sound with their stock EQ’s… but you can always go in an adjust their EQ
to your liking. And thankfully this App works well on both iPhone and Android. But like I said,
I prefer to use these earbuds with their stock EQ, cause I would always go in and raise the bass
on the Momentum 2’s… but in general I really think these earbuds will be able to please
everyone. If you’re someone that likes a lot og punchy bass, these earbuds have you covered… and
if you want a more neutral sound signature, then these earbuds also have you covered.
Now when it comes to your media controls just like before
the Momentum 3’s are using touch pads. And these touch pads are strictly tapped based.
Meaning that that are no swiping gestures. Overall these touch pads are very accurate and they're
easy to use. You’ve got full control over your media and you can also adjust your volume all from
the earbuds themselves. And through Sennheiser’s app you can adjust the layout of your controls to
your liking. And just like before, these earbuds still have your standard wear sensors, so they
will automatically play and pause your music if you take them out or put them back into your ears.
But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Now first
I do want to taper exceptions here. These earbuds aren’t going to block out as much
noise as a proper pair of over ear ANC headphones like lets say the Bose NC 700,
the Sony 1000XM4’s and especially the Sony 1000XM5’s… But the momentum 3’s do
have very good active noise cancellation and they are actually my new number 2.
Cause right now as of Mid 2022… the Sony WF-1000XM4’s are still number one when
it comes to blocking out noise albeit they do have an advantage cause of their itchy
foam ear tips. Now below them are the Sennheiser Momentum 3’s which
also block out a ton a of noise… but they’re more comfortable than the WF-1000XM4’s cause their ear
tips don’t get itchy. Now below the momentum 3 are the Jabra Elite 85T’s which also block out a ton
of noise… and they are more comfortable than both the Sony and Sennheiser. Now below the Jabra’s
are both the AirPods Pro and Sennheiser Momentum 2’s which I feel are neck and neck. Below them
are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s, below them are the Beats Fit, and below them are the Galaxy Buds Pro.
So overall the Momentum 3’s have improved active noise cancelation from their predecessors and
they all rank very well when compared to the rest of the competition. And surprisingly,
the Momentum 3’s do a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors. And just
like before, the Momentum 3’s have an ambient mode… but this time around it sounds much more
natural than the ambient mode found on their predecessors… and you can also adjust it now.
So overall, the momentum 3’s have seen some very big and notable upgrades when it comes to
their active noise cancelation, and ambient mode. These earbuds block
out more noise this time around, and to me, they are my new number two’s,
their ambient mode sounds much more natural… and they do a much better job of rejecting wind noise.
The only odd thing that I want to point out is that the Active Noise cancellation
on these earbuds still works even if you’re just using one earbud. But strangely enough,
you can’t turn on their ambient mode if you only have one earbud in.
And I do feel that that is very odd because usually its the other way around.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now overall the momentum 2’s
have a descent enough sounding microphone to take phone calls with while in a quite room.
But I do feel that the microphone on the Momentum
3’s does sound a little better than the microphone found on the Momentum
2’s… however, the Momentum 3’s do have more hissing to them in the back ground.
But for comparison sake, here are the AirPods 3’s which just have a
really good sounding microphone for earbuds.
But also, the AirPods 3 do a really good job of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now,
yes you can hear some road noise in the back ground… but my voice is still clear and elevated.
Where as with the momentum 3’s these earbuds are trying to block out this noise pollution… but they
are interfering with my voice a little bit. But I feel that this is usable.
But then there are the Momentum 2’s which are also trying to
deal with this noise pollution… but you can hear a lot more road noise
than with the Momentum 3’s and these are interfering with my voice a lot more.
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, you can still hear a decent
amount of chatter in the background and my voice sounds little shallow.
Where as with the Momentum 3’s you hear a little less chatter
and my voice sounds a little less shallow.
But finally, here are the AirPods 3 which have even less chatter in the
background and my voice sounds even less shallow. So overall, the Momentum 3’s have
a good enough sounding microphone to take phone calls with while in a quite room… But I would
still try to avoid taking phone calls with them while in a noise environment.
But with all of that being said the Momentum 3’s have been refined from their predecessors
and Sennheiser really focused on improving the important things.
The Momentum 3’s still have their amazing instrument separation but this time around
their bass is punchier and deeper. The Momentum 3’s also have better Active noise cancelation.
They block out a ton of noise without needing itchy foam ear tips. Plus they also have a much
more natural sounding ambient mode and their microphone array does a better job of blocking
out wind noise. The momentum 3’s also finally have wireless charging and their earbuds now each
establish a connection with your phone. The only thing that these earbuds need improving right now
is a longer battery life… I feel that by 2023 the momentum 3’s will start to fall behind a little…
and I also want to see a better sounding microphone. And maybe that can happen
through a software update. And a smaller case would have been nice as well. But for me,
if sound is your main priority then the Momentum 3’s are the best bet.