- Sennheiser is back.
This is their second generation of fully wireless earphones,
and I'm actually really excited about these,
'cause what I liked about
the original Momentum True Wireless was the sound quality.
And actually the fit was pretty good as well,
even though they were a touch on the heavy side.
What I didn't like was that the battery
life was absolute trash.
Not only was the advertised battery life low,
compared to other earphones available on the market,
like Apple's AirPods,
but they had a bulky case, so it's like,
what are you even putting in there if not batteries?
And they had a drain issue that caused the battery
to just drain while you weren't using them.
So what I found was that every time I went to use
the darn things, they were empty.
Here, they've moved to a 21 hour battery charging case.
They've apparently fixed the idle drain issue
and seven hours on the earphones themselves,
so they should keep you going all day.
Like literally all day.
So we'll have a look at what's included in the box.
You got some documentation there.
You got some ...
Some extra ear tips there,
large, small and extra small.
Oh right, the mediums by default ship
on the earphones themselves.
That explains the sizing there.
Got a charging cable.
One thing I like about these,
is that they do use Type-C for charging.
No wireless charging, unfortunately.
I did try that before I sat down.
So you do have to use a cable for charging.
That's a disadvantage compared to AirPods
and AirPods Pros.
And then you got lots more documentation.
You know the Germans, right?
We heard you like documentation.
So we included all the documentation
that you could possibly need for wireless earphones.
Don't you guys have a website?
So let's take a look at the Momentum True Wireless two's.
They've got a ton of upgrades.
Some that I asked for,
some that I actually didn't think to ask for.
So they're available in two colors now,
black and white.
Apparently they've improved the ergonomics a little bit.
Fundamentally they look and feel very similar.
So you've got that same cloth style case
with the Sennheiser logo on it.
Nice feeling hinge with a magnetic clasp.
Hey, you've got a pairing button back here,
USB Type-C charging as I mentioned before.
And other than that these are a little on the bulky side.
I'd say they've got a really nice feel to them overall,
so kind of like a matte finish on the earphones themselves
with that classic Sennheiser sort
of ringed brushed metal look to them.
You can see one of the active
noise cancellation mics right there.
There's another one right there.
And that's a big feature that I didn't ask for
but that is included with the Momentum True Wireless two's.
Now one of the things that is a big deal
for me with wireless earphones is obviously the size.
And you can see here I've got some AirPods Pros
and I've also got some AirPods.
So we can have a look at what they look like.
Now, I don't expect these
to be the same size as an AirPods case
just because they've got active noise canceling
and Type-C charging.
They've got more features.
They're water resistant,
so their IPX4, if I recall correctly but,
the AirPods Pros
are really the standard
that I wanna hold other active
noise canceling earbuds up to.
And you can tell they're quite a bit larger.
Now, one of my big tests
is the you know the little useless pocket in jeans?
It's the useless pocket test.
Does it fit?
The answer is yes,
as long as you've got a reasonably big useless pocket,
but where I run into a little bit of trouble
is that it's quite bulky to the point where
it's kind of hard to get my wallet into the pocket.
Now that I've got that in there.
And because of the cloth texture of the case,
it's actually kind of hard to get in and out,
which is a little bit of a drag.
Let's go ahead and throw these back in here.
and then get them paired, have a listen.
Flashing orange.
Does it have to closed to pair?
Come on guys, pairing should just be industry standard here.
No, no.
Couldn't pair, check this device's settings and try again.
Alright, well maybe that's why I need
all this documentation.
(relaxing music)
Okay, yep, they want you to wear them first.
Fine.
Hold both buttons for three seconds to start pairing.
So one of the things that they include
is configurable controls.
So you're gonna wanna use your Sennheiser app
in order to configure that.
You can change EQ settings.
Apparently they've got built in Tile functionality.
So my wife actually lost her regular AirPods case
about a week ago, has not been able to find it.
So I wanna see if maybe this could help her.
All right, I'm gonna get the app Smart Control.
That's what the apps called.
Wow, there's so many touch controls.
So left is play/pause, next, previous
and volume down, if you press and hold.
The right is voice assistant, transparent hearing.
So that's where it passes through outside noise instead
of active noise cancellation.
Three times for active noise cancellation
and hold for volume plus.
And then when you get a call it's one to accept the call
and end it and then two times to reject the call,
also known as telling people that you are ignoring them.
I'm welcome. I agree to the terms.
Definitely not as magical as Apple's process
but it's working reasonably well.
Hello. (relaxing music)
Yes, I have already done these things.
All right.
New firmware update.
(relaxing music)
The update can take up to 50 minutes?
What the hell are you updating
that takes 50 minutes
on earphones?
Do not put them in the charging case during the update.
Oh, okay so I can just use them.
I mean, in fairness,
Apple's update process is literally
just have your AirPods near your iPhone.
There's no progress bar.
All right.
Transparent hearing.
(snaps fingers)
Okay, that works pretty well.
I'd say the quality is not up to par
with what I remember from my AirPods Pros.
(snaps fingers)
Yvnne?
- [Yvonne] What? - Nope, sorry,
I just wanted to hear you talking to me.
And when I yell, it doesn't handle that very well.
I can tell there's a little bit of clipping.
That's something that the AirPods Pros
do handle particularly well.
(relaxing music)
(snaps fingers)
Now I've got my ANC on.
ANC is very pleasant sounding though.
There's no kind of pressure feeling on my ears.
They've done a good job of that.
And comfort I'd say it's pretty strong.
I can do a shake test.
(relaxing music)
Definitely feel lighter than the original
Momentum True Wireless.
Woo.
Tap on, oh okay, cool.
So here's how you change all the controls.
(relaxing music) I don't think I would change that.
That seems like I'm pretty sensible control scheme.
Time to listen to some music.
People are judging my music taste right now, I can feel it.
Interesting. (upbeat music)
That is an uncharacteristically ...
sparkly sound for Sennheiser.
(upbeat music)
I don't remember the last time I turned on base boost
on a product, but where are the presets?
(upbeat music)
This is a really, really stupid interface for an EQ guys.
You're an audio company, you should know better.
(upbeat music)
Alright, I'm gonna turn the volume down
and get a feel for how the ANC is when I'm listening
at a very reasonable
quiet enjoyment volume
'cause that's really to me the benefit of ANC
and wireless earbuds is that I can be in the office,
not listening to music, like rocking out,
but just getting my work done with background noise
and not being able to hear people around me.
(upbeat music)
So this is probably about how I'd be listening to that.
Hey, hon, sorry to bother you one more time.
Yvonne?
- [Yvonne] Yeah?
- Oh, okay that was all.
Thank you.
That's pretty good.
What? No, I don't wanna discard.
Oh, I have to add a preset?
(upbeat music)
Okay, bit of a delay on the play/pause behavior there.
But I can see why that might be,
because if I was to skip tracks,
it would need to know that I'm trying to do that.
Okay, it did not register that.
So the taps only really register right
in the middle of the logo.
And I'm already finding that I'm having
a little bit of trouble consistently hitting it,
especially for like a triple tap gesture.
And if you want to go back a song,
you know how it is,
you gotta go back to the beginning
of the song you're listening to,
and then back to the previous song.
That is six times mashing on your ear.
I could see myself reconfiguring that
to maybe make it like two taps on the right
or something like that.
I changed my mind about the default control scheme.
(saxophone music)
It is nice that you've got those three separate zones.
So you can really tell if you've tapped it three times.
I'm gonna switch over to my AirPods Pros.
(upbeat music)
Sorry Yvonne.
Can you yell at me one more time?
- [Yvonne] Yeah.
(upbeat music)
- Very similar, actually very similar performance
in terms of blocking out,
someone having a conversation in the room next to you.
Not bad. (upbeat music)
(saxophone music) I hate this EQ.
It's frustrating because I can hear the potential
and these should sound better than the AirPods Pro,
but I can't get them dialed in.
Customize, no, it's still this stupid.
See, you even know,
you know what it's supposed to look like.
That's what the interface is supposed to look like.
It's just like really, really veiled right now,
depending on the song.
Yeah, out of the box,
the AirPods Pros absolutely blow these out of the water.
But I can hear flashes of brilliance in them.
And I think with a proper EQ interface,
I could easily get these outperforming the AirPods Pros.
One of the features that they have is to pause
your music automatically if you take them out of your ears.
One thing I would like to see
is for their touch interface to turn off when you do that,
because right now I'm actually controlling
my music through these.
So if you're just handling your earphones,
if you're fidgeting with them or whatever,
you could easily accidentally activate the touch controls.
Welcome to Tile.
Get started.
Hey, here we go.
Sennheiser Momentum.
Okay, I need a Tile account.
I apparently have not used the Tile app in a hot minute,
Samsung Galaxy S7.
Okay, so green or blue?
Well, I don't know.
This one doesn't seem to have a green or blue light.
(relaxing music)
Not working okay.
So it looks like the Tile app might not know
that it supports the True Wireless two's yet.
So that's unfortunate.
I had really hoped to test that out today.
299 US.
(sharp exhale)
Man, the potential is there.
The case is a little big,
but I could maybe accept that if the app control
was more to my liking,
a little bit easier to configure
because the ANC is comfortable and effective,
having that water resistance built in is great.
Even having an Android app at all
is obviously a big advantage compared to the AirPods Pros,
which I've been daily driving.
But in its current state, I mean,
yeah, if you can get that sound dialed in just
the way you like it.
They look great.
There's a ton of features in here.
But right now that I couldn't figure
out the Tile integration, and I really need that EQ fixed
and then these are a solid recommend.
Thanks for watching this ShortCircuit.
Hope you guys enjoyed this little unboxing
and first impressions.
If they do update the app with my requests
and I do end up daily driving these things,
you can expect to see a review over on
the Linus Tech Tips channel.
So make sure you subscribe to both.
And I will see you in the next ShortCircuit,
in a short circuitous while.