Hi! Welcome to 'Lachlan Likes a Thing', a show where I take a thing and see whether
or not I like it. Now, the thing we're looking at in this video is the Sennheiser Momentum
On-Ear portable headphones.
Now, firstly, I want to thank Sennheiser for giving me a pair of these headphones to have
a listen to. If you've been watching my videos from the beginning, you'll know that the Sennheiser
Momentum was the very first headphone that I looked at on my channel, and in that video
I absolutely gushed over them, I thought that the Sennheiser Momentum was an amazing combination
of build quality and comfort and sound, and, even though I've looked at a number of great
portable headphones since then, I still think that the Sennheiser Momentum is one of the
best overall packages that you can get in terms of a portable headphone.
And since that video I've also gotten a pair of Sennheiser Amperiors, which I'm a huge
fan of as well. So, when Sennheiser announced the Sennheiser Momentum On-Ear, which is the
on-ear version of the Sennheiser Momentum, I was really kind of exited, because I wanted
to know whether they could get, basically, the same great qualities of the Sennheiser
Momentum but in an even more portable package.
So here's the Momentum On-Ear and here's the classic full-sized Momentum. As you can see,
one is pretty much a smaller version of the other. The only thing that's really changed
is just the size of the ear-cups, not even the headband is really just changed much in
size, though there are a number of differences with the Momentum On-Ear that are worth pointing
out.
Number one, the Momentum On-Ear has gone down in weight now, from 190 grams on the standard
Momentum to 160 grams, so it's even more lightweight now. In terms of colors, the Momentum On-Ear
comes in four different colors, none of which are black, so you get this ivory colour, but
also there's a blue, there's a green and a pink.
The ear-pads are now a synthetic suede material instead of leather, and this synthetic suede
is called Alcantara. Now I just found this material a really soft, it's really quite
nice to the touch, and they're still quite breathable, so the Momentum On-Ear is still
a very comfortable headphone. The headband is also slightly different in texture, though
I don't know if this is also Alcantara.
The other thing is that the Sennheiser Logo is now slightly holographic in effect, if
you can see that. Personally I would have preferred just the standard chrome logo, but
some people might like the kind of holographic effect.
One more thing is that the cable is still detachable like it is on the classic Momentum,
you get the iPhone remote as wall as a standard non-remote cable, but with the headphone jack
on the other end you just get a standard ninety degree jack, none of the kind of fancy variable-angle
jack that you found on the Sennheiser Momentum.
Overall, though, this is pretty much the same headphone as the Sennheiser Momentum in terms
of build, and that's not a bad thing because the Sennheiser Momentum is built brilliantly,
and the Momentum On-Ear preserves all the qualities, it still has that really nice metal
construction, it feels really solid, really premium-feeling headphone.
So a nice touch with the Momentum On-Ear is that you get different two carrying cases,
you get a standard kind of hard case that's going to protect your headphones, and you
also get a carrying bag in case you want to just be more lightweight, and this will just
stop it from getting scratches, so that's pretty cool.
In terms of comfort, the Momentum On-Ear is remarkably comfortable for an on-ear headphone.
As I said, it's quite lightweight, it doesn't press very hard against the ears, and comfort
is pretty much the best I've felt from an on-ear headphone except for the Audio Technica
ES88, though it is still an on-ear headphone so it does still press against the ears, it
might still make your ears sore after a coulee of hours.
So if comfort's a top priority I'd probably recommend the full-size Momentum. Noise isolation
is pretty much average for an on-ear headphone, so, you know, it's going to block out some
external noise, though it's not going to be quite as good as something that just cups
around your entire ear. But overall, as a package, I think the Momentum is quite well-designed,
but how does it sound?
So, if you watched my early impressions video of the Momentum On-Ear, you'll know that my
friends and I had some mixed feelings about the sound of this headphone, and you might
be wondering, in the weeks since then, have my opinions changed? Well, unfortunately they
haven't.
So first of all, the Momentum On-Ear doesn't really sound much like the full-sized Momentum.
Whereas the full-sized Momentum is kind of a warm, mellow, kind of laid-back easy listening
kind of headphone, the Momentum On-Ear is a much more aggressive, V-shaped kind of sound,
and what I mean about 'V-shaped' is that on the spectrum of sound, the bass is relatively
emphasized, so all the drums and, kind of, the bass notes, and the treble, the strings
particularly, kind of high-pitched sounds are quite emphasized, and in the middle there's
kind of a dip, so that vocals, kind of the body of your singing, is relatively distant.
It can sound quite recessed on the Momentum On-Ear.
Now, ordinarily, there's nothing necessarily wrong with a V-shaped in and of itself, a
lot of people like them, I don't mind them, I think that they can be quite lively and
exiting to listen to. The thing with the Momentum On-Ear, unfortunately, is that the bass on
the Momentum On-Ear is so emphasized to the point where it has a slightly loose quality
to it, it almost takes on a kind of droning note if you're listening to a song with a
lot of bass notes.
Now if you're listening to, you know something that doesn't have that much bass, the Momentum
On-Ear is a quite a nice listen, it's quite articulate, it's quite clean, it's got quite
a nice soundstage, maybe slightly even wider than the standard Momentum just because the
treble is relatively a bit more emphasized, but as soon as, like a throbbing kind of bass
note kicks in, it really kicks in on the On-Ear, and it honestly gets a little distracting.
Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't mind my bass, I own a number of really
bassy headphones that I quite like, I love the Sennheiser Amperior, I love the Audio
Technica ES10, and recently I got a pair of the V-Moda M80s, which I think are a really
nice, warm kind of bassy on-ear headphone. The thing with the Momentum On-Ear's bass
is that unfortunately I just don't think it sounds very natural, It doesn't sound very
well integrated into the rest of the spectrum, and it really calls attention to itself.
Now, I don't know, maybe you might like this kind of really aggressive bass tone, and,
by all means, if it sounds like something you might like, go ahead and check it out
in the store and have a listen because this should be relatively easy to find. I don't
think this is a technically bad headphone, and I've read a number of comments from people
who do quite like the sound of it, so I guess this is something that you might want to have
a listen to, just to make up your own mind. Personally, it's just not my cup of tea.
Anyway, thanks for watching this video, you can talk to me on Facebook at facebook.com/lachlanlikesathing,
or you can tweet me @lachlikesathing. I'm probably about to hit 100,000 viewers just
when this video is posted, so again thank you so much to everyone who's supported me
through all these videos, thanks for liking all the videos, thanks for subscribing to
my channel, and happy listening!