Sennheiser Momentum Wireless review

Quick verdict: The Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones combine top-quality audio and beautiful design with the convenience of Tile tracking so they're not easily lost.

Great audio quality
Robust industrial design
Tile tracking included

Battery life is only mid-range
Not the best noise cancellation
Expensive

Alex Kidman

Last Updated Nov 19, 2020

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Sennheiser has a strong reputation in the audio space that stretches back decades. Its Momentum Wireless Headphones provide exceptional audio quality, and the convenience of integrated Tile tracking is also a definite plus. However, compared to some noise-cancelling headphones, their battery life isn't exceptional, even though their price is high.

Design

Leather band and cups are comfortable
Solid steel band
Simple button controls

Where many noise-cancelling full headphones opt for a compact and often rather plastic design – I'm thinking here of sets like the Sony WH-1000XM3 or the Bose Headphones 700 – Sennheiser instead opts for a more robust, industrial style for the Momentum Wireless headphones. That fits well with Sennheiser's position as a premium audio brand. The cups and headband are leather for a luxury feel or, depending on your position on such materials, an automatic no-buy zone.
The adjustable headband is solid and shiny steel with a subtle Sennheiser logo at the sliding point, so while you're promoting the brand, it's not quite as ostentatious as some other competing brands.
The steel band might make you think that the Momentum Wireless can't be folded up, but hinges at the top of the steel bands make this an effortless process. Sennheiser provides a very simple soft grey case for transporting them around and protecting them when you do so. It's among the easiest cases I've used for a full set of buds, but that's because it's just soft grey fabric with relatively little in the way of stiff protection for the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones. If your inflight carry-on bag is frequently stuffed to bursting, you'd want to make sure the Momentum Wireless headphones weren't being crushed along the way.
Plenty of full-frame headphones opt for touch controls these days, but Sennheiser has instead opted for button controls nestled on the right hand cup, covering noise cancellation, volume, play/pause and a combo button for invoking your phone's voice assistant and engaging Bluetooth pairing mode. Just below the controls sits the USB-C charging port and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack if your entertainment still comes in cabled form.

Performance

Great audio representation across genres
Noise cancelling is only moderate
Tile integration works well

The Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones flick into life whenever you unfold them, waiting for standard Bluetooth pairing. You could leave them paired that way and enjoy almost all they have to offer, but for those who like to tinker, Sennheiser's Smart Control app also lets you tinker with equaliser and noise-cancellation features. It's also how Sennheiser updates the firmware on the Momentum Wireless headphones, which is not a fast process. Out of the box, the Momentum Wireless took around 30 minutes to update before I could first start testing them.
In terms of codec support, they're Bluetooth 5.0 paired with aptX and AAC. The Momentum Wireless headphones support Qualcomm's aptX Low Latency so if you are using them for privately watching video or playing games you should stay nicely in sync.
Audio quality from the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones was befitting of their premium price point, with plenty of distinction between low, mid and high tones. On the Piano & A Microphone version of Prince's "Purple Rain" piano solo, I could discern just a tiny quantity of tape hiss (from the original tape, no less) behind the striking piano tones and warbling vocals, which was a detail I hadn't noticed before. The vocal separation on Frank Sinatra's "My Way" rose beautifully throughout the song, while the heavier pitch of Brian Johnson's growl in "Thunderstruck" hit home with plenty of force.
Switching to a live track – in this case, Hall & Oates's "Sara Smile" from their Greatest Hits Live album – the headphones picked up a great level of vocal detail while creating a believable live-concert soundstage wrapped around my head. You're rather spoilt for choice when it comes to audio presentation in the high end of noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones, and the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones are right up there with the very best.
The same observation isn't quite as true when it comes to noise cancelling, however. Sennheiser offers three different levels of noise cancellation. If you're not a fan of the heavily pressurised feel that many active noise-cancelling cans give, you may want to opt for Anti Pressure mode, while those who can handle it could opt for the default Max setting. If you only want a little bit of noise reduction, then the Anti Wind setting may suit.
I'm slightly spoilt because my go-to pair of over-ear noise-cancelling headphones remains Sony's exceptional WH-1000XM3 headphones, and while the Sennheiser Momentum's noise cancelling is OK, they're simply not as good as Sony's superior approach.
In most cases, you'll certainly get enough isolation out of them, although predictably the Anti Wind and Anti Pressure modes are very soft when it comes to minimising external noise sources. If you do want as much passthrough as possible, then you can switch them via the top switch to transparent hearing mode. That works well enough in public situations where you might want situational awareness so you're not flattened by a truck, but it's still painfully socially awkward if you use it while talking to someone. Taking the Momentum Wireless headphones off – at which point they'll automatically pause whatever's playing – is a superior option in every case.
Call quality is always tough to judge because there's so much more that goes into a mobile call's quality than the headphones alone, but aside from a little source scrambling for incoming calls, I had few complaints about audio pick-up during test calls.
One unique selling point for the Momentum Wireless headphones is the integration of Tile's tracking technology. Getting this working does involve setting up the Tile app on your phone and signing up for an account, but once that's done, it's trivial to check where your headphones are with a good degree of accuracy or to "call" them in order to start them buzzing if they have dropped behind the sofa. Tile will pester you a little to sign up to its premium paid service, but the basic functionality of tracking the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones will work well enough without it.

Battery

Lower battery life than many competitors

The Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones are big and bulky chaps, so it would be natural to assume that they would have big batteries and good battery life.
Sennheiser rates them as good for up to 17 hours, which places them in an interesting comparative position. This is long enough for most international flights, and it's not a bad battery rate to speak of.
However, competing headphones from the likes of Sony, Bose or Beats offer battery life that tips the scales at over 20 hours or even more, which means that in that comparative sense, the Momentum Wireless do feel a little weak. That 17-hour figure is about spot on too based on my own testing.
At least the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless warn you in a pleasant voice when they're about to run out of power, unlike some headphones that simply beep or at worst just conk out. Recharging is via USB-C using the supplied cable but no actual charger is provided in the box.

Verdict

Great audio, but not quite the best noise-cancelling headphones

Should you buy it?

It's all but impossible to fault the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones on audio grounds. Even their basic equaliser settings give you ample space to engage with your favourite music or movies in a truly engrossing way. Likewise, the build quality is excellent, and they're comfortable to wear for long periods of time, even if you have a larger skull to wrap them around. Tile integration is a nice feature if you're always scrambling to find your headphones before a trip or if you constantly leave them in the office after hours.

However, they're priced in a premium bracket where there's a lot of competition that does what the Momentum Wireless headphones do just that little bit better. Battery life isn't as good, and neither is noise cancelling when compared to sets like the Bose 700 or Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones, and they can often be found a little cheaper than the Sennheisers too.

You certainly wouldn't regret buying the Momentum Wireless headphones because they do sound great – but you could arguably do just a little bit better for the same or less money.

Pricing and availability

Price: RRP $599.95
Where to buy: Amazon | Sennheiser | Bing Lee

Specs

Finder score: 3.5

How we score our reviews

Where to buy

Build

Category

Over-ear

Colours

Black

Frequency Response

6Hz - 22kHz

Connectivity

Wired/Wireless

Wireless

Bluetooth

Yes

Bluetooth Version

Bluetooth Profiles

A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP

Features

Noise Cancelling

Yes

Detachable Cable

Rechargeable Battery

Yes

Foldable

Yes

Water Resistant

Battery Life

Up to 17 hours

Battery Type

Built-In Lithium rechargeable

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Alex Kidman

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A multi-award winning journalist, Alex has written about consumer technology for over 20 years. He has written and edited for virtually every Australian tech publication including Gizmodo, CNET, PC Magazine, Kotaku and more. He has also been the Editor of Gizmodo Australia, PC Mag Australia, CNET.com.au and the Tech and Telco section at Finder. Alex has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New England and a serious passion for retro gaming.

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Sennheiser Momentum Wireless review