Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: amazing undistorted sound

After two years, Sennheiser is now launching the fourth version of its in-ears. It hardly differs from its predecessor in terms of look and feel. But it doesn’t have to, Sennheiser has already ticked a lot of boxes with these. Both the 60-gramme charging case and the 6-gramme earphones have a high-quality finish.

As always, the charging case is covered with a fabric, which gives it a distinctive look. You can choose either the graphite or the silver version. A lot has changed on the inside, but is it for the better? I’m going to try the headphones and use the AirPods 2 Pro and the WF-1000 XM5 from Sony for comparison.

First impressions: noble jack of all trades

Sennheiser sticks to the tried and tested when it comes to the parcel contents. There’s a quick guide, USB-A to USB-C cable and four ear adapter sets. The German manufacturer also supplies three different ear fin sets for comfortable wearing around the ear. Thankfully, the fin openings are quite large. This allows you to change them quickly and easy, without having to pull them over with your fingernails in an endless procedure. Speaking of which, you don’t need to put any protection over your headphones.

The in-ears have IP54 certification, meaning they’re protected against splashing water. A little rain won’t do them any harm.

When it comes to connectivity, Sennheiser has it all. In addition to the latest Bluetooth standard (5.4), the Momentum comes with plenty of codec support: SBC, AAC, AptX Lossless, AptC Adaptive and LC3. Even Auracast is supported. But, as always, most of this doesn’t apply to Apple. If you have an iPhone, you’ll have to make do with AAC. The Momentum True Wireless 4 (MTW4) now supports Snapdragon Sound technology. If you use an audio streaming provider that supports lossless formats (e.g. Tidal), you can also enjoy what Sennheiser calls «flawless bit-by-bit lossless audio». With AptX Adaptive, you also have the option of activating even lower lag at the expense of audio quality – so you can connect the (multipoint-capable) MTW4 to the Steam Deck or your Nintendo Switch and play.

The app: essential for noise cancelling

As with almost all major audio manufacturers, there’s an app for Android and iOS – Sennheiser Smart Control. The app offers a range of features beneficial to your listening experience. I recommend downloading them.

First and foremost, when you’ve installed them, check for headphone firmware updates. The reason being that Sennheiser released one after putting the Momentum True Wireless 4 on the market. At the time of this review, it’s version 5.3.4.

The app offers different options to set up the sound of the in-ears exactly to your taste. This includes an equaliser with bass boost and podcast option (i.e. optimised for human voices). You can also shift the bands for five frequencies (63, 250, 1,000, 4,000 and 8,000 Hz) between -6 dB and 6 dB. I think it’s great that you can set different configurations then save them in a «sound zone». So if you’re in a noisy environment and switch to a quiet one, the saved preset changes. That’s if you’ve activated location tracking – otherwise you have to do it manually.

You can also activate active noise cancellation and an anti-wind mode. While the latter successfully blocked out annoying wind noise in my test, I was less convinced by the Adaptive Noise Cancellation. The difference to «normal» active noise cancelling is that the headphones measure both what comes out of the speakers and what sound reaches your ears. The cancelling effect gets stronger or weaker depending on the volume of the background noise. For me, the effect was that sound always became quieter. I also had the impression that the Momentum True Wireless 4 didn’t always cope with some high-frequency noises because it seemed to have a random effect on the adaption. I’d therefore switch off the adaptive noise cancellation because the normal noise cancelling is strong. By that I mean Zurich-Hardbrücke station-at 5 p.m-on weekdays strong.

There’s also Transparency Mode. In case you’re standing at the station and want to hear the announcements despite the music. Sennheiser gives you control here so you can choose how much sound the headphones should let in. When the microphone is on for transparency mode, you can hear some underlying noise. That’s only if you set the transparency to very high. However, this in turn means that ambient noise will be high, so you’ll probably not hear the noise at all.

You can also freely assign the touch control with play/pause, accepting calls, volume control and so on.

Sound personalisation: the crux of the matter with the ear tips

The trend among audio companies is to tailor sound to the individual ear. You can do this for the MTW4 too, using the Smart Control app. Sennheiser makes a real effort and guides you through the process with clear instructions. This starts with a fit test of the earbuds. In addition to three ear fin sets (S/M/L), which fit to the outer ear in different ways, Sennheiser includes four pairs of in-ear tips. In four different sizes, of course. I start with the second smallest. While everything seems fine on the right, the app locates a problem on the left. With some tugging, I finally get the verdict «fair fit» instead of «poor fit». Not the best. I try one size up and it seems to fit on both sides and holds very well in my ear. It slips in and then spreads out again in my ear, but without pressing.

The strings, bass and drums are then adjusted using a test song. First, set a volume that you feel comfortable with. Then turn the sound down so that you can just about hear it, the lowest possible level that your ear can still perceive. Finally, you can make small adjustments using a slider. The app recommends that I lower the volume I initially set «for a comfortable listening experience». OK, I get it. After playing around with the settings, I hear a clear difference and get a bit more out of what’s already a strong sound.

I’m chuffed. But that’s only when I’m standing or sitting. When I move, the vibration of every step on a hard floor (asphalt, laminate, stone, wood) travels directly to my ear. Not acoustically, as I have active noise cancellation switched on. But physically perceptible. If I switch off the ANC, it’s lower – but the vibration is still too strong. I put the smaller tips back on. The smaller silicone plugs hold less well, but I have much less of an issue with the vibration. A suboptimal solution, but the lesser of two evils. Possibly just an individual problem. Still a pity.

Sound experience: Sennheiser at its best

For my sound test, I pitted the MTW4 against two competitors, namely Apple’s Airpods Pro 2 and the WF-1000 XM5 by Sony. I connect them all to my smartphone and listen to three tracks. I choose each of these three songs with a specific focus – with one I want to test the balance of the MTW4, with another song the high-frequency spectrum and with the third bass and vocals.

Ready for the Floor – Hot Chip

The MTW4 show off what they can do from the very first song. The sound is really clear, precise and they’re well balanced. Right from the start of the song with the rain noises, they sound more natural and clearer than the competition. The vocals seem more in the foreground than with the other two devices. Sennheiser demonstrates a strong balance here.

Terry’s Song – Bruce Springsteen

I’ve got to get the boss in so that I can test the heights of the MTW4. The MTW4 feels crisper than the Airpods 2 regarding treble playback. Considering there’s quite a few high-frequency sounds, the headphones manage not to overemphasise them. On the whole, they’re very «digestible» and never become shrill. In addition, the different frequencies are easily distinguishable, the MTW4 reproduces them accurately and exploits the entire treble spectrum.

Angel – Massive Attack

This song is characterised by an intense bass melange and very little human voice. A real mash up. Here, I notice that the MTW4 manages to reproduce individual sounds separately and precisely. But the bass of the Sony headphones and the Apple headphones have a bit more oomph. The sound of the two is warmer and lets me immerse myself even more in the piece, whereas the MTW4 sounds rather sober. It’s a matter of taste, what you prefer to hear.

Phone calls – crystal clear, but somewhat quiet and tinny

Sennheiser installs three microphones in each of the two headphones. When I’m on the phone, external noise is shielded well and I don’t hear any inherent noise. The caller on the other end is satisfied with the call quality because I can be heard clearly. However, the sound is a little tinny. You can hear for yourself:

Battery: another working day on top

Sennheiser has gone to great lengths to give its in-ears even more life. And they’ve succeeded. When I ran my test, the headphones lasted seven hours on a full charge before the low battery warning appeared. I’m talking about seven hours with noise cancelling and lossless sound enabled, connected to my Oppo smartphone.

The charging case has three more charging cycles up its sleeve too – without ANC, you’re equipped for more than 30 hours, with ANC you’ll get about 28 hours. I can confirm the manufacturer’s specifications from putting them to use myself; they’re more than adequate. The MTW4s also have a quick-charging function. If you put them in the case for 10 minutes, you get 60 minutes of additional sound. You really can’t complain about that.