Sennheiser Momentum 4 Review

Audiophile Android users are the most likely audience for the Sennheiser Momentum 4 buds. These have the best audio quality in our tests and come with a feature-packed smart app.

Sound Quality

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds are a sonic powerhouse, blending exceptional clarity with a wide, immersive soundstage to elevate any listening experience. Our audio experts tested these earbuds using an extensive, genre-spanning playlist. We loved their beautifully neutral and balanced equalization (EQ) and think audiophiles will agree they are close to audio perfection.

Thanks to their impeccably balanced mix, the Momentum performs impressively across genres. From the layered vocals in “Makey My” by The Roots to the melodic flow of “Moves” by Suki Waterhouse, they deliver warmth and accuracy, allowing you to find and follow each instrument, or allow the experience to wash over you.

Whether savoring the harmonies in Ray LaMontagne's “Hannah” or the atmospheric layers in Beyoncé and Post Malone's “Levi's Jeans,” the Momentum deliver a rich, immersive soundscape you don't hear so much as you experience.

The treble is warm, smooth, and natural, without feeling forced or artificial. Classical tracks like “Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48” by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Michael Forster's emotional piano in “On the Nature of Daylight” are rendered with remarkable clarity and precision, highlighting their nuanced textures. The balanced soundscape lets the high notes sing.

The bass frequencies are fully developed, rich, and clear, providing depth without being overpowering. In “Wildfire” by Cautious Clay, the low frequencies bring warmth and body, grounding the airy vocals during the transition from the chorus to the second verse at 1:08. The muted drums provide an earthy richness that contrasts beautifully against the soaring chorus, capturing subtle tonal shifts with remarkable accuracy. After experiencing this level of bass response, it's hard to settle for tinny speakers ever again.

The mids feel spacious and open, like a stunning open floor plan, providing enough structure to let the light pour in and plenty of room to dance. Our favorite songs never feel cramped or muddled. Even complex tracks like “That Was Yesterday” by Leon Bridges and “Just Like Greta Garbo” by Van Morrison are delivered with clarity and balance, allowing each element enough room to resonate. Whether you're after soaring high notes, thumping basslines, or that elusive midrange perfection, the Momentum earbuds are a joy.

Listeners who prefer a bass-heavy sound or an artificially "sound-enhanced" effect may be disappointed. These earbuds are also on the quiet side, requiring near-max volume for some tracks. Still, we think most will enjoy this beautifully balanced mix enough to compensate for these minor setbacks.

Soundstage

The in-ear design of earbuds can narrow the listening experience, like being in the nosebleed section of a concert. The Momentum excels at creating a broad, expansive soundstage. The music sounds like it's coming from beyond the earbuds, more like a live performance than two tiny ear speakers.

This effect is particularly striking when in layered songs like “Hannah” by Ray LaMontagne. You can pinpoint each instrument's location in space. The drums emerge from the left, and LaMontagne's vocals drift in from the right. The violin dominates the left earbud during crucial moments, starting at 1:07, adding rich depth, while piano accents float beautifully in the background (we love the twinkly accent at 4:07). Every detail is clean, clear, and distinct, allowing the listener to revel in the nuanced texture of the track.

To support subjective listening, we played a frequency response into a Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head, which records the sound profile of the response from the Sennheiser buds and used its companion SoundCheck software to calculate its frequency response to compare to our GearLab House Curve.

The Sennheiser earbuds closely follow the expert-curated curve — another reason we think trained ears will particularly enjoy the Momentum's sound signature.

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Comfort And Fit

These buds come with four silicone tips and three wings of different sizes to fit various ear shapes. After several hours, they feel comfortable, but due to their weight, they grow less so nearing the eight-hour mark.

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Stability

We love that these buds don't protrude too far, making it possible to jog or put on a sweater without them popping out and rolling away. We even wore them doing headstands, and they still didn't fall out. However, the weight makes us worried that they could fall out during more rigorous activities.

Noise Cancellation

We tested noise cancelling using our Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head and its sound-calculating software, SoundCheck. The noise cancelling abilities of the Momentum 4 are better than most, but just miss the mark of being the best.

If you're looking for earbuds with the best active noise cancelling (ANC), look elsewhere. But if you want great ANC, these will do the trick. They have some trouble cancelling out noise in the low to mid ranges, but overall, they help dampen the sound enough to feel lost in the music.

According to our SoundCheck data, these buds block out the most noise (around 42 decibels) at about 10,000 Hertz. They block out around 30 decibels in the lower mid-range, but this still lets in some noise. With enough volume, these earbuds easily drown out external distractions, but be careful with higher volumes; it isn't good for your ears.

Ease of Use

To test ease of use, we assessed all of the design features that make them pleasant to use. Our general user experience with these buds was better than most, though only the Sennheiser's excellent smart app stand out.

App Features

This app has many extra features, including transparency mode, active noise canceling with wind-muting mode, bass boost, and equalization (EQ) adjustment. We had some connectivity issues with iPhone, as the music cut out from time to time, especially with quick head movements. Our testing showed that Android users are less likely to have this issue.

Connectivity

We had some very interesting glitches when listening to music on the Momentum 4s. From pairing issues to random outgoing phone calls to ineffective volume control sliders, these earbuds were some of the most problematic. To determine how frequently these issues arise, we crowdsourced connectivity issues, and we were not alone in our experience. We gathered information from Amazon user reviews, keeping track of connection-related problems. The Sennheisers have a reported issue rate of 2.45%. While not the highest, it is above average, and paired with our personal experience, we have concerns about connectivity.

Battery Life

With a measured battery life of 7 hours and 30 minutes (continuously listening to music), the battery life of the Momentum 4 is acceptable depending on your goals. We loved that the battery life was on par with its manufacturer's claims.

The Sennheisers allow for three full case charges, and 8 minutes of charging buys you a full hour. These buds notify you every 10 minutes, two hours before the battery dies, that your battery is dying. We like being notified, but we wish the notifications were spaced out more, as the frequency of reminders is annoying.

Call Quality

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 is much better at call quality, perhaps in part due to the better ANC. We were able to hear clear voices in most of our testing, though they did sound a bit processed with a slight reverb.

We stress-tested with sounds that reveal call quality weak spots using both office chatter and public transit. You can listen to how they performed below.

Our public transit test had the worst call clarity. The vast majority of the earbuds we tested failed in these harsh conditions.

Our office noise test was vastly better. However, it was more difficult to understand our soft-spoken tester.

The Sennheisers are meant for ideal conditions, so they're not the best for those looking for the best call quality.

Should You Buy the Sennheiser Momentum 4?

We recommend the Sennheiser Momentum 4 for audiophile Android users who care most about excellent sound. While their sound quality delivers in spades, and their call quality didn't impress. We also think that iPhone users should avoid them, as the connectivity issues were persistent and annoying.

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