Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Headphone Review: Excellent sound and battery, average ANC

Advantages:
– Outstanding sound quality
– Excellent backup battery
– Compatible with aptX and aptX Adaptive codecs
– Elegant design, comfortable to wear
– Good call quality
– Intelligent control, wear detection

Disadvantages:
– Average ANC for the segment
– Spirited companion app
– No intrusion protection

Price: Rs 34,990
Rating: 4.3/5

The Sony WH-1000XM4 has been pretty much undisputed in the wireless headphone segment in India for the past few years at nearly Rs 30,000. From sound quality to industry-leading active noise cancellation (ANC), it was an excellent product. Sony recently launched its successor, the WH-1000XM5, and has continued to improve the game in almost every area. Longtime rival Sennheiser didn’t want to sit idly by and let Sony run away with the game. Enter Momentum 4 Wireless and we have a great competition ahead of us. Read on to find out the results.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless – construction, design and comfort: 8.5/10
The design of the Momentum 4 is simple yet elegant. It is available in black and white; We got the latter for review and it looks appealing. It’s mostly plastic, with the headband covered in a textured brown fabric with a metallic Sennheiser logo. The inside of the headband as well as the ear cups have a faux leather finish with excellent padding, likely memory foam. The left and right annotation are in the earcups, which is smart.

Overall, the headphones are made of high-quality materials and the build quality is quite solid. Still, it doesn’t feel heavy and weighs pretty much the same as the Sony WH-1000XM5. The weight distribution is excellent and you don’t feel any strain when carrying it. The headband is well padded and offers stepless height adjustment. The padding of the auricle is just perfect.

The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless has a pair of 42mm drivers, and the earcups are just big enough to fit over your ears. The soft cushions apply minimal pressure to stay in place without causing discomfort, yet don’t feel wobbly. Overall comfort is marginally better than the Sony, which itself was quite good. Even after hours of listening, there was no ear fatigue. But it’s always good practice to give your ears a break every hour or two. The ear cups seal well and dampen certain ambient noises even without ANC switched on.

The back of the right ear cup accepts touch gestures. It also houses a USB-C port for charging, along with five tiny LEDs, a power button that doubles as a Bluetooth pairing button, and a headphone jack. The necessary aux cable is included to use as wired headphones in case the battery runs out. A flight adapter, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, and the instruction manual are also found in the rather sleek carrying case that matches the fabric on the headband.

Just like the Sony XM5, the earcups can be rotated and flattened, but not folded. As a result, they may take up more pocket space. But I wouldn’t worry too much about that as you can tuck it away nicely in the bundled case and store it vertically in your bag. You get wear-detection sensors on the headphones to automatically pause the audio when you take the headphones off and resume when you put them back on.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Key Features: 8.5/10
These Bluetooth 5.2 headphones support SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX Adaptive codecs, which is good. You also get multipoint support to pair this product with two devices at the same time. The wireless range is good, with the headphones easily maintaining a strong connection at 10 meters in a clear line of sight and not doing too badly even with a concrete wall in between. You get a total of four microphones for calls and ANC. You don’t get IP protection, so we wouldn’t recommend wearing them during a workout and certainly not in the rain.

You must install the Smart Control companion app to access certain settings of this product and also optimize the sound profile. You get a 3-band equalizer for that, which is a few bands short of what you get from most brands, but I wouldn’t complain. The reason is that these headphones are adjusted so well that you might not need to use the equalizer at all, although it’s good to have that option. You must register to access certain advanced features in the app, but most key settings can be accessed without registering.

The app is a bit temperamental though. It kept crashing on some Android 13 phones, but worked fine on an older Android phone. One thing you can’t change in the app are the default controls, but they’re spot on and don’t need to be changed. A single tap on the back of the right earcup can be used to play/pause audio, while horizontal or vertical sliding lets you skip to the previous/next track or adjust the volume. Double-tap to answer or end a call, or easily switch between ANC and transparency modes.

There’s something even cooler. You can adjust the noise level to block or let through on the fly with the pinch gesture. With a gesture similar to zooming in and out of photos on your phone screen, you can decide how much you want to isolate yourself from the world around you or stay connected. Or just let the Momentum 4 Wireless with adaptive noise cancellation decide. It automatically adjusts the ANC level based on the decibel levels around you. You also have location-based sound presets and noise-cancelling options if you register and provide your location data to the app.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless – Performance: (8.5/10)
When it comes to ANC, Sony is hard to beat in this segment. And just like the rest of the competition, these Sennheiser headphones don’t come close. Mind you, the Momentum 4 Wireless’ ANC isn’t bad at all, but Sony is sitting on too high a peak at the moment. These headphones do a good job of canceling out low-frequency noise like the hum of an air conditioner or certain outdoor traffic sounds. But it’s not as effective when it comes to mid to high frequency sounds.

The aforementioned Adaptive Noise Cancellation does a decent job, but I preferred going all-in with the ANC or none at all. When you need to be aware of your surroundings, simply switch to transparency mode with a double tap to let ambient noise through. Ambient sounds feel natural, but could have been boosted a little, particularly with voices. But in most cases, you don’t need to take off your headphones to have a quick conversation when transparency mode is on.

As far as audio quality goes, it’s on par with the XM5 and even slightly better if you prefer your sound to be more neutral. The sonic signature isn’t perfectly neutral, as you can feel a touch of boost for the low frequencies to add just a little extra warmth to the sound. The boost isn’t as strong as its Sony counterpart, which wasn’t excessive itself. The output is thoroughly enjoyable across different music genres, with a great balance between the three main frequency ranges. For best results, however, only increase the volume above 70%.

The bass is tight and punchy and doesn’t overshadow the mids. The mids are reproduced exceptionally well with good vocal clarity and instrument separation. The highs are sharp and show no hiss. Imaging is spot on and sound detail is excellent. The soundstage is ample wide for closed-back headphones, which adds to the overall quality of the output. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless is great for music, and watching movies or web series is just as enjoyable with very good dialogue clarity. There was also no lag between audio and video.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Call Quality: (8/10)
The call quality on these headphones is pretty good, although not the best I’ve come across. Your voice is transmitted with sufficient clarity to the interlocutor. Inside there were absolutely no complaints. It doesn’t filter out all ambient noise outdoors, but largely keeps it at bay without greatly affecting conversation. The overall performance in this department is more than decent.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless – Battery Life: (9.5/10)
This is another area where the Momentum 4 Wireless absolutely shines, and how! Sennheiser promises an insane 60 hours of battery life, even with ANC on. During my test run, I managed to get just over 50 hours at 75% volume with aptX codec and ANC 90% of the time. With around three to four hours of daily listening and very little phone use, these headphones easily lasted a fortnight before I had to hunt for a charger. I haven’t bothered to see how long the battery lasts without ANC.

This is twice the battery life that the Sony WH-1000XM5 offers when fully charged. But to be fair, Sony includes more powerful ANC circuitry, which obviously draws more power and delivers better results. Still, 50+ hours with ANC is mighty impressive. The Momentum 4 also supports fast charging with just 5 minutes of charging, giving you almost 4 hours of playtime, which is enough to watch a full movie and some. It only takes 2 hours to fully charge, which is not bad considering the long battery life.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless – price and conclusion
The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless costs Rs 34,990 with a two-year warranty. That’s the exact official price of the Sony WH-1000XM5 in India, although it’s almost always available under 30,000. Interestingly, the Momentum 4 Wireless is cheaper than the two in several overseas markets, but not here. That being said, 35K is a fair price for what it offers, particularly its balanced audio output and insanely good battery backup. So should you buy the Momentum 4 Wireless or the XM5?

Fortunately or unfortunately there is no clear winner between the two as both sound great. Those who prefer a more balanced sound will like the Sennheiser more, and those who like it a bit more powerful in the bass will be better off with the Sony. They are equal in terms of aesthetics, comfort and features, but the competition is one-sided when it comes to battery backup and ANC. While the Sennheiser takes the battery crown with ease, the Sony pulls one back with a much superior ANC. So choose one based on the features that matter most to you.

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