Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless Headphones Review

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 look more like the Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless than the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless, so they have a sleeker design than the previous gen. Sennheiser has removed the metal hinge design and opted for a plastic frame with cloth detailing. The manufacturer's logo is printed on the lower part of the headband. These headphones come in two color variants: 'Black' and 'White'.

These headphones are lightweight and comfortable for most people. The headband is comfortable, and they don't clamp too tightly on your head. However, depending on the size of your ears, they may touch the driver housing inside the ear cups. If you have a large head, you may also have trouble getting a good fit. The headband can put a bit of pressure on the top of your head, but it's not as fatiguing as the Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 have great controls. There's only one button and a touch-sensitive surface on the right ear cup, which is easy to use. There's also a unique pinching movement you can use on the touch surface to adjust the strength of the ANC and transparency modes. However, to use this command, adaptive ANC needs to be off in the app. The touch-sensitive surface is also a bit too responsive, and you can accidentally register a command if you move the headphones on your head. There are beeps to let you know when you've registered a command, as well as voice prompts for a Bluetooth connection. However, the volume and track-skipping beeps are the same tones. You also need to use the app for some features to be active.

Power button:

• Single press: Mutes and unmutes the mic.
• Press and hold: Turns the headphones on and off.

The touch-sensitive surface on the right earcup:

• Single tap: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends a call.
• Double tap: Cycles between ANC on and transparency mode. Also accepts an incoming call and puts an active call on hold.
• Swipe forward: Fast forwards through your track. Also accepts calls.
• Swipe backward: Skips to the previous track. Also ends calls.
• Hold center for two seconds: Rejects a call.
• Swipe up: Turns the volume up incrementally.
• Swipe down: Turns the volume down incrementally.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 have mediocre portability. Their ear cups can swivel to lay flat, but you can't fold them up into a more compact shape.

The carrying case is great. Thanks to its rigid body and fabric-covered zipper, it feels very sturdy and secure. There's space inside to store the accessories.

We had to order a second unit as the first pair of headphones we purchased was defective and couldn't hold a charge. Our second unit doesn't have this issue, but our experience may indicate issues in quality control. If you've had the same problem, please let us know in the forums. However, assuming you don't get a defective unit, they have a great build quality. The headphones are mostly made of plastic with a silicone and cloth headband, as well as faux leather ear cups. The plastic ear cups attract fingerprints, which is a bit annoying. Overall, these headphones feel solid and sturdy but not as well built as the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 Wireless, which have an aluminum and brushed metal frame. You can also purchase replacement earpads from the Sennheiser website. That said, you can't replace components like the battery, which is possible with the Fairphone Fairbuds XL Wireless.

They're decently stable. They shouldn't move around much if you're casually listening to music at your desk or while walking around. However, they can fall off your head with more intense head movements.

• Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 headphones
• 1/16" to 1/16" TRS audio cable
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Airplane adapter
• Hard case
• Manuals

When using the 'Flat EQ', these over-ears have a bass-heavy sound profile that delivers extra thump and rumble to mixes. It's well-suited for genres like EDM and hip-hop, but if you prefer a different sound, their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets. You can see a comparison of the EQ presets here. You can also see a comparison of the 'Bass Boost' and 'Podcast' modes here, which you can also enable at the same time as any other preset in the app.

Unlike the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 don't support this manufacturer's High-End Fine Tuning feature. Instead, there's Sound Personalization, which is a 5-band EQ that's based on your own listening preferences. This feature will ask you to listen to a song and choose between different settings. Compared to the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus Wireless, these sound quite similar, like a variation on the same basic tuning. However, the MOMENTUM 4 exhibit a slightly more laid back upper midrange affecting vocal presence and a more even treble response for better detail in the harmonics of cymbals.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4's frequency response consistency is decent. There are some deviations in audio delivery based on the headphones' fit and positioning. You may notice a drop in bass if you have thick hair or wear glasses.

They have good bass accuracy. The low to mid-bass is overemphasized, resulting in extra thump and punch in your mixes, which is great for genres like EDM and hip-hop. The overemphasis can also be heard in songs like Help I'm Alive by Metric, as the ever-present kick-bass has intense presence throughout the song, slightly overpowering the vocals. The high-bass is fairly flat and neutral, so mixes have warmth but little boominess.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 have excellent mid accuracy. The low to mid-mid are well-balanced and flat, which results in present and clear vocals and lead instruments. It can be heard in acoustic songs like The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel, as both vocalists' voices are well-present in the mix. Although there's a dip in the high-mids, which weakens vocals and instruments, it's fairly minor.

Their treble accuracy is great. The recessed low-treble veils and reduces the detail in vocals and lead instruments, but the fairly neutral mid-treble means that sibilants like cymbals are bright without being too piercing.

These headphones control their sound profile well. A bump in the low-bass adds thump and rumble mixes, while a peak between the mid-mid pushes vocals and lead instruments to the front of mixes. The high-mid is uneven, so the upper harmonics of vocals and instruments are alternatingly weak and harsh. A peak in the mid-treble makes sibilants like hi-hats piercing.

They have excellent imaging, which is the case for the majority of the Sennheiser headphones we've tested. While our Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless unit has mismatched driver issues, and it seems like their High-End Fine Tuning feature makes it worse, these headphones don't have that feature and are very well-matched. This results in the accurate placement of objects like voices in the stereo image. Keep in mind that imaging can vary between units and can be an indication of the manufacturer's quality control and ergonomics.

They have a poor passive soundstage, which is normal for closed-back over-ears. Their soundstage seems small, unnatural, and as if the sound is coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed in the room around you.

They have a great weighted harmonic distortion performance. The frequencies fall within good limits, resulting in clear and pure audio reproduction across the range.

These are the settings used to test the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4. These headphones support aptX Adaptive, which is backward compatible with aptX HD. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 have good noise isolation. These headphones have adaptive ANC, and while they have some trouble reducing the very low bass frequency sounds, they do a better job of blocking out ambient chatter and the high-pitched hum of AC units. If you're looking for an even better noise isolation performance, consider the Sonos Ace Wireless.

However, these headphones don't have an ANC off mode and can only switch between ANC on and transparency mode. As a result, we tested the passive noise isolation with the headphones off.

These headphones perform very well when it comes to cutting out noise from everyday scenarios. They're great at blocking out the whine of airplane engines, as well as the sounds of a busy, traffic-filled street. They also do a great job of cutting out office noise, from chatty coworkers to computer fan noise.

Wind noise is difficult for headphones to counteract as it directly interacts with the ANC's microphones. This causes the ANC to produce anti-noise to cancel it out, even though the sound doesn't fully reach your ear. However, it results in a loud, annoying sound. While these headphones come with a wind suppression feature, we found that it didn't make much difference to the level of wind noise regardless of whether it was set to 'Max' or 'Auto.' Overall, these headphones do a better job of cutting out wind noise compared to similar over-ears like the Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless.

Users have reported a drop in mic audio quality when using the headphones via USB. When we connected our unit to our PC using this connection, and played a track, recording halfway to mimic a conference call. You can hear the recording here (it's quite loud, so you may want to lower your audio before playing it!). Although there's slight hissing coming from our speaker in the testing box, there's also a noticeable drop in audio quality, which can be frustrating if you want to use them for work calls. Keep in mind that the recording only shows the difference between USB and Bluetooth mic audio quality and doesn't demonstrate the sound quality of the headphones.

These headphones have good Bluetooth connectivity. They support multi-device pairing, so you can stay connected to your phone and computer at the same time. Like the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 Wireless, they also support aptX Adaptive and are backward-compatible with aptX HD, which can help stream hi-res audio content with better audio quality. That said, latency is high with the default codec, SBC, as well as higher-quality codecs like aptX and aptX Adaptive (High-Quality), and delays are noticeable between the audio you hear and the visuals on screen. It's not a big deal if you're only streaming audio, but you'll want to stick to aptX Adaptive (Low Latency) if you're watching videos. Some apps and devices compensate for latency differently.

We also checked how Sennheiser's 'Audio Resolution' and 'Standard' modes affect latency. However, when using aptX Adaptive (High Quality), both modes performed very similarly at over 350 ms. As a result, we expect both Bluetooth modes to perform the same. The mid-tier Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus Wireless support a similar set of Bluetooth codecs with lower latency when using aptX Adaptive (High Quality), although you'd still notice lag if you tried watching video, and their low latency codec results are similar.