Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review: Superb sound with a promising future
The title for this Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review should be “Momentum 4 the future.” See what I did there? I didn’t go with that because it would sound like a press release, but when you drill down to what Sennheiser has done here, that’s exactly what stands out most about these earbuds, which support lossless streaming over Bluetooth (if you also have a phone that supports it). I’ll dive into that future in detail in a bit, but first, I’m going to tell you that you should never buy based on what a product may be but what it is right now!
Confused? Don’t be.
What Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds are today is outstanding. They don’t include spatial audio, and some competitors may have a stronger feature here or there, but Sennheiser does high-end sound so well that these Momentums and the strength of their features make them a serious contender in a market that already has some tough competition in the $300 price range.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Price & availability
Sennheiser announced the Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds on January 8, 2024, with a pre-order date of February 15th and availability on March 1. Priced at $299.99, that’s a $50 increase over the $249.95 launch of the Momentum True Wireless 3 in 2022.
You have three colors you can choose from: black copper, metallic silver, and graphite. I have the graphite pair for review. They have a long list of features, but you should know they won’t ship with all of them. We’ll get into that momentarily.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: What I like
As I said earlier, this article could be titled “Momentum 4 the future,” but much like Veruca Salt, I want what I want and I want it now! And Sennheiser delivers that in spades, er, musical notes.
Cracking the box open, you’re met with what looks nearly identical to the previous generation earbuds—that sweet, sweet tweed charging case. The Momentum True Wireless 3’s body is black, but I like the new graphite more.
The shape of the earbuds is nearly identical, but the earbud tips have a new trick this year. The previous model had a “+” with mesh beneath it, which wasn’t easy to clean. This year, a perforated silicon surface was molded into the inner portion of the ear tip, which I think handles wax buildup from workouts better.
In addition to the usual sizes, you get a set of extra small tips for those with baby-like ear canals like me. You’ll also get a total of three ear fins to help with sizing, which is a nice addition as they add some friction where the buds sit against the concha. All of this made the Momentum True Wireless 4s comfortable for extended periods of wear.
You’ll also get the USB-C charge cable in the box, which you won’t need if you’re going to charge wirelessly overnight. When charging over the cable, it will take an hour and a half to get to a full charge, and eight minutes of quick charging will give you an hour of playback. Sennheiser says you’ll get up to seven and a half hours of playback with ANC off and seven with it on. That held pretty true to spec for my use, but more long-term testing will reveal how consistent that is as I listen to more hi-res audio files.
When it comes to power, one of the options I appreciate in these lithium ion-equipped earbuds is a new “Battery Protection Mode” in the Smart Control app. This feature charges the unit slower and prevents charging to 100% to prolong the lifespan of your battery. I charge on a Qi wireless enabled pad at night, and the fully charged case will get you up to 30 hours of additional listening time so this slower Qi charging is a non-issue for me.
There are truly wireless earbuds on the market with more effective noise canceling, but these still did a solid job in my testing. As I walked neighborhood side streets and a busy main street, the MTW4s did a great job of canceling or dampening the majority of sound with their improved adaptive noise canceling, although this is notably something I only do when testing earbuds. Usually, I walk with transparency modes activated to maintain my situational awareness. Sitting in my office and blasting 80dB of airplane cabin noise on YouTube, with no music playing, that noise was significantly hushed but not canceled. With music playing, that cabin noise was barely noticeable.
The transparency mode isn’t just “on,” but it also has a slider in the app that allows you to set the level of transparency from “Low” to “High.” It sounds pretty natural, and though I tested it at various levels, I keep it at “High.” Placing it on “Low” feels more like it’s an ANC slider than transparency and defeats the point.
Still, in terms of earbuds that I’ve listened to in the last year, these are among the best for ANC implementation, even if they don’t place first or second for their effectiveness.
You’ll get pretty solid call quality out of the six MEMS and beamforming microphones (three on each bud) when you do make calls. During one of my test calls, my buddy on the other end couldn’t tell I was using a Bluetooth earpiece, and that was in my car with the windows down at times. On the other hand, I tested mic quality standing next to a water feature in front of a luxury high-rise on a major street, and I sounded “robotic.” The MTW4 did an excellent job of removing some serious background noise, but my actual vocal quality was middling.
Your location will matter in terms of how natural you sound, but in the oft-quiet room conditions we take Zoom or Google Meet calls from, you should be fine. Your mileage may vary if you find yourself in a noisy cafe.
The best way for me to test audio, which has been improved over the Momentum True Wireless 3, was to hit Tidal and the locally stored FLAC files on my Pixel 7 Pro and utilize the aptX codec supported by the MTW4s. Playing audio back in standard aptX at CD quality (16bit, 44.1kHz) is a delightful experience and one of the reasons why Sennheiser continues to be my “go-to” for active listening. Despite being what I call “boom bap balanced,” Sennheiser produces a large soundstage regardless of musical genre. This is evident when listening to Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes.” Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s acapella intro has a heavenly quality, and when the instrumentation finally kicks in around a minute and ten seconds into the song, the meticulously layered stereo image is absolutely beautiful.
Boom bap balanced is a reference to hip-hop-inspired tuning, which shines through on what is arguably among the best produced and engineered rap songs, “Still D.R.E.,” making Dr. Dre’s tracks and samples crystal clear. His and Snoop Dogg’s vocals are bright and never muddy, and the way Dr. Dre plays with the panning between the song’s body and Snoop’s smooth delivery of the chorus is a Master Class in rap track engineering. But I digress.
The out-of-the-box sound experience on the Momentum True Wireless 4s is an excellent boom bap balanced base to begin with, but going through the guided EQ customization of the Smart Controls app's Sound Personalization feature elevates the overall experience. I pulled the mids and highs a bit more forward by the end of the personalization routine, resulting in one of the best Bluetooth earbud listening experiences I’ve had with Beyonce’s “Texas Hold ‘Em.” But it doesn't stop there.
The Smart Control app provides additional customization options. Tapping “edit” on the Equalizer tile allows you to utilize a variety of Sennheiser presets, use its five-band equalizer to adjust frequency nodes, or use the Sound Check feature to tailor multiple EQs to accommodate specific genres you listen to.
For you music nerds out there or those trying to learn more, the app will even show you data about the music while it’s playing, which can come in handy.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Momentum 4 the future
The MTW4's chipset is Qualcomm’s S5 Sound Gen 2 platform with Snapdragon Sound with Bluetooth 5.4 and support for aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive Audio, Bluetooth LE Audio, LC3, and Auracast. That's what will enable those future upgrades and future-proof these earbuds.
The claim is that the chipset will enable “bit-by-bit flawless audio transmission.” Sweet! However, if you’re the average smartphone consumer in North America, you likely don’t currently own a phone that supports aptX Lossless or Adaptive Audio. Boo!
Nontheless, LE Audio will eventually include an updated LC3 codec in the MTW4s. The Bluetooth SIG says this codec will improve battery life by streaming audio at lower data rates without compromising quality.
Then there's Auracast, which is your Bluetooth connection to the world. It enables a single-source public address system to broadcast audio to what they claim will be a limitless number of devices, kind of like FM radio (if you’re FM radio years old and know what that is). So you can easily pick up audio from TVs at the gym or that self-led docent tour at your favorite museum.
What's most exciting is what Auracast enables for those who wear hearing aids. They'll get direct audio feeds without the hearing aids having to process ambient sound so users can hear TVs and music. Auracast support is also coming to the Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds via a future firmware update.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: What could use some work
In addition to the earbuds not having all the features at launch, the Momentum True Wireless 4's case is larger than some of its competition, making it a tight fit in your jeans coin pocket and a bit bulky in a pants pocket. It isn't terrible, but you feel that difference if you've been using something a bit more svelte.
The ANC, though well implemented, doesn't allow you to just crank it to the max and stay there. This is, after all, adaptive noise canceling, which, as the name implies, automatically adjusts to your surroundings. It's a plus for battery life when you don't need aggressive canceling, and the level scales down along with battery usage, but sitting at my quiet desk typing this with it on and no music playing, I can hear my delightfully clicky and loud mechanical keyboard. However, when pressing play on "Texas Hold' Em" again, the clicky keys are barely perceptible.
Something else I don't care about is that the charge port for the case is on the front, while the charge cables on my desk are routed through the back. So, if I turn it around and plug it up, I can’t see the charging indicator. I imagine this design decision was likely made because of the wireless charging, but it still seems... backward.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Competition
One of my favorite earbuds this year, so far, Technics EAH-AZ80, beats Sennheiser in the multipoint race, being the first to support three device simultaneous connections. And for those looking for something with a bit more swag in terms of design, its brushed metal aesthetic is eye-catching. Then, of course, when we’re talking about noise canceling as a priority in your purchasing decision, you’re going to look at Sony’s WF-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds. There’s also the Beats Fit Pro if workouts are a central part of your life- another favorite of mine.
Looking at that competition, you just really need to know what’s most important to you. Technics’ sound profile is more treble forward out of the box, Beats are definitely heavier in the bottom end than Sennheiser, and Bose is absolutely neutral when compared to the Sennheiser curve.
Other than standing out with Bluetooth 5.4, Sennheiser also has the highest durability rating at IP54, upgrading from the IPX4 found in the previous generation and the current competition.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Should you buy it?
You should buy this if...
Big, airy, warm sound is important to you
You like and listen to everything. All the genres
You like living on the bleeding edge of tech and are willing to bet on being able to access future enhancements
You shouldn't buy this if...
Noise canceling is your top priority
You don't care about lossless audio
Your wallet weeps at the thought of spending $300 for earbuds
Bluetooth 5.4, multipoint pairing, an exhaustive list of codec support, and Sennheiser sound are among the many reasons to take a hard look at Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds for your next audio gear purchase. They check all the right boxes for me, including the most important one: sound quality. Sure, there are better noise-canceling earbuds on the market, but when we talk about cancellation effectiveness, how many of you engage in an activity and use your earbuds with no audio? With audio playing, the difference in quality between Sennheiser and its competitors is negligible, and you don’t have to sacrifice audio quality for it.
If Sennheiser and the Bluetooth SIG deliver on their technological promises, that could make these the earbuds to beat in the near future if you’re outside the U.S. Stateside though, only time will tell as we wait for handset manufacturers to implement all that Bluetooth 5.4 offers.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4
More to come
The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 are some of the best sounding earbuds you can buy, with support for plenty of audio codecs for high-res audio. And with more features on the way, these earbuds are practically future-proof.
