Sennheiser Momentum 4 luxury wireless Bluetooth headphones bring an updated design and improved noise cancellation.

The Sennheiser Momentum 4, the most recent model of the Sennheiser Momentum that was first introduced a decade ago at the beginning of the luxury wireless headphone design, do away with the vintage ear cups and stainless steel band of their forerunners in favor of a sleek, contemporary design that is more in line with its top-tier Bluetooth noise-canceling rivals.

If you're searching for an all-purpose over-ear wireless headphone, the Momentum 4 is a strong option. They produce the excellent sound for which Sennheiser is renowned, and while their updated appearance and feel make it harder to distinguish them from the competition, their consistent performance across the board at a price that's a little more reasonable than the high-end competition makes it worthwhile to take into consideration for discerning listeners who want something fully featured that they won't have to fuss with much to get good performance.


Sennheiser Momentum 4 luxury wireless Bluetooth headphones bring an updated design and improved noise cancellation.


What we liked about them


The new Sennheiser Momentum 4 sounds great right out of the box, which is the most crucial fact to know. Sennheiser has a long history in headphone design and has created some of the most well-liked consumer and professional headphones, which is evident in Momentum 4's meticulous voicing. No matter what we decided to listen to, we experienced a well-balanced, enjoyable performance with a restrained bass end and lots of detail in the mids.

The three-band EQ works well, and there are several helpful presets that are specific to different musical genres. The "Soundcheck" service from Sennheiser allows you to subscribe and automatically applies settings according to what you're listening to. Although it's a fascinating option, we don't believe that the majority of consumers will prefer this level of optimization for everyday listening. Instead, we believe that individuals who want to ride the EQ track by track will be more likely to DIY. There are all the necessary capabilities, but you don't get the amount of granular control that Sony or Technics applications offer, nor the spatialization and customizing features that Apple or Sony apps offer.

The title track from Soundgarden's "Superunknown" can sound cluttered on poorer headphones because it balances Chris Cornell's soaring vocals, Kim Thayil's grinding medium-gain guitars, the dominating rhythm section of Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd, as well as a lot of stereo placement trickery, but even flat, it was pleasant to listen here because everything was in its proper place and was reproduced with accurate tone and texture. Lows may have been slightly muted by lowering the EQ's lowest band by 1.5 to 2 dB, but this is entirely a matter of preference.

Acoustic music could be recreated just as effectively. The Momentum 4 do an excellent job of capturing Gil Evans' beautiful orchestration, from Ron Carter's deep bass to Ray Crawford's proto-skronk guitar, in "Out of the Cool"Bilbao "'s Song," Kurt Weill's famous big-band arrangement. Even without any EQ applied. The calls are clear, and a handy "Sidetone" feature feeds an amount of your own speech back into the headset while you're on the phone that you can control. If you're the kind of person who finds the sound of your own voice a touch unsettling, this produces a more natural sound.

Active noise cancellation( ANC) — which wasn’t the strongest suit of the before instigation models is bettered then, and on par with the maturity of the competition, though it was n’t as effective as the leading Bose 700 or the Apple AirPods Max in reducing noise from our air exertion and kitchen hood exhaust suckers. Cancellation actually brought these feathers of steady- state noises to a lower private position than the Sony XM5, but the results were a bit less natural- sounding, so they may not be the stylish choice for using on their own to block out background noise without music or other audio playing. With music playing, all of these headphones reduce background noise to a slightly distinguishable position unless you ’re doing really critical listening, which you would n’t be using noise- canceling headphones for in any case. 

 

 That said, enabling ANC on the instigation 4 is pleasantly noninteractive with EQ, so it does n’t have that important effect on the tonal characteristics of what you ’re harkening to. You can balance ANC with translucency via a crossfader, or switch on “ adaptive ” mode, which chooses for you grounded on microphone input. 

 Still, “ Sound zones ” let you use geofencing to change the geste 

 of the headphones depending on where you are; you can, say, If that’s not enough robotization for you. It’s meant to give commodity along the lines of Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control, though you get further of a say-so in how it adjusts this way at the expenditure of some advance planning. 

 

 For trip purposes( or if you prefer a ingrained connection), a2.5mm- to-3.5 mm cord is included, along with a two- point airline appendage. The instigation 4 work wired without being powered up, which is great if you run out of battery or just want to save it if you ’re using a heritage device as a source. fitting the string indeed puts the headphones into flight mode and turns Bluetooth out, which is a nice touch for avoiding confusion or ending up on a flight attendant’s bad side. 

Like the Technics EAH- A800, these undercut the Sony XM5( kindly ) and Apple AirPods Max( significantly) on price; it’s a positive trend in our opinion to see the audio specialist brands bringing the pricing down on these point- packed headphones, indeed if these newer models do n’t relatively match the bigger technology enterprises ’ offering on some specialized counts, and we hope to see a little more downcast pressure on price. 

The Sennheiser Momentum 4, the most recent model of the Sennheiser Momentum that was first introduced a decade ago at the beginning of the luxury wireless headphone design, do away with the vintage ear cups and stainless steel band of their forerunners in favor of a sleek, contemporary design that is more in line with its top-tier Bluetooth noise-canceling rivals. If you're searching for an all-purpose over-ear wireless headphone, the Momentum 4 is a strong option. They produce the excellent sound for which Sennheiser is renowned, and while their updated appearance and feel make it harder to distinguish them from the competition, their consistent performance across the board at a price that's a little more reasonable than the high-end competition makes it worthwhile to take into consideration for discerning listeners who want something fully featured that they won't have to fuss with much to get good performance. What we liked about them The new Sennheiser Momentum 4 sounds great right out of the box, which is the most crucial fact to know. Sennheiser has a long history in headphone design and has created some of the most well-liked consumer and professional headphones, which is evident in Momentum 4's meticulous voicing. No matter what we decided to listen to, we experienced a well-balanced, enjoyable performance with a restrained bass end and lots of detail in the mids. The three-band EQ works well, and there are several helpful presets that are specific to different musical genres. The "Soundcheck" service from Sennheiser allows you to subscribe and automatically applies settings according to what you're listening to. Although it's a fascinating option, we don't believe that the majority of consumers will prefer this level of optimization for everyday listening. Instead, we believe that individuals who want to ride the EQ track by track will be more likely to DIY. There are all the necessary capabilities, but you don't get the amount of granular control that Sony or Technics applications offer, nor the spatialization and customizing features that Apple or Sony apps offer. The title track from Soundgarden's "Superunknown" can sound cluttered on poorer headphones because it balances Chris Cornell's soaring vocals, Kim Thayil's grinding medium-gain guitars, the dominating rhythm section of Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd, as well as a lot of stereo placement trickery, but even flat, it was pleasant to listen here because everything was in its proper place and was reproduced with accurate tone and texture. Lows may have been slightly muted by lowering the EQ's lowest band by 1.5 to 2 dB, but this is entirely a matter of preference. Acoustic music could be recreated just as effectively. The Momentum 4 do an excellent job of capturing Gil Evans' beautiful orchestration, from Ron Carter's deep bass to Ray Crawford's proto-skronk guitar, in "Out of the Cool"Bilbao "'s Song," Kurt Weill's famous big-band arrangement. Even without any EQ applied. The calls are clear, and a handy "Sidetone" feature feeds an amount of your own speech back into the headset while you're on the phone that you can control. If you're the kind of person who finds the sound of your own voice a touch unsettling, this produces a more natural sound. Active noise cancellation( ANC) — which wasn’t the strongest suit of the before instigation models is bettered then, and on par with the maturity of the competition, though it was n’t as effective as the leading Bose 700 or the Apple AirPods Max in reducing noise from our air exertion and kitchen hood exhaust suckers. Cancellation actually brought these feathers of steady- state noises to a lower private position than the Sony XM5, but the results were a bit less natural- sounding, so they may not be the stylish choice for using on their own to block out background noise without music or other audio playing. With music playing, all of these headphones reduce background noise to a slightly distinguishable position unless you ’re doing really critical listening, which you would n’t be using noise- canceling headphones for in any case. That said, enabling ANC on the instigation 4 is pleasantly noninteractive with EQ, so it does n’t have that important effect on the tonal characteristics of what you ’re harkening to. You can balance ANC with translucency via a crossfader, or switch on “ adaptive ” mode, which chooses for you grounded on microphone input. Still, “ Sound zones ” let you use geofencing to change the geste of the headphones depending on where you are; you can, say, If that’s not enough robotization for you. It’s meant to give commodity along the lines of Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control, though you get further of a say-so in how it adjusts this way at the expenditure of some advance planning. For trip purposes( or if you prefer a ingrained connection), a2.5mm- to-3.5 mm cord is included, along with a two- point airline appendage. The instigation 4 work wired without being powered up, which is great if you run out of battery or just want to save it if you ’re using a heritage device as a source. fitting the string indeed puts the headphones into flight mode and turns Bluetooth out, which is a nice touch for avoiding confusion or ending up on a flight attendant’s bad side. Like the Technics EAH- A800, these undercut the Sony XM5( kindly ) and Apple AirPods Max( significantly) on price; it’s a positive trend in our opinion to see the audio specialist brands bringing the pricing down on these point- packed headphones, indeed if these newer models do n’t relatively match the bigger technology enterprises ’ offering on some specialized counts, and we hope to see a little more downcast pressure on price. What we didn’t like about them The aged instigation models had a distinct antique look, with a pristine band, leather observance mugs, and a bit of a Radar O’Reilly aesthetic. That’s been dropped with the new model in favor of a design that nearly resembles the rearmost models from Sony, Bose and Jabra, with lots of black plastic shells and minimalist design cues. As with those other minimalist headphones, you wo n’t find important in the way of physical controls on the instigation 4 A single multipurpose button powers the headphones on, gives you access to voice sidekicks, provides system information and initiates and manages pairing. Everything additional is fulfilled via touch controls on both observance mugs. While this kind of arrangement is popular currently and we understand its appeal( there’s lower to break, functions are upgradeable and touch panels make for a satiny look), this is n’t our favorite arrangement. First out, we really prefer at least a physical volume control for exigency situations the digital crown on the AirPods Max or buttons on the Bose QC 45 are just so much further intuitive to snare when you ’ve switched from harkening to speakers without conforming your computer’s volume controls, or you stumble across a track that’s been learned far too hot. While you ultimately get habituated to the locales of different functions, without taking a look it can be hard to find exactly what you want without some practice and easy to accidentally spark commodity you do n’t want while conforming fit or putting the headphones on or taking them off. The touch shells are also slower to respond to input than physical buttons, and numerous functions bear multiple presses. The Sennheiser Smart Control app is nicely laid out, but you wo n’t get as grainy control over the sound and performance characteristics as you'll from the Technics EAH- A800( that said, the Momentum 4 sound better out of the box than the EAH- A800, and we imagine numerous druggies wo n’t mind the limited EQ on offer then). Also, a many of the more intriguing options are only accessible if you ’re logged into a Sennheiser account, which not everyone may want. Bottom line With the instigation 4, Sennheiser has reenlisted the wireless flagship headphone competition — which the company innovated with the original Momentum — in a big way, and the brand has succeeded on utmost counts. While we miss the earlier Momentum’s hand design and suppose utmost listeners will be better served with the better ANC available from Sony or Bose or the convenience and stronger interface design of the Apple AirPods Max, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 are a strong overall contender in the ever- more-crowded Bluetooth flagship headphone arena, and give great sound without any tinkering needed.


What we didn’t like about them


The aged instigation models had a distinct antique look, with a pristine band, leather observance mugs, and a bit of a Radar O’Reilly aesthetic. That’s been dropped with the new model in favor of a design that nearly resembles the rearmost models from Sony, Bose and Jabra, with lots of black plastic shells and minimalist design cues. 

 

 As with those other minimalist headphones, you wo n’t find important in the way of physical controls on the instigation 4 A single multipurpose button powers the headphones on, gives you access to voice sidekicks, provides system information and initiates and manages pairing. Everything additional is fulfilled via touch controls on both observance mugs. 

While this kind of arrangement is popular currently and we understand its appeal( there’s lower to break, functions are upgradeable and touch panels make for a satiny look), this is n’t our favorite arrangement. First out, we really prefer at least a physical volume control for exigency situations the digital crown on the AirPods Max or buttons on the Bose QC 45 are just so much further intuitive to snare when you ’ve switched from harkening to speakers without conforming your computer’s volume controls, or you stumble across a track that’s been learned far too hot. 

 

 While you ultimately get habituated to the locales of different functions, without taking a look it can be hard to find exactly what you want without some practice and easy to accidentally spark commodity you do n’t want while conforming fit or putting the headphones on or taking them off. The touch shells are also slower to respond to input than physical buttons, and numerous functions bear multiple presses. 

The Sennheiser Smart Control app is nicely laid out, but you wo n’t get as grainy control over the sound and performance characteristics as you'll from the Technics EAH- A800( that said, the Momentum 4 sound better out of the box than the EAH- A800, and we imagine numerous druggies wo n’t mind the limited EQ on offer then). Also, a many of the more intriguing options are only accessible if you ’re logged into a Sennheiser account, which not everyone may want. 

Bottom line

With the instigation 4, Sennheiser has reenlisted the wireless flagship headphone competition — which the company innovated with the original Momentum — in a big way, and the brand has succeeded on utmost counts. While we miss the earlier Momentum’s hand design and suppose utmost listeners will be better served with the better ANC available from Sony or Bose or the convenience and stronger interface design of the Apple AirPods Max, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 are a strong overall contender in the ever- more-crowded Bluetooth flagship headphone arena, and give great sound without any tinkering needed. 

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