Everyday Use
On the go
On a daily basis, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless is brilliant… and incredibly frustrating.
Let’s begin with the goods: Bluetooth pairing is blazing fast. Once you’ve paired your headset, it’ll automatically connect to your phone and I was pleasantly surprised to see the Momentum systematically pair with my iPhone every time I turned on the headset.
The same goes for the overall ergonomics. With a sensitive cup, instead of buttons, the Momentum 4 was easier to control than I expected, especially on the go.
- slide your finger upward to raise the volume, reverse gesture to lower the volume,
- a single touch to play/pause,
- dual touch to activate/deactivate the noise-cancelling / transparent hearing
It’s quite intuitive and I have to praise Sennheiser’s engineers for that.
But, and that’s a BBW but(t): there are tons of bugs.
First of all, to get the best of your Momentum 4, Sennheiser advises you to install the Smart Control app on your smartphone – which I did. But, the first connection took no less than 10 attempts and 3 hard resets before success, and I’m usually good with tech stuff…
Once done, the app offers you multiple options like:
- ear detection, so the music automatically play/pause when you remove/wear your headphones. If a bit clumsy in the previous version, it’s now totally inoperant!
- activate/deactivate the noise-cancelling. That didn’t work when I got the headphone the first time, but after a quick software update, it now works normally
- change the sound signature to give the headphone a personal taste. It worked well during the first weeks, but the last update made it inoperant…
To that I have to point out the fact that the Momentum 4 crashed time and time, forcing me to reset the headphone whenever that occurred. And that’s a real shame, because when it works, the Sennheiser is a real joy to use, even more so when I’m on the train, where the AirPods Max became too big on a daily basis.
So let’s hope Sennheiser quickly fixes that…
Active noise-cancelling
Isolation
Another massive disappointment, as the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless displays one of the worse noise-cancellation I tried this year. In fact, it’s so weak that I even suspected my model to be faulty. But, after grabbing a pair at my local audio shop, I had to accept the truth: it’s just that bad.
To be more accurate, if I’d rate my AirPods Pro 2 10/10 in this regard, and the AirPods Max 7/10, the Momentum 4 would not mark more than 3/10 on my personal chart. Outside voices are clearly audible, even at moderate listening volume, while high-pitched sounds get through whatever the situation. The only sounds correctly annihilated are low-pitched noises, but that may just be the good cushions working their way here…
So maybe that’s another software fix to get, but for now, with or without noise-cancelling, there is no difference.
Transparency mode
Just a quick word regarding the Transparency mode: it’s quite efficient, but it sounds way too artificial, especially compared to Apple’s headsets.
Contrary to the AirPods Max, where you get the sensation that your headphone magically disappears, the Momentum 4 Wireless just enhances outside voices and everything that’s above the 2kHz. It doesn’t magically blend but either seems like you’ve put too much contrast on a picture.
Again, it’s much more efficient to just remove the headphone this time.
The review continues on Page Four, after the click HERE or by using the jump below.
Vitek
The review is true. The sound is amazing. I have tested Momentum 4 side by side with 1000XM5. The sound diference was so big that I’ve sent 1000XM5 right back.
It seems like the ANC and app issues solved after the update.
Marc
This might be the only negative review I’ve seen on this headphone.
I am a big fan of the Momentum 3 wireless, the sound quality is fantastic for a Bluetooth headphone, especially when you use the high end setting in the app.
The noise canceling on that headphone is not the greatest, but I’m very happy with the sound.