Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 Review

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In this article we’re looking at the all-new Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3, a TWS IEM from the German brand, selling for €249 / $249.

 

Disclaimer: The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 was bought by myself for this review. 

About Sennheiser

Founded in 1945, Sennheiser is one of the eldest, and most respected, audio brands on the market. With billions of headphones and IEMs sold over the year, and legendary headsets like the Orpheus or the HD-25, the German brand remains a reference for audiophiles and professionals, even after more than 75 years of existence.

Yet, in 2021, Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser decided to sell the consumer electronic division (AKA audio and audiophiles headphones) to Sonova – a Swiss brand specialized in aid-hearing devices – and focus on their pro division. An unexpected move that sounded like the end of an era, but in the end the catalog remained, almost, untouched leaving the HD800S and HD660S to the catalog, while some lesser models like the HD450BT quietly took the way out.

Sennheiser IE 600

That said, like every manufacturer out there, Sennheiser faced an unattended opponent, more known for their players, than for their earphones: Apple. A rival who took over the market with a single product, the AirPods, which replaced almost every portable headphone or IEMs, by TWS.

And so, like everyone, the brand had to adapt and created the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless, a great TWS gifted with terrific sound performances, but plagued by various software issues. Then came the gen 2, with some fixes and the same prowess.

But, now comes the gen 3, the first Momentum True Wireless sold under the new Sennheiser-Sonova era. Is it better, is it worse? Time to find out!

Design & Build Quality

Shell

If the True Wireless 1 and 2 were nearly identical, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 deviates from the early design and leans more toward the new Cx series. Gone is the aluminum faceplate, replaced by a semi-curved black plastic enclosure, pierced with two holes for the microphones. 

Less iconic, and more futuristic, I was a bit disappointed by the new design at first, as the rounded silvery shell of the previous generations gave a cool variation from Apple’s pure-white AirPods. That said, once in the hand, the Momentum TW3 gave a confident feeling, reinforced by the thickness of the shell – those are made to last.

In the same way, the charging box remains one of the most beautiful, and classy, solutions available at the moment. Covered by a greyish fabric, this tiny box opens like clamshell and gives a very satisfying sensation when you close the lid, much more than my AirPods Pro box by comparison.

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Build quality

As I said, the Momentum Wireless 3 feels cheaper than the 2 in hand. Yet, they are still one of the best models out now, thanks to their sturdy design and superb build quality.

I lost them quite a few times while removing them from my ears. Happily, they survived the concrete, the wood, the tiles, and even the mud. Sure, they will break if you stomp them, but all acrylic/plastic IEMs will.

The three-layer shell is impeccably glued together, to ensure a perfect seal for the IPX4 certification. and consists of :

  • the faceplate, harboring the Sennheiser logo
  • a middle ring designed to lock the Momentum tightly in your ear
  • the inner side where you’ll find the charging ports and the ear canal

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The charging box is the same and even after a few weeks in my backpack, it still looks flawless, as the fabric cover acted like a protective layer against fall and wears.

It’s sturdy enough to protect the Momentum from light falls and commuting. The magnet is perfectly well dosed, with just the right force when you open/close the clam, and the plastic lid is also very well-designed.

Last but not least, you have an USB-C port for charging purposes, and a small led indicating whether your TWS is fully charged, charging, or battery depleted.

Page 1: Sennheiser overview, design & build quality

Page 2: Daily use, specifications

Page 3: Sound performances

4.3/5 - (73 votes)
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A nerdy guy with a passion for audio and gadgets, he likes to combine his DAC and his swiss knife. Even after more than 10 years of experience, Nanotechnos still collects all gear he gets, even his first MPMAN MP3 player. He likes spreadsheets, technical specs and all this amazing(ly boring) numbers. But most of all, he loves music: electro, classical, dubstep, Debussy : the daily playlist.

10 Comments

  • Reply July 21, 2022

    Lord Sinister

    Hi, hope all is well? An interesting review for sure but I’m very curious how the sound quality compares to Noble Fokus Pro, Lypertek Z7 and 1More Evo. Kindly provide if possible.

    Thanks in advance!

    • Reply July 31, 2022

      Javier Gonzalez

      This is a decent review and I can’t find much fault with it.
      My issue I think is with the lack of consistency in this site’s review methodology.
      This review hammers down the point that the Momentum True Wireless 3 is a much better sounding IEM than the previous iteration, yet somehow it doesn’t replace the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 in the list of best/recommended TWS.
      As for the review itself, the comparison (if you can call it that) with the with AirPods Pro is useless. I apologize for the blanket generalization but my intuition is that most people coming to a site like Headphonia don’t use AirPods as reference.
      What I want to know is the performance in its price bracket and or not it compares favorably with more expensive products like the Fokus Pro.

  • Reply July 21, 2022

    lovender

    No Aptx Low Latency (LL) = No buy! I use Momentum TWS 1 that support aptx LL codec for gaming purpose. Aptx LL reach 40ms latency. But aptx Adaptive only reach 80ms latency. So, it’s a big NO for me. Sadly, TWS 1 is a defect product with its batery drain issue on the left earbud…

  • Reply July 22, 2022

    joe

    you know that being aptx adaptive, those tws 3 fohave aptx-,LL…
    so keep your Big No to you and lets other enjoy it 😉

  • Reply July 25, 2022

    Wolf Gang

    What‘s “ASDR”? Is it a typo?

    What‘s “mid end” supposed to express? The mid has no end. The may be high-end or low-end, but “mid end”?

  • Reply November 9, 2022

    Jay steph

    1 big thing missing and it’s the audio quality, tge soecs abd battery kife can be great but if the headphones shounds like garbage so what’s the point, i think it’s a missed opportunity here and a review without the main thing headphones are used for is unprofessional and amature like.

    • Reply November 9, 2022

      Lieven

      Thank you for your comment. However, before blaming someone of being an “Amature”, please learn to read (and write) first and read all the pages. The full part on Sound is on the last page of the article.

  • Reply November 29, 2022

    szoze

    Aren’t you able to read and also click on a link where it says “Sound performance”? What an arrogant comment by someone who barely can write and obviously even can’t read and use the Internet.

  • Reply November 14, 2023

    Eric

    I would like to see a comparison between these, the Sony WF-1000MX5’s, B&W Pi7’s and Status… could include another premium TW you wanted as well.

  • Reply November 26, 2023

    MheAd

    MTW3 really sound great. And they also look freaking good! But the connectivity stability is bad. You’ll notice this even in home environment conditions if you even briefly go few meters away from the paired device.But biggest annoyance starts when you take them out for a walk on a busy street. This is especially noticable if you have them paired with a Qualcomm chip phone that supports AptX Adaptive. The main idea with AptX Adaptive is to have an oscillating, seamless kind of adjustment of bandwidth / quality, depending on conditions, which should not be noticable by human ear. But, at smallest distrubance (when other codecs would get a short “hickup”) AptX Adaptive implementation in MTW3 will drop the quality so aggressively that it will make the music sound lower, compressed, and more mono-like. Then it can take up to 10 secs before it recovers, until the next time it happens again. This is not AptX Adaptive by design. My Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2 with AptX Adaptive do not suffer from this. This is MTW3-thing. For this reason I have to enforce through an external app to use some lower bandwith codec, like regular AptX or AAC, to avoid this effect. Shame, cause, once again – I really love how the sound in disturbance free environment. I love to listen to 24/96khz sources on them when at home. The battery life is only mediocre – just above 5 hrs with ANC on. For the reasons described above I cannot recommend them to anyone who needs to use them for more than sporadic listening of music at home.

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