Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 Review

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Sound performance

For this review, I mostly used my iPhone as a source. This IEM is made for traveling and commuting, so it doesn’t really make sense to connect a high-end DAP to them, or a domestic source.

Most files used were played from Apple Music and Spotify, or from the internal storage of my phone.

Overall signature

Third time is the charm? Seems like it! It took a while but, Sennheiser finally has perfected its true wireless, with a sound fitting its name. 

Flush mids, exquisite voices, powerful bass, and excellent clarity, the Momentum True Wireless 3 overthrew the previous model on every level. The new model offers better textures, smoother transients, and a wider soundstage overall – and that even when just paired with my iPhone and Spotify.

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Bass especially, feels amazing. It’s deep, clean, and dwells deeply into my eardrum, without overpowering the rest of the spectrum. It’s a deep rumble, that could feel overwhelming if the German team didn’t perfectly adjust the ASDR. In fact, like every premium TWS, you know that every ms the DSP is working to adjust the power output, but you don’t “feel” it, even when noise-cancellation is active.

It’s a lot more natural than Apple’s AirPods Pro, which tends to push the low-mids and create a false sense of dynamic, even at low-volume. On this aspect, the Momentum sounds much more open, with a very nice layering, that keeps the voice upfront all the time. To that you can add the wider soundstage and on the go, and in this price range, this is one of the best experiences I had in a while.

Resolution and clarity are sublime, but that’s not surprising anymore. It’s quick, clean, and you can immediately feel the brand touch, where vocals take a really special part. Even when I cranked up the volume, or played my usual Techno tracklist, the IEM never threw me back, nor display any distortion. Even complex tracks like Manipulator from Infected Mushrooms, were rendered absolutely flawlessly.

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And while the AirPods have been tuned to flatter your ears, pushing the lower frequencies up front and giving the voices this airy, but exaggerated sensation of spaciousness, the Sennheiser never do that. Accuracy is the key and even compared to the Momentum True Wireless 2, the new TWS seems even closer to a classic, mid-high end dynamic IEM.

All-in-all, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 is one of the best-sounding True Wireless IEMs I have heard, and quite honestly, for the price, they give a run to many DAP+IEM configurations, higher priced. Go aptX, and this is a killer, especially with a good source like Tidal or Qobuz!

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Tonality

Highs: clean and refined. The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 hits hard but hits right. No harshness, a slight boost on the upper range, but nothing that could compromise the signature of those ears. For a sole DD IEM, that’s even more impressive and you’re not too far from the IE600, a great model.

Good test-track: Strobe Lights (feat. Kilian & Jo) – Henry Green remix

Mediums: spacious with clean vocals. The DSP always keeps the voices upfront, like the bass. As usual, Sennheiser did an excellent job in this regard: voices are bliss, and the TWS can fully immerse you, in just a few seconds. It even offers 3D effect, with the right source.

Good test-track Way Down we go – Kaleo

Lows: deep, fast, natural. As usual, the lows are the pillar of all the great things that happens upfront. For a TWS, the bass is astounding and the more you listen, the more you get hooked. It’s amazing how low the small diaphragm can reach, and complex engineering really shines here, displaying how intricate software and hardware have become now.

Good test-Track: To the Moon and Back – Boris Brejcha

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Sensitivity / Hiss

The Momentum True Wireless 3 aren’t hard to drive: the amplifier and DSP are directly built-in, so all you have to do is connect your source, and click play. There is no hiss whatsoever, whether you use “transparency mode”, “noise-canceling” or even “pure” mode.

Volume can reach high volumes even though it’s a TWS, so you should stay just below your comfort zone, to train your ears.

Conclusion

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 is the best TWS the brand has to offer, for now, and one of the best solutions in the sub-$250 territory.

Sound is very good, comfort is impressive, and the extensive battery life makes them the perfect solution on the go. Add to that effective noise-canceling, adaptive apX, plus a comprehensive app, and you get a solid alternative to the classic AirPods Pro or the Gemini.

Sure, the old one was better-looking, but the new one is better-sounding, and that’s what really matters at the end of the day! 

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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