Sennheiser Momentum 4 Review

We think audiophiles and Android users are most likely to love the Sennheiser Momentum 4 buds. These have some of the best sound quality of any other pair of earbuds we tested and come with a feature-packed smart app.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds are a sonic powerhouse, blending impressive clarity with an expansive soundstage to elevate any listening experience. Our panel of audio experts tested an extensive playlist across various genres, covering a broad spectrum of styles and tonal balances. Based on this, we believe audiophiles will love the beautifully neutral and balanced equalization (EQ) of these buds. They come remarkably close to perfection.

The earbuds impress across genres, from the layered vocals in “Makey My” by The Roots to the melodic flow of “Moves” by Suki Waterhouse. They balance warmth and precision, letting you savor each instrument's role in the mix. Whether it's the harmonies in “Hannah” or the atmospheric layers in “LEVII'S JEANS” by Beyoncé and Post Malone, the Momentum delivers a rich listening experience, allowing you to appreciate the artistry of each track. You don't just hear the music, you experience it.

The treble frequencies are warm, smooth, and well-developed, without feeling forced or artificially enhanced. They allow you to drift into a rich soundscape, maintaining a natural and balanced quality throughout. Whether you're enjoying classical compositions like “Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op.48” by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra or the emotional depth of Michael Forster's piano in “On the Nature of Daylight”, these earbuds handle high notes with impressive clarity and precision.

The bass frequencies are fully developed, rich, and clear, providing depth without overpowering the track. For example, in “Wildfire” by Cautious Clay, the low frequencies bring warmth and body to the track, grounding the airy vocals, especially during the transition from the chorus to the second verse at 1:08. The muted drums add a grounding earthiness that contrasts beautifully with the soaring choruses, capturing every subtle shift in tone and energy. It's hard to settle for tinny speakers after experiencing this level of sound quality.

All that said, it's the middle frequencies that are truly special. The mids feel like a beautifully open floor plan, providing enough structure to maintain form without feeling cramped or muddled. Even complex tracks like “That Was Yesterday” by Leon Bridges and “Just Like Greta Garbo” by Van Morrison are delivered with enough space and clarity that lets every sound have its place. Nothing gets lost in the mix, making these buds a joy to listen to, whether you're after soaring highs, solid bass, or that elusive midrange perfection.

Listeners who prefer a bass-heavy sound or a “sound-enhanced” effect may be disappointed and the earbuds are on the quiet side, requiring us to listen to them at near max volume. Still, we think most will enjoy this beautifully balanced mix.

Soundstage

The in-ear design of some earbuds can result in a confined listening experience, like being in the nosebleed section of a concert, whereas others can put you in the front row. The Momentum earbuds excel in this area, creating a broad soundstage that makes it seem as though the music is coming from beyond the earbuds. This immersive experience enhances your enjoyment, making it feel like you're in the room with the band.

This effect is particularly magical when listening to layered songs like “Hannah” by Ray LaMontagne, with these earbuds allowing you to pinpoint each instrument in space. Drums emerge from the left earbud, and LaMontagne's vocals drift in from the right. The violin dominates the left earbud during crucial moments, starting at 1:07, adding rich depth to the soundstage, while piano accents float beautifully in the background. (We love the twinkly accent at 4:07.) Every detail is clean, clear, and distinct, allowing the listener to revel in the nuanced texture of the track.

To back up our subjective listening, we played a frequency response into a Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head, which records the sound profile of the response from the Sennheiser buds and used its companion SoundCheck software to calculate its frequency response and compare it to our GearLab House Curve. As you can see in the graph above, the Sennheiser earbuds closely follow the curve curated by our expert listeners — another reason we think those with trained ears will particularly enjoy the sound signature of these buds.

User Experience

Our general user experience with these buds was better than most, though nothing about it in particular stood out aside from the Sennheiser's excellent smart app. To test our user experience of these buds, we assessed all of their design features that make them more pleasant to use (aside from their sound), highlighted below.

Comfort

These buds come with four silicon tips and three wings of different sizes in order to fit different ear shapes. After wearing these for several hours, our ears were still comfortable, so you can feel safe wearing them throughout your workday or on a long commute. That said, due to their weight, you may feel some discomfort from wearing them for over eight hours.

Stability

We love that these buds don't protrude out of our ears too far, which makes it possible to go for a jog or put on a sweater without worrying about them popping out and rolling under a piece of furniture, never to be found again. We even tried these while doing headstands, and they still didn't fall out. That said, we do think these could fall out during highly rigorous activities.

Customization

We were smitten with the extra features the app provides, which include transparency mode (being able to hear our surroundings), active noise canceling with an additional wind-muting mode, bass boosting, and the ability to adjust the equalization (EQ). However, we want to note that these did have some connectivity issues when using an iPhone, as the music would annoyingly cut out on occasion. But, we found in our testing that Android users likely won't run into this issue.

Connectivity

We had some very interesting glitches when listening to music on the Momentum 4s. From pairing issues, to random outgoing phone calls, to ineffective volume control sliders, these earbuds were some of the most problematic that we tested in this update. To help us determine how frequently these types of issues come up, we crowdsourced information on connectivity issues, and it turns out we are not alone in our experience. We gathered information by reading through 1-star Amazon user reviews and keeping track each time a connection-related problem was cited. The Sennheisers have a reported issue rate of 2.45%. While this isn't the highest, it is significantly above average and paired with our personal experience with these buds; we have less faith in their reliability.

Noise Cancellation

We were quite surprised that the noise cancelling abilities of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 were so poor, and even regressed from its previous version, the Sennheiser Momentum 3, which were able to cancel out just a little bit more noise. We tested noise cancelling using our Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head and its sound-calculating software, SoundCheck.

If you're looking for a pair of earbuds with superb active noise cancelling (ANC), look elsewhere because these are not it. We especially noticed that these buds have a difficult time cancelling out noise in the low to mid ranges.

According to our data taken from SoundCheck, these buds block out the most noise (around 42 decibels) at about 10,000 Hertz. The Sennheiser's are able to block out around 30 decibels in the lower mid-range, but this will still let in a substantial amount of noise.

However, while these aren't the best buds for noise cancelation, that didn't keep us from falling into the music in sonically challenging circumstances when we turned the volume up. (Note - higher volumes are harder on your ears.) Whether it's the rhythmic pounding of feet on a treadmill, the roar of chainsaws outside, or the hum of passing traffic, these earbuds manage to drown out external distractions with ease. Even amid battery testing chaos—four buzzing electric toothbrushes on a desk—these earbuds prove that they're designed for focus. Once the volume is turned up, it's just you and your music

Battery Life

With a measured battery life of 7 hours and 30 minutes (while continuously listening to music), we find the battery life of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 to be acceptable for the work day, a long commute, and even a cross-country flight. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the battery life is on par with its manufacturer's claims.

In addition, we found that the Sennheisers retain three full charges from its case, and just 8 minutes of charging will get you a full hour of listening. We also like that these buds notify you every 10 minutes two hours before the battery runs out that your battery is about to die. That said, we would have liked these notifications to be more spaced out, as we found the frequency of the reminders to be somewhat nagging.

Call Quality

We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is much better at call quality than its overall ANC abilities. We were actually able to make out voices with clarity in most of our testing, though they did sound a bit processed with a slight reverb.

We stress-tested these buds with sounds that would easily reveal the weak spots of the Sennheisers call quality abilities, using both office chatter and sounds from public transit. You can listen to how they performed in these environments below.

Our public transit call quality test had the worst clarity. This is expected, as the vast majority of the earbuds we tested failed miserably in such harsh sound conditions.

Our office noise test was vastly better. However, it can be more difficult to understand our soft-spoken tester.

The Sennheisers are meant for ideal conditions. All told, we wouldn't recommend these to anyone who is looking for the very best call quality.

Should You Buy the Sennheiser Momentum 4?

We recommend the Sennheiser Momentum 4 for audiophile Android users who mostly just care about having great-sounding buds. That said, the price is a bit exorbitant, so we were expecting more. While their sound quality does deliver, the noise cancellation was a disappointment and their call quality could have been better. We also think that iPhone users should avoid this product, as the connectivity issues were too persistent.

What Other Earbuds Should You Consider?

If you're an iPhone user, you're best off with the Apple AirPods Pro 2. These have incredibly clear sound that put you on the center stage of whatever song you listen to. These are also some of the only earbuds that work seamlessly with iPhones, with no connectivity issues. And for less than the Sennheiser's, you'll get top-tier noise cancelling and call quality. Also in this price range are the Bose QuietComfort Ultras. These also have impeccable sound quality and the best noise cancellation of any other pair of earbuds in our lineup for the same price as the Sennheiser's.