TWO WEEKS WITH THE SENNHEISER MOMENTUM 4

Sennheiser’s latest wireless headphones have a new look and a Sony-beating price… so Simon Lucas clamps them to his bonce for a high-fidelity fortnight

£300 / bit.ly/Momentum4

DAY 01

No sensible manufacturer ever decides avant-garde is the way forward when designing a pair of wireless headphones, but before now it was at least possible to pick out a pair of Sennheiser Momentums in a line-up. Not any more.

The Momentum 4s, which are available in black or white, are bland to the point of anonymity (if you’re not keen on the whole ‘understated’ thing), or minimal and sophisticated (if you are). What they most definitely are not, though, is any kind of visual continuation of the Momentum design language.

Even after a week’s use they haven’t needed charging – they’ll last 60hrs, and will be fully charged in just 2hrs

The earcups fold through 180° and will lie flat in the supplied (and handily slim) hard case. The right one features a large touch-control surface and here’s where you can play/pause, skip tracks, adjust the volume and toggle ANC modes. It also answers incoming calls and, by using the sort of two-finger gestures we’re all familiar with from our smartphones, adjust the levels of the noise-cancelling transparency settings. This is also where you’ll find the USB-C charging port and a 2.5mm input for hard-wired use; there are USB-A-to-C and 2.5-to-3.5mm cables included, along with a flight adapter.

There’s no voice-assistance built in, but a multi-function button on the right earcup can wake Google Assistant or Siri on a paired phone. This button also covers power on/off, Bluetooth pairing and mic on/off, and will give you a spoken estimate of remaining battery life once you’ve committed the different button-pushes to memory. There’s also a visual indication of battery power in the little strip of five LEDs just below it.

From the moment you first put these Sennies on it’s obvious they’ll be no burden to wear, thanks in no small part to the well-sorted hanger/headband arrangement, which features a nice wide padded inner section with a ‘fontanelle’ cutaway for additional comfort.

The combination of robust plastics, synthetic leather, memory foam and some fabric on the headband conveys the impression of both quality and longevity.

Donut of Truth™

01 Bold, detailed and enjoyable sound

02 Epic battery life, even with ANC engaged

03 Predictably high standard of build and finish

04 The tone is balanced but it could be sharper with the bass response

05 The look is smart but pretty generic – which may or may not bother you

DAY 02

Pressing play on a Tidal stream of Peel Dream Magazine’s shoegazey Moral Panics EP, the soundstage is big and well defined, with even tonality and impressive levels of detail. The top of the frequency range has plenty of shine, while the midrange is equally informative; vocals are detail-packed and articulate. These are headphones that sound naturalistic, engaged and entirely musical, making every recording sound like an event.

DAY 05

Sennheiser’s Smart Control app isn’t the most responsive, but it is certainly useful. As well as ANC adjustments, it offers EQ presets plus the opportunity to create custom EQs via a three-band adjuster, manages wireless connectivity (these Momentums will pair with two devices at a time), and adjusts the sidetone – the way your own voice sounds during calls.

If you create an account and register your headphones, you can also create ‘sound zones’ so the headphones automatically adjust themselves to suit your environment, and use ‘sound check’ (basically an extended library of EQ presets).

DAY 07

The Momentum 4s use Bluetooth 5.2 for wireless connectivity, which isn’t as hard on battery life as older standards, so even after a week’s use they haven’t needed charging. They’ll last a startling 60hrs – with ANC switched on – before you have to plug them in, and will be fully charged in just 2hrs.

DAY 10

The active noise-cancellation isn’t quite so obviously impressive – it does a job, though. Whack it up to ‘full’ and external sounds are much reduced, plus it does an amazing job on wind-noise when out for a stroll on a blustery day.

DAY 14

About the only area where the Momentum 4s are deserving of a less than entirely enthusiastic mention is in the way they deal with low frequencies. There’s no shortage of weight or extension, and enough detail is retained to prevent bass sounds becoming monotonal, but there’s just a slight lack of… well, momentum, ironically enough, to the way they’re handled. It’s a minor quibble, though, and hardly the end of the world for these otherwise excellent cans.