Today, we will look at the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless headphones. This article will primarily discuss the headphones in terms of build quality, comfort, design, and sound quality.  I will also touch on the Sennheiser Smart control app for iPhone and Android.

If you are interested in hearing my full review, as always we encourage you to check out our YouTube channel. Watch our most recent video on theSennheiser MOMENTUM 4  headphones!

Build Quality

Starting with the build quality, the ultra-lightweight MOMENTUM 4’s, which weigh only around 296 grams, are mainly made of plastic and synthetic leather.  Although they are mostly made of plastic, I find them very comfortable to wear for long listening sessions and multiple activities with no hotspots on the top of my head. 

The soft and pliable synthetic pads, which work great if you wear glasses, can get a little warm for walking or working out, but it is not a deal breaker. The clamping force of the headphones is excellent, allowing them to feel secure but never overly tight for my head.

One of my favorite parts about the MOMENTUM 4’s is their smart touch controls that allow you to swipe on the cups forward or backward for song selection, tap to pause, swipe up for volume up, swipe down for volume down, double tap to toggle ANC mode with similar functionality available when making or receiving calls that can be found in the online or included instruction manual with the headphones.

You can also disable touch controls if you wish. Still, this is one of the features I enjoyed that was missing from several of the other Bluetooth wireless headphones we featured on our channel recently. I found it very useful instead of having to feel around for buttons or use the app.

The MOMENTUM 4 uses Bluetooth 5.2 with A2DP, AVRCP, and HFP for profiles with SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX adaptive for audio Codecs.  I found the Bluetooth reliable and didn’t experience any significant issues with getting them connected and staying connected. 

The headphones use 42 mm Dynamic transducers with an FR of 6hz to 22kHz and a sensitivity of 106 dB. THD of the headphones measures at less than .3% with an active impedance of 470 ohms or 60 ohms when listening passively via a 3.5mm jack or USB cable from a computer.

Noise Cancellation

For noise cancellation, the MOMENTUM 4 uses Hybrid Adaptive ANC, which I found to work well with office work, coffee shops, taking the dog for a walk, and workouts at the gym.  

They are not at the same level as some of the industry leaders for ANC, but the MOMENTUM 4’s sound quality for music is superior.  You can also adjust the ANC, allowing it to be adaptive, fixed at the max setting, or find a balance between the ANC and the transparency mode. You also have Wind Noise Reduction as well.  So, the amount of choice and flexibility is excellent, and you can dial it to your liking

Call Quality

When a call comes in, the headphones immediately go into transparent mode, and ANC is shut off, which could be for safety reasons. Hence, you are aware of your surroundings when on the phone, but it is worth mentioning as it can be a bit jarring if you listen to music with ANC on and switch to a call.

Call quality is pretty good with the headphones using MEMS for their microphone principle with two mics per side and beamforming for noise reduction.  You can also make adjustments inside the smart control app to the sound quality during phone calls helping to make things sound a bit more natural.

One of the MOMENTUM 4’s most impressive features is its battery life.  Sennheiser states up to 60 hours of music playtime via Bluetooth with ANC active using an iPhone at a mid-volume level.  

Even if it plays out to be 50 hours, this smokes the competition promising longer times between charges as well as potentially a longer battery life for the life of the headphones with less charging needed.

The charging time of the headphones is about 2 hours for a full charge, and a five-minute charge will give you about 4 hours of music playtime.

Smart Pause

The headphones also feature Smart Pause, which allows playback to stop when the headphones are taken off, and it resumes automatically when they are placed back on your ears which is another great feature that all wireless headphones should have, especially if Sennheiser can do it for the MOMENTUM 4’s very reasonable asking price.  

On the topic of asking price, these headphones retail for $349.95 at the time of making this article, and they do go on sale, so make sure to checkour website for the best deals! With a bit of luck, they may be on sale when you read this article,or if you see them on sale somewhere else we can price-match authorized dealers!

Smart Control App

 

 

 

Before we get into the quality of the sound portion of the article, let’s chat a little about the Sennheiser Smart Control app.  As I discussed in theSennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 earbud article, we published a few weeks back; I am a fan of the Sennheiser Smart Control app.  It gives much more control and features than most other wireless Bluetooth headphones or earbud manufacturers at the time of this article.

When you open the app on your smartphone, iPhone for me personally, you see the Sennheiser device section if you have multiple Sennheiser wireless devices.  Once you select your device, you see your battery life, in the device connection management tab, followed by the equalizer.

The Equalizer offers three adjustment bands, plus or minus 6dB for bass, mids, and treble.  Some users may want more adjustment bands, but honestly, these headphones sound good out of the box for their asking price. 

I think most users will be happy with backing off the bass a little and adding a bit more sparkle in the treble for the more critical listeners, and for the bass heads of the world, upping the bass or turning on the bass boost will be very satisfying. 

You also have a Podcast EQ preset for enhanced speech clarity, which I found to be great for listening to audiobooks, podcasts, or watching talking head YouTube videos.  You can also create and save your own custom presets.

The Sound Check tab in the app allows you to create customized equalizer presets by signing in and registering a Sennheiser account.  By creating an account, you can also use the next tab, Sound Zones, which allows you to set custom profiles that will automatically apply your sound settings by geo location for working in the office, working out at the gym, or listening at home, which allows you to automate your listening experience, impressive.

Next, in the app, you have the Active Noise Cancellation presets, which give you the ability to adjust the ANC, as we discussed earlier with wind noise reduction, and the ability to toggle on or off auto pause, which automatically pauses your music when transparency mode is activated.

The last tab on my device section is the Sidetone tab which lets you hear a bit of your voice during a phone conversation providing a more natural experience.  I recommend playing around with the levels a bit based on your preferences for your calls.

On the discover section of the app, you have some info from Sennheiser about different products they offer, followed next by the Settings section, which allows you to update the firmware of the headphones, configure the device with the comforting call, on head detection, smart pause, auto power off, view the codec being used and the ability to remove or add the tiles or tabs you want to be visible when using the app.  

The app works and is impressive and well thought out. Included with the MOMENTUM 4 headphones are a carry case, USB-C charging cable, 3.5mm audio cable, 2.5mm jacks, and an airplane adapter.

Sound Impressions

With all that discussed, let’s get into the quality of sound of the MOMENTUM 4 wireless headphones! I believe the headphones' sound signature will appeal to a large audience of listeners with a bass signature that has a bit of a lift above neutral without going too overboard, a Sennheiser midrange with good detail, and a treble region that isn’t fatiguing.   

I think more critical listeners who shoot for a more neutral profile may wish to back off the bass a couple of dB or so in the app based on their preferences. The midrange is pretty good as is for my preferences; however, increasing the EQ can bring a bit more presence to some vocals, or reducing the mids can present vocals a bit warmer in tone. 

Adding a bit more treble can create a bit more defined sound; however, I found playing up or down in the one to two dB range across the three bands of EQ adjustment based on a listener’s preferences is probably the sweet spot for these headphones allowing them to maintain the majority of their audible sound strengths.

The soundstage of the MOMENTUM 4’s is pretty good at their asking price, with good image definition, layer separation, a decent lateral width, and an ok depth.  Don’t expect the HD800s soundstage at this price point, but the stage is also not Closter-phobic, and there is suitable space between vocals and instruments.

Instrument timbre and vocal tone are good at presenting instruments and vocals realistically for this price point, again allowing you to make subtle adjustments to taste based on preferences in the app. Detail and Dynamics sound pretty good, allowing you to pick up fine details in movies and music and giving you decent punch and slam.  

For watching movies, the headphones sound good; I don’t think they are at the same level as other more expensive wireless headphones we presented recently on the channel for film, and some adjustments in the EQ, depending on preference and the type of movie you are watching, will help. However, I still think they are great music-first headphones at this price while still sounding good for film.

Final Thoughts

For their asking price, I am hard-pressed to find much I don’t like about the MOMENTUM 4 wireless headphones, and they quite possibly may be one of the best values dollars for dollars right now in the wireless headphone space.  More expensive headphones in this space will likely edge out the MOMENTUM 4’s in certain areas, but also around three times the asking price.   

Stay tuned for the next article in this series where I will go a bit deeper into my sound impressions, making some comparisons to another similarly priced set of wireless headphones for music and watching films!

So as always, it will come down to your preferences. I encourage you to listen to the MOMENTUM 4 wireless headphones to formulate your impressions, as we all hear a bit differently and differ on what we value or prefer in sound quality. 

We have thesefantastic wireless headphones in our headphone bar, so if you are in SoCal, stop by and hang out with us and have your own listening party. 

If you are interested in trading up your old headphones or other gently used audio gear for a new set of headphones, check out ourtrade-up program.And don’t forget we will price match, other authorized dealers!  

We have some cool videos coming this year with new product announcements, so don’t forget to subscribe to ourYouTube channel to stay in the know!  

Until next time friends, remember, let the music be your guide!