Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless

The Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless was brilliant. What about the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless? Even better. To throw away everything they've built up and release a fourth edition of this super headphone would be a disaster, of course. Fortunately, Sennheiser never ends up there; instead, what they've managed to do here is further better one of the segment's top models even more. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless is magnificent.

The first thing we have to talk about is the new design. I'm not really a huge fan of it. The previous three models of this headset have always been unique in their industrial, slightly retro look with the large cups and that iconic aluminium bow stretched across them. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless doesn't look like that at all, anymore. Instead, they look like a rather identity-less, generic headphone made entirely of plastic and with cups that bring to mind Sony as well as Bose. I think this is a shame and I find it a bit odd that the outside of the cups are completely blank in terms of appearance. A large flat oval area on either side of each cap looks like it was meant for a logo, but it's blank. On the design side, they are thus a bit of a stepping stone if you ask me.

The ergonomics are superb, though. These are even more comfortable than the already super-comfortable 3 Wireless, and this is largely thanks to the fact that they've been made lighter. These sit on my XL skull like a little fluffy cloud and despite using the headphones for four-hour shifts during working hours, I haven't felt any soreness around or on my ears or under the headband. It must be said, however, that these do not fold up which, coupled with the strangely blank exterior of the cups, purely design-wise, makes me wonder if Sennheiser hasn't stressed this new design a bit.

As for functionality, I have nothing but pure praise. They pair with anything you turn on at the blink of a pig's eye and they never lose contact or have to be re-paired. The touch controls that involve tapping and swiping on the outside of the cups work very well as does the active noise reduction and transparency mode. Battery life is also extremely good. A whopping 60 hours (!) per charge. That's more than twice the battery life of the nearest competitor, the Sony XM5 as well as Bose NC700 and more than three times the battery life of the overpriced, overrated Apple Airpods Max. Talk about dominant messages from the Germans.

The active noise cancellation and how it performs is on par with the call quality and purity of sound offered by the external dual mics. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless captures a lot of sound and talking in them, everything works very well. Now the ANC is not on par with the XM5s from Sony but not super far off either. It's when the music is turned on that these headphones really outperform Sony's and Bose's counterpart, not to mention Apple's.

Sennheiser, in my opinion, has never made a headphone in this price range, corded or wireless, that reproduces bass as well as these headphones do, for a start. There's plenty of bass here and it's been refined against how it sounded in its predecessors. More bass, better bass. There's a smoothness to the bass register that mesmerises, and that's without compromising too much on the midrange. The clarity here is striking and I love the separation of instruments in the stereo image as well as the control. The treble is superb too, fast and distinctly clear with an elusive clarity, without being sharp or unpleasant.

In summary, it's hard not to love these headphones which are incredibly comfortable, sound remarkably good, and house by far the segment's best battery life.