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Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones

Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones

Sennheiser’s Momentum range was designed to bring the company’s reputation for high-performance studio and domestic headphones to the iListener. Those decades of experience stood for nothing with the iPhone generation, unless the end result sounded good enough on the end of a smartphone. Fortunately, in closed-back broadcast designs like the evergreen HD-25 series, Sennheiser had a perfect template – a headphone that was at once easy to drive, lightweight, and designed to keep music in and environmental sound out. In fact, the HD-25 remains a popular choice among iPhone and Android users today, despite a lack of inline microphone and a utilitarian appearance.

Momentum was hugely successful for the company, and Sennheiser decided to give the Momentum line a small ‘2.0’ upgrade and refresh. And to keep the line in the news, it came up with the Momentum Wireless.

, Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones

In effect, Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless needs to be three headphones in one. Momentum Wireless has to retain at least some of the sound quality of its Momentum stable-mates, but it also has to work well as a Bluetooth wireless device, connecting to phones, pads, tablets, and laptops. The third component is its noise-cancellation performance, using the latest version of Sennheiser’s own NoiseGuard active system. But it’s also a style-led design, with the foldaway Momentums supplied in their own dedicated pouch and with a timeless look in black or ivory.

We were supplied the black models and they do look great. The headband is wrapped in brown, ivory-stitched pleather, with medium soft pads protecting your pate from the two bars across your head. The metal bars the earcups move on are hinged (for folding), and afford the earcups a great degree of movement and adjustment. It’s simple, but effective. The earpads themselves are also thick pleather; well padded and jet black (in contrast to the yellow foam pads that hide the drive units). The right-hand earcup contains the active circuitry, which is charged from a USB output from a computer. There is also a wired cable for times when Bluetooth is not recommended (as in, on a plane). A two-jack in flight socket is also supplied. A full juicing from a USB socket gives the listener up to 22 hours of listening and noise cancellation, a figure that seems broadly accurate in reality. And while spending 22 hours in one stretch with these headphones on is unlikely, they are extremely comfortable in use. You can spend hours with them with almost no sense of weight or discomfort, and even without noise cancellation in use (using them wired with no active electronics switched on) they cut out a lot of extraneous noise.

 

Sennheiser has taken an extremely minimalist approach in operation. Pairing, volume, battery life, basic control of tracks, and even basic telephone operation, are all operated by one button, with a second simply in control of power. Fortunately, your in-head assistant is there to help; a softly spoken woman speaking in ‘received pronunciation’. Nevertheless, you still need to know the right series of button presses to navigate the headphones, and if you are the kind of person who thinks manuals are for wimps, remember there is no shame in referring to that Quick Start guide.

From a purist perspective, the Momentum Wireless is best used in a wired connection, although the difference between wired and wireless is slim. When used with a Mac (for example) there was just a bit more authority to the bass when used wired, but in fairness some of this was the wireless connection was not as robust using this pathway as I would have liked. Royals by Lorde [Pure Heroine] had a good solid back-beat and that deep ‘thwump’ of bass is covered well in both modes, but my Bluetooth connection on my Mac is not ideal and the connection was a little shaky. This is something of a worst-case scenario (my Mac periodically ignores my Bluetooth keyboard for a few days in a fit of pique, so the fact the Bluetooth connection didn’t fall over completely after five minutes represents a feather in the Momentum Wireless’ cap). Certainly when using both Android and iPhone Bluetooth connections, the Wireless was completely glitch free. Pairing was quick and painless, and using NFC to touch connect to a device was extremely easy.

Bluetooth (or just powering up the headset) adds in noise cancellation, which works surprisingly well. I’m relatively used to NoiseGuard (my preferred noise cancellers are Sennheiser PXC450s) and the cancellation on the Momentum seems every bit as effective. Like any active noise cancellation system, it works on constant noise sources (like the rushing sound in the cabin of an aircraft), not so well on repeated, percussive noise (like the sound of a jack-hammer), and not at all in drowning out the sound of an office at work (you’ll still hear the gossip and the keystrokes, I’m afraid). But, with that universal caveat that applies to any active noise cancellation system, the Sennheiser version seems to suit fellow troglodyte London tube-train commuters extremely well, with its high-pitched squeals and low rumbles;  Sennheiser arguably does better than the Bose system at this, although I still think Bose scores better when it comes to attenuating the pink noise of an aircraft’s cabin.

, Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones

All of this means the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless receives deserved high praise for looks, comfort, Bluetooth connectivity, and noise cancellation. But what about sound quality? Here, too, the Sennheiser does well. The Momentum sound is preserved well here; strong, deep bass, but not so strong it gets overpowering. And where Sennheiser wins over many style-led rivals is that deep bass does not overarch the midrange, which is clear and open and extremely good with vocals. I dug out ‘Glory Box’ from Dummy by Portishead, because it’s a strangely sophisticated test of a pair of headphones. 21 years ago, Beth Gibbons contralto voice was weird and wonderful, but the intervening years have thrown listeners something of a curveball, because on less than good equipment, she just sounds like Lois Griffin from Family Guy. Fortunately, through the Momentums and the Momentum Wireless, Beth Gibbons is restored and her voice leaves Quahog, RI.

The Millennium Wireless treble is not as well extended as more studio-orientated headphones at the price and higher-end designs, but this could be a blessing in disguise as its top end doesn’t shriek and scream at you. It’s extended and detailed in the treble without drawing attention to itself. In fact, the only downside to this is high-hats lose some of their sizzle, and this is more a reflection of the overall balance of the headphone than a criticism per se. This is a headphone pitched toward delivering a deep bass, good treble and clean high frequencies; not a ‘boom-tizz’ sound or a lumpy-thumpy sound. That means it might not be the ‘instant gratification’ award winner, but it’s exactly the sort of headphone I’d want with me on a long trip, where those more immediate sounding headphones soon pall.

 

It’s clear why the Momentum range is one of Sennheiser’s big hits. It’s also a sign of a growing sophistication in both wired and wireless headphones for smartphone users. Three years ago, no-one would have contemplated using a Bluetooth headphone system for its sound quality, but the Momentum Wireless is at the forefront of changing that perception. Try it!

, Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • Closed, Dynamic, Circumaural Wirless Headphones
  • Impedance:
passive: 28 Ω, active: 480 Ω
  • Frequency Response: 16Hz-22kHz
  • THD: <0.5%
  • Contact Pressure: approx. 3.6N
  • Microphone
  • Pattern: Dual omni-directional microphone (two mic beamforming array)
  • Frequency Response: 100Hz-8kHz (wide), 300Hz-3.4kHz (narrow)
  • General data
  • Wireless system: apt-X Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR (A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, and HFP profiles supported)
  • Battery:
Rechargeable Lithium-ion Polymer (600mAh)
  • Charging time: approx.. 3hrs
  • Operating time: c. 22hrs (HFP+ANC)
  • Noise Cancellation system:
NoiseGard™ Hybrid technology with 4 pick-up microphones
  • Supplied extras: Pouch, USB charging cable, 1.4m detachable cable with 3.5mm minijack
  • Price: £380

Manufactured by: Sennheiser

URL: www.sennheiser.com

URL: en-uk.sennheiser.com

Tags: FEATURED

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