Joining the closely contested space of premium TWS earbuds, along with offerings from Jabra, Apple, and Sony, to name a few, is the Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS earbuds. Whenever a pair of earbuds joins the fray of flagship earbuds, there are countless eyeballs on it, with each of them looking at that pair of earbuds with an extra bit of criticality. When these earbuds showed up at the Digit Test Centre, I knew what to look at right off the bat. When I put them through our test process, some really interesting findings came to light. So, without wasting much time, let’s have a look at the review of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS –
As I mentioned in my review of the last three Sennheiser products, the Accentum, Accentum Plus, and the HD 490 PRO headphones, the brand has adopted the philosophy of – What ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The case of the buds has a familiar boxy design, borrowing from the Sennheiser Momentum 3 TWS, which I personally find a bit bulky but doesn’t bother a lot of people. The case is covered with ash-coloured fabric, giving it a premium and durable feel. The overall build of the case is strong, and the hinge and magnets on the case are strong and instil confidence in the buyer that these earbuds are meant to last.
Coming to the buds themselves, Sennheiser has maintained the design from its CX and Momentum line of TWS earbuds. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS earbuds come with a fit, and to ensure that you are cent per cent confident that they fit well, the brand has included three different sizes of concha fins, which will help you fit the buds well in your outer ear’s concha. They do stick out quite a bit, and people with small ears might find them a bit too big right off the bat. However, the weight of the buds, in combination with the variety of tips and fins provided with them, ensures that everyone finds the right fit for the buds. Once you believe you have found the right combination of the tips and fins, run the ear tip fit test from the Sennheiser Smart Control App.
In terms of the material and the overall aesthetic of the buds, they are easy on the eyes, with subtle branding and metallic accents on the outside, which ensures that you get the right combination of subtlety and flair. There’s not much to complain about here.
The Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS are loaded with features. You get Auracast, which enables you to tune into compatible PSA systems that will ensure you do not miss your flight announcements at airports. You get customisable sound in the Sennheiser Smart Control app, the 5-band built-in EQ, sound modes, and Sound Zones.
You have support for Qi Wireless charging, and if you are a fan of lossless audio, then you are in luck as these earbuds pack in SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive/Lossless, and LC3 CODECs which ensure that you are getting the best listening experience all the time.
The effectiveness of these features, like personalised sound customisation, will vary from person to person, given the subjectivity of sound and their likeness towards the results that they get. But, in my experience, all the creature comforts that Sennheiser has baked into these earbuds are on point and will not disappoint anyone who is looking for a pair of feature-rich earbuds. The buds aced our features rating, and there is nothing to complain about.
In terms of performance, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS does not disappoint. Let’s start by having a look at the sound signature of the buds. As you can see, the sound signature is fairly well-balanced. Out of the box, the sound has a boost in the lows and the highs, with the mids coming fairly close to our baseline, the pink noise reading that we refer to while scoring any audio device. The closer it is, the better.
When you are listening to the buds, the sound is immersive, and with a bit of tweaking in the EQ you can enjoy basically any form of content. And, with the personalisation kicking in, after you have done the tests from the Smart Control app, you will see a noticeable improvement in the overall quality of the sound. The tests that we ran were done without any EQ applied and ANC on. Presets in the app, like the bass boost, ensure that you are feeling the thump in your skull.
Coming to the ANC, once you nail the fit of the buds, you will notice that the passive isolation, coupled with the ANC, cancels out almost all the noise coming in between the mids and the lows. In the highs, the buds do let in some sound, but that is not something that will bother you a lot. In case of a sharp sound out of the blue, the buds will let in some of the noise; however, in day-to-day use, that will not bother you a lot.
Lastly, the microphones of the earbuds are the biggest point of concern. In every other department so far, there has been almost nothing to complain about. But, when it comes to the microphones, the buds struggle a bit, with high-noise situations being the ones holding them back. Your voice will sound clear in very noisy situations. However, we did notice that the amount of background noise that seeped in was higher than normal. That is something that I expect Sennheiser to fix with a firmware update soon.
The rated battery life on the Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS earbuds is 7.5 hours with ANC off and 7 hours with ANC on, and the case pushes the battery life of the buds to 30 hours. In my testing, the battery of the buds came in at 6.5 hours with ANC on, AAC CODEC being used, and volume set to 50 per cent. Your mileage may vary depending on your settings. If you are running out of juice, then the battery of the buds can be topped off using the included USB-C cable or a Qi Certified wireless charger.
The bottom line with the Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS earbuds is – Go for it if you are in the Android ecosystem while considering the Sony WF-1000XM4, Sony WF-1000XM5, and the Bose QC Earbuds II. I would recommend you try all the earbuds out and see which ones fit the best because they come pretty close to each other in terms of objective performance and value for money. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 TWS earbuds come with a solid set of features, performance, and build, which ensures that make a strong case for themselves in the high-end TWS market right now.
