It solely took just a few days with Sennheiser’s new Momentum True Wi-fi 4 earbuds for it to change into plainly apparent that they’re a category above the corporate’s earlier mannequin in almost each approach. The design and general sound signature haven’t undergone main modifications. However by way of quite a lot of under-the-hood tweaks and different extra refined enhancements, Sennheiser has taken purpose on the connection points, software program bugs, and high quality management issues that hindered the potential of its third-gen buds — to the purpose the place some consumers had mentioned, “Never again.”
At $299.95, they’re now $50 pricier, however these stay among the many best-sounding wi-fi earbuds you’ll discover. And so they’re full of forward-looking options that may preserve them related for a number of years to come back. Intriguingly, the Momentum True Wi-fi 4 earbuds additionally buck a significant development of their class by transport with none sort of spatial audio methods.
That is Sennheiser, so let’s simply get proper to the sound. If you happen to’re coming from the Momentum True Wi-fi 3, the listening expertise of those earbuds will probably be acquainted. The element, heat, and spectacular soundstage that Sennheiser followers have come to anticipate are all accounted for. In “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves, the acoustic guitar has simply the correct quantity of crunch and timbre, and the MTW4 convey out the strengths in every of their voices. Leaping over to the 2023 remix of the Beatles’ crimson album, you’ll discover loads of rumble within the bass throughout tracks like “I Saw Her Standing There” — with none treble harshness on the earliest recordings.
In a phrase, the sound profile is exact, and also you’ll hardly ever ever be left wanting for extra (or much less) of something. I favor these over Sony’s WF-1000XM5, Apple’s AirPods Professional, and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 Professional. They’re neck and neck with Technics’ AZ80 earbuds, one other favourite of mine. Sennheiser offers you full management over the EQ, and a “sound personalization” function can create a customized audio profile that’s tuned to your distinctive listening to traits. I largely stored the earbuds of their default mode and wasn’t disillusioned.
Sennheiser’s adaptive noise cancellation analyzes your setting to use the correct degree of ANC on the fly, and whereas it may’t match up with class chief Bose, it was greater than sufficient to assist me tune out a crowded subway automobile and luxuriate in my music. Equally, the corporate’s transparency mode isn’t on the degree of Apple, nevertheless it sounds pleasingly pure and serves its function simply high-quality. By the corporate’s cellular app, you too can set location-specific “zone” preferences, so if you would like common ANC at your favourite espresso store however want some transparency combined in on the workplace, you are able to do that.
Other than a brand new copper shade choice, the Momentum True Wi-fi 4 look equivalent to the Momentum True Wi-fi 3 earbuds. You now get a fourth (extra-small) set of silicone ear suggestions, and Sennheiser nonetheless contains three units of stabilizer arcs within the field for an extra-secure match. However there are a lot greater modifications throughout the buds themselves, together with a redesigned antenna and a totally overhauled wi-fi / Bluetooth expertise stack that, in my expertise, has made them work reliably and persistently. They’re quick to hook up with my telephone, and the frustrations I had with the Sennheiser Good Management app on iOS and Android sometimes failing to acknowledge the earbuds are utterly gone. Sennheiser additionally intelligently prioritizes whichever bud is closest to your telephone to take care of the connection between the 2, that means there’s a a lot decrease likelihood of temporary audio dropouts.
The corporate has made a considerable effort to futureproof these $300 buds for the following a number of years: they’re Bluetooth 5.4-compliant, and a firmware replace due in early spring will allow LE Audio and Auracast. Extra related for these hell-bent on the perfect audio high quality is that the MTW4 function Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound expertise. That’ll show useful should you personal a current flagship-level Android telephone with a Qualcomm processor inside since you’ll have the ability to stream what Sennheiser claims is “flawless bit-by-bit” lossless audio out of your telephone to the earbuds — so long as your chosen music service gives it.
Even exterior of that, Sennheiser helps a litany of Bluetooth codecs, together with SBC, AAC, AptX, AptX Adaptive, and LC3. There’s a devoted settings display screen the place you’ll be able to choose what degree of high quality you need, with the tradeoffs being connection stability and quicker battery consumption the upper you go. And players can activate a low-latency setting that makes the MTW4 an excellent match for a Nintendo Swap or Steam Deck along with the standard cellular gaming use instances.
Virtually none of this higher-fidelity listening applies to iPhone customers since Apple continues to stay with its long-preferred AAC codec. However these earbuds sound incredible irrespective of which gadget you hyperlink them with. I’ve come to consider that an earbud’s tuning and the drivers inside will be extra vital than supporting a seize bag of codecs, and Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wi-fi 4 are a primary instance of that. Additionally they conveniently embody multipoint assist, so you’ll be able to pair them with two gadgets on the similar time if you should multitask between your telephone and laptop computer.
Simply as fascinating are the options which have purposefully been neglected: these earbuds place zero emphasis on spatial audio. They don’t embody any head-tracking gimmicks. It looks like Sennheiser is aware of its viewers effectively sufficient to have determined that it may safely skip the spatial audio / Atmos development for one more era with out disappointing too many individuals, and I’d wager that the corporate is true.
Battery life has been prolonged and may now attain as much as seven hours of steady playback with noise cancellation on or 7.5 hours with it off. Add within the case — sure, it helps wi-fi charging — and also you get round 30 hours of general listening time. If you wish to make sure the longevity of your earbuds, I’d suggest a brand new battery safety setting that solely lets them cost as much as 80 p.c. We’ve seen comparable measures utilized to smartphones, however contemplating that it’s nigh inconceivable to exchange the batteries in wi-fi earbuds, I’m glad Sennheiser is at the very least attempting to stretch out their general lifespan. They’re additionally constructed to be more durable, now with an IP54 score that lends them some safety from mud on high of the continued water resistance.
Sennheiser has additionally put work into making these earbuds higher for voice calls. They embody a six-microphone array that runs by way of the corporate’s newest AI voice processing algorithms to assist separate your voice from any background clatter. My intuition is at all times to seize a wired set of buds (or simply use the earpiece) for any calls that actually matter, however these positively outperform the corporate’s previous efforts with regards to voice isolation.
It’s too early to definitively say that Sennheiser received it proper this time, however that’s what my intestine’s been telling me whereas testing the Momentum True Wi-fi 4 earbuds. Their sound stays distinctive, the glitches and defects from earlier fashions are nowhere to be seen, and so they’re stuffed filled with the very newest Bluetooth capabilities you’ll discover in 2024. I’ll be keeping track of Reddit and different social channels to verify nothing goes awry hardware-wise. However should you have been left with a nasty style in your mouth by the MTW3, this seems like a redemption arc.
Pictures by Chris Welch / The Verge