Like many new headphones and earphones today, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless don’t look that much different from their predecessors. The minimalist design, like it or not, only varies so slightly from before.
I say this as an owner of a pair of Momentum 4 Wireless, which have served me well over the past few years as my Bluetooth headphones for music listening and calls during work.
Place the new Momentum 5 Wireless next to my older headphones and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. Perhaps sensing that, Sennheiser has added a shiny name plate (and extra microphones) on the side to announce the new version.
Other than that, you can say the new over-ear wireless headphones look almost the same as the old. That’s a good thing, you could say, since the previous version works great.
For example, the faux leather cushion on the head band and ear cups is plush and comfortable, especially if you have the headphones on for hours, like I do. Not luxurious, like a pair of Bowers & Wilkins, but more utilitarian.
The head band is also easy to adjust, as before. With the smooth slider by the sides, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless should fit nicely on most users. Indeed, the new headphones are easy to like once you put them on.
What I’ve had to get a little used to, as a long-time owner of Sennheiser (and Beyerdynamic) headphones, is the slightly different tuning this time round.
Fire up a few music tracks and you’d hear a slightly heavier emphasis on the low-end. Bass comes across weightier in some instances.
With tracks from markusphilippe’s self-explanatory saxnbass album, for example, and you’d hear the low-end extension with the double bass. There is a good deal of control, which means the low notes are still precise and not overwrought, certainly not overwhelming the saxophone.
Some Sennheiser fans might get a little worried about the slightly less “neutral” or leaner side of the sound but rest assured, the usual open soundstage and airy presentation are still very much here.
Even with bass-heavy tracks, such as Massive Attack’s Inertia Creeps, you don’t feel the low notes bogging down everything else. They are not at the expense of, say, rolling off a lot of the treble.
Personally, I’d still like to tweak the equaliser a little to highlight the top notes, but that’s likely my own preference with headphones, in particular.
What I do like are the details that come out effortlessly, as before with the Momentum 4 Wireless, even with complex pieces. For this, I tried out some instrumental pieces from O-Zone Percussion Group.
Though the drums feature prominently, there is no loss of sparkle from the high notes, either. Busy pieces with multiple instruments are handled adroitly.
Then there’s the classic Stimela (The Coal Train) by Hugh Masekela. With the Sennheiser headphones, the vocals come across with transparency, conveying the stunning liveness of the performance. The instruments in the background are also clearly distinct, never overwhelmed by the front-and-centre vocals.
I also like the dynamics, from the wind instruments to the percussions. Slow to fast, quiet to loud, the track comes across uncompressed and hard hitting on the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless.
It’s a smart thing that Sennheiser has retained the 42mm drivers from before, ensuring the most important part of what works is retained.
What the German audio company has updated is the active noise cancelling. Now with eight microphones inside, the headphones promise to better keep out background audio.
To be honest, I’ve never had an issue with the Momentum 4 Wireless, possibly because I have hardly carried them on long flights, but the newer Momentum 5 Wireless can be expected to shut out the din in the cabin.
I didn’t manage to bring the headphones onto a flight but in the relative quietness of my study room and balcony, the new Sennheiser headphones do a good job at cutting out a lot of road noise and human chatter.
What’s also new in the Momentum 5 Wireless is a 700mAh battery that can be replaced by users. You simply open up the ear pads and plastic housing with a screwdriver.
If you intend to keep your headphones for more than just a couple of years, this is something handy. Certainly, my Momentum 4 Wireless from three-plus years ago are already feeling the drain of everyday use, so an easy battery replacement like on the Momentum 5 is a nice upgrade.
Speaking of power, the new headphones promise as much as 57 hours of playback with active noise cancelling turned on. Surprisingly, that’s shorter than the 60 hours on the Momentum 4 Wireless, but surely still more than enough for any flight.
I should also mention that the Sennheiser app is easy to use for settings like touch controls, streaming quality and an equaliser to tune the audio.
The app has has been updated over the years to provide some of detailed customisations that Sony is well known for, so it’d be welcome by tweakers.
The app is also where you can turn on Dolby Atmos, a new “surround audio” feature that some might like, especially if you have the Tidal app that supports the audio format.
For me, some of the tracks are great but others merely okay. So, I’d turn on the feature if I have Tidal but not if I only use Spotify. Note that, if you have Dolby Atmos turned on, you need to disable your own audio customisations saved to your Sennheiser profile.
To be sure, Sennheiser has come up with a great followup to a key product that appeals to the masses. Unlike its great but niche audiophile products, headphones like the Momentum 5 Wireless are ones that will give it the momentum (sorry!) to revitalise its revenue numbers and maybe find a new owner.
While we’re on that, I find the S$599 sticker price for the Momentum 5 Wireless in Singapore pretty steep, which may deter some buyers. The new headphones are priced substantially higher than the S$499 Momentum 4 Wireless when they were launched here in 2022.
There’s no doubt Sennheiser has built on what’s come before. If you can get the Momentum 5 Wireless at a better deal on the street, they are worth considering.
Otherwise, the older Momentum 4 Wireless that are not nearly half as bad are going for less than half the price at under S$300, which makes them a much better deal.
