Review: Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless Headphones — even better than the last generation but at a significant price increase

Last year I reviewed the Sennheiser HDB 630 and was super impressed.  They are an amazing-sounding set of headphones that are no longer straddling the consumer-audiophile fence, with a foot firmly on the audiophile side.  It was a sad day when I sent them back to Sennheiser.

When it comes to its consumer line, though, Sennheiser has not updated its flagship wireless model since 2022, when it released the Sennheiser Momentum 4.  Four years is a long time in tech so it should come as no surprise that they recently announced the Momentum 5 wireless headphones.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones promise Hi-Res Audio certification and Snapdragon Sound technology featuring Bluetooth codec support up to aptX Lossless, all at a more consumer-friendly price point.

The ANC system is apparently improved with twice the number of microphones in the headphones.  Future support via OTA updates is promised to bring updates to the digital signal processor, unlock Dolby Atmos with head-tracking and update the Bluetooth firmware from the current 5.4 support to 6.0.

To promise this many updates seems strange. Why not wait until these updates are ready?  I’m not entirely sure, but after using the headphones for the past week, I can say they are an improvement over an already great set in the Momentum 4 Wireless.  Surely, they will get even better with the upcoming updates?

In the box

In the box, you will find an even more stylish case than the previous one.  The hard carry case for the Momentum 5 is slimmer than before and has a cutout on the rear that serves as a handle – sort of.

Along with the headphones and obligatory quick start guide, you get a USB-C to USB-C cable and an audio cable with 3.5mm and 2.5mm jacks.  Missing this time is the aeroplane adapter – not a massive issue, but should you want to use them on the plane and its weird plugs, you may need it, although that is likely a very old plane.

Design and comfort

I quite like the design of the Momentum headphones, so it was good to see that very little had changed outwardly in the design of the Momentum 5 Wireless headphones.  

They sport the same headband with a cloth outer and a soft, squishy and rubbery inner cushion.  The version I was sent was the Denim colourway, so it has a dark denim cloth on the outer and a dark beige on the inner surface.

The ear cups are on a swivel and rotate in and out a few degrees and a full 180 degrees front to back, making them relatively easy to fit to the size and shape of your head.  The inner ear cups are the same as those on the Momentum 4, with comfortable cushioning that fits well even under the headphones’ clamping force.

The controls on the headphones are the same as well with the power and Bluetooth button located on the right earcup and the media controlled by gestures on the side surface of the right earcup.

The big difference is the added microphones in the Momentum 5 headphones.  Not only are there twice as many but they also look bigger – well, the grilles on the outside protecting them are bigger.

The comfort is exactly the same as the Momentum 4, which is to say it is really good.  The Momentum 4 headphones are my daily drivers, so my head is certainly used to them, and they can sit atop my noggin without any discomfort for hours at a time, even with my hot head.

Features

I have mentioned a few of the features of the new Momentum 5 headphones above.  These include:

• Earcup touch panel – I love the adjusting of media using the touch panel – something Trevor didn’t like in 2022 on the Momentum 4, but I find if you have buttons, they can be difficult to find the correct one in a hurry.  A touch panel is the opposite. Easy to find and easy to use, though I did struggle to get the fast-forward and rewind to work consistently at first.  The hold slide back/forward gesture is actually a slide back/forward and THEN hold gesture.
  • The touch panel feels more responsive than on the Momentum 4 headphones

• On-head detection – no need to turn the headphones on or off yourself anymore; the headphones will detect when you put them on your head and turn on, then turn off when you remove them (after a delay you set in the app).  This worked really well once I remembered I didn’t have to turn them on manually (I kept turning them on, thinking I was turning them off).  Placing the headphones in the travel case will automatically turn them off.

• Smart Pause – lower the headphones from your ears and put them around your neck, and the music will automatically pause.  It will start playing again when you put the headphones back on.

The Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app

I’ve covered the Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app before and it is pretty much still the same. Obviously, the exact settings in the app differ from one set of headphones to another but the settings in the app for the Momentum 5 headphones include:

• Noise control – control the level of ANC you want.  The control of this on the Momentum 5 is more granular than that for the Momentum 4, giving you more control over the customisation of your noise control.

• Immersive audio and head tracking  – I dislike head tracking so that was a no from me.

• Equaliser – Just a simple 8-band equaliser here.  I am not sure why the headphones do not support a parametric equaliser, as I loved that on the HDB 630 headphones.  Is this possibly what Sennheiser are hinting at with its future updates? “Updates to the DSP (digital signal processor),”  we can only hope so.
  • It wasn’t easy finding a good stock EQ in the app, and I settled on “Movie” and edited that slightly to my preferences.  I use Tidal as my streaming music service provider (they give the artists more money than most other – way more than Spotify and YouTube Music) and this does not have an EQ built into it so I used the custom one I created in the app.
  • For an app such as PowerAMP, my go-to for my own high-quality FLAC music, there are built-in equalisers you can use that sound much better – just change the app back to neutral so only one EQ is activated at a time.

• Sound Zones – you can set certain sound settings for certain GPS locations. Create these zones and settings here.

Sound Quality

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 supports high-quality Bluetooth codecs, including SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, aptX Lossless, and Snapdragon Sound, an expansion on what was offered with the Momentum 4.

With all this high-quality codec support, you would think that the sound would be better, and it is, although not by that much.

The Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app does have some additional audio quality settings, including the Immersive Audio option, which I didn’t mind, to be honest.  It expanded the stereo field without distortion, though some audiophiles may have issues with it.

At the lower end of the soundstage, the bass is much better.  While it was good in the Momentum 4, with rich, accurate bass, the Momentum 5 builds on this with an even better-defined bass.  The accuracy and oomph of the bass was extremely pleasant, especially after applying my own EQ to it.  The very low end, sub-bass, really added a solid, satisfying rumble to the sound, resulting in a great overall sound.

The Momentum 5 also improved in the mid range, although it didn’t quite seem as crisp but a more smoothed, refined version of vocals etc that sit in this range.  The difference between the 4 and the 5, though, was difficult to discern, and I had to go back and forth a few times, using the same EQ in each, to notice a difference.

In the upper end of the registry, the sound is still great and incredibly similar to the Momentum 4 but they seem to lack just a bit when compared to my Focal audiophile quality Bluetooth headphones (which cost more than twice as much).  The extra crispness of the Focal just wasn’t there, with the Momentum 5 profile just a bit smoother.  

Overall, the sound of the Momentum 5 is better than the Momentum 4 but still doesn’t make the leap into the audiophile headphone quality range.  The sound is a great mass-market, consumer-quality sound.

Battery life

The stated battery life for the Sennheiser Momentum 5 is 57 hours!  Yes, that’s a very long time, and from my testing, it seems to be spot on and just as well because you cannot operate the Momentum 5 without the power on, so make sure they are charged at all times.

This stated battery life is with ANC on, by the way, and if you find it diminishes over time, you can replace the battery yourself simply by unscrewing four screws on the left earcup.  To prevent battery degradation, you can turn on battery protection mode, but keep in mind that it slows charging and prevents the headphones from reaching 100%.

Final thoughts

Last year I loved the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless headphones. The Momentum 5 Wireless are an improvement on that, with slightly better design/functionality and, most importantly, better sound quality. The kicker is, though, are they all that much better?

The Momentum 5 Wireless are great headphones, comfortable with great sound and I can recommend them but unfortunately, as we have seen with so many tech products, the price has significantly increased from the Momentum 4 Wireless. We do need to keep in mind that the Momentum 4 Wireless did release all the way back in 2022, so four years of inflation, needless wars, mindless AI funding, and we have seen prices spike, so it should not be a surprise that these “consumer headphones” are priced at 9AU.

I still think they are great headphones but at that price I would possibly be considering forking out a couple hundred extra to get the Sennheiser HDB 630 which are actually very near audiophile-quality and currently on sale for 9AU or get in on a run-out sale for the Momentum 4 Wireless for 9AU. The HDB 630 may sound better, but it does not offer the same comfort or battery life as the Momentum 5 Wireless headphones.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones continue to straddle the consumer-audiophile fence, but the price is trending away from the consumer side. They are the best consumer-grade headphones you can buy but you will have to decide whether the slight increase in audio quality is worth the extra outlay.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones are available from today for 9AU via au.sennheiser-hearing.com, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Amazon, Bing Lee, Retravision and authorised audio specialists nationwide.