Sennheiser Momentum 4 and Momentum Sport hands-on: Excellent sound in two very different earbuds

Sennheiser announced two very different sets of wireless earbuds at CES 2024 here in Las Vegas, extending its Momentum line with a fourth-generation flagship model and a high-tech sport version. The company's premium earbuds have offered excellent sound quality for a while now, consistently earning the best overall audio in our best wireless earbuds list. We paid Sennheiser a quick visit to see how the two new sets stack up. 

There's no need to mince words here: The audio performance on the Momentum True Wireless 4 is outstanding. I only listened to them for a few minutes, but I had a hard time walking away. The jazz demo tracks the company selected played to the earbuds' strengths with excellent clarity and pleasant, inviting tuning. Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) also seems to be improved as I was able to silence a noisy hotel suite at the press of a button. Transparency mode is also better and more natural sounding, but you still don't get as much of your voice beamed back through the earbuds as you do on the AirPods Pro. 

Sennheiser clarified during my demo that its stated battery life on the Momentum True Wireless 4 of seven and a half hours is with ANC off. However, it explained that it has narrowed the gap in regards to noise cancellation impacting battery life as enabling it only reduces play time by 30 minutes. 

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

I'm also happy to report there's no discernible drop off in audio quality with the Momentum Sport. There's still crisp, clear sound that's evenly tuned despite the company's goal of "impressive bass" for workouts. There's ample low-end tone here, but it didn't seem to be cranked any higher than the Momentum True Wireless 4. The size of the Sport model makes them very comfortable to wear and the ANC seemed to do a solid job blocking the roar of CES surrounding us.

The Momentum True Wireless 4 goes on sale March 1 and the Momentum Sport will be available April 9. I'll be putting both sets of earbuds through their paces closer to their respective launch dates. 

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

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