These excerpts from reviews of the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 are not made of hot air and come from large technics. Does the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 live up to its fame? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a bluetooth headset? How does the Wireless 2.0 relate to the previous generation Sennheiser Momentum? We answer all these questions and more in this review of the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0.
Stuttering introduction
The introduction of the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 did not go smoothly. Sennheiser started selling the wireless version of the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 in the fall of 2015, but soon removed the headphones from the shelves because of connection problems with Apple computers. In the spring, the headphones were available internationally for a price of € 450. This means the Momentum series from Sennheiser belongs to the higher segment in the headphones market.
Sennheiser focuses on high-quality sound quality in combination with a beautiful and sleek appearance and is therefore a direct competitor for popular brands such as Beats. With this Sennheiser also wants to attract the younger buyer with a budget.
Excellent build quality and elegant appearance
For such a high segment, high build quality is naturally taken for granted, and Sennheiser has done a good job. I have the Ivory version, and the high-gloss paint on the outside of the ear cups immediately stands out. This color gives the headphones a graceful and chic look that does justice to the price. The headband is made on the upper side of dark leather with lighter stitching.
The best thing about building the Momentum 2.0 Wireless is the wonderfully soft leather on the ear cup. The cups are over-ear and made reasonably thick. This creates a high wearing comfort. The headband, on the other hand, always contributes to this. This feels pretty hard on the bottom and during long listening sessions you will feel it. Fortunately, you can easily adjust the height of the headphones by sliding the ear cups down. You have about 5 centimeters to adjust the headphones in terms of height. The width of the headphones as a whole has increased compared to the previous generation. This makes the 2.0 Wireless very comfortable around your head and you will not get bothered by your ears while listening. The headphones are quite flexible and can easily be wider if necessary.
The ear cups themselves are quite large because of the built-in DAC, AMP, battery, micro-usb port, NFC and built-in controllers for the music. Do not expect slim headphones with the Momentum Wireless 2.0. Fortunately, the headphones can be folded together to be compactly placed in the case. The collapse was not possible with the previous generation Momentum. The supplied cover is not of particularly high quality, but also fits well, although it does take a lot of dust. Unfortunately, the cover is not made in the color of the headphones, something that was still the case with the previous generation.
Sound quality with Bluetooth and ANC
By far the most impressive thing about the Sennheiser Wireless 2.0 is the sound. Where the previous Momentum already received a lot of praise because of the good sound, the 2.0 goes a step further. The bass is excellent without being overbearing. The middle sounds very bright and you hear details that you would not hear on headphones in another segment. The high is also very good. Only sharp sounds such as the “s” in bluetooth mode can sound sharp at high volume. You will no longer hear this in wired mode. For the rest, the bass in wired mode is also a tad firmer, but this difference is minimal.
The sound sounds both low, middle and high better than the wired Sennheiser Momentum, which surprised me a lot. After listening sessions with both headphones, I’m happy when I get the Wireless 2.0 again because of the excellent sound. Sennheiser did an excellent job here by enabling such balanced and good sound via bluetooth. The built-in DAC and AMP of the headphones will undoubtedly contribute to this.
Bluetooth 4.0, with which the Momentum 2.0 Wireless works, is also a lot more sophisticated with the digital audio signal than previous bluetooth versions. Via my MacBook I tested aptX, because this codec is supported in the Sennheiser. AptX is a bluetooth codec that provides higher quality. However, I could not hear any difference with the standard SBC codec, which I used with my Nexus 5.
The ANC (Active Noise Canceling) uses anti-sound waves to ensure that ambient noise is filtered out to a certain extent. The ANC is always on when there is enough battery, and can not be turned off manually. When you switch on the headphones you will hear a soft noise with which the ANC is switched on. When you turn it off, you hear the noise drop and you hear ambient noise again. De Momentum uses four microphones to absorb sound and can completely filter out noise up to 25 dB. In practice, this means that very few sounds get through to you. Especially in environments such as the car, bus or plane where a monotonous noise is made for a long time, the ANC works fine. Of course sudden noises like screaming children are not kept out, but you hear them a lot less. Too strong ANC can result in poorer sound quality and problems with the weight organ, but in the Momentum brand of both things nothing. ANC is a fine addition and creates a little extra focus on the music by filtering out ambient noise.
Bluetooth headphones: is it what?
This is my first bluetooth headset and initially I was quite skeptical about what I read on the internet. Wired headphones would give better sound quality, charging the headphones is a hassle etc. The Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless convinces me completely of bluetooth headphones. Yet it is not perfect yet. Let me explain it.
The benefits of bluetooth are huge. No more hassle with a cable, I have become accustomed to it. Walk from room to room without having my phone with you and the music just works well. Just walk away if you have to do something else quickly: ideal. The range of the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 is about 10 to 15 meters. With thick walls in between you can still be a space away, but two walls in between usually do not work anymore. In my experience I can walk up a floor while my phone is downstairs and the music will usually continue playing.
In addition, the signal that bluetooth transmits to the headphones is digital. That is why the Sennheiser has built-in controllers on the bottom of the right shell that can be used to adjust the volume, the track can be pauseed / resumed and skipped to the next / previous track. In my eyes the left side was more convenient for the controllers, since you can do other things with your right hand, but after a while you get used to it. The controllers are handy if you want to quickly adjust your volume or put the music on a break without having to use your smartwatch or phone: raise your hand. With another headset I was quickly searching for the controllers that were not there.
Another advantage is the automatic switching between audio inputs. The Momentum 2.0 can be connected to multiple devices at the same time and will automatically switch input when audio starts on the other device. Listen to your music on your phone and switch to YouTube on your PC, then your music will automatically play on your phone again. This can also be annoying if a system noise comes from your PC, such as an error message: then the music will stop and only continue playing after a few seconds. Also the Momentum does not always pick up the connection of my MacBook when I put it on stand-by. The only solution is to switch the headset off and on again, a process that takes a good five seconds. I did not have connection problems with my Nexus, so maybe Sennheiser did not know how to solve all problems with Apple.
You can also adjust the volume of the Momentum 2.0 Wireless on both the headphones themselves and on the device where the audio is being played. The volume is synchronized between these devices, so you always adjust the same volume level, wherever you do.
The buttons themselves feel pretty cheap. There are two buttons on the 2.0 Wireless: one to switch the headphones on and off, and the other to control the music. The power button has almost no travel and feels rather spongy: you do not know very well whether or not you have pressed the button. Fortunately, there is a cool female voice that tells you whether you turn the headphones on or off.
The other button has too many functions to mention: it can be moved forward and backward to adjust the sound, pressing is pause / resume, pressing twice is next track, and pressing three times is the previous track, but is also request the battery percentage if you do not listen to music. If you are called, you can record by clicking once, pressing and holding him down, etc. etc. All complicated, Sennheiser had done better to use multiple buttons.
If you press the button twice to go to the next song, it will more often than not cause your song to pause because it only records one click. Not very convenient. Therefore, in practice, use the button only to adjust volume and pause the number: the rest I use via my smartwatch or phone.
Sufficient stamina
The battery life is given by Sennheiser at 22 hours of playtime. I kept track of how long I used the headphones and came to a total of 23.5 hours. This makes the 22 hours of Sennheiser easy to get. With a lot of audio listening I come in about five days use, as far as I am concerned more than sufficient. The headphones give a warning through the cool female voice that the headphones need to be charged. Sennheiser does not give percentages, but indications how full the battery is. These indications go from under 3 hours of playtime, 3 to 5 hours, 5-11 hours, 11-18 and 18-22 hours.
If your headphones are empty in the middle of a listening session, which is not uncommon to me, you can listen to the Momentum just wired, so that you can still watch your movie. The ANC and controllers will no longer work. You can recharge the headphones after the listening session. Charging is done via micro-usb and can be via your laptop or a smartphone charger. This is how it happened: full charging is done within 3 hours, and within half an hour you have between “5 and 11 hours of playtime.”
Conclusion
By means of a chic appearance and balanced sound via a bluetooth connection, Sennheiser has created a full-fledged successor to the Momentum series. The suggested retail price is a hefty € 450, and that is a lot of money for headphones. Sennheiser clearly focuses on the sound and appearance as the main sales points and succeeds well in this. There is still some work to be done in the field of button management, this is outright illogical. Both the buttons and the operation itself deserve some fine tuning.
The combination of good sound quality and bluetooth is still encountering a lot of resistance on the internet, and as far as I am concerned this is not right. Only that makes the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2.0 a good pair of headphones that I can easily advance in the next 3/4 years.
