Momentum 3 look and sound great
The Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless headphones are on the pricier side for over-ear headphones, finds Patch Bowen.
The Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless headphones are a premium set that deliver great audio performance and effective active noise cancelling (ANC).
Everything you would want is here. They have a comfortable, stylish design, and a 13-hour battery life. They’re compatible with several codecs, and Sennheiser’s Smart Control app is effective and easy to use.
This is the case for most premium headphones though, and is to be expected in a pair that costs $600. The problem here is that in many areas, the Momentum 3s just aren’t as good as the competition.
The Sony WH-1000XM4, for example, deliver the same great audio, have a much longer-lasting 30-hour battery, have better touch controls and are $200+ cheaper.
The only area where the Momentum 3s stand out is in their design. They look great, but I’m not convinced looks are worth an extra $200+.
Price
The Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless headphones cost $600. This is on the pricier side for overear headphones. For comparison, the Sony WH-1000XM4 costs $379, and the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 costs $580.
Design
The Momentum 3s have a great design. They’re stylish and are some of the best-looking headphones I’ve used.
They’re fitted with a genuine leather headband, firm memory foam earcups, and steel arms for adjusting the size. It’s a sleek and unique look that’s also very comfortable.
I was expecting them to feel heavy, but they’re light, have a gentle clamping force that doesn’t squash the head, and I could wear them for hours without issue.
The Momentum 3s forgo touch controls instead relying on physical buttons and switches located on the right earcup. There’s a switch for turning ANC on/off and transparency mode on. There’s volume up and down, play/pause and answer phone calls buttons and also a button for initiating your chosen voice assistant.
These controls were accurate and responsive; however, the lack of touch controls means there’s a lack of customisability. Where other headphones allow you to change the controls to suit your needs, here you’re stuck with the base controls. And crucially, a skip track function is lacking.
I also would have liked more detailed audio queues for some functions, especially the ANC on/ off switch. There’s no audio feedback to tell you which setting you’re using. The headphones naturally provide a good deal of passive noise isolation, so in some circumstances, it was difficult to tell if ANC was on or off. Often I would have to open up the Smart Control app to figure out if it was on or not. Not ideal.
The voice assistant button will initiate the assistant you use on your device. If you use Google Assistant on your phone, that’s the assistant that will initiate. It’s the same with Siri and Alexa. It’s easy and means you aren’t forced to use a voice assistant you may not be familiar with.
There’s a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5mm jack for headphones. Cords for both these ports come in the case.
While the headphones have a premium build, the case is a little lacklustre. It’s a relatively basic, cloth, zip-up case. There’s no significant amount of padding or protection here. I wasn’t comfortable putting the Momentum 3s in their case, as I was with other premium cases.
Sound quality
The Momentum 3s produce a very good sound. They can deliver punchy bass tones without distorting the mix. Vocals come through clearly without getting drowned out by other frequencies, and overall the soundstage is large and well-balanced.
They do have a bass-heavy default sound setting, however, this was easily remedied with the equaliser found in the Smart Control App. I was able to get the audio almost exactly how I wanted it. I would’ve liked more customisation options with the EQ, however the three faders for bass, mid and treble served their purpose well enough.
There wasn’t a genre of music the Momentum 3 Wireless headphones couldn’t handle. Whether it was fast-paced tracks like Runnin’ Away by RDGLDGRN, bass-heavy hip-hop like What’s Golden by Jurassic 5 or more mellow songs like These Words by The Lemon Twigs, it all sounded good.
The Momentum 3s support Bluetooth 5.0, and they’re compatible with a large number of codecs, aptx low latency, aptxHD, aptx, AAC and SBC.
A feature I appreciated was being able to connect the headphones to two devices at the same time via Bluetooth.
I could have music playing through my computer and my phone connected to hear notification sounds. It’s quite a specific use case, but it’s nice to have the option.
Smart control app
The Sennheiser Smart Control app is relatively basic. You can change the ANC between three levels, Max, Anti-Wind and Anti-Pressure. I didn’t notice much difference between these settings and had it set on max for most of my time.
You can customise transparent hearing, a Sennheiser feature that allows you to hear sounds outside the headphones, to pause music, or quieten music, and you can EQ the audio.
You can also turn on/off Smart Pause and Smart Play which pause music if you take the headphones off, and play it when you put it back on. This worked well. Taking the headphones off would instantly pause the music, and it wouldn’t start playing until it was comfortably back on my head. It’s so good I barely used transparent hearing mode.
A unique feature is the Momentum 3s’ compatibility with Tile. Tile is software that helps find your headphones if they’re misplaced. You can ring them, so they make a sound, view their last location on a map and use the Tile Detector. It’s a nice feature, especially if you’re prone to misplacing your devices.
ANC/Transparent mode
The Momentum 3s’ active noise cancellation capabilities don’t quite reach the high levels of the best, the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. Still, unless you directly compare the two, you probably won’t notice the difference.
The ANC here is very good. The headphones do a good job of cancelling high and mid frequencies, but sometimes there is some sound leaking from the lower bass tones. But it’s not a big deal.
If you’re worried about the rumble of an aeroplane coming through, don’t be, these will cancel that out.
The transparency mode isn’t great. Similar to other headphones, the Momentum 3s pick up sounds using the in-built microphones and play it into the earcups.
Here it sounds more like ANC has been turned off as opposed to sounds being boosted and played into the earcups.
Battery
The Momentum 3s boast a 17-hour battery life, 13 hours with ANC turned on. While this is plenty for a long-distance flight, when compared to the competition, it isn’t great.
The Sony WH-1000XM4’s boast a 30-hour battery life with ANC turned on. It’s significantly better.
The Momentum 3s support fast charging, with a 10-minute charge providing 90-minutes of battery. This is a nice feature to have. There are many headphones that don’t support fast charging.
Verdict
In regards to sound quality and ANC there’s very little that separates the best-of-the-best headphones. Unless you directly compare them you will barely be able to tell the difference. All have good ANC and produce good sound.
When this is the case, other features and specifications become important considerations. Price, battery life and controls become major factors.
When comparing the Momentum 3 Wireless headphones to other premium headphones based on these criteria, they’re behind the competition, in some cases significantly.
The Sony WH-1000XM4s are more than $200 cheaper, boast double the battery life, and have touch controls that you can customise to suit your needs.
Yes the Momentum 3s will provide premium sound quality, and are the best-looking headphones on the market, but are expensive and not quite as good as the competition in other areas.
■ Overall score: 3.3/5