Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2
The original Sennheiser True Wireless headphones arrived in 2018, delivering a balanced sound, a decent smattering of features and good battery life in a solid, if pricey, package. The second generation of wireless earbuds promises improvements but, with new rivals from the likes of Apple, Sony and Samsung, the question is whether Sennheiser has done enough. The Momentum True Wireless 2 boast a few aesthetic differences from their predecessors. The earpieces have been trimmed down slightly, making them more svelte and a little less bulky in your hand and your ears. Fitting is still a case of sliding them in, then twisting to lock them into a decent seal.
They’re smaller and protrude less than the Sony WF-1000XM3, but the new Momentums feel more comfortable over long listening sessions than the originals. There are four pairs of silicone eartips in the box, plus a short USB-C charging cable. A selection of foam tips would be nice, especially at this price, but we don’t have any trouble getting a good seal. The tips also click into place effortlessly, making switching them around painless.
The outer surfaces of each earpiece once again double as touch controls that can be used to carry out various functions, from controlling playback to activating Google Assistant or Siri.
Sucks the outside world
The big news for the Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds is the addition of active noise-cancelling. You can hear the benefit – turn it on and it sucks out the rumbling and background chatter of the outside world. To toggle the noisecancelling on or off, you can use the touch-sensitive controls or flick the switch in Sennheiser’s Smart Control app, which is worth dipping into.
Here, you can customise those touch controls to carry out a range of functions. The left touchpad handles playback
– one tap to play/pause, a double-tap to skip forwards and a triple-tap to skip back. A similar combination of taps on the right earbud enables the voice assistant, turns the Transparent Hearing (ambient noise control) on and off, or disables the active noise-cancelling. Turn the volume down by pressing and holding on the surface of the left earbud or turn it up by following the same procedure on the right earpiece.
You can configure your own control presets on the app, which is a good way to squeeze extra functionality out of the headphones and handy if you have become used to a different control set-up. The app also allows you to see the amount of battery left, as a single figure rather than an individual percentage for each bud.
Sennheiser’s fabric-covered charging case returns for the second-gen model. It carries 21 hours of charge and has an LED indicator on the front that changes colour depending on the amount of juice left in the earbuds or the case.
The buds are good for around seven hours from a single charge (up from four on their predecessors), although noise-cancelling drains the battery quicker. The battery life compares well with that of the Sony WF-1000XM3 (six hours, plus 18 from the case) and the Apple Airpods Pros (five hours, plus 19).
We play Vampire Weekend’s Diane Young, and the Sennheisers get off to a great start. Drums are thwacked with a suitable amount of power, but they are taut and controlled with a fine sense of precision and focus. There’s plenty of space in the soundstage as the guitar and percussion jostle for position. This can come across as rowdy and raucous through lesser earbuds, but here it sounds refined and mature.
No element sounds rolled off, with highs and lows dispatched with equal force. With high frequencies, the True Wireless 2s sound more composed than the Sonys and beat the Apple Airpods Pros hands down. With the help of the noise-cancelling, they’re able to dig out an impressive amount of detail.
The Sennheisers also show good control over low frequencies. Play Kanye West’s Welcome To Heartbreak and the pounding bassline sounds powerful and authoritative with no fat around the edges. Each drum thwack sounds taut, precise, and drizzled with texture. The WF-1000XM3, though, have the edge when it comes to rhythm and timing, capturing the stop-start momentum of the track with greater accuracy and delivering it with greater aplomb.
Comes at you loud and clear
The Sennheiser character works well with video content via Youtube and Netflix too. Watching Stranger Things, you can hear the detail in each explosion from the initial impact to the subtle fizz as it dies out. Dialogue comes at you loud, clear and with no lip-sync issues. The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 have evolved just as we hoped. They are more comfortable and nicer to use than their predecessors, battery life is better and noise-cancelling is now included. We could happily listen to them for hours on end without reaching for the pause button. If your budget allows, your ears will be handsomely rewarded.