The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 is among my favorite in-ear earphones in the premium bracket so when Sennheiser offered us the new Momentum Sport for review, I couldn’t resist the temptation to try them. The main differences between fitness buds and every other TWS on the market are usually waterproofing or “water resistance,” so they’ll survive sweat and rain, and a tighter than average fit, so they don’t shift or fall out during exercise. A water resistant version of MTWS4 with maybe a bit snugger fit? I was intrigued.
Waterproof and water resistant earphones are more common today than they were a few years ago with many makers’ entire lines sporting at least some level of water resistance. Technically the Momentum Sport carry an IPX5 rating so they will resist sweat, rain and even direct sprays of liquids but are not recommended for use in or under water. In some cases, the “fitness” or “sport” buds offered by some brands are little more than the manufacturer’s standard product in a more tightly fitting shell, so to see an actual IPX5 rating on the Momentum Sport instills a bit more confidence.
For me, the tightly fitting gym models are usually less comfortable than looser fitting models meaning I rarely wear fitness buds outside of the gym. The vast majority of earbud users have shared similar sentiments with Sennheiser and other makers which is the reason most makers continue to make a fitness model and a standard model to suit the two different user groups.
What Is It?
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport is a Bluetooth true wireless (TWS) in-ear stereo earphone with ANC (Active Noise Cancellation). It is the follow-up to the True Sport but fans will notice the new model bears the Momentum moniker indicating the new Sport is now part of Sennheiser’s flagship family. The Momentum Sport is also the first collaboration between Sennheiser and the fitness tracker folks at Polar. Sennheiser brought its 4th generation Momentum series in-ear technology and Polar brought its photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate sensor and body temperature sensor to the party, creating the first combination in-ear earphone and chest band monitor replacement in the process.
You read that right: the new Momentum Sport adds a heart rate monitor and a body temperature monitor to the list of features you’d expect in an earbud. That helps explain why the MSRP for the Sport is $329 while the Momentum TWS 4 MSRP is $299. When you consider that a chest band or wrist heart rate monitor on its own sells for around $100, the price of the Momentum Sport is much easier to swallow, particularly since one less device is required.
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport is definitely a departure from the Sennheiser Momentum series look and feel as about the only carry-over is the packaging. Opening the box reveals the carrying case, three sets of tips, 4 bands (3 ear stabilizers with wings), and the charging cable. Three colorways are available with the tested pair coming in Polar Black. The other two options are a burned Olive military look and a metallic graphite medium gray.
What’s In the Box?
The Momentum Sport earphones come with a user manual, charging case with attachable finger strap, 3 pairs of ear tips and 4 pairs of ear “fins” which help further secure the buds in your ears. An 18-inch USB-A to USB-C charging cable is also included. The charging case is just shy of 3 inches x 3 inches x 1 inch so is on the larger side but still fits comfortably in a pocket. The top is rubber-coated and wraps around the under-side of the case to provide both the hinge and a port cover for the USB type-C charging port. The case is held closed using a magnetic closure and, while not quite as water resistant as the buds (IPX4 vs IPX5), the case should survive a bit of sweat if kept in the pocket as you work out.
The case supports both USB type-C charging as well as wireless charging and provides three full charges to the buds and part of a fourth charge in our testing. The case itself took roughly an hour and 45 minutes to recharge while the buds charge in roughly an hour from a fully charged case.
Look and Feel
The buds themselves look unassuming with a band around the mid-section that provides for placement of the included rubber ear-stabilizer or “fin” that snugs the bud in the ear and provides a wing stabilizer to keep the buds from twisting. The buds are fairly thick and maintain the somewhat boxy look of the CX and Momentum series at the top edge where they are a bit squared off and sport the Sennheiser logo, but moving downward take on a more rounded shape that carries over to the inside surface as well. Nozzles are short giving the new Sport model a shallower fit than its MTWS4 sibling. This makes it more important to use the largest tip that fits comfortably in your ear for better isolation and seal.
The Sport earbuds are fairly thick front to back which results in a bud that sits as much on the ear as it does inside it. The inside of the buds have 4 charging pads in a semi-circular arrangement and a pairing LED between the last charge pad and the nozzle. The left bud includes the sensors while the right one remains slick. The left bud has a red oblong stabilizer that sits in the ear canal. This requires the band be fitted properly to avoid blocking the sensor. The nozzle on the left bud is made of a clear material rather than being part of the shell like the right bud. This left clear nozzle contains the other sensor with a green emitter easily visible through the translucent tip when turned on. It sounds more complicated than it is and the earphones actually went into (and out of) my ears pretty easily.
Internally, the Momentum Sport use a 10mm dynamic driver similar to those in the rest of the Momentum family but tuned for the Sport enclosure. Sennheiser lists the frequency response as 15Hz to 18kHz but does not list impedance or sensitivity. This isn’t much of an issue since the only way to connect the Sport is via Bluetooth 5.2 and Sennheiser has already optimized the amplification circuitry for the drivers. Codecs supported include SBC, AAC, AptX, and AptX Adaptive. Multipoint connectivity is supported but is limited to 2 devices and Android fast-pair is not currently supported.
Fit is snug in the ear once the right stabilizer and tip combination is found and it takes about 30 seconds for the sensors to populate data in the Smart Control App once paired. When I first paired the Momentum Sport, I was immediately notified of a firmware update that took roughly 4 minutes to load. I could have waited, which is nice since it never fails that I get those pop-ups for firmware updates at the moment I’m being told to put my phone in airplane mode, but since I wasn’t travelling I went ahead and updated the buds.
There’s an App for That
I’ve covered the Sennheiser Smart Control app in some detail in other reviews so will hit the highlights here. The Smart Control app is one of the better headphone apps for layout, ease of use, and functionality. You’ll find EQ with both presets and custom options, ANC controls, Find My Buds, sound zones, fit check, control customization, and of course the new Sport Sensors section with your heart rate and body temperature data.
For those who prefer not to fumble with an app while at the gym, Sennheiser provides both capacitive touch controls as well as tap controls which allow the user to tap the skin next to the bud. I thought this was a gimmick at first but once I found the sweet spot, between the tragus and helical crus, it worked quite well. The touch controls on the earbuds themselves are a bit more limited than the ones on the MTWS4 and may have been simplified to create space for the sensors. I gave both sets of controls a try and found I actually kind of liked the tap controls. As I looked around the gym I noticed several people wearing gloves and realized the touch controls wouldn’t work in that situation, but the tap controls would. Somebody at Sennheiser or Polar or both was pretty smart here.
Speaking of apps, the Smart Control app provides current values for heart rate and temperature but does not attempt to track them over time. For that you’ll need to download the Polar Flow app or another supported fitness tracker app.
Sennheiser states a 5.5 hour battery life, which isn’t quite as long as some competitors, but those same competitors lack the sensors found in the Momentum Sport which surely account for some of that power draw. In my testing, I found I was able to get roughly the stated listening time or a bit more if ANC was turned off and listening levels kept moderate. For most of us 5 hours of continuous workout time would do us in faster than the earbuds so I see no issue with having to refresh the battery between sessions. A few pro athletes might see that differently but I suspect their fitness tracking likely goes well beyond heart rate and body temperature so the Sport isn’t likely to fit their lifestyle anyway.
Listening Notes
I fully expected the Momentum Sport to have the same audio quality as the rest of the Momentum series – if Sennheiser is putting its flagship name on the product, it had better earn the designation. I’m happy to report that the Momentum Sport lives up to these sound quality expectations.
Sub-bass is very mildly elevated and drops back as it moves through the mid-bass. Overall, bass has good impact and can dig deep when called upon but doesn’t intrude or overshadow any other element when not the star. Sub-bass has good rumble with roll-off only evident in the lowest notes where it becomes more felt than heard. Mid-bass has good texture and weight giving kick-drum good solid impact and bass guitar a realistic timbre. There is a bass boost setting available in EQ, but for me it was too much of a good thing as bass gets both bigger and looser when used.
The transition from mid-bass to lower-mids is clean with no bleed or masking evident. The lower-mids are near neutral and don’t take a backseat to the mid-bass with lower voices having good weight. Guitar growl is nice and sharp and. as frequencies move up into the true mids, a bit more energy is introduced so strings have the needed energy to sound natural. The rise continues into the upper-mids and lower-treble but it is a very small lift so, while it adds some energy to higher vocals, it doesn’t push them forward of lower tones in the mix. Overall, the Momentum Sport does a good job of delivering vocals that sound natural and coherent.
Lower treble starts out on the plateau with the upper-mids before stepping back once they reach about 5kHz. This brings in a bit of energy that helps percussion snap without creating a fatiguing sound. I can forgive a little bit of safe tuning here as these were designed for long listening sessions and a hot treble is likely to becoming fatiguing quickly. The drop back in the range above 5kHz does limit air and sparkle at the top end some, but for a tiny fully enclosed bud, the Sport still manages to deliver a larger sound than many competitors.
The soundstage is well proportioned with a bit more width than depth and some height in the mix. Seating the orchestra was easy as instrument separation is good and imaging is fairly precise. Tracking sounds around the space is precise but I did notice that, even in low latency mode, there can be a touch of lag when gaming or watching movies, so these may not be the preferred choice for those applications.
ANC Performance
First off, the passive isolation on the Momentum Sport is good, but not fantastic. Some noises do bleed in from outside and, with some uncertainty about whether after-market tips will prevent the nozzle sensor from working correctly, options to improve passive isolation may be somewhat limited.
Noise control options include ANC mode, anti-wind, and transparency. ANC does well at removing low droning noises but does less to mitigate outside noises as frequency rises. The combination of passive isolation and ANC reduce outside noise about 70% which is enough to keep most outside noises from breaking through but a step behind the MTWS4 and the current top crop of ANC in-ears. I did find the clink of the weights on the machines tended to cut through more than the sounds of the treadmills and bikes, but I was listening at fairly low volume and suspect a more aggressive track or a bit more volume would have likely drowned those out too. Anti-wind works to a degree, but again don’t expect miracles here as there is only so much the technology can do.
Transparency mode has more fine tuning options and allows the user to select from three levels of transparency as well as automatically enabling transparency mode when taking phone calls.
Pros:
- Feature-packed in-ears include ANC and heart rate/body temp monitoring
- Good water resistance make them a great choice for the gym or rainy day runs
- Excellent sound quality
Cons:
- Below average battery life (but case offers 3+ additional charges)
- A bit expensive (but online discounts are usually available)
- ANC performance lags a bit behind the leaders
The Bottom Line
Sennheiser set the bar high when they changed the series the Sport model fits in. Previous generations were not part of the flagship Momentum series. With the Momentum TWS 4 being one of my favorite in-ears, I had high expectations for the Momentum Sport. Many of those expectation were met: the Sport has great sound and fit and is comfortable for long listening sessions. This comfort is something that eludes many competitive sport or fitness models. Battery life lags a bit behind some other models, but then again, other models don’t offer the heart monitoring and body temp functions so it will depend on whether your smartwatch is already handling those tasks as to the value of having the heart and temp monitoring in the earbuds. Also, with the case able to deliver more than than three additional full charges, the Momentum Sport shouldn’t leave you in silence with even a modicum of planning.
The stand out feature to me (other than the sound) is the controls: the ability to tap skin in front of the earpieces with a gloved hand and control the earbuds is a feature I want to see on more models.
Passive isolation is a bit less effective than top ANC models, which means a bit more noise can sneak in. Again I found the Momentum Sport fine for gym use, but likely would instead grab a pair of ANC ‘phones from Sony, Bose, or Sennheiser’s own Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds if heading to the airport.
At $329 retail, the Momentum Sport is going to be divisive as those looking for a gym bud with heart and temp monitoring, good water-resistance, great sound quality, and easy controls will likely see the value proposition right away. But those who already have a chest strap, fitness wristband or smart watch monitoring their fitness may see the Sport as too big a price to pay for a more water-resistant version of the Momentum TWS 4. I will say that spot-checking the prices online, there was a much smaller difference in pricing between the 4 and the Sport, so this should make the choice easier for most prospective buyers.
I’m far from a workout junkie myself, but I really like the Momentum Sport for its ergonomic design, comfortable fit and unique controls. Even if you don’t need the health monitors, it’s a cool tech demo that hopefully hints at things to come. Recommended.
Where to Buy: $329 $249 at Amazon | Crutchfield | Sennheiser
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