These earbuds get a lot of things right – Firstpost

Pros:
– Excellent sound quality after tweaks
– Elegant design
– Very good ANC and customizable transparency mode
– Auracast and multipoint support
– aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless codec support
– Granular sound and control tweaks through the companion app
– Good battery backup, supports wireless charging
– Two year warranty

Cons:
– Average call quality
– Earbuds and charging case are both on the bulkier side
– App forces you to register to access key product features

Price: Rs 18,990
Rating: 4/5

Be it wireless headphones or true wireless (TWS) earbuds, it seems like Sony and Sennheiser are meant to fight forever for the top honors. And it is great for potential buyers to have high-quality options when they are looking to spend a pretty penny. Towards the start of last year, we saw a close contest between the Sennheiser Momentum 4 and the Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones. It is time for their TWS variants to lock horns.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 or simply MTW4 is packed with true high-end features like aptX Lossless codec and Auracast support, in addition to Adaptive noise cancellation, impressive battery life figures and some interesting sound tweaks through the companion app. Time to figure out how it performs and whether it can give the Sony WF-1000XM5 a run for its money.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Design and comfort (7.5/10)
The MTW4 has a rather unusual design for the buds and case both but the build quality is quite solid. It is hard to describe the shape of the buds but the metallic back and the black body complement each other well, especially the copper-colored variant we received for review. The rectangular case has a fabric exterior which makes it completely smudge-free but may be susceptible to stains.

It weighs 66.4 grams (without the buds) and isn’t slim enough to be called pocketable. Strangely, the case has a USB-C charging port at the front instead of at the back along with a charge status LED. You will end up trying to open it from the wrong side a few times before getting used to it. Each earbud weighs about 6.2 grams, which is on the heavier side of average. However, they feel comfortable in the ear and offer a fairly snug fit.

They do stick out of their ears a bit but don’t look odd. At the other end, they sit rather deep in the ear canals, and the fit may feel uncomfortable for some. Hence, choosing the right sized ear-tips is extremely important here. The company bundles four pairs of silicone ear-tips, including the preinstalled pair. Do spend a couple of minutes choosing the right one, as a size smaller may hamper your joy.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Features and specifications (9/10)
This product is packed to the brim with high-quality features. Each earbud is fitted with a 7 mm dynamic driver and three microphones for ANC and calling. The codec support is one of the best around. Other than SBC and AAC, these Bluetooth 5.4 earbuds are compliant with Qualcomm’s aptX, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless and also LC3 codecs. Mind you, for aptX Lossless, you also need a source device compatible with that in addition to lossless audio content. In my case, I stuck to aptX Adaptive, which itself is pretty good.

The MTW4 supports multipoint connectivity and can be paired with two devices simultaneously. You also get wear detection sensors to pause the audio when you remove a bud from your ear and resume when you put it back in. The back of the earbuds are touch-enabled and let you perform a handful of tasks using single tap, double tap, triple tap and touch+hold gestures. The functions can be assigned through Sennheiser’s Smart Control app available on Android and iOS both.

The best part about the controls is you can assign any of the available functions like play/pause, skip tracks, ANC toggle, volume control etc to either of the gestures. In fact, you can assign ANC on/off to one and Transparency on/off to a different gesture. Such granular control is quite rare in TWS buds. These earbuds have an IP54 rating for dust and sweat resistance and can be worn during workouts or a jog. The case isn’t water-resistant though.

Another feature of the MTW4 that I would like to touch upon is Auracast. It can transform this product from an audio receiver to a transmitter and can broadcast audio to other Auracast-compatible devices in the range. Chances of having more Auracast-compliant devices in the house is bleak at the moment (we didn’t have one) but it’s a good option to have for the future. Other key features include wireless charging and more sound tweaks through the companion app which I will talk about shortly.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Performance (8.5/10)
The wireless range is perfectly fine with a stable connection at 10 meters with a clear line of sight between the buds and the source device. Though the company hasn’t specified the latency figures, there was no lag between the video and audio when streaming videos. As I mentioned, the buds sit deeper in the ears and as a result offer good passive noise isolation. The ANC is even better but after a few moments.

You get hybrid adaptive noise cancellation here which adjusts the intensity depending on the quantum of ambient noise. It generally takes a few seconds for the buds to study the chaos and gradually cut you off from it. It works very well and is easily among the best in the segment, and almost at par with that of the Sony WF-1000XM5, and that’s saying something. When indoors, the sound of a noisy fan or an AC are eliminated completely and the buzz of car engines or human chatter is greatly reduced when outdoors or in public transport.

The Transparency mode, though not bad at all, is probably a notch below its Sony counterpart, especially when letting human voices through. When switched on, things sound natural without the excess hiss that you get in budget TWS buds. You can stay well aware of your surroundings when outdoors or at an airport or a station. The human voices aren’t amplified enough but you can have a quick chat with the buds in your ears. Using the app, you can also choose the transparency level or the amount of ambient noise you want to let through.

These Sennheiser buds aren’t the loudest around and need to be pushed to at least 80 per cent volume level to be perfectly audible. The good part is they do not crack even at 100 per cent. Strangely, the default sound signature felt a little subdued and lacking in energy; very un-Sennheiser, if you know what I mean. That’s when you head back to the app, fine-tune the output to your liking and then these buds sound way better; something worthy of the segment.

The app offers the traditional multi-band equalizer to create your own sound profile or a unique grid of dots to navigate through and find your sweet spot. I liked the second method a lot better and is also better suited for those who cannot handle the equalizers well or are intimidated by them. Post that, the MTW4 sounds warm and detailed in various genres of music.

The bass, though slightly extra, is fairly tight and punchy, the mids have a good presence with crisp vocals and the highs have just enough sparkle. Some may find the highs slightly weak though, in which case, you can tune it further. The soundstage is reasonably broad for a pair of TWS earbuds and the instrument separation is quite good, making the overall experience more enjoyable. There are also some sound presets to play with but I would suggest manual fine tuning as it gets the best out of this product that is strangely lacking out of the box.

Now, while the Sennheiser Smart Control app lets you do all the things I have mentioned so far and some more, it does that only after a compulsory registration and sign in process. Though it isn’t a major hassle, forcing people to register to use all the features of the product they have already paid close to Rs 20,000 for doesn’t feel right, does it?

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Call quality (6.5/10)
Call quality is not a strong suit for the MTW4 despite the six microphones. Ironically, it does the most difficult part of cutting the background noise pretty well but falters in voice clarity. While people on the call were audible to each other, the voice lacked sharpness. It was so obvious I was using a hands-free device that a couple of friends asked me to switch to the phone microphone mid-call. I suspect the environmental noise cancellation algorithm is a bit too aggressive and ends up softening the transmitted voice.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Battery life (8.5/10)
Unlike call quality, we had no reason to complain about the battery life. Sennheiser claims a battery backup of 7 hours for the buds with ANC on and 7.5 hours without ANC, and a total of 30 hours with the charging case. However, those numbers hold true when using AAC codec and at 50 per cent loudness. During my testing using aptX Adaptive codec, and volume over 80 per cent I got a little over 6 hours on average out of the buds with ANC switched on all the time.

With ANC off, they go on for another 30 minutes. The minimal difference between the figures with ANC on and off and even the ones with AAC codec highlights the power efficiency of Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive codec along with Sennheiser’s engineering. The case can recharge these buds fully thrice more, thus taking the total battery backup close to 25 hours with ANC, which is an impressive number. Fast charging is modest with 8 to 10 minutes of wired charging giving you an hour of playtime. The case also supports Qi wireless charging.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4: Price and verdict
The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 can be purchased for Rs 18,990 in India with a 2 2-year warranty (twice the warranty of most TWS buds here). That makes it close to 5K cheaper than the Sony WF-1000XM5. Though it isn’t exactly better than the Sony in terms of sound quality and ANC, it gets closer and does a little better in the battery department and throws in a couple of extra features like support for Auracast and lossless audio.

Given its sound quality, features, rich codec support and good battery backup, these Sennheiser buds are a great buy under Rs 20,000. Barring call quality, it has a lot going for it if you are willing to take the effort to fine-tune the sound through the companion app.