Sennheiser. A brand that stands for quality for me – but also prices that I rather can’t (or don’t want to) afford. So far, I had only had one sound experience with Sennheiser. That was during my film studies when we had to set our short film to music. Our lecturer at that time dug out a few worn Sennheister headphones, put them on us and wow! Up until that point, I had no idea what good sound combined with good sound insulation could do.
Of course, these were over-ear headphones, which only reduce some noise from the outside world by their pressure. For me, that’s one reason why I still prefer over-ear headphones today. (My current model, the Bowers & Wilkins PX7 can be found here).
Nevertheless: Wireless in-ear headphones are on the rise and have their advantages, as I have to admit to myself because of the Samsung Galaxy Buds +. So I couldn’t resist myself Sennheiser offered its new Momentum True Wireless 2 for testing. In the meantime, I have been using them for about three weeks and would like to share my experience with the premium wireless headphones here.
Let’s unpack the momentum
I love good packaging design. Accordingly, I always have high expectations when a product comes as a premium. For me, unpacking is a process that can contribute significantly to the enjoyment of the product and therefore the packaging design should be well thought out.
From the outside, the packaging of the Momentum True Wireless 2 does not look particularly premium. Nevertheless, I like the cardboard, especially the print finishing with hot-air foil embossing of the model name. I also liked the side edge, which was finished with a turquoise foil. Very pretty.
I was a little disappointed with the inside of the packaging. Everything is nice and tidy, but overall it looks a bit cheap. As if you had no time to design something more beautiful. Especially when it comes to materials, it doesn’t necessarily look premium. The various headphone attachments are even enclosed in plastic packaging, rather carelessly. I’m used to other things – for example from the much cheaper Oppo EncoFree.
Well, of course that is my personal preference and most of you will probably say to yourself: It doesn’t matter, after all I pay for the headphones and not the packaging. Of course you’re right.
Appearance and look and feel
As usual with in-ear headphones, the Momentum True Wireless 2 come in a case. This is almost completely covered with a grayish fabric, which gives them an elegant look and feel. I particularly liked that because they fit my Bowers & Wilkins PX7 almost perfectly.
If you take the earplugs out of their case, you will notice that they look a bit chunky. I even thought at first that they were a lot bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Buds +. If you place the two headphones next to each other, you will find that the Momentum True Wireless 2 are only slightly larger. The Buds + simply look slimmer because their lines are a little more ergonomic – what should I call it now?
This is how the in-ears look in detail:
Here’s how they look compared to the Galaxy Buds +:
The Momentum True Wireless 2 have a high quality finish. Nothing works, everything is neatly processed. I expected nothing else from headphones in this price range. The bottom line is that you get two high-quality in-ear headphones, whose design makes a somewhat simple impression at first.
The Momentum True Wireless 2 fits your ear well – if you don’t run
Once you have found the right size of the attachments, the Momentum True Wireless 2 is perfect. They are relatively comfortable to wear. From time to time it happened that after a while it pressed me a bit uncomfortably on part of my ear. As far as I can tell, it also has a lot to do with how you use the in-ear headphones. Here you have to practice something until you have the perfect, respectively comfortable seat.
You can see here how to use the headphones correctly. (This is the video tutorial for the predecessors, but the form factor does not differ).
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Where the Momentum True Wireless 2 couldn’t quite convince me, is in sports. Here the headphones loosen relatively quickly, so that you have to press them back into the ear or “screw” them regularly. In this area of use I definitely give preference to the Galaxy Buds +, which with their “shark fins” tilt properly in the ear and then hold.
Touch panel for lots of control
Sennheiser also donated a Touchpanel to its Momentum True Wireless 2. With this you can control a lot of functions. At the beginning, of course, you need some practice before you can memorize the individual commands. Once you have done this for the first time, you can control a lot using the touch panel. The delay is acceptable, even if it should be a little shorter.
I liked two things best: The first is the transparent mode. To do this, simply tap the touch panel of the right headphone twice and the music turns off and you can hear your surroundings as if you had no headphones on. I really like this mode, because even when you turn off the music, in-ear headphones seal so well that you only hear voices without transparent mode. Definitely a feature for me that I don’t want to do without.
I also liked the acoustic feedback that the headphones give me when I tap them: with every tap, the tone of the is a little higher. So you know exactly how many times you have typed. I appreciate such well thought-out details on products. Overall, I really liked the touch controls. The Sennheiser True Wireless 2 still has room for improvement in response time, but the touch controls are definitely the best of the previous in-ear headphones I’ve tested.
The Bluetooth connection is only almost perfect
What bothered me a bit was the connection via Bluetooth. The pairing has always worked wonderfully and straight away. However, I have experienced it again and again that I took the headphones out of the case and did not immediately connect them to the cell phone. I then had to go to the Bluetooth settings on the smartphone and select the Momentum True Wireless 2. Then the connection worked immediately.
At first I thought it was my smartphone, so I tried it with other smartphone brands. The problem occurred with all three tested devices. It is not very bad as it rarely happened, but it is something that should not occur in this price range.
I also find it a shame that the headphones cannot be connected to two devices at the same time. But that’s probably just down to the small form factor. I cannot fault the stability of the connection. If you are within range, the Bluetooth connection is always stable and does not bum around. That’s how I like it.
This is how the Momentum True Wireless 2 sound
There is nothing to complain about in the sound. Whether highs or lows, Sennheiser shows why they are among the best in the audio field. The headphones easily go down to 20 Hertz, just as they effortlessly reach heights of up to 20,000 Hertz without clattering. Overall, I found the Momentum True Wireless 2 to be very balanced in its sound reproduction, which of course sounds wonderful, especially with classical music. (I only say Lord of the Rings soundtrack). If you prefer to be very bass-heavy, you may not be completely happy with these headphones. But in this case you should use over-ears anyway, which have a correspondingly larger driver installed.
I also liked that the headphones support Qualcomms aptX. Not only is the Bluetooth connection more stable, the sound is also more intense. Likewise, aptX should automatically adjust the playback depending on the sound source so that the quality always remains the same. Gamers should be happy that thanks to aptX the latency should only be 80 milliseconds. At the same time, the bit rate increases to 420 kpbs.
The first in-ears with really good active noise canceling
I was surprised by the Sennheister Momentum True Wireless 2 at the ANC. Honestly? So far I’ve always said that ANC doesn’t do much for in-ears. Sure, anyone who has never tried ANC will be impressed by the Freebuds 2 or AirPods Pro. But those who know ANC from over-ear headphones have only a weary smile for ANC at In-Ears. So did I.
The Momentum True Wireless 2 actually convinced me that even in-ears can have good active noise canceling. Sure, the True Wireless 2 cannot reach an ANC with really good over-ears – that is not possible with such a small form factor. But if you consider how space-saving in-ear headphones are, that makes up for the difference for me. Especially in summer, when over-ear headphones often cause hot, sweaty ears, the Momentum True Wireless 2 finally has a good alternative.
The battery lasts longer than the average
The reason why the Momentum True Wireless 2 is a little less ergonomic is probably due to the built-in battery. According to the Sennheiser website, this should last up to seven hours. That’s a pretty big number for such small headphones. I’m more used to running times of three to four hours.
With the supplied case, the battery life should even be extended by 21 hours. So if you listen to four hours of music a day, you can easily make ends meet for seven days.
So much for the theory. As expected, the headphones did not reach these theoretical values in my everyday test. Most of the time it was over after about six hours and I had to recharge the headphones. In a test run, I wore the headphones continuously and listened to non-stop music or an audio book. The battery lasted exactly six hours and eleven minutes in this non-stop test run.
The voice assistant informed me for the first time ten minutes before the end of the battery that the headphones had to be charged. This lead time is a bit tight, I think. Ultimately, this is a matter of opinion.
The bottom line is that a runtime of six hours is a very good value. Among the in-ear headphones I’ve tested so far, the Momentum True Wireless 2 are at the top.
The charging case has room for improvement
The case annoyed me a little. Somehow I had a hard time coping with it. Once I put the headphones in the case after they were empty. The next day taken out and found that they were not loaded. When I pressed the button for the battery level indicator on the case, the light glowed orange. According to the instructions, the case should still have power. But that only happened once, so I probably did something wrong – or the LED display spun once.
In general, I did not find the operation of the case ideal. I like it when I – like the Galaxy Buds + – can open the cover of the case and see with an LED whether the headphones are charged or not. With the case of the Momentum True Wireless 2, I always have to press the button for the battery indicator. It’s not very cumbersome, of course, but sometimes such details make a difference.
Again, I like the fact that I have an LED indicator for the connection status on each headphone. So I can see from my headphones whether my headphones are connected or not. Alternatively, you can even see whether the headphones are in pairing mode. However, this is not necessary at all, because for pairing you have this in your ear anyway and then hear a voice that talks to you – also a very nice feature.
Conclusion on the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2
After my four-week test period, I have a positive picture. Where the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 are clearly top is in terms of sound, battery life and Active Noice Canceling. Here you clearly get the quality you would expect from a brand like Sennheiser. The processing of the headphones is also flawless and the case with its fabric cover comes very valuable.
The headphones themselves seem a bit chunky, which is probably due to the larger battery. Whether you don’t care or not, everyone has to decide for themselves. Here I like the somewhat more playful design of the Galaxy Buds + better. It should also not be the case that the Bluetooth connection does not work right away in very rare cases.
In conclusion, if you are looking for headphones for sports, you shouldn’t rely on the Momentum True Wireless 2. But if you want good sound and good noise canceling, you can’t go wrong with these headphones. As a bonus, there is a really long battery life. You have to decide for yourself whether this is worth over CHF 300.
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