Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5

Back Story: The Sennheiser brand of headphones have always been a bit of favourite of mine, from a set of wireless headphones for the hi-fi system, to the wired HD650 and recently the wireless HDB 630. I didn’t intend to buy or review the MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 earbuds (5’s), as I was intending to just get the wireless headphone version only. Another Great JB Deal:

My thanks go to Alina at JB Hi-Fi, in Ringwood, who got me a great deal on both at the same time. Again, Alina at JB helped me save a very good amount off the RRP.

Sennheiser Momentum Information and Specs:

Core Specifications

• Audio Transducer: 7mm TrueResponse dynamic transducers

• Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 6.0 with multipoint connectivity, Google Fast Pair, and Microsoft Swift Pair

• Audio Codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless (24-bit/96kHz) via Snapdragon Sound

• Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): Hybrid/Adaptive ANC with automatic wind-noise suppression and real-time transparency mode

• Call Quality: 6-microphone array combined with bone-conduction voice accelerometers and AI-powered voice isolation

• Spatial Audio: 3D Dolby Atmos with integrated head-tracking

• Water & Dust Rating: IP54 dust and splash resistance

• App Support: Sennheiser Smart Control Plus App featuring an 8-band graphic EQ and sound personalization

Battery Life & Charging

• Earbud Battery Life: Up to 12 hours of playback per charge

• Total Battery Life: Up to 40 hours total with the slim wireless and USB-C charging case

• Quick Charge: 8-minute charge yields approximately 1 hour of playback

Unboxing:

The 5’s are packaged very efficiently, in a relatively small rectangle box, with a very nice photo and wording on the front of the box.

Once you remove the lid, you have the quick guide document sitting above the earbud case and earbud tips. The tips are large, small and extra small, as the mediums are fitted to the 5’s in the charging case.

There is a cardboard tab at the bottom of the box with a black coloured arrow pointing up and when you pull it, it reveals the USB C to USB C cable, with the other three documents packaged below, in the base of the box.

The Charging Case:

The charging case is not wrapped in plastic, as in most wireless earbud cases. It looks black and serene, just sitting in the box with a silver-grey trim, between the top and bottom of the case. Taking it out of the box, the case reveals itself as a bit of a thing of beauty. It is about medium sized for an earbud case but feels solid and just a little weighty. It is quite narrow. The first thing that strikes you is the shiny silver-coloured machined Sennheiser badge with the black coloured ‘S’ in the rectangle. It looks and feels premium.

The charging case stand relatively tall, with the LED indicator in the middle of the front of the base. Looking underneath, you will find the USB C charging port, to the edge of the left-hand side.

This has been engineered, to allow for the base plate to be removed via the single small Phillips head screw to the far right, so you can replace the battery. The Big Selling Point (Replaceable Battery):

The ‘big’ selling point for the new Sennheiser 5’s, is that both the earbuds and headphones have replaceable batteries, that can be done by the owner. If your battery wears out, you simply order a new one, get your small Phillips head screwdriver and swap them over.

Back to the Case and Earbuds:

When you open the charging case lid, you notice that the 5’s sit quite high on the top of the base. For an earbud, they are quite small, and a bit coffee bean shaped. The metallic silver coloured upper part of the earbud shell looks very premium, with the Sennheiser logo.

You also notice the ‘SENNHEISER’ name in black on the underneath of the case lid, which is a nice touch.

Out of the Box:

When you take the 5’s out of the charging case, you notice how small they really are. The earbud tips are very close to the body, which for me has turned out to be a bit of an issue, which I will discuss shortly.

The base of the 5’s is black coloured plastic, with them clearly marked ‘L’ and ‘R’ in white. There are four spaced copper-coloured contacts.

Even though they are small, the 5’s have a little bit of weight to them and are really nice to handle.

Setting Up:

As I already had the Sennheiser app on my phone, setting up the 5’s was a simple affair.

Connectivity is rock solid and moving through and tweaking the app settings is also easy, except for one, which I’ll get to.

Noise control is separated into three parts, ANC, Transparency and Off, with an extra option of wind reduction.

There is Immersive audio, if you want to watch media with stereo and Dolby Atmos content, which I don’t use for general music.

There is an EQ section called ‘My sound’, which comes with some ready-made EQ settings, such as Neutral, Speech Clarity, sound Personalization, Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip-Hop, Classical, Movie and Jazz.

I always have a listen to the stock setting first before setting my own EQ.

There is a section for Sound zones, where you sign in and register places you want to have a particular sound.

There is a Controls section, which you can disable, which allows you to set the earbud controls.

I recently found that unlike other brands, you cannot completely prescribe your preferred touch controls. The main issue is that the volume up and down controls are done via touching one or other earbud which makes the volume move continually up or continually down, so there is no singular touch granular control, if you want to go one or two notches higher or lower in volume. I end up just using my phone’s volume control, as that does both.

There is a Fit test section, where the earbuds will test the earbud fit in your ear and tell you if everything is okay.

There is an Explore features section, for Ear tips, Noise control, Controls, EQ presets and Name earbuds.

Lastly there is a section to allow you to control what tile controls you see in the app.

Graphic EQ:

I found the 8-point Graphic EQ very useful in creating my own personalised. The EQ points are in Hz: 40, 125, 325, 750, 1.5k, 3k, 6k and 15k

Ear Tip Seal and ANC (The Issue):

Having recently bought and reviewed the Bowers and Wilkins Pi8, I have discovered something interesting about the 5’s.

Since I bought the 5’s, I have found it hit-and-miss with ear tip seal and with getting good ANC. I have changed the tips to and from medium to large several times and eventually realised the tips are not the issue.

The Bowers and Wilkins Pi8 are a similar design, with a round solid main body and a protruding neck with the earbud tip. In the case of the 5’s the neck from the main body to the ear tip are a lot shorter than the Pi8 and therefore the tips of the 5’s do not go into my ear canal, as far as the Pi8.

There are times when I am still in the office or the train when the 5’s do get the full seal but walking or movement simply allows a gap between the tip and the ear canal, whereas, the Pi8 go into my ear canal just a little bit further and constantly maintain a full seal.

Sound Quality:

Regardless of the issues with ear seal and ANC, I very much like the Sennheiser tuning of these earbuds.

It is in line with their wired headphones and makes me think of vintage full frequency speakers.

I don’t find the sound spacious, nor do I find in enclosing or the sound pushing into my head. These are very musical, enjoyable earbuds.

The stereo imaging is very good and I often find myself picking up on effects in some tracks that just sound good.

I do find I have to turn the 5's up a fair bit to get a decent level of volume, well above halfway.

Call experience:

I tested the 5’s, with the following results:

• Quiet office: Relatively clear, with the trailing edge of words sounding slightly garbled.

• Simulated plane sound: Not good at all, voice dropped in and out. Did this test a second time which was only a little bit better.

• Simulated noisy restaurant: Quite clear voice. A bit garbled at the end of words but nil background noise at all.

• Wind test (in front of a large fan): Big drop out of voice. Hardly audible. Not good.

• Road traffic noise: Nil road traffic noise.

In summary: the 5’s have the worst call experience of all my wireless earbuds.

Value Proposition:

I have found the 5’s to be a very average set of earbuds.

The build quality and aesthetics are excellent except for the lack of neck, to allow for a proper ear seal and for the ANC to work in all situations.

The case and the buds are lovely to handle and use.

The sound quality is good and enjoyable.

I don’t think the value proposition is there with the 5’s, because, for me, it doesn’t have it where it needs it: ear seal, ANC and excellent sound quality.

I will, however, try out some alternative tips, to see if that helps resolve the ear seal and ANC issues.

The app does not allow you to set the controls exactly how you like, which you can do on pretty much any other brand, costing many times less.

Final thoughts:

If you want an average mainstream type of earbud these would be okay.

If you have small ear canals, they would probably be perfect for you.

Future Development:

Sennheiser needs to make these with a longer neck, to ensure ear seal or have other earbud tips that are a bit longer. It’s like they made these earbuds for little people.

Last Words:

I do actually like these earbuds, I just wished they fitted better. This is the first set of earbuds that has not.

For scoring:

• For build quality and material, I would score these 100 out of 100.

• For ergonomics, in handling the case and the buds 100 out of 100.

• For ergonomics for actual use of the buds in the ear, I would score these 50 out of 100.

• For call quality I would score these 40 out of 100.

• For music and sound quality I would score these 80 out of 100.

Therefore, overall, I would score these 70 out of 100.

My Next Review:

My next review is going to be the headphone version of the Sennheiser Momentum 5’s. Fortunately, I have better things to say about these.

This has been another Ant review.

I hope you have enjoyed reading it, as much as I have had compiling it.

Post Review Earbud Tip Swap:

Yes, I thought it would help: Earbud tips from Amazon have saved the day!

I swapped the Sennheiser tips for a set I got from Amazon a few months ago. These tips are also silicone and are compatible with the Sony WF-1000XM6. They have a long tubular outer shell and a nice thick inner sleeve. The Sennheiser tips are more bulbous and round, rather than tube-like, like these Amazon ones.

Not only do the Amazon tips provide a better ear seal, they improve the ANC and sound quality. Music is clearer, more open and airy.

The feel of the earbuds is also improved, feeling like you have less pushing against the wall of the ear canals, giving a much light, natural feel.

I will continue testing them for the next few weeks and if there is any change, I will update this review but for now, with these Amazon tips, I would update my overall score to 80 out of 100.

Again, the call quality definitely needs a lot of work.