+ excellent resolution and transparency
+ outstanding dynamics and timing
+ professional EQ included
+ lots of useful features
- Noise-Cancelling not very effective
- not guaranteed to comfortable fit any ear canal
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Sound: Tonal Balance / Transparency9.5
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Sound: Bass / Dynamics9
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Ease-of-use / Connectivity9
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Price/Performance9
After less than two years on the market, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 surprisingly appeared as a successor to the German brand´s first true-wireless ear buds. As the most mentionable innovation the latest generation is equipped with active noise-cancellation, which is somewhat of a standard in its price range. In addition, the manufacturer promises numerous technical improvements. For travelers and commuters, the Ear Buds offer a voice-trough mode and convenient smartphone features as well as voice control.
Features of the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2
The Ear Buds, which are accepting only via Bluetooth (5.1) with codecs AAC, apt-X and SBC, do not allow multipoint, i.e. connecting to multiple devices. It is possible to control the basic functions for music playback, telephony and noise-cancelling at the touch of a finger on the compact but somewhat angular casing. Since the left and right earpieces establish a separate Bluetooth connection, the wireless stability should be high.
The Sennheiser app, which can be installed on the smartphone, enables a wide range of settings that are useful in everyday use. These include, for example, a preset automatic acceptance of calls, an automatic pause function when activating the voice-through mode (“transparency”). In addition, they offer the possibility to deactivate the touch surfaces to avoid accidental operating errors. The commands can be completely customised in a complex process, which is really very practical. In addition, there is a well thought-out, but for laymen not quite easy-to-adjust equalizer offering a lot of frequency bands.
Field test and connectivity
The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 are light at 6 grams each. They hold well in most ears thanks to four different sizes of rubber adapters. In order for the two buds to fit tightly, the manufacturer recommends inserting them angled and then rotating them in the ear canal. However, this is not quite so simple and can result in a non-sufficient sealing. There were also quite a few testers who found that the sound channels of the Sennheisers, which extend far into the ear canal, somehow pressed against their ears despite the correctly selected rubber adapter. Finally, the somewhat angular housing also has the tendency to be levered out of the ear canal if you touch it from the side, for example because you put on a cap or mask. For strong movements, for example during sports, the Sennheisers are probably too loose. For traveling, however, they are fully suitable. We strongly recommend that you check the fit and shape of the housing on your own ears.
The manufacturer promises up to 7 hours of operation without recharging. After that the two buds have to be placed into the case being wrapped in fine, coarsely woven fabric and containing a charging capability of 3 more cycles. Thus, up to 27 hours are theoretically possible – without noise cancelling – in the field test it was more than 20h in mixed operation.
To connect via Bluetooth, both Ear Buds must be set to pairing mode. This procedure did not bear any difficulties and was confirmed by voice announcements guiding you through the process. In practice, the connection with the smartphone worked very well. The range and connection stability was excellent, only in rare cases the Bluetooth connection failed and then had to be reinitialized.
Sound quality and noise cancelling
Switching on and off the NC can be tested without playing music. Here the Sennheisers left an ambivalent impression. The noise cancelling worked very effectively in the midrange and voice frequencies, external speech and music was successfully damped. On the other hand, the low frequencies typically found in an aircraft or near a road are somewhat more apparent than expected. They even felt a bit exaggerated unpleasantly due to the passive damping of the rubber adapters was unable to filter them out. However, active noise cancelling is usually used precisely to cancel out such types of noise. The Sennheisers are therefore less suitable for listeners expecting from their NC a ´total isolation´ like in a non-echoic chamber. The “Transparency” voice-through mode being activated on at the touch of a finger, on the other hand, worked excellently.
Like passive high-quality earphones, the Momentum True Wireless 2 delivered a slightly bright but consistently excellent sonic performance. Music of all genres sounded dynamic and balanced with somewhat brightened timbres and excellent resolution. In addition, the Sennheisers offered a rather light, but perfectly timed and tight bass, as long as it was really excellently sealed in the ear canal.
Knows no mercy with mediocre recordings
Rather ungentle, bass-poor and bright recordings, such as pop from the 1980s, the Sennheiser gave a more or less metallic timbre and made their weaknesses a bit more obvious than one might expect. This is where adjusting the tonal balance with the built-in equalizer app really helps. This allows recording pros a really sensitive dosage of all individual frequency ranges. However, laymen are likely to be overwhelmed in view of the large number of bands. Here, every user should take the time to individually dose especially the frequency bands around 1, 2, 4 or 8 kHz, where the Momentum True Wireless tends to provide quite a lot of information but is also reacting sensitively to EQ any adjustment. Depending on your individual taste, a slight boost of lower or middle frequencies (200-600Hz) can also be advicable.
Thus adapted to individual listening preferences, the Sennheiser delivered a tonally more pleasing and warmer performance that in no way lost any of its dynamics. Although it doesn’t quite reach the transparency and dynamics of much more expensive reference passive phones, it satisfies even audiophile demands and doesn’t fatigue the ears even after hours of listening.
Alternatives to the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2
Although not cheap at 300 euros, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 remains the top recommendation of the True Wireless Earbuds category from the audiophile perspective. When it comes to comfort, there are cheaper and better alternatives like Apple’s Airpods. In addition, the noise-cancelling function is not the first choice for flight passengers or pedestrians in noisy environment. Here the Technics EAH-AZ70WE deliver a more compelling performance offering similar sonic virtues.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 Specs
- Price: approx. 300 $
- Type: In-Ear
- Transducer principle: Dynamic
- Weight: 6 g
- Special features: Charging case
- More at: www.sennheiser.com
