Sennheiser Momentum Sport Review
Great sounding true wireless pair for sports
Verdict
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport delivers great sound and a secure and reliable fit for workouts with its extra fitness smarts fit for some but not all workouts making it tough to justify that price.
Pros
- Plenty of power
- Good ANC and anti-wind modes
- Body temperature tracking performance
Cons
- They’re very expensive
- Heart rate accuracy at high intensity
- Wingtips comfort over longer distances
Key Features
- IP ratingIP55 for the earbuds, IP54 for the case
- Biometric trackingKeeps track of body temperature and heart rate
- 10mm TrueResponseBigger drivers for bigger bass
Introduction
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport are true wireless sport earbuds that promise to serve up Sennheiser’s signature high-grade sound, ANC powers, along with heart rate and core body temperature sensors to offer fitness data tracking from your ears.
Sennheiser has collaborated with Polar to bring the buds closer to its latest sports watches and platform so you can look over those biometric stats during and after your workout.
Those features certainly come at a premium with the Momentum Sport costing more than a set of Apple AirPods Pro 2 and standout sports buds like Jabra Elite 8 Active. Has Sennheiser managed to justify that steep price tag?
Availability
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport was announced January 2024 and went on sale on 9th April for an eye-watering £259.99 / $329.95. That makes it more expensive than a host of top-tier truly wireless sports earbuds like the Jabra Elite 8 Active (£149 / $199) and Beats Fit Pro (£219.99 / $199.99).
When compared to non-sporty truly wireless earbuds, it’s more expensive than the Apple AirPods Pro 2 (£229 / $249), Sony WF-1000XM5 (£229 / $299.99) and the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II (£279 / $299). Bottom line, these buds are pricey.
Design
- Includes ear-tips and wingtips
- Comes in three colours
- IP54-rated charging case
It’s fair to say the Momentum Sport aren’t the sleekest or the most featherweight buds you can put in your ears, chiefly because it has to house those extra sensors and there’s some bigger than usual drivers packed in there as well.
Sennheiser uses a combination of ear-tips and wingtips to keep them in your ears and there’s a few different sizes to choose from including a set that entirely ditches the wing, though I think most people are going to need the wings.
These are tips that I’ve certainly needed to play around with pretty much all of the sizes included to get the best fit. The general fit is good, but I do feel like the wing tip design needs work. On a few workouts there’s the slightest movement – they never feel as if they’re going to fall out – but it does mean you might need to nudge them back in place.
I also found on longer workouts the gentle pressing of the wingtips inside the ears. While not so uncomfortable I’d want to whip them out, they certainly add a little bit of pressure.
There is a fit test inside of the app, though that’s focused on ensuring you’re going to enjoy the best overall sound and ANC performance rather than dealing with the rigours of a workout.
It’s good to see Sennheiser offers protection for both the buds and the charging case. The buds are IP55 rated, which means it can provide some protection against moisture and dust. That’s not the highest waterproof rating you’ll find on a set of truly wireless sports earbuds. The rubbery-feeling case has an IP54-rated design to guard against sprays of water and dust ingress.
There are controls baked into the exterior casing, which can be customised in the Sennheiser Smartphone app and will let you play and pause audio, switch between sound modes and adjust volume. That app also gives you control over the sensitivity of those controls and it didn’t take long to realise that using it in the highest sensitivity is not the smart move when outdoors, and using during harder workouts as they’re easily set off when simply brushing the buds’ exterior.
The charging case is a relatively pocket-friendly size with a solitary battery indicator LED up front and a USB-C charging port concealed underneath its rubber exterior. It’s also a case that supports QI-certified wireless chargers. I’ve used it with a couple of different wireless chargers and it works as promised.
Features
- Heart-rate and body temperature monitors
- 24 hours battery life
The Momentum Sport houses optical sensors in each of the earbuds. On the left you have an optical heart rate sensor, which tracks heart rate during exercise and even when you’re simply using the buds for listening. Heart rate monitoring earbuds aren’t new, Jabra offered this with its Jabra Sport Pulse in 2014. JBL and Under Armour teamed up for heart rate monitoring buds in 2017 and more recently the Amazfit Powerbuds Pro offered similar smarts.
To track and view real-time heart rate and body temperature is through the free Polar Flow app. You can also view data in real-time currently from compatible Polar watches like the Polar Vantage V3 (pictured) or the new Grit X Pro 2, though the necessary software update needed to view real-time core body temperature data wasn’t live during my testing.
The heart rate sensor can function as an external sensor to connect to third party devices like other smartwatches and connected fitness equipment. This is done via Bluetooth 5.2 as Sennheiser doesn’t include ANT+ connectivity here.
While heart rate tracking headphones aren’t new, tracking core body temperature from your ears is. Sennheiser does this with an optical sensor setup, built into the right earbud. While tracking heart rate is pretty commonplace, temperature tracking, particularly on the exercise front, is more of a new monitoring trend. It’s a feature designed to better understand changes in body temperature during exercise, which can impact performance and can help build better cooling strategies or identify patterns in your workouts.
How well does it work? I think there’s some good and not so good here and a familiar feeling with the heart rate monitoring especially. I’ve been using the Momentum Sport alongside a Polar H10 and Garmin HRM-Pro+ chest strap monitor, a tracking method considered the gold standard.
What I found accuracy-wise was that when used for steady-paced workouts like general gym workouts, indoor rows and bike sessions, the heart rate accuracy is generally very good. As soon as I slightly upped the intensity, problems emerged. At the beginning of some sessions the heart rate readings were already reporting too high and ultimately skewed the data from the off. It does settle after a while but I also found on quicker outdoor runs the sensor seems to lock onto my running cadence. So unfortunately it’s not infallible.
In the case of the core body temperature sensor, I did have the Core Body Temperature sensor, and does serve up good temperature data during exercise. Sennheiser promises an accuracy of +3 degrees Celsius. I found the accuracy of the body temperature tracking fared better than the heart rate and didn’t throw up any hugely wild variance in data.
Unlike heart rate, you need to use the Polar Flow app or one of Polar’s latest watches to make best use of the temperature data. It’s over to you to interpret that data as opposed to any actionable insights being offered just yet.
Battery life is in keeping with premium earbuds. Sennheiser promises up to six hours off a single charge and a combined 24 hours with a fully charged charging case. Those numbers are based on listening at mid volume with ANC and heart rate monitoring enabled.
It’s worth noting you can switch off the fitness sensors using the eco battery mode. I found those numbers largely add up, but if you’re listening at louder volumes it will drop short of that six hours. I found an hour’s listening with the fitness tracking and ANC enabled and setting them in the bass boost mode saw battery drop by 20%. That’s more like 5 hours.
You can absolutely get six hours depending on the settings, plus you have a quick charge mode that gives you an hour playtime with ANC on from a 10-minute charge.
Sound Quality
- 10mm drivers
- Good ANC and anti-wind modes
- Offers custom equaliser
The Momentum Sport features 10mm drivers, which is a step up in driver size compared to other Sennheiser earbuds that typically use 7mm drivers. That move is driven to ensure the Sport can produce a punchier bass performance than its other buds.
They absolutely live up to that punchy billing. There’s a real boldness about the sound profile first and foremost and if you like things bassy, you’re well catered for. Crucially, it’s not an overbearing performance, a trap that most sports buds fall into. There’s balance and detail in good measure, some sparkly treble performance, along with a wide soundstage.
There’s quite a dizzying amount of features built around getting the sound you want and even when you move from different listening scenarios. There’s support for high resolution audio streaming, an equaliser inside of the Sennheiser smartphone app (iOS tested) and the ability to create custom EQ presets.
There’s also a Bass Boost and Podcast modes along with a Sound Check option that creates presets based on what you typically listen to. You can also create sound zones, so when you get in the gym, go for a walk or sitting it will adjust sound settings for you.
In addition to all of that there’s adaptive active noise cancellation, a transparency mode and an anti-wind mode, which shuts off the microphones on the outside that are used for ANC, but keeps the ones inside the buds turned on. The effectiveness of all of these modes impressed me.
I used the ANC outdoors running, travelling on the Eurostar and on a plane, and while I don’t think it matches the best noise cancelling earbuds, it’s not far off it. I’m always sceptical about wind-battling modes, but the one here works surprisingly well.
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Should you buy it?
You want truly wireless sports earbuds with big sound
If having sports buds with big, bold and customisable sound is key, the Sennheiser Momentum Sport offers that in abundance.
You want accurate heart rate monitoring truly wireless earbuds
While the Momentum Sport can offer good heart rate data for most workouts, it simply doesn’t feel as reliable or accurate as a heart rate monitor chest strap.
Final Thoughts
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport gets the big things right in terms of what you should expect from a strong set of truly wireless earbuds built for sport. They stay put, offer a good level of durability against sweat and rain and sound great too.
It’s really about those fitness smarts, and based on my testing they don’t break new ground, particularly in moving heart rate monitoring to the ears. Body temperature tracking is clearly going to be a big new wearable trend and the Sport puts in a good showing here, though the
need to tap into Polar’s phone app or own one of its priciest sports watches to benefit the most from it puts its fitness powers to a minority of owners.
How we test
We test every pair of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Tested over two weeks
Tested with real world use
Battery drain performed
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FAQs
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport can be integrated with several fitness apps – Apple Watch, Strava, Garmin, Peloton, Zwift, Nordic Track, and Samsung Health.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
