Sennheiser Momentum 4 review: Still as great as ever

This may seem like a small change, but that stylistic choice gave the series a unique look. One that made it stand apart from the crowd. In its place, the company has opted for a standard-looking design.

That's not where the design changes stop. Also gone are physical buttons from the surface, replaced by touch controls. You now swipe up to raise the volume and swipe down to lower it.

Swiping left or right allows you to skip to the next or previous track, and a double tap will turn on ANC mode. A single tap will play or pause the song you are listening to.

I understand this is subjective, but I would have preferred if Sennheiser stuck with the physical buttons. As good as the touch controls are, they occasionally misinterpret a swipe or a tap.

The only physical button on the Momentum 4 now serves three functions - summoning the voice assistant, Bluetooth pairing and power. Other than that, an array of LEDs represent your current battery level.

You can also set the headphones to turn off or on automatically based on usage, which I found very convenient.

Without that splash of uniqueness, the Momentum 4 starts to look eerily similar to the competition.

But looks are just part of the package. How do the headphones sound? We'll get to that. First, let's take a look at the software suite.

Active Noise Cancellation and Software

Sennheiser's ANC on previous models was good but not enough to beat the competition. The Momentum 4 still lags behind, but the company has narrowed the gap a bit.

During my usage, I found that it was adept at filtering out low-pitched rumbles like vehicle noise but struggled with the high-pitched frequencies. For instance, the announcements made during Metro travel.

You can enable Adaptive ANC that automatically adjusts the cancellation depending on your environment. There is now a pinch gesture which you can use to control the amount of ANC, and it isn't a set number between 0 and 100.

The added granular control is appreciated, though I can't think of a situation where I would want a balance between noise cancellation and sound. I mostly left it at 0 or 100.

On its own, the ANC on offer with the Momentum 4 does a great job of cancelling unwanted noise. While that may be enough, models from Sony within this price range do a far better job.

There are also two beamforming microphones, and both can used for calls. I don't really have any complaints about call quality, but I have to admit I didn't take many calls with the headphones on.

Like other Sennheiser products, the Momentum 4 can pair with the company's Smart Control app. The app allows you to adjust EQ settings and choose between various pre-defined settings according to the genre. You can also save your own custom presets.

While this is standard, the Smart Control app allows you to create up to 20 geotagged location-based settings.

The idea is that you can set custom presets according to the most common places you visit. When the headphones detect the location change, they will automatically switch profiles. This is really handy if you travel a lot.

Another neat feature assists you in creating a sound profile based on the genres you listen to. You can create multiple settings depending on what you want to hear.

Sound Quality

The Momentum line-up consistently provides a great listening experience, and the Momentum 4 is no exception.

The sound isn't flat or neutral, but it is very close, providing a good mix of punch, deep bass and rich clarity when the song demands it.

Ghost's "Dance Macabre", for instance, rings out with poppy melodies and a big hook, and the Momentum 4 handles it perfectly without drowning out the bass or keyboard synth arrangements.

I was surprised to see it handle glitchy DnB like Runaway Horses or Squarepusher so well, and ditto for more muscular metal tracks from Gojira or Meshuggah. Sombre tracks like Johnny Cash's "Hurt" or Soen's "Lotus" don't miss a beat either.

Despite not looking like it anymore, the Momentum 4 still carries Sennheiser's attention to sound quality and is better for it.

Battery Life

If I were to describe the battery life in one word, it would be stellar. I got nearly two and a half days with a single charge and medium usage.

Even with Noise Cancellation on, I saw a loss of maybe one hour at most, and the battery life is in line with Sennheiser's promised 60 hours on a single charge.

To put things into perspective, you can get a day's worth of battery life on most premium models and for Sennheiser to offer double that gives them a massive leg over the competition.

In case you are wondering if I ever hit that 60-hour mark, I didn't, but the Momentum 4 came damn close.

Sennheiser specifies that 60 hours is contingent on keeping your volume at mid-levels. I kept the volume way above the halfway mark and still got almost the same battery life, which is impressive.

Conclusion

Despite my reservations about the new look, I can't deny that these headphones maintain the standard set by the Momentum series.

The insanely good battery life definitely turns the tide in its favour.

The headphones are priced at Rs 34,990 in India and are available on major online platforms and Sennheiser's official online store.