Wireless earphones are in vogue, with headphone jacks pulling a disappearing act from almost all major smartphone brands. The market is very lucrative for high-quality wireless earbuds.
Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless series has been held in high regard in the category, ever since its inception in 2018. The third generation Momentums are now making their way onto store shelves, but do they live up to the line-up's pedigree?
Design
If there is one knock on the first two True Wireless earphones, it is that they may be considered a little too bulky for wireless earphones. With the third generation, Sennheiser has taken great strides in fixing that problem, with a smaller, punchier design than its predecessors.
Despite shaving off the size, the earphones still look really good, with a bold squarish design that has become recognisable. Sennheiser replaces the shiny chrome from True Wireless 2, and opts for a more subdued matte black finish.
The plastic chassis is supported by smaller rubber fins in the centre and a large Sennheiser logo on the top. You also get three extra pairs of tips and four ear wings, which means you will be able to find a size that you are comfortable with.
The charging case is fabric wrapped with a thing layer of shiny plastic in the middle rim, and a white Sennheiser logo on the top. This makes it look extremely premium and is soft to the touch.
If there is a drawback to the case, it's still relatively large compared to the competition and won't fit easily in a jeans pocket. It's still a great way to travel with the buds though, and the magnetic latches make sure they don't fall out of their housing, even if you turn the case upside down.
Overall, this is a very premium, very well-made package that isn't afraid to show off its haute couture leanings.
Active Noise Cancellation and Sennheiser Smart Control
The noise cancellation on these earphones was excellent. I would say it even trumps competitors in its price range from the likes of Apple and Sony.
The True Wireless 3 offered a suitably stark presence with the feature turned on, only rivalled by more expensive over-the-ear headphones.
Like other modern Sennheiser earphones, the True Wireless 3 can pair with the company's Smart Control app for iOS and Android.
This offers an unprecedented amount of control to the user, allowing them to tweak sound using the equaliser, control transparency and ANC modes, remap touch and tap controls down to individual taps on one ear bud, and is a control centre that automatically takes care of firmware updates.
Sound and Performance
The Momentum True Wireless 3 is based on 7nm dynamic drivers that afford the earphones, a frequency range of 5Hz - 21000Hz. The earphones support Bluetooth 5.2, SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive codecs.
I kept the buds paired with my Samsung Galaxy S8+, that gave me the ability to test out Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive codec. The sound quality is fantastic, with punchy, deep bass and clean mid-range, leaving enough space for the highs to shine through.
Tracks such as Joe Satriani's "Oriental Melody" sounded great, with the earphones capturing the moody, delay-based intro perfectly, while still giving you that thump that is essential for the driving bass line in the song.
Muddier and more raw tracks such as Morbid Angel's "Immortal Rites" get the guitar tones just right, while maintaining the sonic character of the snares and the kick drums.
Softer music like Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" sounded spectacular. The song is effectively an entirely vocal-driven piece, and the earphones relayed the harmony and openness of the arrangement very well, even catching the minute vocoder delays that are used in the track.
Electronic music is great to hear on this as well, whether it's the driving thump of Deadmau5's "A City in Florida" or the sinister, shrill keyboard arrangements in Chemical Brothers' "Believe". Heck, thrown in some Daft Punk there too, "Around the world" with its crisp bassline or "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" with its impressive vocal gymnastics.
If I were to nit-pick, is that Momentum does seem to add a little more character to the sound, and doesn't sound quite as flat or balanced. This nitpick is very minor though, on the whole, the Momentum True Wireless 3 live up to the series' legacy.
Conclusion
Priced at Rs 21,990, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 are in direct competition with products from Apple and Sony. Apple has the advantage of its ecosystem, and Sony has the advantage when it comes to the LDAC Bluetooth codec.
The Momentum True Wireless 3 competes favourably in performance with both of them, losing out only to Sony's LDAC codec, when it comes to sound. Support for Apple's AAC codec gives it a foot to stand on compared to Apple's own AirPods and is better sounding than Apple's competing product.
It also handles noise-cancellation better than both Sony and Apple, giving it an extra edge in the competition. Overall, these are an excellent pair of earphones and are worth the price you pay for them.
UPDATE: As of November 3rd 2022, Sennheiser has released a firmware update that enables multipoint device connectivity and a high-resolution sound mode.
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