Sennheiser Momentum 5 wireless headphones review: One big, crucial upgrade

When they came out in August 2022, I noticed Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Over-ear headphones have lost the distinctive design flair of their predecessors and have become a bit plain looking. They retained the excellent sound quality but didn’t measure up to the flagship models from Sony or Bose in terms of noise cancellation.

Now, nearly four years later, we’re getting the Momentum 5 Wireless in the same chassis as the Momentum 4 Wireless, but Sennheiser has significantly boosted the noise-canceling performance. Spatial audio with head tracking has also been added, along with a user-replaceable battery and some other small feature updates. The result is an excellent set of headphones that are a good alternative to them Sony WH-1000XM6especially for fans of Sennheiser’s attractive, clean and precise sound. Priced at $400, it will ship on June 16 in white, black, or denim and will receive a CNET Editors’ Choice Award.

Read more: The best headphones of 2026

Momentum 5 wireless design

From a design standpoint, it doesn’t look like much has changed. It weighs 290 grams (10 ounces), making it the same weight as the Momentum 4 (293 grams). Although they weigh more than the Sony WH-1000XM6 (254g), they’re quite comfortable, with well-padded, replaceable earpads. Although most headphones are made of plastic, they feel durable. I also like that the earbuds are clearly labeled on the left and right.

The big change on the design front is that Sennheiser has improved the Momentum 5 carrying case, slimming it down and sculpting the back side, creating a kind of handle for the bag, which is nice. This case is much slimmer than the Sennheiser step case HDB 630 headphones ($500), which looks similar but has upgraded drivers and comes with Sennheiser BTD 700 Wireless USB-C Dongle ($60). Aimed at audiophiles, the HDB 630 delivers more accurate sound but the noise cancellation is much softer than the Momentum 5 and doesn’t perform as well in voice calling.

The dongle has support for “lossless” Bluetooth streaming up to 24-bit/96kHz via aptX Adaptive and allows aptX support for iOS and Android devices that do not license Qualcomm’s aptX audio codec (the Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel do not currently license aptX). It also creates a more reliable wireless connection with Windows PCs and Macs.

The Momentum 5 has the same touch controls as the Momentum 4. You can swipe up and down on the earcup to raise and lower the volume and swipe forward and backward to skip a track or go back to the previous track. I thought it worked well, as good as any touch controls I’ve used.

It should be noted that the Momentum 5 features an automatic power off as well as a manual power off. You can turn the headphones off after 15, 30 or 60 minutes (there’s a setting in the companion Smart Control Plus app) or they turn off automatically when you put them in their case. What’s new is that you have to press the power button to turn it on. Previously, with the Momentum 4, they turned on automatically when you took them out of the box, which some people didn’t like because they would sometimes pair with your phone when you didn’t want them to.

Upgraded noise cancellation

In terms of performance, the biggest upgrade is noise cancellation. Sennheiser has equipped the headphones with eight microphones (four in each earbud), which is higher than the four microphones found on the Momentum 4.

Noise cancellation isn’t quite up to the level of ANC you get with the Sony XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones (2nd generation), and Apple’s AirPods Max 2, but it went from being average to good. Some high and mid frequencies still cut through people’s voices, for example, but I thought the headphones’ noise-suppression abilities were solid in my tests on noisy New York streets. I’d give their ANC an A.

The headphones’ Transparency mode has also been improved (instead of suppressing ambient noise, Transparency allows sound to enter the headphones). It looks noticeably more natural than Momentum 4’s transparency mode.

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Momentum 5 wireless features

The Momentum 5 has a very strong feature set, but it’s not as powerful as the Sony or Apple devices. Equipped with Bluetooth 5.4 and future-ready Bluetooth 6.0 with a firmware update, the headphones have more responsive wear-detection sensors (music pauses when you take the headphones off and resumes playback when you put them back on), spatial audio with head tracking (sennheiser refers to it as “immersive” audio) and a basic “headphone finder” feature. There is also a “Sound Zones” setting that allows you to create specific settings for specific locations that are automatically enabled. The headphones support multipoint Bluetooth technology, so you can pair two devices with them at once.

But they’re missing some modern features like Sony’s Talk to Chat feature (Apple’s version is called Conversation Awareness) and built-in voice controls. I also didn’t see any mention of support Auracast audio streaming Via Bluetooth.

Sound quality similar to Momentum 4 Wireless

The Momentum 5 has the same 42mm drivers as the Momentum 4, so no upgrades there. The noise cancellation upgrades create some subtle changes in how the Momentum 5 sounds compared to its predecessor, but it’s a subtle difference. The sound quality doesn’t seem any worse, it’s just different in tone. However, if you’re a long-time Momentum 4 user and love the sound of it, you may have some quibbles about the differences. Adding strong noise cancellation can certainly affect the sound quality; The trick is for the effect to be almost minimal.

Sennheiser describes the Momentum 5’s sound as “a little warm and immersive.” The immersive reference seems to be about the new spatial audio setting that works with any Dolby Atmos audio tracks, be they music or movies. The headphones feature head tracking, but that feature wasn’t enabled on my early review sample and will roll out with a firmware update when the headphones ship in June.

Sennheiser headphones and earbuds are known for delivering well-balanced, detailed, and natural sound. The term “slightly warm” refers to the fact that the headphones are not completely neutral-sounding and provide a significant amount of well-defined, impactful bass. These are very enjoyable headphones with a smooth sound, with no edge to the treble and a precise, intimate quality to the midrange where sounds live. They are among the loudest wireless headphones and do not cause any listening fatigue during long listening sessions.

The HDB 630 increases clarity and resolution and looks more personal overall, especially when used in wired mode via USB-C or connected to the included BTD 700 wireless USB-C dongle that plugs into the USB-C port on your phone, computer, or tablet. The HDB 630 and Momentum 5 also come with a 3.5mm jack analog cable for wired listening and connection to in-flight entertainment systems on aircraft.

I compared the Momentum 5 with the Sony WH-1000XM6, and it was difficult to declare the winner in sound quality. The Momentum 5 had more clarity (I used the default neutral setting in my testing), but the Sony had more bass power and a bit more soundstage. It’s a slightly warmer headphone than the slightly warm Momentum 5.

For those who want to tweak the sound, you can play around with the equalizer settings in Sennheiser’s Smart Control Plus app (there’s an eight-band EQ with some presets) or try the Sound Customization option that lets you move a small target around a field of dots while playing a song to dial in your favorite sound file and save it. I was pleased with the audio customization options, and the app is very easy to use.

Like the Momentum 4 and HDB 630, the Momentum 5 features USB-C audio, which is a nice addition. You get a very slight audio boost, which makes everything feel more lively and lively. Also, like the HDB 630, the Momentum 5 is compatible with the BTD 700 wireless USB-C dongle. I tested the headphones with the dongle, though it took me a few tries to pair the headphones to it (it was a bit difficult even after I re-familiarized myself with the dongle pairing instructions).

I’ve been using Spotify Lossless for streaming with my iPhone 16 Pro and have noticed a slight difference for the better. I think the dongle is more useful for connecting wirelessly to computers, which can be difficult with their Bluetooth connections.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 voice call performance

Sennheiser hasn’t made any major improvements to voice call performance, although a Sennheiser representative told me the microphones are now wideband microphones. The Sidetone feature worked well, allowing you to hear your voice in the headphones, so you don’t end up screaming, and overall, voice calling performance was good, but not top-notch. In my tests on noisy New York streets, callers said there was a strong reduction in background noise, but my voice sounded a little muffled and was accompanied by a static.

To make video calls, you can use the headphones with your computer with Bluetooth or in wired mode with USB-C. I’m told that when connected with a USB-C cable, there is a setting on Windows devices that allows you to get the full bandwidth from the Momentum 5 microphones and improve the sound quality of your voice. I’ll be testing this along with head tracking for “immersive” sound when Sennheiser releases the aforementioned firmware update. A future firmware update will also supposedly bump the headphones’ Bluetooth version from 5.4 to 6.0. We’ll see if there are any improvements to voice calling performance with this update as well.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Final Thoughts

I’ve always been a fan of Sennheiser’s Momentum line of headphones and earbuds, and a lot of people liked the Momentum 4 Wireless regardless of the fact that the noise cancellation was mediocre. Much-improved noise cancellation is the biggest change to the Momentum 5 Wireless, fixing its predecessor’s biggest weaknesses and making the Momentum 5 a worthy alternative to the flagship models from Sony, Bose, and Apple.

The Momentum 5 also has some other small upgrades, including a new, slimmer case, a spatial audio mode with head tracking and a new user-replaceable battery, which can be accessed by removing the right earpad and removing some screws. But its standout feature remains the great sound quality.

It would have been nice to see more design changes, but the lack of investment in substantive modifications probably means we’ll see cuts to the Momentum 5 sooner rather than later. The Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) carry a list price of $450, but they seem to be on sale more often, so Sennheiser will need to drop the price of the Momentum 5 Wireless to closer to $300 or $325 to create some price separation and make it easier for consumers to choose them over those competing models that also received CNET Editors’ Choice awards. I really like the Momentum 5 Wireless, but Apple’s XM6, QC Ultra, and AirPods Max 2 are also excellent.