Sennheiser’s new Momentum True Wireless 3s are the company’s latest flagship earbuds. With a more refined style, better active noise cancellation, new features and top-notch sound quality, Sennheiser has delivered a worthy competitor to the Apple AirPods Pro, Sony’s WF-1000XM4 and Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds.
Perhaps the most welcome thing about the latest Sennheiser buds is that they’re less expensive than previous models: The Momentum True Wireless 2s launched for $299, but the company is releasing these at $249.95. It’s still premium pricing, but the Sennheiser is now on par with Apple’s AirPod Pros and cheaper than flagships from both Sony and Bose. With the price of tech products rising exponentially every year, it’s good to see one go in the opposite direction for a change and add new features to boot.
good stuff
- Better ANC
- small, sleek design
- Now with Wireless Charging
bad stuff
- no multipoint (yet)
- contemporary insects
- Transparency Mode lags behind the competition
Wireless charging is the most important upgrade. It was hard to accept the lack of this feature in the Momentum True Wireless 2s. For the price, wireless charging should be table stake. I’m not sure how it took Sennheiser three attempts to realize this.
Another improvement is what comes in the box: Sennheiser gives you four sizes of ear tips the fourth one is extra small but with the new model, the company also includes three optional wing fins that wrap around each earbud. and tuck in your ears. added stability. The medium size comes preinstalled, but it’s easy to remove or replace with a smaller or larger wing if you need to keep the earbuds extra stable and secure during a workout or run. Even without the stabilizer fins, the MTW3s held up to my ears comfortably and didn’t loosen easily.
The earbuds have a new design.
Sennheiser includes optional stabilizer fins with its latest earbuds.
The earbuds are smaller than their predecessors, and with a more square-closed outer-facing design that comes in black, gray or white. my black review The unit looks far more subtle in-ear than the MTW2s, featuring a shiny silver Sennheiser logo. But they still outdo something like Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro, so these aren’t the most discreet buds. The charging case also shrank slightly as Sennheiser made better use of space, and the USB-C charging port was moved to the front. This might sound strange at first, but it’s something other companies like Jabra have started to do as well, and you might find it more convenient depending on where you’re charging the MTW3s.
The USB-C port is now on the front of the charging case.
Sennheiser has improved its noise cancellation strength, though you really have no direct control over how much ANC is applied with the MTW3s. The company uses an adaptive ANC to automatically increase and decrease noise cancellation based on your current environment. Other earbud makers have tried this adaptive approach as well, though most make it optional rather than the full-time default. I didn’t find myself making manual adjustments when testing these earbuds, but you might prefer more controls. The ANC isn’t on the same level as Sony’s or Bose’s, but it does help silence nearby distractions. And you always have the ability to activate transparency mode with a tap of the left earbud, though Sennheiser’s implementation still doesn’t quite match the same natural sound that Sony, Bose and Apple have all achieved.
The more compact Momentum True Wireless 3s may be a better fit for those with smaller ears.
When it announced its latest earbuds, Sennheiser made no mention of major changes to their sound. They still use the same 7-millimeter drivers as the ones inside the MTW2s, and I’d put the overall audio quality in the same ballpark as they and Sennheiser’s CX Plusthough these are slightly better and crank up the volume louder. can. It’s a good place, because they still look amazing. Sennheiser supports AAC, SBC, AptX, and AptX adaptive Bluetooth codecs, helping to eliminate any perceptible audio delays when watching video later or playing mobile games on Android. It would have been nice to see Sony’s LDAC added to the equation, but given the low price, I can live with such omissions. And AptX Adaptive also has support for higher-resolution audio than AAC and SBC allow.
Likes to slam on an old favorite Buena Vista Social ClubThe Sennheisers deliver a very detailed, clean, and detailed sound with piano, classical guitar, and vocals, all nicely layered without a hint of mess. When I switched between tracks from The National, Molly Tuttle, or Bon Iver’s “Second Nature,” it held true. don’t look up, These earbuds bring out the small touches of a song with very pleasant clarity. Sennheiser’s Smart Controls app for iPhone and Android lets you adjust EQ with Bass Boost and Podcast modes that are separate from any changes you make to the bass, mid, and treble sliders. (The podcast option enhances speech clarity.) The standard consumer-friendly tuning curve is present here, but I’d say the Sennheisers are more balanced than the Sony 1000XM4s. Not everyone will like it: I ended up enabling Bass Boost more often, while the Sonys deliver powerful, energetic sound out of the box.
The case finally supports wireless charging.
The mobile app also recently added the option to set a “sound zone” and automatically change the level of noise cancellation and EQ optimization depending on where you are – whether it’s home, the office, the gym , or other spots you frequent. It worked as expected in my tests, but it requires you to grant the Sennheiser app location tracking privileges on your phone. Also, you’ll need to set up a Sennheiser account to use Sound Zone (or the voice check feature that personalizes your EQ). I’m not a fan of having people sign up for an account just to use the earbud features.
Some owners of Sennheiser’s previous Momentum True Wireless models reported an audible, persistent white noise effect when listening to the Buds. Even in a completely silent room, I didn’t see any such annoyance with the third generation pair. Battery life remains unchanged for seven hours of continuous listening, and the earbuds (with their case) are IPX4 water-resistant, making them perfect for regular exercise.
Voice call performance seems to exceed MTW2s, and I didn’t find any major complaints about call quality or being hard to understand. However, these still fall short of recent standouts like Sony’s LinkBuds. Either earbud can be used on its own during other charges on the case, and they also have auto-pause whenever you remove one or both of the buds.
MTW3s come in black, gray or white.
His sound is wide, detailed and balanced.
MTW3s weren’t completely immune to minor bugs in my time: I noticed occasional (though rare) signal dropouts, and the status/prompt sound sometimes quickly followed by both “disconnected” and then “connected” immediately after removing said. from the case and put them in my ears. At launch, the new Sennheiser flagship earbuds don’t support multipoint Bluetooth, so you can only connect to one device at a time. The company has claimed that it plans to add MultiPoint in future firmware updates, but as the old saying goes, you should only buy a product based on what it can do now, not what comes later. could.
IF Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3s Did Multipoint is, I’d consider them a home run and recommend an upgrade to fans of the company’s previous buds. But anyway, Sennheiser has done a good job of boosting its value while lowering the sticker price. Noise cancellation is better, you now get wireless charging, and they still sound great. Even though battery life is similar and call quality is just fine, the overall package is more compelling than Sennheiser’s previous premium efforts. they do not extremely Speculate the Sony 1000XM4s as my favorite earbuds; I’ll take the Sony Buds’ better noise cancellation, foam ear tips, and warmer sound profile. But maybe now I’m just used to it. Sennheiser’s right with the best in audio quality – and $50 less than last time.
Photography by Chris Welch/The Verge
