Sennheiser Momentum 5 Review : Where’s my wallet?!

This time, I’m reviewing the Momentum 5, Sennheiser’s latest full-size wireless headphones. They retail for around $400 USD.

 

Disclaimer: Sennheiser is not related to Headfonia. They sent me the Momentum 5 for free to be featured on Headfonia.com.

Sennheiser

Sennheiser was founded on June 1, 1945, by Dr. Fritz Sennheiser and a small group of engineers from the University of Hanover as Laboratorium Wennebostel (Labor W) in a farmhouse in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany. Initially producing measuring instruments (including for Siemens), the company quickly moved into microphones and was later renamed Sennheiser Electronic. It remained a family-owned business through successive generations, with third-generation co-CEOs Andreas Sennheiser and Daniel Sennheiser leading the professional side.

The brand became a global leader in professional audio equipment, including microphones, wireless systems, monitoring solutions, and studio products (notably through the Neumann brand). It also developed a major consumer business in headphones, earbuds, soundbars, and related personal audio devices, along with immersive technologies under AMBEO. Headquarters remain in Wedemark, Germany.

In 2021–2022, Sennheiser sold its Consumer Division to Sonova Holding AG, a Swiss hearing-care company founded in 1947 and headquartered in Stäfa. The deal closed on March 1, 2022. Sonova operates the consumer business (headphones, true wireless earbuds, soundbars, and speech-enhanced hearables) under a perpetual license for the Sennheiser brand, while the original Sennheiser company continues to focus independently on professional audio, business communications, and related technologies.

Today, the Sennheiser name spans both the family-run professional audio group and the Sonova-operated consumer audio lineup. The brand is recognized worldwide for engineering quality, innovation in wireless and high-fidelity audio, and a long history of products used in studios, live sound, broadcasting, and personal listening.

About Momentum 5

Back in the day, ANC headphones sucked. To get something half decent, you had to get Bose, and that has never been the audiophile choice, to put it lightly. Bose was first properly challenged by Sony with their WH1000-XM2. Not only did they champion the most convoluted naming scheme, but the sound also wasn’t too shabby, and the ANC was genuinely good. Only then was the melee joined by the other headphone industry titans like Sennheiser and others.

Fast forward more than a decade, and Bose has been pushed a bit more in the background by Sony and Apple duking it out in the ANC space. Sennheiser is no slouch, and their Momentum series of premium consumer ANC has reached the 5th generation. Like Sony with their 1000X The Collexion, a more luxury set, Sennheiser has released the HDB630 – another more listener-focused upmarket option. As for Apple, they have the AirPods Max – if you think you need them, I probably won’t be able to stop you.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that after so much time, many companies have cracked the ANC headphone code. And the product category has become, dare I say, mature. Does that mean boring? At first glance, the Momentum 5 doesn’t have a lot of improvements over the Momentum. A similar 42mm driver does all the heavy lifting, and Sennheiser designates both as warm and bassy sounding. But there’s more if you look closely, so read on to learn whether they’re worth the premium over their predecessor.

You can buy the Sennheiser Momentum 5 in many electronics stores. Or at the Sennheiser USA official store.

Sound Signature

Building a system to test out the Sennheiser Momentum 5 wasn’t hard. I just used my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and my M1 Apple MacBook Air for office listening. Most of the listening was done in Bluetooth mode with the AptX codec.

Once paired up with my smartphone, using the Sennheiser Momentum 5 was quite straightforward. I also appreciated the fact that using it is very much possible without the accompanying Sennheiser app. Of course, using the app unlocks a bunch more features like the EQ, mapping out the touch controls, and setting the ANC strength. But even if Sennheiser goes under tomorrow or their app becomes unusable, your Momentum 5 will still work fine.

Waking the Momentum 5 is accompanied by a short chime signal which never became grating to my ears. I was also happy to see a battery indicator on the headphones themselves, so I always knew how much juice I’m packing for the day. As for the sound, the overall tuning (on Neutral EQ setting) is still quite bass-heavy, but with more midrange emphasis than on other consumer wireless headphones. In other words – not a reference tuning, but more than pleasant for everyday listening.

Bass

Sennheiser isn’t immune to getting with the times, and under 60Hz, the Momentum 5 has a healthy amount of bass shelf. Sean Olive says that consumers love booty, so who am I to argue otherwise? The sub-bass very much relies on getting a good seal, so people with thick-legged glasses and those with bushy beards might get a smidge of roll-off.

With popular music there’s plenty of rumble and impact. Despite the bass-happy tuning, I don’t think that the lower mids get muddied up a lot. Obviously, less bass elevation gets us more perceived resolution, so this is a more fun rather than introspective tuning. The driver also seems quite capable, so I couldn’t detect any of the usual excessive distortion artifacts like doubling.

Mids

The Momentum 5, despite its low-end heavy tuning, is one of the more midrange-focused wireless ANC headphones I’ve heard. Even if a bit scooped, compared to, say, an HD650, the Momentum 5 handles strings and vocals quite gracefully. Classical rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were actually a great experience, as the driver exhibits very good linearity in the critical midrange region.

The upper midrange is where it gets a tad spicy with one or two minor, but audible resonant peaks in the 2-3kHz region. They’re not in high enough amplitude to cause problems for long-term listenability, but after a system where they’re absent, the difference is audible. Many distorted instruments like electric guitars, fuzzy bass, and dirty electronic strings get emphasized crunchiness from this.

Treble

Usually I’m not expecting any wonders from fully active headphones here. Just don’t hurt my ears, and we can be friends. After all, there are very few headphones which render treble completely blamelessly. At least compared to speakers. Momentum 5 keeps the overall treble tuning relatively tame and dodges any pitfalls like resonant peaks or suck outs.

With Momentum 5, I wasn’t expecting a magical treble; just give me enough extension to keep things interesting and an ear-friendly tuning to keep the ear-fatigue at bay. In my opinion, the headphone achieves all of this admirably. There is a slight peak at 9-ish kilohertz, but it’s tamed enough to be benign.

Technicalities

When it comes to technical performance, the Momentum 5 is more than okay. It’s an active headphone, which means that usually we’re dealing with two conversion steps. All lossy Bluetooth codecs will be the source of most sonic information loss (right after the actual transducer, of course). My favorite codec, LDAC, is absent, so I was left with AptX, which is fine. AptX Lossless is also available, if your phone supports it.

With garden-variety AptX active, the resolution and sound staging were fine. When on the go, the skeleton-borne noise will limit ultimate resolution more than the codec will. To coax more soundstage, Dolby Atmos can be enabled. I think it’s a neat trick, but it was extremely recording-dependent, whether it was more of a benefit or hazard. It’s not like all I listen to are Steven Wilson mixes.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 review continues on the second page. Click here or use the jumps below to keep reading.