Sennheiser Momentum 2.0

When my old and very low-end headphones died, I decided to step-up and ordered an HyperX Cloud, which was at the time the best overall sub-100$ headphones which didn't required any amp to work properly. They last me for a few years, and then I started to feel a bit limited and started to look at more high-end hardware.

That's how I came to get the Sennheiser Momentum one year ago. To start with, yes, these are great headphones, as many reviewers already pointed out. They're comfortable - while not perfect on this, and some units like mine are sadly less comfortable than other ones, maybe due to a manufacturing problem -, classy, don't require any amp, work well even with low-end DACs, and the sound is clearly worth the money. But there's a point that many here missed.

I first used these headphones on my Honor 5C, just after receiving them. While listening for a few minutes, I was directly disappointed. That was not as good as I thought it would be - at the moment, I didn't know ears required a bit of time to get used to the sound of new hardware. But then, I plugged them in my laptop's (great) output, and it became a lot better. After tricking the equalizer for a bit on my phone, giving more bass and more treble, it became more enjoyable. And it was even better when I got my Pocophone F1, which has a better 3.5mm output though it didn't have a dedicated DAC nor amp.

And then my curiosity was picked up by DAPs. I never understood why some of them were so expensive, and I didn't know much about the quality of outputs (DAC, amps etc.). Finally, I learnt a bit about these things and bought a Shanling M0. The sound was less precise, but a lot more enjoyable than my laptop's output - and the imprecise stereo was all about the DAP's fault, as many reviewers pointed out on this product.

A few weeks later, I got a Fiio M9. And that's where things really began. While these headphones already sound great with low-end hardware, they sound a lot (no, I said A LOT better) with a proper DAC (amplification doesn't help as they have a low impedance and are very sensitive). The sound difference even with these Momentum between my Shanling M0 which already have a good dedicated DAC and my Fiio M9 is HUGE, to the point any come back is really difficult.

Sound is absolutely amazing to my sense, they're classy, lightweight, comfortable, easy to drive - though a good DAC is ABSOLUTELY required to get the best of them -. Soundstage is really wide, though depth is somewhat limited, but here too requires a good source to deliver its best. Instruments separation is perfect, I can easily pick a specific instrument and follow it independently of others, even in messy mixes. This are also very forgiving headphones, as ugly YouTube recordings can be listened to without making an ugly face. Still, don't expect to hear a huge difference between a well-recorded 320kbps MP3 and even a 24bit/94kHz lossless file, though the difference is certainly audible.

So, let's talk about the sound. If you love kicking basses, you will love these headphones. Without being bassy by a bit, the lows slam and hit as hard as you may want them to. I find the lows a lot more impressive on these than on the Sony WH-1000XM3 for instance. The mids are a bit forward, and marvelously present. Guitars and vocals just feel alive, and on very good recordings the impression of having the singer near to you is really impressive - although it's obviously not as impression as some very high-end headphones. The highs are good but not incredible. You will hear many details from your music but if highs are the thing you're looking for the most in a pair of headphones, these may not be the best for you.

I won't put any test music here, as I listen to many genres and always use several hundred tracks to get a good overview of the sound. But I can easily tell the sound is open, airy, loaded with details. Basses go deep with a nice texture. Impacts are great, with punchy lows - which is perfect for electronic musics/rap, but also makes cellos and such classic instruments a lot more alive, without bleeding into the mid's ranges.

If I had to find a con to these headphones, that would be they really require a great source to shine. Not as much as the HD 6XX, of course, but still.

About sources, the Momentum 2 will sound good with absolutely any source (smartphone or pc) but it'll definitely be another world with a great source. I find the Fiio M9 to be perfect with them - delivering a somewhat slightly warmer sound, with extremely crisp mids making it excellent at reproducing soundstage on rock musics and any vocal- and/or guitar-intensive musics. But it will also sound great with any other genre, and that's the main selling point of the Momentum in my opinion - just throw anything at it, and it will sound good.

Word of the end: if you are a looking to nice headphones to look to many different genres, don't look any further. You'll have a hard time finding better overall-performer in the closed-back headphones world without spending at least twice as much - even more if you consider these ones are often sold a lot less below their original price (I had them for €170 while many retailers still sell them at €320). So get a pair of these, sit & enjoy

Hello head-fi community. Its' been a long time since I posted a review or even read anything sound related so bare with me here. These headphones were lent to me so they are not mine thus I have little time with them so I can't comment on all things such as durability and longevity. Even though with this little time that I have with these I can still give you my thoughts and opinions. So here we go

 
Sound:
The sound of these is satisfying to me. It's enjoyable and fun because of the deep punchy bass combined with the good crispy treble that makes the sound signature a ''U'' shaped graph, which is in my opinion the most enjoyable for pure music listening and fits well most genres of music. Although the sound is good, at first you will be kinda disappointed because these headphones need burn-in. I see online a lot of people saying that burn-in is ******** and that its just a myth but when i received these they were meh sounding. After I let them play in above average listening volume for one night I saw a difference in the detail of the mids and the punchiness of the bass. After a few more night sessions, 2 or 3 I am not quite sure the detail became even more present. Don't get me wrong, in some percentage the ''burn-in'' effect might be me adapting to the headphones and getting used to the sound. But I assure you I let other non audiophile people have a good listen brand new with these and after, and their comments were that sound quality changed for the better. So I had an unbiased opinion there to make sure am not making any mistakes. Needless to say these need burn in to get to their full potential. I didn't do any scientific method I just plugged them to my Alpen 2 and let them play shuffle of my music library for some nights. So in conclusion sound quality is for music listening enjoyable and fun, fits a lot of genres but it shines in rap, dubstep, electronic, (basically mainstream music), but lacks a little on genres that need vocal detail like classic and opera. They are good enough for gaming but not the widest soundstage though and it's not their strong point. Don't get me wrong they don't feel closed at all but not suitable if you are gonna be gaming a lot. But they are not intended for gaming so that's okay. By the way my tests were made using alac files as well as youtube music videos to see what a mainstream user would hear.

 
Comfort & Isolation:
Comfort for these is not something to brag about. They are comfortable enough to be worn for like one or two hours but after that your ears get sweaty and warm, and thats due to the leather pads that don't ''breathe''. They are not heavy though and the band is comfortable even though that doesn't seem like the case when you look at them. The problem with the comfort on the Momentums is that the pads are not deep enough for me. Trust me I don't have big ears my ears are average if not small but these pads were not the deepest but the leather on them is so soft that for one or two hours you won't have a problem but after that is gets annoying but not painful or super uncomfortable. Its just a minor issue that gets solved with a few 5 min breaks here and there. They are not like an all day headphone like my Uptown's that I used to have but they get the job done for most people. Oh I forgot to mention that i have glasses and these don't care at all the pads are so soft that they adapt well. Now for the isolation there are average. I haven't used them a lot outside or in public places because I have limited time with these and can't do it all but comparing them to my Uptowns thery are not as good, but thats fine for me they get the job done and if you really want isolation and the momentums you could go with the Wireless with active noise isolation but I haven't listened to these so I can't tell you anything about them. Comfort and isolation are the average part of an overall strong package but both are not bad enough to be an issue. That will only be a problem if you specifically seek headphones with the best comfort and isolation in this price range. 

 
Cable, Accessories and Package:
The cable on these is decent. It's noting special for sure. The good thing is that it is removable and it has a locking mechanism that ensures it doesn't come off when you don't want it to. The length is right it's 1.4 m with a 3.5 mm gold plated jack at the end (that is recessed ), and have an in-line remote that supports several devices including Iphones and several android phones. What is cool is that when you go in their site to purchase these they have different models for every different phone manufacturer and that's due to the cable in-line remote being different to support different devices. So you know you are getting ensured compatibility for the remote control if you use it directly from the phone. In conclusion the cable feels durable, gets the job done. Simple and it works.
 

 

 

 
Accessories wise there were not much in the box. A carrying case and a pouch. Nothing much to say about these because I haven't used them a lot but here are some pictures and I 'll let you figure it out.

 

 

 
Conclusion:
To wrap thing up yes I recommend these. They are a strong package with nothing much to complain other than some imperfections. But as I stated earlier don't go wrong with these because of the comfort and isolation. These were my complains because everything else was perfect about these so anything less than stellar was going to be a complaint. Amplification wise I haven't had much time with these without an amp so I cant really tell but from what I heard its pretty much the same if not a little better with an amp. These are meant to be used directly from the headphone output of your phone so there wasn't much to discover there.

First of all, I've owned *2* pairs of these beauties. In fact, I still do. I've once lost an ear-pad (don't even ask how..), I've ordered a replacement pair of the ear-pads and haven't listened to my Momentum's in over 4 months since then, it was the worst time of my life!!! (you can easily find my forum posts on this). Turns out, I've specified the wrong delivery address to custom-cable. Damn!!
 
I've also owned: K-701s (AKG is great but it's a shame, real shame, that they can't be driven by smartphones..), IE-8i (IE-80 by Sennheiser), various other inner-ear's.. etc..
 
But get this:
 
- Paycheck arrives. I have two choices: Wait 1 day (only 24 hours!) for Amazon delivery of these pairs and a price of 245 EUR, *or* visit a local store and pay up 320 EUR and get them immediately.
 
Any "sane" person will tell you, just wait 24 hours and save money! But I just couldn't. And I have zero regrets.
 
It's as if someone asked you: "Do you want to get back to your first love in life, and experience ultimate bliss?". Uhm, yes..?!
 
Damn it.
 
I really don't want to advertize for a company. But music moves me so much.. And Sennheiser has nailed it.
 
These things hypnotize you and make you love music in a way you've never experienced music before. On the very first day you may doubt them a little bit, maybe even a lot!! (warmup time is not a conspiracy, it's a real thing! Naysayers beware. I've hated them the first few days..). But as days go by these things just get better and better.. Damn. I think it's really the 4th day of relatively consistent music listening that you're going to realize the unreal energy these 'phones have.
 
A few things to note:
 
- You can crank them up to 9/10 volume on your smartphone and nobody outside will hear a thing or complain at all! Seriously. While listening to them I kept thinking "Damn, I'm probably disturbing people on the subway..". Nope! An easy test is to just cover both ear-pads with your hands and observe how much leakage they have. It's almost non-existent! I've always felt shy about listening to music at high-volume, but I can crank these things up to almost the highest volume and nobody gives me any bad looks.
 
- The top (the headband) is something you will never, ever, feel! This is something Sennheiser has truly mastered. It's super light-weight, it looks like it has no foam (and it doesn't have any!), and you wouldn't be wrong to attempt to assume that there's something missing at first. But in reality, you can't really feel the headband. It's just "not there". This is *miles* away from rival companies like AKG, which have attempted to provide something comfortable but ultimately failed. I'm looking at you AKG K-701. (Google for "I've knifed my K-701s. OP is not the only to have done this.. sadly.. :/).
 
So yeah, the headband is seriously the last thing you have to look at. Btw, I shave to about 1.5 CM and I still can't feel the headband. So take this into consideration. Comfort is a huge thing and you should really care about this (e.g. the IE-8 / IE-80 is quite big for an in-ear, and is sadly nowhere near the comfort levels of the Momentum 2.0, even though its sound quality is insane!).
 
- Protip: When you attach your cable, don't turn it all the way to the right (full-lock). It has nothing to do with sound-quality. It has to do with every-day activities. I've managed to break my cable because I was dancing with my headphones on. if I had them turned all the way counter-clockwise the detachable cable would have just fallen out. Instead it ripped. Sad, but it happens! Yeah, I shouldn't dance with my headphones, go figure!
 
- The Android volume controls just don't work for some smartphones. This is a known problem. Essentially, instead of increasing/decreasing the volume, the volume controls are replaced with next-track and previous-track commands. *Perhaps* this works properly on a Samsung, but it definitely doesn't work on an HTC. Honestly though it's no big deal, my phone has volume buttons anyway.
 
- When I say "it has great highs" - I'm not kidding. I listen to a lot of music with insane highs. Goa Trance? Thrash Metal? Yeah, you're covered. Trust me.
 
Downsides:
 
- I would almost say "it's the price". But really, when you consider the next highest thing offered from Sennheiser is the $1.5K HD800 then you really have nothing to complain about here. This is the mountain top of music fidelity you're going to get at this price. And quite honestly it's worth much more! So much more. I can't believe this fidelity exists at $<300. I've never tried the HD800's, but I have a feeling they're either over-priced or they're something out of this world, because there's just no way they're worth 5 times the much as the Momentum 2.0s and being able to deliver 5x the fidelity. No way.
 
Ultimately if you're a really conscious buyer you should try to give these a try-out. Perhaps a live listen in some pro audio shop. But your really can't go wrong with buying these. You *will not regret* buying these. Guaranteed.