Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear: Black Chrome Beauties
Pros: Ergonomic design. Bass-enhanced without being boomy. Clear upper end without being sibilant. Good soundstage. 2 year warranty.
Cons: Recessed mids. Not over-ear friendly. No mic-free option.
Photo courtesy of Sennheiser
INTRODUCTION
We all know Sennheiser, right? The legendary German audio giant famous for high-quality headphones and microphones. Well, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I'm a Sennheiser newbie. I've tried a lot of audio gear since I started in this hobby but for some reason, I just never got around to giving Sennheiser their day in the sun. Well, that's about to change because I recently got to take the MOMENTUM In-Ear for a test drive and was impressed with what I heard. Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?
Okay, I lied. Before we head off to the review, I'm going to give you a few links I found useful:
- Sennheiser's MOMENTUM In-Ear Website: LINK.
- Dedicated Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear thread: LINK.
- THL's review: LINK
- @twister6's review: LINK
- @mark2410's review: LINK
If you're considering buying these, I'd recommend reading the other reviews I linked to for alternate points of view from reviewers I respect and trust.
DISCLAIMER
There is no financial incentive from Sennheiser for writing this review. I am in no way affiliated with Sennheiser, and this is my honest opinion of the MOMENTUM In-Ear. I would like to thank Sennheiser for giving me a chance to review the MOMENTUM In-Ear, and I hope my feedback proves useful for my fellow Head-Fi members as well as for Sennheiser.
ABOUT ME
I'm a 43 year old father who loves music. While I listen mostly to electronic and metal these days, I do listen to a wide variety of music - from electronic (Autechre, Boards of Canada) to modern/minimalist composition (John Cage, Philip Glass) to alternative rock (Flaming Lips, Radiohead) to jazz (John Coltrane and Miles Davis) to metal (Behemoth, King Diamond) to classic rock (Eagles, Rush).
I'm primarily a portable audio enthusiast. My portable music journey started with the venerable Sony Cassette Walkman and then progressed to portable CD players, minidisc recorders (still have my Sharp DR7), and finally on to DAPs like the Rio Karma, iRiver IHP-1xx, iPod 5.5, iPhones, and the newer crop of DAPs from Fiio and iBasso.
Being a portable audio enthusiast, I typically listen with IEMs but am enjoying listening with full-size headphones more and more and tend to like u-shaped sound signatures, although I break out v-shaped IEM & HP from time to time for fun.
As with a lot of people my age, I've got some hearing issues. I've got mild tinnitus and suffer from allergies, which can affect hearing in my right ear. I'll admit it, I'm not blessed with a pair of golden ears. That said, I've been listening to portable gear for a long time and feel confident in assessing audio gear - just wanted to be transparent up front.
SPECS
- Driver: Single Dynamic
- Rated Impedance: 18Ω
- Frequency Range: 15Hz - 22kHz
- Sensitivity: 118dB at 1mW
- Cable: 1.3m cable
- Plug: 3.5mm gold-plated L-plug
- Weight: 16g
- Warranty: 2 years
- MSRP: $100
PACKAGING & ACCESSORIES
As usual, I'll go over packaging in pictorial format below.
Front
Rear
Accessories: Safety Guide, Case, Tips
MOMENTUM In-Ear + Case Insert
Tips
In all, you get:
- MOMENTUM In-Ear
- S, MS, ML, L Silicone Tips
- Storage Case
- Manual
As this was my first experience with Sennheiser IEM, I didn't know what to expect. While the accessories package was adequate, I'd like to see a shirt clip and wider variety of silicone tip choices included.
Why a shirt slip? As with most IEM, without a shirt clip microphonics were an issue. That is, unless I chose to wear them over ear, which the MOMENTUM In-Ear weren't exactly designed for. While out for walks, I could hear footfall noise and microphonics as the cable brushed against my clothes. Attaching a shirt clip just below the y-splitter negated the footfall nice and took care of most of the microphonics, as well. The only issue I cold see with including a shirt clip is that it won't really work with the case insert, so you need to leave that behind and stash the IEM directly in the now insert-less case. No big deal. A very good trade-off for getting rid of microphonics in my opinion!
Why more tips? Because tips aren't a "one type fits all" solution, and fit is so important for achieving proper isolation and, consequently, good sound. Offering a couple of bore sizes and/or lengths would also allow the owner to optimize the sound a bit. For me, the MS and ML tips both worked well, providing a secure fit, good isolation, and also good sound. However, in the end I found I preferred SpinFit tips. The fit wasn't as secure and they weren't quite as isolating, but the SpinFits gave me a bit more soundstage which made the MOMENTUM In-Ear that much more enjoyable.
BUILD & ERGONOMICS
Again, I'll walk you through the MOMENTUM In-Ear's build in pictorial format, commenting on what I like and what I think could be improved along the way.
MOMENTUM In-Ear Without Tips
Hey, those don't look like MOMENTUM In-Ears, you say. They're supposed to be a
flashy red color. Well, my friends, this is the MOMENTUM In-Ear all grown up. Personally, I prefer the Black Chrome look to the original red, but that's just me. Unless there's gorgeous wood involved, I prefer a nice, dark color scheme - preferably black. Check!
What else do we see here? The unusual shape, to be sure. I've seen pictures of these around and just didn't get the shape. Now that I've gotten to take them for a nice, long test drive, I totally get it. Sennheiser obviously dug out their ear anatomy & physiology studies when designing these because their shape fits my ears like a glove. To get a nice comfortable and secure fit, I just inserted them with a slight twist. No further fiddling required! I've tried a lot of IEM, and this was literally the fastest I've ever been able to achieve a good fit. Furthermore, because they don't have any sharp edges or unusual pressure points, I have no problem wearing them for extended listening sessions.
The strain reliefs are quite unusual, as well. I've seen this style used by Chord & Major, as well, but this is my first experience with it. My only concern here would be that the strain relief Chord & Major uses is metal, whereas this is plastic. I haven't experienced any issues with it so far, and I've treated these roughly, just throwing them in my shoulder bag without storing them in the case. I typically have a portable amp, a DAP, and some other IEM in my bag, and the MOMENTUM In-Ear have been jostling around in there for the past couple weeks without any signs of wear & tear. So any concerns about the strain reliefs are probably unfounded. Ending on a positive note, Sennheiser integrated three raised dots on the left strain relief for easy blind recognition. You can just see it where the strain relief meets up with the shell on the left earpiece in the picture above. I always like it when manufacturers include these small features.
Sennheiser used Stainless Steel sound tubes to cut down on resonance. The shells are plastic, though. Seems like a good compromise between optimizing sound quality with a rigid sound tube and keeping the weight down with the plastic shells.
Final thought here is that I'm used to seeing vent holes on IEM with dynamic drivers. There must be one, as I'm not experiencing any driver flex or vacuum issues but I can't find it. It might be integrated into a small hole where the two pieces of the plastic shell are joined together. When for ear down, that would place the vent hole right on the top, exposed part of the shell. With that placement, I'd expect a lot of wind noise, however I get absolutely no wind noise with these. Not sure what the Sennheiser design team did here, but it works a treat. I get good isolation, no wind noise, no driver flex, and no vacuum issues. Nice!
And finally, the one thing I'd change if I were on the design team... The holographic Sennheiser S logo on the "faceplate". Totally not my style. I'd prefer it to be a little less bling-bling, but that's a minor nitpick. Other than that, there's a lot to like here!
Remote, Y-Splitter + Cinch, 3.5mm L-Plug
I'm an iDevice user, so the MOMENTUM In-Ear I received is the iOS-compatible model. I honestly don't use remotes much, as I primarily use DAPs that aren't compatible with remotes, but I have to admit that it's handy to have when I do plug into my iPhone to listen to some streaming music or an audiobook or podcast. The remote has the standard Play/Pause, Skip Back/Forward functionality and also has Volume controls. I like that. Im not a fan of remotes that don't have built-in Volume controls. And because Sennheiser manufactures separate Android and iOS models, you can get an Android-specific version with fully-functioning Volume controls. Nice! I never explicitly test microphone functionality because, as I mentioned earlier, I'm primarily a DAP user. I rarely have IEM plugged in when I get a call. But just as I was sitting down to write this review, my dad called. The mic worked just fine. I was loud and clear. My only issue was that I get such a good seal with the MOMENTUM In-Ear that I had to remove one earpiece because I just couldn't tell how loud I was talking.
I've got no concerns about the Y-splitter or cinch. They're there, and they work. Again, if I were on the design team, I'd vote for losing the holographic "faceplate" on the cinch. It's not that apparent in the low-key photo I took, but it's pretty darn sparkly and bling-bling. Just not my style. Very minor nitpick, though.
And finally, the 3.5mm L-plug. Again no major concerns with this. It's pretty low-profile and fits into my smartphone case. I do wish the strain relief was a little more flexible, though. While it has some flex, it might be better if it had a bit of notching or taper near the outlet for even more flex. Probably not a major concern, though. And I wouldn't complain if Sennheiser incorporated an even lower-profile L-plug like the one on the NuForce NE800M I just tested. It sat nearly flush with my smartphone case, which was really nice.
Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear Ready To Rock!
Worn Down
Sennheiser quite obviously designed the MOMENTUM In-Ear to be worn down. My ears are a bit on the small side, and even so the MOMENTUM In-Ear nestle into my ear very nicely. Once you settle them in your ears, the attention to ergonomic design really becomes apparent. The curves, constrictions, and angles all "just worked" for me. There aren't many IEM I don't have to fiddle with fairly often due to some weird ear canal angles - to the point were I've thought about giving up on universal IEM and just going the CIEM route. Not with these. Other reviews have commented on the large size. They may be a bit large, but they're certainly not as large as some other IEM I've used. Moreover, people routinely tell me I've got small ears and I've had absolutely no problems with these.
Worn Over Ear
As with a lot of IEM intended to be worn down, yes, you can do it but it won't be as ergonomic as just wearing them down. But then again, I'm a wear 'em down kinda guy. If you're an over ear person just know you can do it. Who knows, you might even find them more comfortable. However, the one big sticking point is that when worn over ear, the remote/mic module hangs just about an inch below my ear. This is compared with just below my jawline when worn down. For those of you with larger ears, this means the remote module might come close to touching your ears. Not so good! Me? I'll be sticking with wearing them down, thank you very much!
Last thought... Either a remote/mic-free version of moving remote/mic module down the cable a bit would be nice for people who prefer over ear use.
SOUND
I listen to a lot of experimental electronic and metal and mainly used those genres to evaluate the MOMENTUM In-Ear. As usual, I used them as my sole IEM for a week. During that time, I mainly listened to them out of the Soundaware M1 Esther Analog DAP (
LINK) I've got in for testing. I've also given it a listen out of my iPhone 5s with music, as well as audiobooks and podcasts. I also gave them a listen through the updated Aune B1
2016 Version portable amp (
review coming soon!) stacked with the M1 Esther. I'll go over what I thought of the overall sound signature, some very brief thoughts on tip-rolling, and a brief comparison with a couple other IEM you might be familiar with around the same price point.
But first, a beauty shot with the Soundaware M1 Esther Analog in Silver.
Sound Signature
As you might've figured out from the Pros & Cons section, the MOMENTUM In-Ear has a v-shaped sound signature. Bass is enhanced but has a good balance of sub-bass and mid-bass to keep them from sounding bloated, boomy, and slow. Electronic music like Richard Devine, Ueno Masaaki, and Vaetxh benefited from the well-extended, impactful bass. The bass also passed my Candlemass test for all you classic Doom Metal fans out there. Blastbeat kick drums in Black and Death Metal sounded pretty good, I didn't hear much smearing which can be a major problem with bass-enhanced IEM. Older albums with with leaner mastering like Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, and Rush also benefited from the enhanced bass, giving them a bit of extra warmth. Mids are recessed, making vocals seem more intimate than usual. I found this to be more apparent with female vocals. Electric guitar could use more bite. The upper end is well-controlled and relatively smooth. Some reviewers noted sharp treble which is prone to sibilance. This has not been my experience. In fact, I found these quite an easy listen, only getting sibilance in recordings where I know it's a mastering problem. Soundstage, imaging, and separation are all good but not outstanding.
If I were given the chance to retune these, I'd reduce the bass just slightly, bring the upper mids forward a bit, and and give them a bit more sparkle up top. I wouldn't recommend major changes because I get and can appreciate what Sennheiser is going for here. My aim would be to keep them on the full, fun side of things while balancing out the overall sound signature just a bit more. I think this would make them an even better all-around IEM that would have broader appeal amongst those starting down the audiophile path.
Adventures In Tip Rolling
If the manufacturer supplies different tips, I always start out with the stock silicone tips and then work my way through the rest of the supplied tips. However, Sennheiser only supplies one type of tip with the MOMENTUM In-Ear. I guess they're confident they made the right choice! And yes, the stock tips worked well for me. I did waver between the MS and ML size tips and finally settled on the ML tips for a more shallow fit. The MS fit in a bit deeper, but I felt like they weren't sealing quite as well so I abandoned them and just stuck with the ML tips. In fact, I enjoyed the stock tips so much I didn't play with other tips for quite some time. When I did, I didn't want to go the narrow bore hybrid route with these because I was afraid it would make them overly bassy. I have a hard time getting a good seal with Heir style tips, so even though I could see there being some benefit to a wide bore tip on these I didn't go that route, either. I did try SpinFit tips on them, as I've found that with bass-enhanced IEM the SpinFit tips expand the soundstage. This was no exception, with the MOMENTUM In-Ear's soundstage benefiting from the SpinFit tips. However, the SpinFits did make the fit less stable, so when out and about I'd recommend the stock tips for a more secure fit and better isolation. When stationary, I'd definitely recommend swapping out for SpinFit tips. Or if your ears get along with Heir-style tips, give those a try because I think you'd get similar benefits from those.
Comparisons
I gave these a volume matched listen vs. Brainwavz S5 and Trinity Delta, which I think a lot of you are familiar with. They're all around the same price and are variants on a fun, v-shaped sound signature. So, what did I think?
Brainwavz S5: S5 has greater bass quantity with more mid-bass, making the bass sound looser and slower in comparison. S5 has more upper mids and lower treble, making female vocals a little livelier and giving electric guitars more bite, but also making cymbals splashier and emphasizing sibilance. Soundstage is comparable, but I'd give MOMENTUM In-Ear the upper hand for imaging and separation. Overall, I'd take MOMENTUM In-Ear here for a more "audiophile" take on a bass-enhanced sound signature.
Trinity Delta: These two have more differences, so I'm going to go into more details here. Delta has similar bass levels but has more emphasis on mid-bass, which makes it sound a bit more impactful and quicker. Delta has less recessed mids and quite a bit more upper mid and lower treble energy, which gives guitars bite and makes female vocals sound much more forward. In fact, in comparison with MOMENTUM In-Ear, Delta makes female vocals sound a bit shouty. On the same Fleetwood Mac song, Stevie Nicks sounds aggressive with Delta whereas with MOMENTUM In-Ear it seems like she's singing breathily in my ear. I preferred the MOMENTUM In-Ear's approach here. However, with Bjork, Delta really makes her voice pop, whereas MOMENTUM In-Ear makes her sound a bit flat. In this case, I preferred Delta. I don't feel like either goes overboard on the upper end. Cymbals sound good and sibilance is well-controlled with both. While MOMENTUM In-Ear is no slouch, Delta clearly wins in the soundstage, separation and imaging departments. This is more of a toss-up for what I'd pick. I think something right between the bass, mids, upper mids, and lower treble levels of each of these would be killer - especially the upper mids and lower treble.
SUMMARY
So what do I think of the MOMENTUM In-Ear? I really didn't know what to expect going into these. I was just coming off listening to an even more bass-enhanced, v-shaped IEM in the NuForce NE800M, so these sounded a bit flat at first listen. After acclimating, I found that while still a fun IEM, the MOMENTUM In-Ear takes a more refined different approach. More linear bass, less upper mid / lower treble energy, a more balanced, smoother sound without sacrificing too much clarity. Make no doubt, these are not reference IEM. Don't go into an audition or purchase thinking that's what you'll be getting. What you'll be getting is a refined take on the v-shape that audiophiles can appreciate. I can see these being a complement to a more mid-focused, reference type IEM. My only tuning suggestions would be a touch less bass and slightly more forward upper mids and lower treble.
Attention to details and ergonomics make these a very comfortable wear. These were hands-down the one of the easiest IEM to achieve a good fit with that I've encountered. Given the unusual shape, I didn't expect this. It's apparent that the design team really did their homework with these. The new color scheme is great, more sophisticated than the flashier red model, although I could do without the shiny, bling-bling Sennheiser S logo on the earpiece's faceplate and cinch. And while I love the case, I wish Sennheiser included some more tips and a shirt clip. More tips choices will help MOMENTUM In-Ear owners find just the right fit and sound tuning out of the box, and a shirt clip will greatly reduce footfall noises and microphonics.
I hope you found this useful and would like to give a hearty thanks to
@Rosmadi Mahmood at Sennheiser for giving me the opportunity to review the MOMENTUM In-Ear. It was a very positive introduction to Sennheiser's IEM's, and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future.
