Introducing MOMENTUM 4 Wireless

[willtim]

These issues affect every unit. I'm not sure if those claiming otherwise never got to try the slightly better old firmwares or are just deaf, but hope Sennheiser fixes indeed the mess.

I've never tried the old firmware and ANC seems to be working at least enough for a train journey for me. I never had high expectations of it other than blocking out low frequencies. I can assure you I am not deaf and I'm not sure all the hyperbole is particularly helpful. If the old firmware was only "slightly better" then why is the situation "a mess"?

 

[hldn]

I've never tried the old firmware and ANC seems to be working at least enough for a train journey for me. I never had high expectations of it other than blocking out low frequencies. I can assure you I am not deaf and I'm not sure all the hyperbole is particularly helpful. If the old firmware was only "slightly better" then why is the situation "a mess"?

With the old firm the ANC was still miles behind almost any other ANC headphones in the market, but with the newest firmware it's like there's almost no ANC at all. Plus trying to adjust it makes things worse. Of the 32 pages here almost half of them must be about it. Plus it's confirmed by Sennheiser (multiple times) that there's a lot of problems. My latest quote was a copy paste from a support ticket I opened with them.

Wonder if when they say +/- one week they mean 3 months. Because last time someone posted that Senny replied with "January".

 

[willtim]

My latest quote was a copy paste from a support ticket I opened with them.

Thanks for sharing that piece of information. Fingers crossed for improved ANC.

 

[hldn]

Thanks for sharing that piece of information. Fingers crossed for improved ANC.

Even if they restore how good was it before the latest firmwares, you'll be blown away in comparison. Fingers crossed indeed!

 

[Compactor5077]

I recently tried out SM4 in a local hi-fi store. I was a little surprised by how ineffective the ANC was in those circumstances, but I also really enjoyed the sound of the headphones, so I decided to give them a try and really get into all of the settings because I might have missed something in the 10-20 minutes in the store.

I have to say, the ANC is sadly very underwhelming. I come from a pair of XM3 and AirPods Pro - and I also have a pair of cheaper Jabra headphones and both are heads and shoulders better than SM4 at ANC - but not sound quality. I've read the thread and messed around with enabling and disabling adaptive ANC, turning the slider right and back to the left. I've tried to make sure there's a really good seal around the ears, but even so the amount of sound that leaks through the ANC is astounding. My dog walking around the living room comes through very clearly. Decidedly loud sounds seem not to be dampened *at all* (like dog barks) - which my Sonys and Airpods do. In fact, I can clearly hear the sounds of my non-mechanical laptop keyboard as I type this despite typing pretty lightly.

I realize that ANC isn't magic and certain things are difficult to do, but all of my other ANC solutions are far better. I hope I get to see a software update that improves ANC before I have to return them, because I hope I can keep these headphones for the sound quality. The ANC just needs to be good enough that I can relax at home on bad day or keep the worst of the sound from colleagues at bay as my XM3s did (they have developed different issues though, which is why I'm trying something new - and I have always enjoyed Sennheiser open-back headphones).

The SM4s are on the latest firmware as per the app.

 

[willtim]

Decidedly loud sounds seem not to be dampened *at all* (like dog barks) - which my Sonys and Airpods do. In fact, I can clearly hear the sounds of my non-mechanical laptop keyboard as I type this despite typing pretty lightly.

Dog barks and keyboard clicks are of course not low frequency sounds. It is low frequency sounds in particular that passive isolation performs poorly with and ANC is needed for, i.e. rumble of trains, jet noise or traffic. I had an XM3 and don't remember its ANC doing a great job for anything midrange and above either, although it may have been better than the M4. I would still expect some dampening though, due to passive isolation on the M4?

My biggest complaint with the M4 is that it doesn't attenuate the low frequencies quite as much as the XM3, it could do this without impacting sound quality I think (given it's reproduction of bass is already inaccurate). If you want ANC to affect the midrange and above, not only is this technically very difficult (DSPs need even lower latency), but it risks significantly affecting sound quality, better passive isolation is preferable.

 

[hldn]

Two weeks later, still no sign of the update...

About dog barks and keyboard clicks, I can assure you both the M4s with original firmware and any of the latest Sony generations were highly effective. Nowadays ANC cans don't just remove low frequency sounds but most frequencies.

 

[scarfacegt]

Is the sound of mtw3 and momentum 4 totally different or the same sound profile? I really like the sound of the mtw3.

 

[PixelSquish]

I just check in here every few days a week to see if the vaporware that is this firmware update every becomes real, or is this like the full self driving Elon the dbag has been promising for years now

 

[scarfacegt]

I ordered these today, since they where cheaper on an web shop here in norway. Have people been using these outside in the winter? Any problem with cold weather? Light snow/rain?

 

[KopaneDePooj]

I ordered these today, since they where cheaper on an web shop here in norway. Have people been using these outside in the winter? Any problem with cold weather? Light snow/rain?

You shouldn't go below zero Celsius with any Bluetooth headphone mainly because this can damage the battery. Electronics can also suffer.
As they are not IP-certified I'd wear a hood over even in light rain.

 

[cristian007]

Two weeks later, still no sign of the update...

About dog barks and keyboard clicks, I can assure you both the M4s with original firmware and any of the latest Sony generations were highly effective. Nowadays ANC cans don't just remove low frequency sounds but most frequencies.

Just got the M4s a few days ago and after updating the firmware the same thing happened in my case, the ANC stopped working completely. It started working again after going through the factory reset through the app although not sure it's working 'properly' because it's quite disappointing compared to the XM5s that I am testing at the same time. I find myself using the M4s most of the day as I like their sound better and but then again find myself reaching out for the XM5 when things become more noisy around me.

Ironically, I ended up getting the M4s after experiencing software glitches with the XM5 that I got just a few days prior. In that case, the bug made them lose charge very quickly which was a deal-breaker for me. So unless something changes with either pair, I'm left having to choose between poor battery life and poor ANC. I wish Sennheiser just fixed the ANC because I love everything else about the M4s, even the touch controls that I thought were going to be horrible aren't that bad after all, and the SQ + the long battery life fit the bill for me.

 

[Valen1901]

Thank you! These have the makings to be an awesome go-to daily driver for over-ear fans that listen all over the place. IMHO, sound-wise, they're a nice evolution of M3W; the wireless sound has a dotted line to the classic HD 25 sound (full, detailed, and non-fatiguing) but with a much "taller" image and a very fun L-C-R soundstage; the buttery smoothness of the response is certainly shared with the MOMENTUM True Wireless 3. The seal on the head is really well-done thanks to the revised earcup articulation and padding. We're starting a tour right away so that you can hear from the 3rd party reviewers, so be certain to sub to that thread

Hey mate, i was browsing on reddit and heard you were a sennheiser employee, i was gifted a pair of momentum 4s from a family figure, they bought them overseas with cash and no reciept, so i dont have a proof of purchase, however i do have the case, and the warranty card and information card with everything else still with me. Is there any way for me to still have valid warranty? Or maybe i could purchase warranty myself on this product? My products seems to be faulty and think has an ANC defect. It started to sound faulty and creates alot of white noise when anc is on, for example when im next to and air conditioner it creates a lot of white noise, not necessarily the rumbling of the ac but white noise. Ive tried resetting, a hard reset and basically anything else i could find to help. Is there anyway i can get warranty on this product?

 

[scarfacegt]

Are the m4s still very buggy? Ive seen a couple of reviews where they mention it, and also read here on head-fi and other sites like reddit. It looks like the m4s has a lot of issuses? Or have the newest firmwares improved them?

 

[scarfacegt]

Are the anc on par with bowers & wilkins px8?