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I got my Momentum True Wireless Bluetooth earbuds at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Sept 2019 for their great sound quality in a true wireless earbud (got them with my new HD-800s that I love). I also have Pamu Scroll that were my previous favorite true wireless, and Pamu slide that I liked better than my Crazy Baby Air (still pretty decent but budget). But these took the sound quality to a whole other level. I have had the unique opportunity to listen to three different pairs of the original Momentum TW, and they all sounded consistent.
The battery storage case is charged via USB-C cable included (not shown), and the ear buds are placed in the case to charge them. The case is about 1/2" longer than the AirPods Pro case, and 1/2" thicker, and the same in the 3rd dimension, so much smaller than a Powerbeats Pro case. They also came with Sm, Med, and Lg tips, and I only used the medium.
They have a metallic touch panel on each IEM to use Siri or a voice assistant (one tap right), to turn transparency mode on and off (double-tap right to toggle), to answer/play/pause (tap left), to skip forward (double tap left), to skip backward (triple-tap left), to raise volume (press and hold right), and lower volume (press and hold left). I think that the left bud might be a slave to the right but had forgotten to test this prior to writing my review - I have always used them as a stereo pair.
The sound is very transparent and natural, realistic even. They don't sound closed in or colored, and the frequency response is very balanced. Despite the very cool app for setting the EQ, I have not needed the EQ 95% of the time, and just use the app to enable transparency mode with a double tap on the right ear bud. The app is also needed to do firmware updates, and turn on auto-answer or auto-pause.
On my iPhone 11 Pro Max with AAC BT audio the BASS is very strong and deep, but with just a little EQ in the Sennheiser App they can hit as crazy hard as you might desire without distortion (I sometimes wanted EQ on old classic rock from the 70's). Bass is also fast and detailed, and never sluggish. MIDS were full and rich on vocals and instruments without being too forward or distant, with good timbre and tone. TREBLE is crisp with a nice sparkle and without any sibilance. Overall the balance is excellent.
Detail is impressive even with just AAC Bluetooth on my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I hadn't used them with AptX forever, as despite using BT explorer to change settings on my MacBook they still connected via SBC. Only on April 27th did I get code to enter into terminal, that resulting in AptX connections after powering off BT and back on. After doing this I did notice a slight increase in detail with my MacBook Pro, with an accompanying slight drop in midrange warmth. With poorly mastered recordings this was more brutally revealing than with SBC, so I could revert to SBC to slightly take the "edge" off a bad recording. Overall, I might prefer using them with my iPhone more with bad recordings, but with my MacBook for higher resolution recordings.
One of the test songs that I use is the live version of Hotel California on the Eagle's reunion album "Hell Freezes Over". The MTW handled this very well, with a sense of ambience in a large space, deep bass drum with proper decay, crisp guitars, and only on AptX with the intro of Glenn Frey singing did I note a slight decrease in warmth and body to his vocals in the lower midrange. The vocals were slightly warmer with SBC on the MacBook, or with AAC on the iPhone. So I tried Jack Johnson "Better Together" from the album In Between Dreams on the MacBook, and while his vocals were slightly less intimate and slightly more set back with AptX, his vocals didn't loose much warmth. Playing with the iTunes EQ shows that AptX may have dropped the 250-500 Hz frequencies slightly.
One other MacBook Pro quirk with Mac OS X Catalina 10.15.4 is that after listening to the MTW with AptX and then putting them back in the charging case, when putting them back into my ears Mac OS reverts back to SBC BT audio connection. I must power off Bluetooth and turn it back on and reconnect the MTW, at which point they have an AptX connection again.
The MTW don't have as much micro-detail as a $400+ wired in ear monitor from Westone or NXears, but the detail is more than enough to convey a good sense of air and space in live recordings. They have more detail than the Westone on a BT V1 cable, but a little less than the Westone on a Westone BT V2 cable. A Westone W40 with a BT V2 cable would still be more flexible, since it can be used wireless but also used wired and scale up in all areas with a good amp; however, the W40 plus Westone BT V2 adapter would cost 3 times more than these! And, when used on the bluetooth V2 cable the W40 bass is not quite as punchy and hard hitting as the Momentum TW (the bass does keep up when using W40 with an amp).
Passive noise isolation is good, as is comfort; and transparency mode is nice if you need to hear what is going on around you. Transparency mode would be better if the sound coming in was a little louder, or adjustable, but it's enough to hear cars approaching when you are out walking the dog if the music is at very low volumes. With my AirPods Pro the transparency mode is louder, so it's more like you are not wearing any earbuds; but then if I'm in a noisy environment with AirPods Pro I have to turn up the music louder than I need to with the Sennheiser.
Plus, my AirPods Pro (firmware 2C54) sound bad if I turn off ANC mode or turn off transparency mode, as those modes seem to enable some kind of EQ that improves the sound; while the Momentum TW sounds just as good with transparency mode off as it does when it is on. So, while the AirPods Pro may sound very nice, they don't sound quite as consistently good as the Momentum TW. Most of the time I can't keep a good enough seal with the AirPods Pro to get the bass that they are known for - I have tried all the tip sizes with AirPods Pro and always fail the seal test, even when ANC seems to work perfectly fine.
That means that the Momentum TW stay in my ears better than the Apple AirPods Pro, while the AirPods pro have been known to fall out to the ground a few times. The Momentum don't fall out, ever - I could shake my head hard enough to get whiplash and they'd stay in. The silicone tips of the Momentum TW also don't make my ear canals itch like those on the AirPods Pro.
Active ANC would be nice, but with the thick shell or body of the TW the passive noise blocking is enough too enjoy them on an airplane flight to Florida and back in October 2019. I tried the AirPods Pro on my next flight to Montana in December 2019, and ANC did a better job until they would fall out of my ears when eating or drinking. I rounded down the noise cancelation to a 4/5 since they don't have ANC, and don't isolate nearly as well as my custom molded IEM.
My only concern has been battery life. They play music for at least 4 hours on a charge with ACC BT, just like the AirPods pro, with up to 2 charges from the case for 12 hours total; so that is not a problem. However, the charging case tends to drain over time with the earbuds stored inside when not used for a week or two. So you should keep it topped off all the time when not using them if you want 2 full recharges from the case when you snap them up to use them.
I looked at the specs, and the standby time is rated as 7 days with the buds in the case. So, because I have them set to "auto-accept" a phone call if I take them out of the case and put them in my ears, they are technically in standby all the time to some degree, waiting to be used. I have not tried to see what the battery life might be if I turn off that feature, nor have I selected to shut them off via the Sennheiser app - being ready for a quick deployment when I need them is more important to me than shutting them down 100% to save battery.
I also have set them to auto-pause the music or video when I take them out of my ears. They have built-in sensors that can detect when they are removed from the case, and detect when they are inserted into and removed from the ears. I recently discovered that after taking them out of my ears that the music plays until they are about 6 inches away from my ears before the music pauses; and then when I put them close to my ears, without them touching my ears, that the music starts playing again just with close proximity of about 1 inch or so from my ears.
Starting with the TW and their case at 0% battery, a 5 minute charge will take the buds from 0% to 20% charge, giving about 45 minutes or 1 album of music. At 10 minutes charging the TW feel a little warm, but it takes them up to 40% battery in my testing. That's enough for 2 music albums or a standard length movie. After that charging seems to slow down a little, to about 10% per 5 minutes of charging (0-50% in 15 minutes, or 0-60% in 20 minutes). The battery level can be seen in the Sennheiser App or on the iPhone's Today screen (by swiping the 1st page of the home screen off to the right).
I have not formally timed charging rate past 60% in 20 minutes, but I'm guessing that it would take at least 60-70 minutes to charge both buds and the case from 0% to 100%. Even 75-80 minutes to charge the case and buds together would be fair. Considering that they hit 60% for me in only 20 minutes, that partial charge should be enough to listen to 3 full length albums, or maybe watch the movie Avatar on a 20-25 minute charge, while having another 3-4 hours of charge left in the storage case's battery.
I would like to get the Momentum TW 2 at some point, mostly for the extra battery life - up to 7 hours + 3 charges from the case = 28 hours. The addition of ANC will just be icing on the cake, but not mandatory. But, at $199 on Amazon these original Momentum TW are $100 less than the Momentum TW 2, making them a great bang for the buck. If I do get the Momentum TW 2 I'll be sure to post my review on them, but these sound so good that I am not in any rush.
[edit 4/25/20 - update title, edit 4/27/20 - update sound with AptX]
The battery storage case is charged via USB-C cable included (not shown), and the ear buds are placed in the case to charge them. The case is about 1/2" longer than the AirPods Pro case, and 1/2" thicker, and the same in the 3rd dimension, so much smaller than a Powerbeats Pro case. They also came with Sm, Med, and Lg tips, and I only used the medium.
They have a metallic touch panel on each IEM to use Siri or a voice assistant (one tap right), to turn transparency mode on and off (double-tap right to toggle), to answer/play/pause (tap left), to skip forward (double tap left), to skip backward (triple-tap left), to raise volume (press and hold right), and lower volume (press and hold left). I think that the left bud might be a slave to the right but had forgotten to test this prior to writing my review - I have always used them as a stereo pair.
The sound is very transparent and natural, realistic even. They don't sound closed in or colored, and the frequency response is very balanced. Despite the very cool app for setting the EQ, I have not needed the EQ 95% of the time, and just use the app to enable transparency mode with a double tap on the right ear bud. The app is also needed to do firmware updates, and turn on auto-answer or auto-pause.
On my iPhone 11 Pro Max with AAC BT audio the BASS is very strong and deep, but with just a little EQ in the Sennheiser App they can hit as crazy hard as you might desire without distortion (I sometimes wanted EQ on old classic rock from the 70's). Bass is also fast and detailed, and never sluggish. MIDS were full and rich on vocals and instruments without being too forward or distant, with good timbre and tone. TREBLE is crisp with a nice sparkle and without any sibilance. Overall the balance is excellent.
Detail is impressive even with just AAC Bluetooth on my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I hadn't used them with AptX forever, as despite using BT explorer to change settings on my MacBook they still connected via SBC. Only on April 27th did I get code to enter into terminal, that resulting in AptX connections after powering off BT and back on. After doing this I did notice a slight increase in detail with my MacBook Pro, with an accompanying slight drop in midrange warmth. With poorly mastered recordings this was more brutally revealing than with SBC, so I could revert to SBC to slightly take the "edge" off a bad recording. Overall, I might prefer using them with my iPhone more with bad recordings, but with my MacBook for higher resolution recordings.
One of the test songs that I use is the live version of Hotel California on the Eagle's reunion album "Hell Freezes Over". The MTW handled this very well, with a sense of ambience in a large space, deep bass drum with proper decay, crisp guitars, and only on AptX with the intro of Glenn Frey singing did I note a slight decrease in warmth and body to his vocals in the lower midrange. The vocals were slightly warmer with SBC on the MacBook, or with AAC on the iPhone. So I tried Jack Johnson "Better Together" from the album In Between Dreams on the MacBook, and while his vocals were slightly less intimate and slightly more set back with AptX, his vocals didn't loose much warmth. Playing with the iTunes EQ shows that AptX may have dropped the 250-500 Hz frequencies slightly.
One other MacBook Pro quirk with Mac OS X Catalina 10.15.4 is that after listening to the MTW with AptX and then putting them back in the charging case, when putting them back into my ears Mac OS reverts back to SBC BT audio connection. I must power off Bluetooth and turn it back on and reconnect the MTW, at which point they have an AptX connection again.
The MTW don't have as much micro-detail as a $400+ wired in ear monitor from Westone or NXears, but the detail is more than enough to convey a good sense of air and space in live recordings. They have more detail than the Westone on a BT V1 cable, but a little less than the Westone on a Westone BT V2 cable. A Westone W40 with a BT V2 cable would still be more flexible, since it can be used wireless but also used wired and scale up in all areas with a good amp; however, the W40 plus Westone BT V2 adapter would cost 3 times more than these! And, when used on the bluetooth V2 cable the W40 bass is not quite as punchy and hard hitting as the Momentum TW (the bass does keep up when using W40 with an amp).
Passive noise isolation is good, as is comfort; and transparency mode is nice if you need to hear what is going on around you. Transparency mode would be better if the sound coming in was a little louder, or adjustable, but it's enough to hear cars approaching when you are out walking the dog if the music is at very low volumes. With my AirPods Pro the transparency mode is louder, so it's more like you are not wearing any earbuds; but then if I'm in a noisy environment with AirPods Pro I have to turn up the music louder than I need to with the Sennheiser.
Plus, my AirPods Pro (firmware 2C54) sound bad if I turn off ANC mode or turn off transparency mode, as those modes seem to enable some kind of EQ that improves the sound; while the Momentum TW sounds just as good with transparency mode off as it does when it is on. So, while the AirPods Pro may sound very nice, they don't sound quite as consistently good as the Momentum TW. Most of the time I can't keep a good enough seal with the AirPods Pro to get the bass that they are known for - I have tried all the tip sizes with AirPods Pro and always fail the seal test, even when ANC seems to work perfectly fine.
That means that the Momentum TW stay in my ears better than the Apple AirPods Pro, while the AirPods pro have been known to fall out to the ground a few times. The Momentum don't fall out, ever - I could shake my head hard enough to get whiplash and they'd stay in. The silicone tips of the Momentum TW also don't make my ear canals itch like those on the AirPods Pro.
Active ANC would be nice, but with the thick shell or body of the TW the passive noise blocking is enough too enjoy them on an airplane flight to Florida and back in October 2019. I tried the AirPods Pro on my next flight to Montana in December 2019, and ANC did a better job until they would fall out of my ears when eating or drinking. I rounded down the noise cancelation to a 4/5 since they don't have ANC, and don't isolate nearly as well as my custom molded IEM.
My only concern has been battery life. They play music for at least 4 hours on a charge with ACC BT, just like the AirPods pro, with up to 2 charges from the case for 12 hours total; so that is not a problem. However, the charging case tends to drain over time with the earbuds stored inside when not used for a week or two. So you should keep it topped off all the time when not using them if you want 2 full recharges from the case when you snap them up to use them.
I looked at the specs, and the standby time is rated as 7 days with the buds in the case. So, because I have them set to "auto-accept" a phone call if I take them out of the case and put them in my ears, they are technically in standby all the time to some degree, waiting to be used. I have not tried to see what the battery life might be if I turn off that feature, nor have I selected to shut them off via the Sennheiser app - being ready for a quick deployment when I need them is more important to me than shutting them down 100% to save battery.
I also have set them to auto-pause the music or video when I take them out of my ears. They have built-in sensors that can detect when they are removed from the case, and detect when they are inserted into and removed from the ears. I recently discovered that after taking them out of my ears that the music plays until they are about 6 inches away from my ears before the music pauses; and then when I put them close to my ears, without them touching my ears, that the music starts playing again just with close proximity of about 1 inch or so from my ears.
Starting with the TW and their case at 0% battery, a 5 minute charge will take the buds from 0% to 20% charge, giving about 45 minutes or 1 album of music. At 10 minutes charging the TW feel a little warm, but it takes them up to 40% battery in my testing. That's enough for 2 music albums or a standard length movie. After that charging seems to slow down a little, to about 10% per 5 minutes of charging (0-50% in 15 minutes, or 0-60% in 20 minutes). The battery level can be seen in the Sennheiser App or on the iPhone's Today screen (by swiping the 1st page of the home screen off to the right).
I have not formally timed charging rate past 60% in 20 minutes, but I'm guessing that it would take at least 60-70 minutes to charge both buds and the case from 0% to 100%. Even 75-80 minutes to charge the case and buds together would be fair. Considering that they hit 60% for me in only 20 minutes, that partial charge should be enough to listen to 3 full length albums, or maybe watch the movie Avatar on a 20-25 minute charge, while having another 3-4 hours of charge left in the storage case's battery.
I would like to get the Momentum TW 2 at some point, mostly for the extra battery life - up to 7 hours + 3 charges from the case = 28 hours. The addition of ANC will just be icing on the cake, but not mandatory. But, at $199 on Amazon these original Momentum TW are $100 less than the Momentum TW 2, making them a great bang for the buck. If I do get the Momentum TW 2 I'll be sure to post my review on them, but these sound so good that I am not in any rush.
[edit 4/25/20 - update title, edit 4/27/20 - update sound with AptX]
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