Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 review: These earbuds beat out AirPods Pro

When they came out in 2018, the Sennheiser Momentum Correct Wi-fi were among the most effective-sounding certainly wi-fi earbuds, if not the most effective-sounding. They ended up not with no some flaws, having said that. The buds’ batteries would drain while in the situation, so if you didn’t demand the situation for 4 times, you could end up with a useless set of earbuds, which was irritating. They ended up also a tad massive, so some persons complained of soreness soon after owning them in their ears for a while. And at $three hundred, they ended up fairly expensive.

The 2nd-generation Momentum Correct Wi-fi two, readily available now for preorder and transport in April, nevertheless have that elevated $three hundred (£279 three hundred euros) cost. But they are better all about, with a a little scaled-down, much more comfortable design and style, energetic sound canceling that rivals that of the AirPod Professional, enhanced battery daily life (up to seven several hours vs . the original’s 4) and better sound reduction in the course of phone calls. And, if you never like them in black, a white variation is slated to comply with later this 12 months. Most importantly, however, the Momentum Correct Wi-fi two have the exact stellar audio — for true wi-fi earbuds, anyway — supplying obviously remarkable audio excellent to the AirPods Professional. That will make them arguably the most effective true wi-fi earbuds on the current market currently and earns them a CNET Editors’ Preference Award.

That stated, they are not essentially for everybody. Aside from the truth that they are high-priced — $50 much more than the AirPods Professional — they are heavier, not very as comfortable to have on and deficiency the palms-no cost Siri observed on individuals Apple styles. And, while Sennheiser shrank the new earbuds by 2mm, the Momentum Correct Wi-fi two are nevertheless on the even larger side and may perhaps not be a best match for some people’s ears. Individually, they match my ears very very well and I received a restricted seal from the biggest ear idea (three sizes are included). As I stated, I felt that the a little scaled-down design and style does aid — I was able to have on these with no a dilemma for extensive stretches.

Study much more: The most effective true wi-fi earbuds of 2020

That restricted seal is vital for optimizing audio excellent and sound cancellation. The AirPods Professional have adaptive sound canceling. The sound canceling on the Momentum Correct Wi-fi two would not look to be adaptive, but it is productive. In the configurations menu, it states, “Single-mic ANC minimizes lower-frequency ambient sound,” adding that activating the feature does have an “effect on battery daily life.” In other text, never count on to get seven several hours if you have it on, particularly if you perform your songs at higher volumes. The charging situation does provide an excess three charges (21 several hours) on the go and Sennheiser has preset the concern with the buds’ battery draining in the situation — they now go into a deep slumber manner. 

I wore the Momentum Correct Wi-fi two about the streets of New York and in the subway for a couple of times. You get some passive sound cancellation from just receiving a restricted seal, but when I toggled the sound canceling on and off while riding the subway, the difference was immediately obvious. It seemed to be on par with the AirPods Pro’s sound canceling for muffling ambient sound. I didn’t check out them on a airplane, but I imagine they would be superior for that environment as very well.

Study much more: Best-sounding wi-fi earbuds: Sony, Sennheiser and much more as opposed

Like the originals, these have contact controls and they get the job done very well, although I like Apple’s stem-squeezing controls on the AirPods Professional a tiny better. You can method the contact controls in Sennheiser’s Clever Command application for iOS and Android. For instance, I set the faucet-and-keep gesture on the suitable earbud to activate sound canceling. The exact gesture on the still left earbud activates a transparency manner that enables ambient audio in so you can have a dialogue while putting on them.

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Sennheiser just isn’t marketing and advertising these as sports earphones, but with an IPX4 ranking they are splashproof and ought to be sweatproof. I was able to go jogging with no them falling out of my ears and they are absolutely great for lighter exercise sessions at the gym. I can’t explain to you how very well they’re going to keep up above time if you sweat on them a large amount, but they ought to be able to set up with some moisture with no a dilemma.

Like the originals, the earbuds have quantity controls on the earbuds on their own making use of the default faucet-and-keep gesture. Even so, soon after I adjusted the faucet-and-keep gesture to activate ANC — rather of handle quantity — I couldn’t modify the gesture back to controlling quantity (I experienced to reset the controls back to their default configurations). The application I was making use of was labeled as beta, and I suppose this bug will be preset in an update.  

A couple of other configurations are really worth mentioning. You can opt for to activate sidetone, a feature I like that enables you to listen to your voice in the earbuds and modulate your voice when you are producing a call. And there is an equalizer in the application to tweak bass and treble concentrations to your liking. For functions of this evaluation I still left it at the default placing, which seemed completely superior to me. 

Sennheiser extra a microphone to each and every earbud for the sound canceling and there is a beamforming microphone in each and every earbud to select up your voice when producing phone calls or making use of your voice assistant. The call overall performance is enhanced from the originals’, with better sound reduction so persons can listen to you better in noisy environments (ambient sound is muffled however nevertheless present). I’m not absolutely sure these are very as superior as the AirPods when it arrives to call excellent, but they executed very well in general in this division.

I also skilled nominal Bluetooth hiccups — the wi-fi connection was primarily good. They use Bluetooth 5.1, with help for AAC and aptX audio codes (only sure Android telephones help aptX streaming). And I didn’t have any difficulties with audio syncing appropriately when viewing video clip apps like Netflix, YouTube and Vudu.

The Momentum Correct Wi-fi two earbuds have the exact 7mm dynamic drivers as the originals. If there are some slight gains in audio excellent, it is much more probable thanks to better digital processing as a final result of chip and program upgrades. As I stated, audio excellent is fantastic and the Momentum Correct Wi-fi two has richer, much more specific audio than the AirPods Professional with very well-described bass, pure-sounding mids and some sparkle in the treble. These audio like top quality headphones ought to. They are fairly open the audio would not sense trapped in your head.

I rated the Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds really for audio, however they are not good for producing phone calls. The Momentum Correct Wi-fi two are a tiny much more specific and articulate. On very well-recorded tracks you can actually listen to each and every instrument they never mix in with each and every like with a large amount of Bluetooth headphones. Other large-end styles like the Master & Dynamic MW07 In addition ($three hundred) also have clean, nicely specific audio with superior bass definition, as very well as some sound cancellation, but the Correct Wi-fi two have better design and style and headset overall performance together with a little better audio and much more productive sound cancellation. 

The situation charges via USB-C, whereas at this cost you would like to see wi-fi charging, but that is not a important omission. The AirPods Professional absolutely have an desirable design and style and feature set with sturdy overall performance, but they are basically not in the Sennheiser Momentum Correct Wi-fi 2’s league for audio excellent. And now that Sennheiser has extra energetic sound canceling and preset some of the unique Momentum Correct Wireless’ small flaws, these are the earbuds to get if you price audio excellent above every little thing else.