Consumer products bearing the Sennheiser name are now designed and made under license by Sennheiser Hearing, part of Sonova AG, a Swiss manufacturer of hearing aids. Sonova acquired the license from Sennheiser at a very competitive period for the headphone and earphone market. It’s not been an easy task to operate in such a competitive market.
Producing and marketing consumer audio products in this space requires considerable investment. Competition from Asian-based headphone brands is intense and the quality of Bluetooth chipsets is now so good, and prices so affordable, many more companies have entered the market, causing severe pressure on brand’s like Sennheiser. As the quality of headphones and earbuds continues to improve, margins are being squeezed tighter than ever.
To maintain its premium reputation in the audio market, Sennheiser Hearing has announced the launch of the latest generation of the Momentum Wireless series of of over-the-ear headphones. The Momentum 5 Wireless are now Sennheiser’s flagship pair of wireless ANC headphones.
The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless have Sennheiser’s classic signature sound with its deep bass and wide soundstage. The headphones also now boast a longer battery life as well as improved active noise cancelation and a new Spatial Audio capability for Dolby Atmos content. These also happen to be Sennheiser’s most comfortable Momentum headphones so far, which puts them in the same league as Bose QC and Sony headphones when it comes to fit.
“With Momentum 5 Wireless, we focused on refining the entire experience without straying from the formula that made its predecessor such a success,” says product manager Sreenath ‘Sri’ Unnikrishnan. “These enhancements enrich the overall functionality while still capturing the magic you feel every time you press play.”
The new headphones have the same 42mm transducers used in the previous Momentum 4 model and are made at Sennheiser’s Tullamore factory, in Ireland. The transducers were inspired by the units used in Sennheiser’s legendary HD 600-Series headphones and have been tuned to deliver a rich and full sound with plenty of dynamic bass.
Hi-Res Audio Certification
The Momentum 5 Wireless are also certified for playing Hi-Res Audio from premium music streaming services like Qobuz and Tidal. The Hi-Res sound due to the use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound technology. This Bluetooth chipset supports advanced audio codecs like aptX Lossless and LDAC. The headphones can also be personalised using the Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app, which lets users customize the sound using an 8-band graphic equalizer with custom presets and an intelligent Sound Personalization engine.
Sennheiser claims these latest MomentumWireless headphones are three times better at cutting out sounds like voice chatter because of a new and innovative active noise-cancelling system which has twice the number of microphones of the previous generation which results in improved ANC and transparency mode.
The new headphones now have four microphones in each ear cup, which help to filter out continuous sounds like the drone of aircraft engines or road noise. The microphones have also been tuned so that voices sound more natural when the user is making phone calls.
The designers of the Momentum 5 Wireless say the headphones are designed to sound better over time because they can be updated with new and improved features via firmware updates to the digital signal processor and wireless engine.
Early adopters of the Momentum 5 should see notice of a firmware update that unlocks the headphones’ Dolby Atmos spatial sound function, which includes head-tracking capability that gives the listener the feeling they are being completely immersed in sound when listening to Atmos-encoded content.
When they ship, the Momentum 5 Wireless br running Bluetooth Version 5.4, but Sennheiser Hearing says the circuitry has been designed with the future in mind and will be updatable to the latest Bluetooth 6.0 with a future firmware release.
User-Replaceable Battery
“With Momentum 5 Wireless, we’re proving that high-performance sound and environmental responsibility can — and must — exist in the same product. With our new user-swappable battery, adaptable hardware, and shift to compact, plastic-free packaging, our customers will feel proud to choose a headphone meant to last,” claims Lilika Beck, president of Sennheiser Consumer Audio.
The Momentum 5 Wireless can play for up to 57 hours on a single charge of the built-in battery with ANC turned on. The headphones also have a battery that can easily be replaced by the user. Sennheiser says the 700mAh cell is ideal for everyday use and won’t impact the sound of the headphones. The battery can be easily swapped out by the user with nothing more complicated than a small Phillips-head screwdriver. With the ability to replace the battery, the headphones should offer many years of use and that makes them more sustainable.
These new headphones are also designed to be less harmful to the environment. The storage case is 20% smaller than the previous version and is made of plastic-free materials to reduce environmental impact during shipping. The headphones also include a USB Type-C charging cable and a 3.5mm audio cable for connection to in-flight entertainment players, laptops or hi-fi systems.
Pricing and Availability:
The new Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones are available globallyy in a range of colorways and priced at $399.99 / £329.90 / €399.90.
Tech Specs:
- Wearing style: Over-the-ear.
- Ear coupling: Circum-aural.
- Bluetooth: 5.4.
- Supported profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP, GATT.
- Supported codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX
lossless, aptX adaptive, SnapdragoSound. - Speaker principle: Dynamic.
- Driver size: 42mm diameter.
- Speaker frequency range: 6Hz to 40kHz.
- Analog Line-In: 6Hz to 22kHz.
- Speaker sensitivity: 108dB SPL (1kHz / 0dB FS).
- Speaker THD: <0,2% (1kHz / 100dB SPL).
- Impedance: Active 520Ω.
- Active Noise Cancellation: Hybrid Adaptive ANC.
- Mic principle: MEMS.
- Mic frequency range 20Hz to 15kHz.
- Mic pick-up pattern: 4 mics per side, beamforming for noise reduction.
- Battery life: 57 hours.
- Charging time: 2 hours.
- Battery type: Repolaceable lithium-ion.
- Weight: 290g.
- Contemts: Momentum 5 Wireless headphones, carry case, USB-C cable, audio cable.
