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Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbuds in charging case.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport review

The ultimate earbuds for athletes cost a pretty penny.
By

Published onApril 17, 2024

7.7
Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport
The bottom line
If you want biometric tracking built into your earbuds, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport is the best option. If you are just looking for earbuds to workout with, you can find good options for less money.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport

If you want biometric tracking built into your earbuds, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport is the best option. If you are just looking for earbuds to workout with, you can find good options for less money.
Product release date
April, 2024
Price
$329.95 USD
Dimensions
Case: 68 x 65 x 30 mm
Earbuds: 23 x 20 x 26 mm
Weight
Earbud: 6.4g
Earbuds + case: 91g
Model Number
14500-850
Waterproof
IPX5 (earbuds)
IPX4 (case)
What we like
Heart-rate sensor
Body temperature sensor
Secure fit
Great companion app
What we don't like
Large earbud size
Mediocre ANC
Microphone struggles with wind
No dust resistance
Expensive
7.7
SoundGuys Rating
7.3
User Rating
Rating Metric
Our Rating
User Rating
Isolation / Attenuation
7.4
8.0
8.0
Active Noise Cancelling
8.2
-
0.0
Durability / Build Quality
8.5
-
0.0
Value
5.0
-
0.0
Design
7.5
-
0.0
Connectivity
9.0
7.0
7.0
Portability
9.0
-
0.0
Battery Life
6.5
7.0
7.0
Feature
9.5
-
0.0
Comfort
6.0
-
0.0
MDAQS rating
Learn more
Timbre
4.5
Distortion
3.4
Immersiveness
4.3
Overall
4.2

Sennheiser aims to deliver the ultimate fitness earbuds with the new MOMENTUM Sport. In addition to packing all the tech you would expect from premium wireless earbuds, these earbuds feature heart rate and body temperature tracking. Does that make these the best earbuds for fitness enthusiasts? Find out in our Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport review.

Editor’s note: this is the first version of the article. Updates will follow as the market changes.

About this Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport review: We tested the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport over one week. The earbuds used firmware version 3.18.15, and the Sennheiser Smart Control app ran version 4.8.0. Sennheiser provided the unit for this review.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport are for athletes interested in tracking their heart rate or body temperature without needing to wear a fitness tracker.

What’s it like to use the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport?

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbuds alongside the extra wing tips, ear tips, and charging cable.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
The earbuds, charging case, three ear tips, four wing tips, and a USB-C charging cable are included.

From the inside out, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport are designed for athletes. The headline feature of these earbuds is the built-in photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate sensor and body temperature sensor. You do have to use the included transparent ear tips for the sensors to work correctly — if you use third-party foam ear tips, you won’t get accurate readings.

You can view your heart rate and body temperature in the Sennheiser Smart Control app or connect the earbuds to Polar Flow and other fitness tracking apps for more detailed data tracking. I found the heart rate reading on the earbuds is always within a few beats of the reading on my Apple Watch, which gives me enough confidence in its accuracy for casual fitness tracking.

The Sennheiser Smart Control app showing a heart rate reading of 79 bpm next to an Apple Watch showing a reading of 77 bpm.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
These earbuds could replace your Apple Watch in the gym.

Having these sensors built into earbuds makes a lot of sense. It is often difficult to get a fitness band or smartwatch to stay in place during high-intensity workouts, but I didn’t have that problem with the MOMENTUM Sport earbuds. You could save money by getting cheaper earbuds and a separate fitness monitor, but having the sensors built into your earbuds is very convenient.

One notable tradeoff is that so much tech can only fit into an earbud of a rather large size. You must have above-average-sized ears to get a comfortable fit with the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport. You get a wide selection of ear tips and wing sizes to ensure the earbuds stay in place, but those won’t help you if you can’t get the body of the earbuds to fit into your conchas in the first place. I can wear the earbuds for about an hour before the pressure on my outer ear becomes painful. If you have small ears, you should look at the best earbuds for small ears instead.

A Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbud inside an ear.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
Each earbud is very large, so you may struggle to get them to fit in your ears.

The charging case comes with a loop for clipping onto a bag or keychain, and a flap covers the charging port to give the case an IPX4 water resistance rating. The earbuds are also water-resistant, with an IPX5 rating. You can’t submerge the earbuds, but they handle water splashes just fine. There is no dust protection rating, so you’ll need to be careful bringing them with you to the beach.

How do you control the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport?

Tap controls on each earbud control the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport. The earbuds also have a wear-detection sensor that automatically pauses your music when you take an earbud out of your ear. Within the Smart Control app, you can fully customize the triggered function with taps on either earbud. Below, we’ve outlined the default controls:

Left earbudRight earbud
Double tap
Left earbud
Play/pause, accept/end call
Right earbud
Play/pause, accept/end call
Triple tap
Left earbud
Noise control, reject call / mute microphone
Right earbud
Next track, reject call / mute microphone
Touch and hold
Left earbud
Volume down
Right earbud
Volume up

A small touch that I appreciate is the ability to customize the tap sensitivity of the controls within the companion app. This lets you choose how much force the earbuds require to register a tap. At the lowest level, you can prevent your music from being paused every time you adjust the fit of the earbuds. You can trigger the controls at the highest sensitivity by tapping your cheekbone, which is a neat gimmick.

Should you use the Sennheiser Smart Control app for the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport?

The Sennheiser Smart Control app provides one of the most comprehensive companion app experiences on the market. You can use the app to download firmware updates, view earbud and case battery information, and see your current heart rate and body temperature. Scroll down, and you’ll find an equalizer where you can select from a sound preset or create your own using the five-band EQ. You can also use the Sound Check feature to take a listening test and have the app build your own custom EQ.

Another feature that Sennheiser offers is Sound Zones. Within this section of the app, you can set up automation for your earbuds based on your geographic location. For example, you can have ANC turn on when you get to the office, or have a bass boost EQ setting enable when you get to the gym.

It took us 16 minutes and 30 seconds to complete a firmware update on the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport. This is longer than most earbuds, and it is painful when you want to use your new earbuds as soon as possible.

How do the the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport connect?

A hand holds a Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbud over a table.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
The biometric sensors don’t disrupt a stable connection.

Bluetooth 5.2 connects the Sennheiser Sport MOMENTUM to devices. Unlike the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 4, these earbuds don’t get the latest Bluetooth 5.4, though the differences are minimal. Regarding Bluetooth codecs, the MOMENTUM Sport supports SBC, AAC, and aptX adaptive. Select your desired codec and adjust the streaming quality within the Smart Control app.

For the most part, I experienced a stable connection to my iPhone. One day, I had connection issues, but I alleviated the problems by resetting the earbuds from the Smart Control app.

The earbuds should automatically enter pairing mode the first time you take them out of the charging case. If they don’t, try pressing and holding each earbud for three seconds. This will manually activate pairing mode, and now you should see the earbuds in your device’s Bluetooth settings.

How long does the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport battery last?

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport charging case port.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
A protective flap reveals the USB-C charging input.

In our battery test, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes. This is about average for wireless earbuds. The charging case provides a few additional charges, with Sennheiser claiming you can get up to 24 hours of total battery life. You can power the case over USB-C or Qi wireless charging.

According to Sennheiser, 10 minutes of charging will yield 45 minutes of playback time, while it takes one hour and thirty minutes to charge the earbuds fully.

How well do the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport cancel noise?

Designed with joggers in mind, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport has three modes: Anti Wind, ANC, and Transparency. The Anti Wind mode helps to block out most of the annoying wind noise you hear while running or biking. When you don’t want to hear your surroundings, you can enable Active Noise Canceling (ANC), which reduces the loudness of most noise by about 75%. This isn’t as good as the top active noise canceling earbuds, though this is partly due to the semi-open design of the earbuds. The vents on the back of each earbud let in some outside noise, which helps make the Transparency mode sound as natural as possible at the expense of some passive isolation.

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The chart above shows how the earbuds’ noise-blocking abilities were measured in our lab. The passive isolation is shown in pink, and the combined passive isolation and ANC in blue — higher values equal better performance. As expected, passive isolation is most effective at blocking external noise in the higher frequencies above 1kHz. Active noise canceling works best at canceling out low-frequency noise below 1kHz.

When you want to stay aware of your surroundings, the Transparency mode does an excellent job of amplifying noise. The app has a slider to control the exact amount of noise you want to let in. At the highest level, everything sounds louder than without the earbuds in your ears. At the lowest level, exterior noise is neither amplified nor attenuated, aside from some passive isolation from the earbuds in your ears.

How do the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport sound?

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport focuses on the low-end of music, so if you like having thumping bass to power you through workouts, you’ll like the sound.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

The chart below shows how the sound of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport was assessed by the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Score (MDAQS) algorithm from HEAD acoustics.

This chart shows the MDAQS results for the Sennheiser Momentum Sport in AptX Default mode. The Timbre score is 4.5, The Distortion score is 3.4, the Immersiveness score is 4.3, and the Overall Score is 4.2.
An overall score of 4.2 is average for wireless earbuds.

Most casual listeners prefer an emphasis on bass, and the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport scores well in Timbre with a 4.5. The Distortion and Immersiveness scores align with what we’ve seen from other wireless earbuds. We can deduce that most people won’t mind how these earbuds sound.

Timbre (MOS-T) represents how faithfully the earbuds reproduce the frequency spectrum and temporal resolution (timing information).

Distortion (MOS-D) represents non-linearities and added noise: higher scores mean cleaner reproduction.

Immersiveness (MOS-I) represents perceived source width and positioning: how well virtual sound sources are defined in three-dimensional space.

See here for an explanation of MDAQS, how it works, and how it was developed.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Objective Measurements

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As you can see in the chart above, the frequency response of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport deviates away from our headphone preference curve in the high frequencies. All sounds above 2kHz are underemphasized compared to our curve. As such, the bass and low-mids sound comparatively louder.

You can choose from one of the eight included equalizer presets or make your own. Below, we’ve outlined the impact of the bass boost mode, though you’ll have to experiment on your own to find your preferred sound.

Bass Boost EQ Preset

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The Bass Boost mode boosts all the low frequencies by about 5dB, which is a noticeable difference. With this mode enabled, bass and sub-bass significantly overpower every other element of music.

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The chart above compares the frequency response with ANC turned off (dotted yellow) and turned on (blue). As you can see, ANC has no audible effect on the sound of the MOMENTUM Sport.

Can you use the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport for phone calls?

The microphones on board the earbuds do a great job of accurately reproducing the sound of the voice. You can hear what each voice is saying in our microphone demonstration below. Take a listen and let us know what you think.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

How does the microphone sound to you?

91 votes

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport microphone demo (Office conditions):

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport microphone demo (Street conditions):

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport microphone demo (Windy conditions):

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport microphone demo (Reverberant space):

The microphones struggle a bit with background noise. In our simulated office and street environments, you can hear all the background noise around the voice. That said, you can still hear each word the voices are saying. In a simulated wind environment, hearing some of the voices becomes difficult, so I wouldn’t recommend conversing with the earbuds on a windy day or while biking.

Should you buy the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport?

A hand holds the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport over a table with two phones on it.
Chase Bernath / SoundGuys
The MOMENTUM Sport is built from the ground up for serious athletes.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport is expensive at a starting price of $329.95. You could instead buy one of the best wireless earbuds under $200 and still have more than $100 to spend on a separate fitness-tracking wearable. You should only buy these earbuds to avoid wearing a separate tracking device in the gym, such as a smartwatch.

Suppose you don’t need the biometric sensors. In that case, you can find other workout earbuds with more appealing sound quality, better noise canceling, and better battery life for less than the price of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport. If you want an all-in-one package, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport offers a unique value proposition.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport
Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport
Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport
Heart rate sensor • Body temperature sensor
MSRP: $325.95
The ultimate earbuds for athletes cost a pretty penny.
Wireless earbuds with built-in heart rate and body temperature tracking. Alongside noise canceling and water resistance, the MOMENTUM Sport is a good choice for serious athletes.
See price at Amazon
Sennheiser Momentum Sport

What should you get instead of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport?

A hand holds the Jabra Elite 8 Active from a birdseye view showing the open case.
Austin Kwok / SoundGuys
The Jabra Elite 8 Active is an excellent set of all-around earbuds.

If you don’t need heart rate or temperature tracking and want earbuds for the gym, your best option is the Jabra Elite 8 Active, $199 at Amazon. These earbuds have everything an athlete needs including a secure fit, an IP68 water-proof rating, long battery life, and great sound out of the box.

If you are in search of heart-rate tracking, you can save a few bucks by going with the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4, $129 at Amazon. For less than half the price of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport, you get almost all the same features.

Frequently asked questions

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport are water-resistant, but not fully waterproof. You should not fully submerge the earbuds or charging case underwater.

Yes, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport are excellent for running. The earbuds come with wing tips that provide a secure fit. The earbuds also have an acoustic relief channel and semi-open design, minimizing footstep noise, breathing, and other body-borne distractions.

The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport can handle most types of workouts; you can’t use these earbuds for swimming.

Yes, you can use “Hey Siri” to activate the voice assistant while wearing the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport.

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