Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless

Pros

• Impressively detailed, accurate sound with well-defined bass and natural sounding mids
• Comfortable to wear with nicely cushioned earpads
• Much improved noise canceling
• Redesigned case is slimmer
• Up to 57 hours of battery life
• USB-C audio
• Replaceable battery

Cons

• No design changes from Momentum 4 Wireless
• Voice-calling performance could be better
• $50 price bump from its predecessor's launch price
• Feature set not quite as robust as some competing models' feature sets

When they came out in August 2022, I remarked that Sennheiser's Momentum 4 Wireless over-ear headphones had lost the distinct design flair of their predecessors and had become a little mundane-looking. They retained their excellent sound quality but didn't measure up to Sony's or Bose's flagship models for noise cancellation.

Now, almost four years later, we get the Momentum 5 Wireless in the same chassis as the Momentum 4 Wireless, but Sennheiser has significantly boosted its noise-canceling performance. It's also added spatial audio with head tracking, along with a user-replaceable battery and a few other small feature updates. The result is an excellent set of headphones that's a good alternative to Sony's WH-1000XM6, particularly for fans of Sennheiser's appealing, clean and accurate sound. Priced at $400, they ship on June 16 in white, black or denim and earn a CNET Editors' Choice award.  

Read more: Best Headphones of 2026

Momentum 5 Wireless design 

From a design standpoint, not much seems to have changed. They weigh in at 290 grams (10 ounces), which puts them at essentially the same weight as the Momentum 4 (293 grams). While they weigh more than the Sony WH-1000XM6 (254 grams), they're quite comfortable, with nicely cushioned earpads that are replaceable. Though mostly plastic, the headphones seem sturdily built. I also like that the earpieces are clearly labeled left and right.

The big change on the design front is that Sennheiser has improved the Momentum 5's carrying case, slimming it down and carving out the backside, creating a sort of handle for the case, which is nice. The case is much slimmer than the case for Sennheiser's step-up HDB 630 headphones ($500), which look similar but have upgraded drivers and come with Sennheiser's BTD 700 wireless USB-C dongle ($60). Geared to audiophiles, the HDB 630 offers even more refined sound but significantly lighter noise-canceling than the Momentum 5 and not quite as good voice-calling performance.  

The dongle has support for "lossless" Bluetooth streaming up to 24-bit/96kHz via aptX Adaptive and allows for aptX support for iOS devices and Android devices that don't license the aptX audio codec from Qualcomm (Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel currently don't license aptX). It also creates a more reliable wireless connection with Windows PCs and Macs. 

The Momentum 5 has the same touch controls as the Momentum 4. You swipe up and down on the earcup to raise and lower volume and swipe forward and back to skip a track or return to a previous track. I thought they worked well -- they're as good as any touch controls I've used. 

It's worth noting that the Momentum 5 has both automatic power off as well as manual power off. You can have the headphones shut down after 15, 30 or 60 minutes (there's a setting in the companion Smart Control Plus app) or they automatically power off when you put them in their case. What's new is that you do have to hit the power button to turn them on. Previously, with the Momentum 4, they'd automatically turn on when you took them out of the case, which some people didn't like because they'd pair with your phone when you sometimes didn't want them to.    

Upgraded noise cancellation

In terms of performance, the biggest upgrade is to the noise canceling. Sennheiser has equipped the headphones with eight microphones (four in each earcup), which is up from the four microphones in the Momentum 4.

The noise canceling isn't quite up to the level of the ANC you get with the Sony XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) and Apple's AirPods Max 2, but it's gone from being middling to good. Some high and mid frequencies still poke through -- people's voice, for instance -- but I thought the headphones' noise-muffling abilities were strong in my tests on the noisy streets of New York. I'd give their ANC an A- grade.

The headphones' transparency mode is also improved (instead of suppressing ambient noise, transparency lets sound into the headphones). It sounds noticeably more natural than the Momentum 4's transparency mode.

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Momentum 5 Wireless features

The Momentum 5 has a pretty robust feature set, but it's not quite as robust as Sony's or Apple's. Equipped with Bluetooth 5.4 with future-ready Bluetooth 6.0 with a firmware update, the headphones have more responsive wear-detection sensors (your music pauses when you take the headphones off and resumes playback when you put them back on), spatial audio with head tracking (Sennheiser refers to it as "immersive" audio) and a basic "find headphones" feature. There's also a "sound zones" setting that allows you to create specific settings for certain locations that are automatically enabled. And the headphones support multipoint Bluetooth, so you can pair two devices simultaneously to them. 

But they're missing a couple of more modern features like Sony's Speak-to-Chat (Apple's version is called Conversation Awareness) and built-in voice controls. I also didn't see any mention of support for Auracast broadcast audio over Bluetooth.  

Similar sound quality to the Momentum 4 Wireless

The Momentum 5 has the same 42-milimeter drivers as the Momentum 4, so no upgrades there. The noise-canceling upgrades create some slight changes to how the Momentum 5 sounds compared to its predecessor, but it's a slight difference. The sound quality doesn't seem worse, it's just subtly tonally different. That said, if you're a long-time user of the Momentum 4 and love its sound, you may have some quibbles with the differences. Adding stronger noise cancelling can certainly affect sound quality; the trick is for the impact to be almost negligible.    

Sennheiser describes the Momentum 5's sound as "slightly warm and immersive." The immersive reference appears to be to the new spatial audio setting that works with any Dolby Atmos audio tracks, whether that's music or movies. The headphones have head tracking, but that feature wasn't enabled with my early review sample and will be turned on with a firmware update when the headphones ship in June. 

Sennheiser headphones and earbuds are known for delivering well-balanced audio that's detailed and natural. "Slightly warm" refers to the fact that the headphones aren't totally neutral-sounding and serve up an ample amount of bass that's well-defined and punchy. These are very pleasant, smooth-sounding headphones, with no edge to the treble and an accurate, intimate quality to the midrange where voices live. They're among the top-sounding wireless headphones and don't create any listening fatigue over longer listening sessions.    

The step-up HDB 630 amps up the clarity and accuracy and just sounds a little more special overall, particularly when you use them in wired mode via USB-C or connect to the included BTD 700 wireless USB-C dongle that plugs into the USB-C port on your phone, computer or tablet. Both the HDB 630 and the Momentum 5 also come with an analog cable with a 3.5mm plug for wired listening and connecting to in-flight entertainment systems on planes. 

I compared the Momentum 5 to the Sony WH-1000XM6, and it was hard to declare a winner for sound quality. The Momentum 5 had a little bit more clarity (I used the default neutral setting in my testing), but the Sony had more bass energy and a slightly bigger soundstage. It's a negligibly warmer headphone than the slightly warm Momentum 5.

For those who want to tweak sound, you can play around with the equalizer settings in Sennheiser's Smart Control Plus app (there's an eight-band EQ along with some presets) or try the Sound Personalization option that allows you to move a small target around a field of dots while a song is playing to dial in your preferred sound profile and save it. I was pleased with the sound customization options, and the app is pretty straightforward to navigate.

Like the Momentum 4 and HDB 630, the Momentum 5 features USB-C audio, which is a nice extra. You do get an ever-so-slight sound boost, making everything a touch more vibrant and alive. Also, like the HDB 630, the Momentum 5 is compatible with the BTD 700 wireless USB-C dongle. I did test the headphones with the dongle, though it took me a few tries to pair the headphones with it (it was a little tricky even after I reacquainted myself with the instructions for pairing the dongle).

I was using Spotify Lossless to stream with my iPhone 16 Pro and noticed a minor difference for the better. I do think the dongle is more useful for linking wirelessly to PCs, which can be finicky with their Bluetooth connections. 

Sennheiser Momentum 5 voice-calling performance

Sennheiser hasn't made any major improvements to voice-calling performance, though a Sennheiser rep told me the microphones are now wideband mics. A sidetone feature worked well, allowing you to hear your voice in the headphones, so you don't end up shouting, and overall, the voice-calling performance was good, just not top-tier. In my tests on the noisy streets of New York, callers said there was solid background noise reduction, but my voice sounded slightly muffled and was accompanied by a faint whooshing sound. 

For video calls, you can use the headphones with your computer with Bluetooth or in wired mode with USB-C. I was told that when you connect with a USB-C cable, there's a setting on Windows machines that allows you to get full bandwidth from the Momentum 5's microphones and optimize sound quality for your voice. I'll test that along with head-tracking for "immersive" audio when Sennheiser comes out with that aforementioned firmware update. A future firmware update is also supposed to bump the headphones' Bluetooth version from 5.4 to 6.0. We'll see if there are any improvements to voice-calling performance with that update as well.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 final thoughts

I've always been a fan of Sennheiser's Momentum headphone and earbud line, and lots of people liked the Momentum 4 Wireless aside for the fact that its noise canceling was mediocre. The much-improved noise canceling is really the biggest change to the Momentum 5 Wireless, fixing its predecessor's biggest weakness and making the Momentum 5 a worthy alternative to flagship models from Sony, Bose and Apple.

The Momentum 5 also has some other small upgrades, including a new, slimmer case, a spatial audio mode with head tracking and a new user-replaceable battery, which can be accessed by removing the right ear pad and removing a few screws. But their standout feature remains their impressive sound quality. 

It would have been nice to see more design changes, but perhaps the lack of investment in substantial alterations will mean that we'll see discounts on the Momentum 5 sooner rather than later. The Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (second gen) carry list prices of $450, but seem to frequently be on sale, so Sennheiser will need to get the price of the Momentum 5 Wireless down to more like $300 or $325 to create some price separation and make it easier for consumers to choose them over those competing models that have also earned CNET Editors' Choice awards. I really do like the Momentum 5 Wireless, but the XM6, QC Ultra and Apple's AirPods Max 2 are also excellent.