Health earbuds that lack finesse

Sennheiser may have simply trotted out a set of wi-fi earbuds that have been rated IP55 and known as it the Momentum Sport ($330), nevertheless it went additional, including heart-rate and body-temperature sensors to the made-for-exercise earbuds. These additions offer you extra perception into exercises, but in addition feed information to your present third-party exercise apps. After all, the Momentum Sport additionally has to excel on the regular earbud stuff, and supply an ergonomic design, lively noise cancellation (ANC), contact controls and different widespread options. Sennheiser has a stable observe document with sound high quality, however now it has to stability that with the expanded capabilities of the Momentum Sport.

What’s good concerning the Sennheiser Momentum Sport

The Momentum Sport’s total form is what I want Sennheiser used for the Momentum True Wi-fi 4. The previous’s rounder profile matches my ears higher and feels extra comfy though they’re barely bigger. With out the match wing, the Sport model nonetheless rests properly in my ears, although that additional half positively helps hold them in place throughout exercises. Merely put, this design feels extra refined and I’d like to see the corporate take an analogous path on its flagship mannequin.

Sennheiser says it aimed for “vivid sound and impressive bass” that may assist amp up a exercise and it delivered. The inventory tuning has noticeably extra low-end thump on Justice’s Hyperdrama, bracing the digital tunes with a thicker layer of tone. That’s positively one thing that assists together with your vitality ranges throughout bodily exercise. However, as I’ll focus on later, the additional bass isn’t at all times a great factor.

The Momentum Sport’s marquee options, that are heart-rate and body-temperature monitoring, work properly. Because of the earbuds’ safe match, you may get fixed, reliable readings in Sennheiser’s Good Management app. Coronary heart fee figures matched these on my Apple Watch, and I confirmed my temperatures with a brow scan. The Momentum Sport’s readings have been according to the opposite units each time, which implies the earbuds are as dependable as different at-home alternate options.

What’s extra, there’s tight integration with apps like Polar, Peloton, Strava and Zwift, so you should use the Momentum Sport with their units and never simply Sennheier’s app, which is usually designed to tweak settings. Nonetheless, solely Polar’s Circulation helps the Momentum Sport’s body-temperature monitoring. Sennheiser says it is because Polar is the one firm with an ecosystem that retains tabs on that metric and helps the suitable sensors. Regardless of which third-party app you like, you’ll most likely wish to sync the Momentum Sport to considered one of them, because the Good Management software program solely shows real-time readings and received’t hold tabs on developments or monitor stats throughout exercises.

Though it has to energy extra sensors, the Momentum Sport nonetheless delivers stable battery life. Sennheiser says a single cost gives 5 and a half hours of playback, and that declare holds up. I didn’t have any points hitting that determine throughout my testing of looping audio at about 65-70 % quantity. That’s with ANC on regular mode and heart-rate and physique temperature sensors lively. The corporate says you may lengthen the battery on the Momentum Sport by half-hour when you allow Eco Mode in its app. This characteristic disables aptX audio and each of the body-tracking sensors.

What’s not so good on the Momentum Sport

The Momentum Sport permits you to faucet your cheek for playback and name controls. That is handy when working, for instance, because you don’t have to seek out the precise location of the contact panel whereas on the transfer or when you’re sporting gloves. The draw back is that it may be activated by chewing. It’s intensely annoying. Throughout my exams, chewing gum or meals steadily triggered the controls.

Sennheiser says it is because I’ve robust jaw muscle tissues (yay?) in shut proximity to the sensor, however that doesn’t make it any much less maddening. I chew gum throughout each runs and lifting classes, so this can be a dealbreaker. Simply clenching my jaw did not set off it, so at the very least there’s that. The one option to treatment the difficulty is to show off the onboard controls solely, which disables each the cheek tapping and extra widespread earbud tapping gestures.

The Momentum True Wi-fi 4’s ANC efficiency is stable however not superb and that holds true on the Momentum Sport. Each units of earbuds carry out equally with fixed noise sources, reducing the amount of the exterior roar quite than blocking it utterly. Like lots of the competitors (and the True Wi-fi 4), the Momentum Sport struggles with human voices. Total, neither of them supply the type of sturdy, world-silencing energy that Bose and Sony muster.

Transparency mode on the Momentum Sport is serviceable, nevertheless it’s removed from nice. The earbuds let in your environment properly, however don’t pipe in sufficient of your voice and I discovered myself getting shouty throughout just a few calls. There’s additionally an anti-wind mode that turns out to be useful throughout outside exercises, nevertheless it’s a instrument almost all new earbuds are outfitted with as of late.

Sadly, good audio efficiency isn’t common on the Momentum Sport. Whereas some albums are detailed and crisp regardless of the added bass, others are lacking punchy highs and a powerful mid vary. The sound profile compresses issues like grungy, distorted guitars and bass traces. Vocals persistently reduce via, however the extra distinguished kick drum in songs like Knocked Free’s chaotic “Suffocate” relegates guitars to the backseat. In actual fact, guitars throughout a variety of kinds – together with different, rock and nation – lack the depth and element the Momentum 4 present. By dialing up the low-end tone, Sennheiser has sacrificed a few of the dynamics that often give its earbuds such nice audio. And in a set of earbuds that price over $300, that’s a disgrace.

Lastly, let’s focus on the case, which is much less refined than Sennheiser’s earlier designs. These earbuds price $330 and the charging case shouldn’t really feel this flimsy. The lid closes securely more often than not, however the hinge is only a piece of rubber so the case doesn’t keep open until you lay all of it the way in which flat. The soft-touch coating feels good, however in comparison with the equipment that include the Momentum line, this case is what I’d anticipate with a set of earbuds that price half as a lot. The excellent news is, there may be wi-fi charging help and the case is rated IPX4, so it’s not all a loss.

Wrap-up

The Momentum Sport presents a dichotomy. On one hand, they’re glorious exercise earbuds that reliably observe biometric stats for an inside have a look at your coaching regime. On the opposite, they lack the general sound high quality I’ve come to anticipate from Sennheiser’s Momentum lineup and the overly delicate controls are an excessive nuisance. The earbuds may enhance with some software program fine-tuning, however for now, they’re too costly to purchase only for exercises and don’t even carry out persistently sufficient to be your go-to set.