The Sennheiser Momentum 4 is still the best everyday pair of headphones for everyday users

Since its release almost four years ago, Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 has remained consistently popular. Class-leading battery life meets sonic excellence thanks to 42mm drivers and aptX adaptive support, all wrapped up in a pair of headphones that’s comfortable and lightweight.

What’s more, that aforementioned four-year time-gap has seen the price tumble temptingly down and down, putting the Momentum 4 out of the ‘audiophiles-only’ bracket and into the reach of ordinary people willing to spend a bit more than average on a great pair of Bluetooth headphones.

Still, the premium and semi-premium headphones market is a tremendously crowded place. Does a 2022 pair of headphones still have much to offer in 2026?

Absolutely. Here’s why...

Sound profile

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I don’t remember the last time a pair of headphones just slotted into my life so easily. Whenever you try a new pair of cans, there’s normally a period of adjustment, both to the fit and the sound. The fit, we’ll get to, but the overall stock sound of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is just so… easy. The sound is textured and clear, with a satisfying layer of distinction between frequencies and nothing threatening to overwhelm anything else. To put it pithily: stuff sounds good out of the box.

The mids are the stars of the show, stunning and clear with a pleasing separation between sounds. Throw on a big album with lots of moving parts like Lana del Rey’s ‘Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ and you can marvel at the clarity and the precision of the sound on offer. There’s heaps of space around Lana’s voice, with even her breathiest whispers taking centre-stage, as they should. Thudding piano chords have a pleasing weight, while cymbals and drums are as delicate or forthright as they need to be.

High treble sounds are nicely controlled, delicate guitars sitting so clearly on top of the wash of strings that you can hear every slide of fingers along the fret-board. The bass, if you’re determined to nitpick, can sound a little bit timid in the context of big and full arrangements, especially if you’re coming off the back of a pair of headphones like Sony’s WH-1000XM6, which deliver a big bass sound up front. But when it needs to punch forward, it can – the goosebumps-raising breakdown of Lana’s seminal entry into the 2020s pop canon, ‘A&W’, arrived with all the low-end power it required and then some.

I was not wholly wowed by the out-of-the-box sound the way I was when I first tried Sennheiser’s HDB 630 and its ability to deliver high-resolution sound via a USB dongle – you can discern the difference that $200-ish will buy you. But I was very, very pleased with what confronted my ears immediately upon donning these headphones, and at this price, it’s difficult to imagine a user who wouldn’t be.

Features

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The Active Noise Cancelling of the Momentum 4 headphones is extremely effective. If it’s not quite at the world-shunning level of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra or the Sony WH-1000XM6 then that’s forgivable, because realistically it silences the noise of a commute or a cafe to more than acceptable levels. The transparency mode, which can be toggled via the app or on-cup gesture controls (I have to say I vastly prefer the former), is very effective – I went from being completely unable to hear a nearby call to clearly discerning every word.

Speaking of the app, you once again have access to EQ controls via the Sennheiser SmartControl Plus App. The level of customisation on offer is not as comprehensive and granular as it is if you hook up the HDB 630, but with a 5-band EQ that can be tweaked as you listen, there’s plenty of scope for fine-tuning. Playing with the settings while having a fantastic time with Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Transatlanticism’, I ended up with a mild V-shaped curve, leaving sub-bass alone but nudging bass up just a little, reining in the mids ever-so-slightly and boosting higher frequencies a smidge – and the fact that I’m using all these qualifying adjectives hopefully reiterates how much I liked the stock sound to begin with.

The app also attempts to spoil you with some largely unnecessary but amusing extra features. ‘Sound Zones’, for instance, allow you to create a specific profile for the headphones based on your physical location – i.e. one that kicks in when you enter the office or the gym or whatever. I can sort of see the value in having one of these for ANC, but I am mystified as to why I ever would want the EQ settings to suddenly change when I walk into the Finsbury Park Lidl or whatever. And besides, ambient noise is so variable, and adjusting the ANC is so easy, that it’s much simpler to just tweak it to taste. Ah well – it’s not hurting anyone.

Sennheiser is famous for its excellent battery life, and: yes. The Momentum 4 headphones just go and go. They’re rated to 60 hours even when you’re listening wirelessly and blasting the ANC, and when you do eventually start getting power warnings, they charge up like lightning – with an appropriate USB-C connection, you can claw back about four hours’ worth of listening within minutes. Call quality is also perfectly solid on both ends.

Value

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Now, here things get interesting. On release in August 2022, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 cost a pretty standard premium headphone price of $349.95 / £300 – a little under the price of the rival Sony WH-1000XM5 at the time.

However, almost four years down the line, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 can be picked up for around $225-270 in the US (prices vary quite a bit), or £199 in the UK. That instantly makes them appealing to a much broader swathe of users, especially non-audiophiles, for whom that is probably about the upper limit of what they’d ever spend on headphones. They’re substantially cheaper than even rival last-gen headphones like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (Gen 1).

Comfort & build

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Pretty good. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 exerts a clamping force that’s secure without being overbearing, and the earcups are well-sized. I didn’t quite feel the transcendental weightlessness I get from Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra – after a multi-hour session with the Momentum 4, I did feel compelled to take a break. But temperature control is good, and in general I would say these headphones are fine for a long commute or a lengthy session with an album.

Design-wise, Sennheiser’s headphones have never been the most exciting, but they’re perfectly functional, and by no means do they look bad. They aren’t hinged or folding, and therefore sit flat in the supplied case.

As mentioned, there are touch controls on the right earcup, which respond to taps for pausing, swipes up and down for volume, and pinches/zooms for adjusting ANC. I am not a huge fan of touch controls on headphones, and found my pinches were often mistaken for swipes, but they’re good enough to take care of the basics.

Should you buy?

The thing about the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is that it doesn’t win in any individual category. The Sony WH-1000XM6 has better ANC and is better-looking. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra 1 is more comfortable. Sennheiser's own HDB 630 has both a better stock sound and more extensive EQ options. And even at a discount, the Momentum 4 certainly isn’t the cheapest pair of decent headphones you can buy, not while $40 Fiio EH-11 exists.

And yet, I can really see myself recommending it to most people. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 is a very good pair of headphones across the board, not really putting a foot wrong in any of the major categories. And the fact that it’s a generation or so old ends up working in its favour – because its price has been discounted enough, to around $200, to put it in consideration for non-audiophiles looking for an excellent pair of noise-cancelling commute headphones.

This is exactly the type of user that is also going to appreciate the very good stock sound, which benefits from EQ-ing but doesn't necessarily need it, and will definitely like the supercharged battery life (okay, the Momentum 4 does win in one category).