The Sennheiser Momentum Sport earbuds are an exciting addition to the world of workout headphones, offering the excellent sound quality you expect from Sennheiser’s Momentum line and health monitoring in the form of heart rate and body temperature tracking.
They are very good headphones that I greatly enjoyed testing, but they have a few flaws that mean I don’t rate them as highly as the best workout headphones. The price is also eye-wateringly high, even compared with the top buds from Apple, Bose and Beats, so unless you are dead set on having that Sennheiser sound for your workouts, there are better-value options available.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport: Price And Availability
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport headphones were announced at CES 2024 and went on sale in April 2024. They cost $329.95 in the US and £259.95 in the UK, putting them among the most expensive sports buds I’ve ever tested. Even the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and Bose QC Earbuds II are cheaper, while the Jabra Elite 8 Active are substantially less. There are three colors available: Polar Black, Burned Olive and Metallic Graphite.
How I Tested These Headphones
I used the Sennheiser Momentum Sport buds for several weeks, wearing them to run most days as well as when working and traveling. I also did yoga and strength workouts with the buds. I have tested the Sennheiser Sport True Wireless headphones, as well as a range of the best workout headphones from other brands.
Design And Fit
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport are quite large in-ear headphones secured by one of the three sets of wings they come with. You can also use the buds without any wings, which is more comfortable if wearing them for long stretches at work, but during workouts I needed the wings to hold them in place.
While they did stay put during runs and vigorous workouts, the wings are not that comfortable, and I’d have soreness when I took the headphones out at the end of longer runs. The wings also move around on the buds when taking them in and out of their case, and it’s annoying to have to readjust them repeatedly so they’re in the right spot.
The headphones are IP55 rated, so they’ll withstand sweat and rain without any problems even if they’re not fully waterproof. The case is IP54 rated, which means it’s fine to put into a running belt or shorts pocket where it might get sweaty. It’s not a small case, but quite flat and easy to slip into a pocket.
There are touch controls on the outside of each bud, and they have a heart rate sensor and body temperature sensor on board too. You can link the buds with any watch and app to track heart rate, while body temperature is tracked using Polar tech and only shows in the Polar and Sennheiser apps.
Controls
Along with touching the sensor on each earbud, you can control the Sennheiser Momentum Sport headphones by tapping your cheek. You can customize the controls in the partner app and use them to switch between sound modes as well as to control playback and volume.
You can also set the sensitivity of the touch panels, which is fortunate because to begin with the wind kept setting off the controls during runs. On one run it kept cycling between the buds’ ANC, wind reduction and transparency modes in an infuriating manner, but since turning down the sensitivity this hasn’t happened again.
This may explain why I found the controls a little hit-and-miss, and it took a couple taps on either my cheek or the touch panel before my attempts registered. A successful tap is indicated by a beep, which is helpful since some actions require three taps.
Heart Rate And Body Temperature Tracking
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport paired easily with several different watches and apps to broadcast heart rate, acting like any other external heart rate sensor. The body temperature sensor works only with the Polar app and watches. You can’t show temperature on a Polar watch live during workouts yet, but that is coming and will be the easiest way to keep tabs on the data—I had to look at the Sennheiser app on my phone to see the info during runs and other workouts.
The body temperature tracking was interesting at first, but I was training during a mild spring in the UK and had no real need to check my temperature stats. It will be of more interest when training in hot climates, especially during long workouts when you’re at more risk of overheating.
I found that the heart rate tracking accuracy was pretty poor on the headphones. When comparing their readings to that of a Polar H10 chest strap, the headphones were often wrong, especially in the second half of workouts. On runs they often locked on to my cadence (steps per minute) rather than heart rate, and even now as I sit at a desk and write this the heart rate reading is clearly too high when compared with a chest strap monitor.
If you’re someone who wears a chest strap or armband heart rate sensor and headphones, and were hoping to consolidate those two devices into one, I think you’ll be disappointed because the Sennheiser Momentum Sport are not reliably accurate.
Sound Quality
Despite being in-ear buds, the Sennheiser Momentum Sport headphones have a semi-open design that doesn’t block out your surroundings as much as other in-ear headphones. This reduces the internal thudding you get when running or walking with some in-ear buds, and gives a little more awareness of your surroundings, though you still need to use the transparency mode to really hear what’s going on around you.
There’s a 10mm driver on board to power the sound, and the buds do sound excellent. The vocals and other instruments come through with crystal clarity and listening to a range of music genres during and outside of workouts was a joy. Sennheiser’s headphones have a more natural sound to them and aren’t as heavy on the bass as the likes of Beats, but you still get plenty of power at the lower end. You can adjust the EQ in the partner app and use a bass booster mode if you do want more bass.
I haven’t come across any sports headphones that sound better than the Momentum Sport—they certainly live up to the standards of the renowned Momentum line.
ANC And Transparency Modes
There are three sound modes on the Sennheiser Momentum Sport: ANC, transparency and an anti-wind mode. I found the latter very useful during runs, especially at windy running tracks, when many buds capture a lot of wind noise in ANC or transparency modes.
The ANC filters out most external sounds well when traveling, though it’s not quite as impressive on this front as the Bose QC Earbuds II or Apple AirPods Pro 2. The transparency mode is handy at times and you can adjust the amount of external noise you want to hear, but while running it does sound very windy at times, to the point where you can’t hear things like traffic around you, negating the point of using the mode.
Battery Life
The battery life of the buds is listed as up to six hours, with another 18 hours of charge held in the case. Those figures are based on a mid-level of volume with the ANC on, and the heart rate and body temperature sensors active. I found that the battery drained a little faster than that for me even when I had the headphones at a fairly low volume, but they were still on track to last over five hours.
A quick-charge feature on the headphones delivers one hour of playback from 10 minutes of charging, and it takes around 90 minutes to fully charge the buds from empty. The battery life is neither a strength or a weakness for the Sennheiser Momentum Sport. They are about par with other top buds, though they do offer less battery life than the Jabra Elite 8 Active.
Are The Sennheiser Momentum Sport Headphones Worth It?
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport are great sports headphones that excel on sound quality, but a few frustrating flaws make them a hard sell at the sky-high price. The fit is secure, but not that comfortable, and the wings are a bit awkward to deal with. I wasn’t impressed with the heart rate tracking either, and the body temperature sensor will be handy for some people, but I’d wager it’s irrelevant info for most.
You can get the Apple AirPods Pro 2 or Bose QC Earbuds II for less, and they are outstanding cross-over sports/lifestyle headphones that offer excellent sound quality. The Jabra Elite 8 Active headphones don’t sound as good as the Sennheiser Momentum Sport, but they still sound great and they’re a lot cheaper, plus the fit is more comfortable.
