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🎶 “Blue Jean Baby, L.A. Lady” 🎶 … tiny earbuds in my head. As a writer in my second half-century, it’s expected, maybe even legally obligated, that I play some Elton John on every new audio device I test. But I don’t have to like it. Except today, I like it. Today, I like everything I play. It could be that, as a September baby, I’m enjoying the grounded clarity that accompanies Virgo Season. Or it could be that I’m enjoying the equally mindful tuning of the new Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5.
Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 ($299.95)
See It
“Tiny Dancer” pirouettes around my skull. Listening to New Order’s “Regret,” I have none. The Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 (let’s just call it the MTW5 from now on) is acoustically articulate. Vocals are incisive. But the design choices speak equal volumes.
The build
Gone are the somewhat squared enclosures and silicone wing tips of the MOMENTUM True Wireless 4, which were really a must for that model’s stability. In their place, the redesigned MTW5 is a pair of 7g polished pebbles available in five metallic colorways—Denim (pictured), Cream, Copper, Graphite, Lavender—and shaped to more naturally nestle into the ear. And I had no problem wearing them for hours, whether relaxing or running on treadmills and across concourses (those with smaller ears may have a different experience). An IP54 rating also gave me confidence that any sweat—and there was sweat—wouldn’t cause issues. Plus, this slimmer silhouette means a more pocket-friendly case, which I really appreciate.
Inside, six mics and two bone-conduction accelerometers total (3+1 in each bud) handle adaptive ANC (good!), Transparency Mode (fine), and calls (¯\_(ツ)_/¯ … functional, but I don’t like calling people with any earbuds). Touch controls weren’t too fiddly, and can be turned off if you’re more app-oriented. What really stands out is the user-replaceable batteries in both the earbuds and the case. Battery life is rated at 12 hours ANC off/6 hours ANC on (40 total with case), but will degrade over time, as do all rechargeable electronics. With a tiny Phillips screwdriver and a wedge tool, however, you can open the buds and/or case and swap in a replacement battery (sold separately). Upgradeitis is real, but you shouldn’t be forced to replace/dispose of something entirely. Longevity should be the new normal, so I applaud Sennheiser for the forward-thinking, eco-conscious approach.
The sound
Put in the MTW5 and on first listen you’ll find the stock tuning leans on the slightly boomier side of balanced. When released, the full-sized $399.95 MOMENTUM 5 Wireless headphones were surprisingly punchy, more mainstream without totally sacrificing the midrange focus that anchors the brand’s audiophile legacy. I went in expecting a similarly crowd-pleasing warmth from the MTW5, and it’s there in the low-mids but without congestion. The 7mm TrueResponse driver in the MTW5, produced in the same Irish factory as summit-tier personal audio systems, does a good job ensuring intelligibility alongside impact. The presence band works as well for podcasts, audiobooks, and movies as it does for music.
Turn to the multitile SmartControl+ app, however, and you can access EQ presets, Sound Personalization, and, most importantly, an 8-band graphic EQ to coax a curve that really brings out the driver’s potential. Sliders don’t offer the surgical precision of a parametric EQ, as you get with the $499.95 HDB 630 headphones, but you can still dial in or back off regions you find loose or edgy. Push some sub-bass, scoop some upper bass/lower mids, nudge some high-mids/treble, and you’ve got a fleshy-meets-refined response closer in spirit to the IE 900 flagship in-ear monitors. Now you can hear the winding as much as you do the wobble in Peter Hook’s bass strings. There’s corrugated texture where before there was only round resonance. The breathing sidechain compression that defines “Fineshrine” by Purity Ring opens on a taper you can trace, not just a throb you can feel. With the right tweaks, it’s a clean, clear tuning with a lifelike presentation that puts it in conversation with audiophile offerings such as the Status GoldenSound Pro X rather than purely consumer-minded ones. Between little screws and tonal tweaks, this is a tinkerer’s true wireless.
Two factors heighten the level of detail you can extract from these earbuds: connection and active noise cancellation. The MTW5 features multipoint Bluetooth 6.0 with SBC, AAC, plus a Snapdragon Sound Series 5 Gen 3 chip for 24-bit/96 kHz aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless with compatible hardware (such as Sennheiser’s own BTD 700 adaptor). And when it’s an option, it’s a treat. Depth and definition are noticeably enhanced. It’s not that a standard Bluetooth connection is bad; it’s just that one prioritizing sound quality is audibly more expressive. The problem is that the connection can stutter in environments with heavy RF interference. And that’s almost any public place in our modern smartphone world. However, it’s still nice to be able to pick between a robust iPhone connection when commuting and something more resolution-focused when sequestered.
There’s also an Immersive Mode with head-tracking for decoding Dolby Atmos content, which can expand the staging of a well-engineered track but can also make you feel emotionally disconnected when you get a bad upmix. As with all similarly equipped earbuds, the MTW5’s implementation, while solid, doesn’t impress me as much as the enriched immediacy the stereo image conveys. If you want a recommended A/B, compare something like the new Mastodon album, for instance. The cavernous reverb and spacey modulations unfurling across the Qobuz version are more evocative to me than the hovering sound objects of the Apple Music one. YMMV.
Also helping reinforce that concentrated cocoon is perceivably improved ANC. The redesigned eartips play their part in passively mitigating a fair amount of environmental noise. At the same time, new algorithms take advantage of that expanded mic array to reinforce the reduction to the point that the churning chaos of a recent unplanned severe weather delay at Newark Liberty International Airport was more bearable. Or at least given a soundtrack other than hundreds of people yelling at customer service representatives. And the flight itself, when it finally happened, was just a gentle rumble. I wouldn’t say the ANC produces the pitch-black background of the top ANC trio—Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen), Sony WF-1000XM6, and Apple AirPods Pro 3—as low-level hums persisted. But more distracting conversations were hushed, and the gap is now narrow enough that the MTW5 can be recommended for both sonics and solace.
The verdict
Two years on from the MTW4, Sennheiser has offered more polish, same price. Physically more compact and comfortable, while also more capable, adaptable, and repairable, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 earbuds can have tunes twirling around your head for years to come. Not just the audiophile-of-a-certain-age ones.
