Top notch sound from a set of earbuds that also track heart rate and body temperature.
Sennheiser are well known for straddling the line between mass consumer and audiophile-quality music. They have products that are purely audiophile-quality but then have products that aim to bring a similar quality sound to a more affordable mass consumer product.
The new Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport have a RRP of $549 and although they are not cheap, they produce a high quality sound while offering a myriad of sensors not normally seen in earbuds.
The MOMENTUM Sport house not just the usual audio sensors and ANC hardware but also a heart rate sensor and body temperature sensors. Not only do they do that, but they can connect these sensors to your favourite fitness monitoring devices.
Sennheiser has a partnership with Polar for deeper integration, but they are designed to work with many fitness devices and apps. These include Apple Watch/Health, Garmin Watch/Connect, Strava, Peloton, Suunto, Amazfit, Coros, Asics Runkeeper, Nike Run Club, and Adidas Runtastic.
Design and fit
The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport are smooth and shaped just like your ear canal, resulting in an earbud that doesn’t need to be stuffed uncomfortably in the ear but instead sits in the ear canal with a small hook/fin that helps it secure in the ear.
I am able to perform even the most aggressive and long workouts without them falling out, nor becoming an uncomfortable annoyance in my ear. They aren’t the most comfortable earbuds I own but they do what they are meant to do and provide great sound without falling out due to excessive movement.
As per usual the earbuds come with a few options of silicone ear tips to be used for a better fit for you. I settled on the small option in the end.
Each earbud has a capacitive touch surface on the outside for media and call control. A simple light touch is all that is required so using these controls does not affect their position within your ear canal.
How do they sound?
I like good quality music and these MOMENTUM Sport deliver just that. They are not the best sounding earbuds I own but they are the best sports ones. Their quality is certainly within striking range of the best earbuds in my possession, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM TW4.
For a set of sport earbuds though they sound amazing. They sound better than the Jabra Elite 8 Active but not by much – Jabra’s really do punch well above their price. The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport produces a bass that is sharper albeit possibly slightly overpowering but has a sharper mid and upper registry sound which can be drowned out by the bass at times. Luckily that’s an easy fix with the equaliser built in to the Sennheiser Smart Control app.
As for why they do not sound as good as my MOMENTUM TW4 you need to take into account the more comfortable design, the improved water proof and IP rating, and of course the body temperature and heart rate sensors. Add all these in and you can see why the sound takes a small hit.
Sometimes it can be different to discern much of a difference between various earbuds and headphones at this end of the consumer market. Unless you are comparing them side by side at the same time you may think they sound the same.
The adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) is really good – if you are at a gym they will remove any environmental sound if you wish it to. You can of course adjust just how much ANC is applied to the surrounding noises by adjusting the “Transparency level” within the Sennheiser Smart Control app.
Smart Control
The Sennheiser Smart Control app is nothing that other manufacturers have not done already to support their products but the Sennheiser app removes the fluff and adds options that improve the quality of music.
Although I’m not normally a fan of adjusting the EQ in these apps (would rather adjust it inside PowerAMP or whatever I’m listening with) as I can quickly adjust to what music is playing, the options in the Smart Control app are great.
For the MOMENTUM Sport the Smart Control app is also the first and default location you will find your body temperature measurement and your heart rate. It is within here that you connect them to the Polar app or other “compatible” tracking devices.
Polar Flow has the best integration thanks to their partnership with Sennheiser but Apple Watch/Health and many other apps and devices work. Of note though, I was unable to get them to feed their data into Fitbit or Google Fit.
Some fitness-minded folks may have a watch or a chest strap that can do that but there are many workouts that make wearing a watch not possible. Many weight and strength workouts make wearing a watch either uncomfortable or dangerous – especially if you are using any form of wrist straps.
It provides important fitness health metrics without the need for additional devices – most likely you are going to be using earbuds or headphones anyway so why not one device for all.
This whole one device for all the things explains the premium price of these earbuds. It has all the added sensors so you do not need these other devices. The price of these earbuds is still less than a set of top notch earbuds plus a chest strap to use while working out. One single outlay of funds.
Should you buy these earbuds?
The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbuds are not for everyone. These are for those who want near audiophile-quality music while at the gym but also need something to track their heart rate and body temperature while working out.
The fit and comfort is exceptional thanks to the many options for fins and silicone tips, and the fitness data tracking seems to be accurate and easy to export — as long as your app or device is supported.
If you don’t need the fitness tracking you may be best served looking in a cheaper price range.
The Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport earbuds are available now from sennheiser-hearing.com and selected Sennheiser retailers for an MSRP of $529.95 AUD and $549.95 NZD. The earbuds come in three colourways; Polar Black, Burned Olive, and Metallic Graphite.
