Sennheiser Momentum 4 Review: The Endurance Champion Ages Well

Four years is an eternity for a Bluetooth headphone, and the Momentum 4 Wireless has spent all of it near the top. It entered the ranking in August 2022 as the outright category winner — first of 36 tested models, "very good" (1.2) — and in the August 2026 table it still holds 5th of 57 at 1.3, with the price verdict softened to a friendly "acceptable" (2.9). The reason it endures is simple: it set a battery record that still embarrasses newer rivals, and the rest of it aged gracefully.

The tuning is unapologetically entertaining. In bass-heavy tracks it grabs you firmly without smearing the upper bass, which stays well controlled; voices come through naturally and reasonably full, though the testers wanted a touch more presence and warmth on thin masters. The top end plays sprightly and forward without tipping into fatigue — the panel listened for many hours without strain.

The honest criticisms: next to other flagships the presentation can feel a shade artificial, the deep bass a little rich and the treble a touch direct for some tastes, and the stage comes across spatially more compressed than the airiest rivals. Sennheiser's Smart Control app offers an equaliser, but a coarse three-band one — enough to tame the bass, not much more. AptX is the best supported codec (AAC and SBC otherwise) over Bluetooth 5.2, and in this class the testers regard the codec question as close to irrelevant.

Against Sony's WH-1000XM4 and XM5 the character differs distinctly — different tastes served at a similarly high level, which is why the advice is to audition with songs you know well.

In the simulated aircraft-noise stress test the Momentum 4 damped about as powerfully as Sony's XM4 — different frequency bands handled differently, but equivalent in sum. Apple's AirPods Max erases the bass region like nothing else, and the XM5 is extraordinarily effective through the mids with the overall edge in the testers' judgement; but once music plays at normal volume, any of these top models delivers quiet.

Two common ANC weaknesses are handled well. Wind noise — the shrieking microphone rumble that ruins many rivals outdoors — stays controlled enough to keep listening, if short of the XM4's excellence. And the background hiss that ANC sets produce in silent rooms disappears to practical inaudibility with the app's "Adaptive" setting enabled, which the test recommends for quiet environments. One quirk: the external signal processing never switches fully off — the middle setting merely minimises it.

With ANC at full strength the Momentum 4 ran 53:08 hours in the standardised playback test — at the time of testing by far the longest ANC-on runtime ever measured there, and a figure that still leads most of the current field. Dialling processing to its minimum changed nothing: still roughly 53 hours. A full charge takes a middling 1:58 hours, but the fast-charge behaviour is excellent — 15 minutes on the cable put back about 10:11 hours of playback. Bluetooth range earned a "very good" (1.1): rooms away through walls, reception held.

The design is the test's least favourite part — not for quality, but for character. Earlier Momentum models wore a distinctive, premium look; this one is a rather generic hard-plastic headphone that blurs into Sennheiser's business-oriented PXC line. The material feels robust, the review unit showed no workmanship faults, fingerprints show only mildly, and the one flourish is a textile-wrapped headband matching the supplied hardcase. The earcups rotate flat but don't fold, so the case stays bulky for travel; in return, the frame produced no creaks or handling noise on the move.

Comfort scored a near-perfect 1.0: hours of wear without pressure from cups or headband, generously sized cushions, and only the usual warm ears of any isolating over-ear. At 290 g it carries its weight well. The touch controls — tap to pause, horizontal swipes for tracks, vertical for volume, double-tap for transparency — proved reliable once learned, with no misfires logged.

Bluetooth multipoint pairs phone and laptop simultaneously; the irritation is that message notifications from the second device chime into your music and the app offers no way to silence them. Wear detection pauses on removal and resumes on donning, an optional auto-off powers the set down after 15 idle minutes, and the usual voice assistants respond. Used as a headset, call partners found the wearer's voice somewhat sharp and bass-poor — intelligible in Teams, but not natural.

Wired listening is properly covered: a 3.5 mm jack, USB-C audio, and — unusually — full cable operation even with the battery empty or the set switched off.

The ranking is dynamic — the field's best model defines the reference and everything rescales — so holding 5th of 57 four years after launch is remarkable. Worth knowing: the newer Momentum 5 Wireless sits in the same table at the same "very good" (1.3) grade but with a harsh "expensive" (4.4) price verdict, which makes the elder model the value play of the family.

At our 1 August 2026 check, Amazon UK's buybox carried the Momentum 4 Wireless (black) new at £199.99 — comfortably below its launch positioning and the reason its price verdict has drifted to "acceptable". Renewed listings of this model circulate alongside; the price above is the new-condition buybox, not a refurbished offer.

The Momentum 4 Wireless remains one of the easiest over-ear recommendations there is: record-setting stamina, powerful and adjustable noise cancelling, entertaining sound and first-rate comfort, now at a mid-tier price. The plain looks, the coarse equaliser, the un-silenceable multipoint chimes and a merely decent call microphone are the sum of its sins — none of them close to disqualifying at £200.

Sennheiser Momentum 4 or Sony WH-1000XM5/XM6? The test found the tunings distinctly different at a similarly high level — Sony took the overall ANC edge, Sennheiser the endurance crown — so ears should decide. We put the current pair head-to-head in our Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Momentum 4 comparison.

Momentum 4 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra? In our best over-ear headphones guide, drawn from the same tested field, the Bose takes the best-noise-cancelling slot while the Momentum 4 holds the under-£250 endurance pick — £199.99 against £379 at our latest checks.

Can you use the Momentum 4 wired? Yes, unusually thoroughly: a 3.5 mm jack, USB-C audio, and cable playback that works even with the battery flat or the headphone switched off.

Is the Momentum 4 still worth buying in 2026? On the evidence, emphatically: still 5th of 57 in the August 2026 ranking, while the newer Momentum 5 carries the same grade with an "expensive" (4.4) price verdict — at £199.99 the Momentum 4 is the family's value pick.