In a world where technology updates are fast and frequent, it can feel strange when some devices take longer to get a refresh than others.
Mobiles see new releases and replacements ever year, and the same is true with TVs and computers. But over in sound, things tend to move a little more slowly.
Take what happens with headphones, as cycles of two to four years tend to be the norm for flagship models being replaced, thanks in part to companies spending a lot of time building out the tech, R&D, and just making something better. Crazily, the tech from several years ago is still just as good as it ever was, but the newer gear is unsurprisingly better.
When that new gear comes out, it tends to offer you more: improvements to how the audio sounds, any tweaks or changes to noise cancellation (if it’s offered), and then major updates to battery life, plus any potential other features.
Three years ago, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 was a pretty solid pair of noise cancelling headphones, but with new arrivals from the likes of Sony’s WH-1000XM6, the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra 2nd-gen headphones, and the Apple AirPods Max 2, the Momentum 4 headphones look a little long in the tooth.
Good news then that Sennheiser has a replacement ready and waiting in the unsurprisingly named Momentum 5.
While the name is largely expected, at least one of the features isn’t, though all aspects appear to be an improvement for the range.
For starters, there are four microphones per side resulting in eight total, using the hardware with an improved active noise cancellation system boasting as much as three times the performance.
That paired with the 42mm driver used in the previous model will keep the audio going, with support for aptX Lossless and tweaks using Sennheiser’s Sound Personalisation engine inside the app and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound platform.
Not every feature is switched on out of the box, though. Sennheiser says Bluetooth 5.4 is ready at release with Bluetooth 6.0 to be switched on in a future firmware release, while Dolby Atmos head-tracking will be unlocked using updates later on, as well. When is a question Sennheiser hasn’t answered, but it does appear to be coming.
Right now, however, you can get a glimpse of something no other headphone maker is doing: a replaceable battery.
While Sennheiser has long supported the idea of user replaceable parts in headphones, offering it in the recording- and engineering-grade HD 25 headphones, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 will come with a replaceable 700 mAh battery that can be removed and replaced without expert hands. Almost every Bluetooth headphone fails in this way, making this a bit of a first for noise cancelling cans.
Don’t expect the battery to die quickly, either; the battery life of the Momentum 5 headphones will boast up to 57 hours with noise cancellation switched on, and shouldn’t need to be replaced for some time.
Most of the design from its predecessors is there, albeit with some minor tweaks, and a change to the colour scheme, with a dark blue joining the typical black and beige offerings. Even the case aims to be smaller, making it easier to carry as you travel.
However alongside that surprising battery feature is an equally surprising aspect: the price. Simply put, it’s higher than we expected.
Officially, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 wireless headphones will cost more than its predecessor, and also miss their big brother’s cost by a couple of hundred, as well. Priced at $749 in Australia, the Momentum 5 are about $200 more than the Momentum 4 cost at retail, yet still also slightly lower than the $999 HDB 630 high-res equivalent.
We expect there will be differences between these, with better noise cancellation in the Momentum 5, but more focus on cordless high-res in the HDB 630. As it is, Sennheiser hasn’t said whether the Momentum 5 will support USB-C audio, but our guess is these might not, or might max out at 24-bit 48kHz if they do. They’d need to leave something for the HDB 630 to achieve, clearly.
Australians can expect to find the Momentum 5 headphones in stores near the end of June, launching from June 25, while New Zealanders across the puddle can expect the headphones around the same time priced at $799 NZD.
