Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 reviewed: future-focused

Sennheiser has already proven itself with sound and noise cancellation with its other 2026 release. Can the Momentum True Wireless 5 retain the magic?

It’s not difficult to find a pair of earbuds to take your music to go, nor is it hard to find a pair with noise cancellation in them, either. These days, everything is truly wireless and goes without the cord, while the really good ones come with a form of noise cancellation powered by processor and algorithm.

But finding a pair that stands out and delivers best-in-class performance? That is typically reserved for the high-end. For the premium. For the folks who know they’re going to spend top dollar, or what basically amounts to that in the earbud space.

For the past couple of years, that has largely been the domain of Apple and Bose, two juggernauts of personal mobile tech and audio expertise fighting against each other as if the category was its own private boxing ring. Sony also puts in a good show, as do other companies, such as Technics, Google, and Beats, and there’s one other player that needs to be acknowledged, too: Sennheiser.

Easily one of the most established audio powerhouses, Sennheiser has been giving noise cancelling earbuds a thwack for a while, and is now at its fifth-gen.

Hot on the heels of its similarly aged over-ear headphones, the Momentum 5, Sennheiser now has a pair of truly wireless buds named the same way, too. Built on the same foundation, if they’re anywhere near as good as the over-ears, we’re in for a time.

Could it be: are the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds as good as their Momentum 5 over-ear headphone sibling?

Design and features

Featuring a 7mm driver and four microphones per ear (for a total of eight all up), Sennheiser’s Momentum 5 True Wireless are a little different than the model that came before.

They’re still buds, but they curve more, are less square, and look like they’d fit an ear better than the boxes that almost come out of the ear we’ve seen prior. That’s come about from analysing thousands of ears, resulting in the loss of the fin of its predecessors, and a shape design to simply fit in the ear.

It’s a new design for sure and one with some new technology under the hood. AI under the hood for the microphone, while Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound helps cover aptX Adaptive, supporting high-resolution audio up to 24/96 (24-bit/96kHz) if you’re keen to partake.

There’s also support for active noise cancellation and spatial audio, two things we’re always keen to see, answered then something new you’ve not seen in truly wireless earbuds: a replaceable battery.

Sennheiser has included a special tool in the box to pop open the earbuds and replace the battery should you need to do it later in life, and a screwdriver will let you open the case to replace its battery, as well.

That’s something we’ve never seen before: not just a pair of earbuds you can replace the battery for and extend its life, but a headphone company keen to let you do so. Extra points.

In-use

You’ll actually be able to control the earbuds by taps rather than swipes, giving the Momentum TW5 a somewhat basic approach, though one that makes sense because of one reason: the earbud design.

Glance at the earbuds and you’ll quickly see just how little surface area there is for your fingers to really swipe up or down on, making the taps the option that makes sense.

While it might not be high tech, Sennheiser’s approach does work. Taps on the left side will change cancellation mode — one tap to open, one tap to go back to the safety of noise isolation — while the right is track control, with a single tap for pause and play and a double tap for next track. Want to go back a track? That’s two taps on the left. The buds will even play a small sound raising in pitch for each tap, so you know roughly how many times you’ve tapped.

That can all sound a little simplistic — and it is — but the good news is that it’s complemented by an app that affords you control. You can change those settings, and even see how the buds control volume: hold down the tap surface on either side.

Wearing them is also easy — these are just buds with silicone tips — but the style won’t appeal to all.

AirPods are white bulbs in your ear, and Bose QC Buds hang out with a black bar. Sennheiser’s Momentum 5 wireless buds adhere to the ear with a dual-accent of colour and shine… and it’s a look.

Credit to Sennheiser for trying something different, because the new design is definitely a lot more comfortable than either the Momentum TWS 4 or TWS 3 predecessors. These are a much more enjoyable pair to wear, and never feel like they wear out their welcome (except when you’re done or the battery is out).

But the look is different, and you may feel like you’ve popped off the set of Babylon 5 or something like it.

Performance

Once you get used to the look (or even if you don’t), it’s time to get stuck into the sound. Clearly earbuds are nothing without their sound, so we’re doing just that.

As usual, that happens with the Pickr Sound Test, a set of tracks you can test out for yourself, and which start with electronic from Tycho and Daft Punk, delivering a surprisingly meaty set of bass and a spacious sound.

There’s plenty of punch and vibrancy, and that’s evident listening to pop and R&B, as well. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut To The Feeling” sounds out on a great sound stage, while Ariana Grande’s “Into You” renders clearly with lots of lows.

Despite this, the range doesn’t sound warm. The bass punches and the mids drive, but this reads more as balanced with a little more earthy rumble to it.

Take Charlie Puth’s “Done For Me”, which exhibits mids and lows, but sounds more focused on the highs with instruments and vocals than a warmer rendition would sound. It’s a relatively balanced sound, with less of that warmth the Momentum 5 were known for.

Across whatever we listened to, the wide and spacious sound was there, as was the low-end punch, but the bass could at times come off feeling restrained, especially in comparison to Sennheiser’s other fifth-gen model.

That doesn’t mean the result is bad, just more balanced overall.

If the Momentum 5 was balanced with a splash of warmth, the in-ear equivalent is balanced with a bump of bass. Just enough to make a dent, which depending on the type of music you’re tuned into could make all the difference.

Noise cancellation

One of the areas every earphone maker needs to consider, noise cancellation is something Sennheiser has already proven itself in this year. The over-ear Momentum 5 headphones are excellent in this category, and the true wireless versions aren’t far behind. They’re almost as good, and definitely sit nearby.

Whether we were walking by roads, the choir of human foot traffic, or sitting on a train, the roar of each would large fade to the periphery, much like it would on the other best noise cancelling buds around, such as those from Apple and Bose.

To date, they have been the ones to beat, and Sennheiser could be as good.

The only sounds that managed to get through with no music player were the calls of the train driver or the higher pitched crinkling of a chips bag, or even a lot of wind. But almost nothing gets through, and the moment your music plays, seemingly nothing gets through.

It’s just you and your bubble of sound. Exactly the way you want it.

There are some ways you can control the cancellation, such as changing the level of transparency you might be listening to via the app, or tapping the left side to jump between transparent and ANC. This is a great transparency mode, though, which feels just like listening through your ears.

Spatial audio

Alongside that app ANC control, Sennheiser offers spatial audio via Dolby Atmos, which essentially adds dimensionality and potentially head-tracking to any track.

Much like it did on the Momentum 5 headphones, this is possibly one of the better incarnations of the approach, matching the excellence Bose achieves in its own gear. You can turn it on from the app, choose whether you want it spatial with head-tracking, or even leave the tracking off and just keep the stage wider.

The effect definitely changes, but the sound doesn’t dramatically, and that is a win. While it’s not true Atmos in most instances — it appears to be a stereo feed converted to spatial to our ears — the immersive feel is definitely there, and can make a song sound that little more inviting and all-encompassing.

And yo can simply turn it on and off. It’s your choice.

Battery

With head-tracking switched on, the battery life drops a little, but with active noise cancellation, you should find around six hours of battery life with a maximum of 40 all up, though we suspect that measurement of 40 comes from running the earbuds without ANC. Opt to go without noise cancellation — and who does that!? — and you’ll find closer to 12 hours before needing a recharge.

The good news is that we didn’t worry about the overall amount of charge. While the six or so hours is decent, it seems more like there’s a good 3 to 4 charges in the case before needing to reach for a charger, either wired Type C or wireless Qi.

The latter is definitely curious: while there’s a flat base to stand the Momentum case up, you actually need to lie them flat on their back to wirelessly charge them. That was a bit of a surprise.

Value

The price is high, which at $499 does tell you Sennheiser has pitched the Momentum True Wireless 5 on the expensive side of where earbuds normally fall. It’s a flagship pair, mind you, so this reviewer isn’t surprised. They’re also less expensive than the over-ear headphones they share a name with.

The street price doesn’t really exist for the Momentum 5 True Wireless, largely because at the time of publication, they are that new. However, compared to the other earbuds in the market, the $499 price is about standard.

In terms of value, Sennheiser is roughly on par, though given you can find both of the major competitors from Apple and Bose for less (because they’ve been in the market for almost a year longer), the value isn’t as solid. At $449 it would have been a steal, while $499 is just normal.

What needs work?

But the design may throw you, because it can look like you’ve just signed up to work in the Cybermen factory from a set of Doctor Who. The beige under exterior with the shiny silver accent and gold Sennheiser does make our light version stand out, but in a weird retro-robot kind of way.

The Momentum 5 TWS are definitely more comfortable, and this design likely forms a part, but looking at yourself in the mirror can make you wonder what Sennheiser was thinking, and if it included trying out for a role in a science fiction production.

Beyond this and the rather simplistic controls, the issues are minor. A dropout here, a disconnect there. Nothing out of the ordinary for a pair of Bluetooth earbuds, that’s for sure.

What we love

The minor issues are just that: minor. But overall, the sound is excellent, as is the noise cancellation, delivering one of the best compact pairs around.

And that’s not all we love. We’re very into the idea of the future Sennheiser is granting with these earbuds, doing something that no other earbud manufacturer is doing.

Simply put, the Momentum True Wireless 5 are the first earbuds that support a replaceable battery. That alone is a feat, and tells you the earbuds are designed to last. They’re designed to keep going.

It’s something no other earphone maker is thinking about, and it makes all the difference in the Momentum 5. Whether you’re landing on the full-size Momentum 5 headphones or these in-ears, the Momentum True Wireless 5, the support for a replaceable battery marks the rare occasion when it seems like a company has actually cared about product longevity.

These aren’t solely about holding onto your loyalty through sheer virtue of you spending money with Sennheiser. No, they’re holding on by offering a longer product lifetime that you can deal with yourself.

That’s amazing. We love that.

Momentum TWS 5 vs the competition

While not a single other company is offering a replaceable battery — and makes Sennheiser alone in this regard, particularly in flagship noise cancelling earbuds — the Momentum True Wireless 5 earphones aren’t the only pair you’re likely considering.

There are plenty of truly wireless earbuds, and if they’re over $399, they probably all have active noise cancellation onboard, as well.

Given the near $500 price point of the Sennheiser Momentum TWS 5, these are more directly pitched against the likes of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, the Bose QC Ultra Earbuds 2nd-gen, and Sony’s WF-1000XM6.

Compared to all three, Sennheiser’s Momentum 5 earbuds are better than the Sony WF-1000XM6, a pair that felt like a let down compared to the strength of their full-sized headphone sibling. Apple and Bose likely have the edge on noise cancellation, but not a single model outside of Sennheiser offers that replaceable battery, giving the company an edge no other brand seems to have.

It even gives them a way to edge out one of our other favourite pairs: the Technics AZ100, which up until now, was one of the outliers in the top three.

While it doesn’t mean sonically Sennheiser has the total edge, it’s easily in the top three best buds you can find today, knocking out Technics’ pair.

In short, the Momentum True Wireless 5 is a pair we’d easily keep in our pockets. Depending on what you wear, that may change the look of the case, though. This reviewer typically wears denim, and that leaves the case scuffed with blue all the time (as happened during our review period).

Frankly, that’s a small price to pay for a great pair of earbuds, we think. Maybe we should just get a black pair next time.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

Audio companies sure don’t make it easy. There is just so much choice, and so much to check out when it comes to spending money on a pair of compact buds for your day-to-day listening.

The key seems to be matching specific points for what matters to you. Like a checklist in your head, you need to tick things off, working out what matters.

Most of the premium offerings will check great sound and cancellation, and may deliver something a little bit extra, such as spatial audio, head-tracked or otherwise.

Sennheiser’s Momentum 5 True Wireless 5 goes for a slightly different approach by checking off something you didn’t know you needed, and certainly won’t until the headphones have been owned for a really long time: a replaceable battery. It’s one of the more enlightened features any earbud has ever offered,

In one move, Sennheiser is considering the future beyond simply delivering excellent sound for the life of the earbuds. In one product, Sennheiser is saying these buds have the ability to last longer than conventional earbuds.

There’s no easy way of working out a metric to explain life for every earbud, but a good logic is to think about three years and change. Keep your buds in great condition, don’t drop them too often, and make sure they don’t end up surviving a spin in the washing machine, and they should hit that lifespan without any major dramas.

But that’s usually it. When the battery is gone, so too are the buds. The batteries in most of these things aren’t designed to be replaced, so they typically can’t.

Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 5 spins that a totally different direction, and makes the decision to do what no other earbud maker is doing: let you replace the battery. Now that three year maximum is no longer a maximum. It’s closer to a minimum.

And this comes without the omission of other key features that matter today. You’re still getting great sound, great noise cancellation, head-tracked spatial audio, and a design that makes the Momentum 5 not look like yet another pair of AirPods competitors. That matters to people.

The fact that Sennheiser has put all of this together and considered the future makes for a bigger deal than you might expect.

Future-focused earbuds have never been a thing. They are now. It’s hard not to appreciate the excellence of something this considered. Recommended.