Sennheiser’s Momentum headphones look great, but they have a momentous price point. Can they live up to their expensive billing?
At an RRP of $449.95, there’s no doubting at all which particular price bracket the Momentum headphones play in. These aren’t cheap and cheerful buds; they’re serious cans for serious audiophiles. At that kind of price point, though, you’ve got to do a whole lot to impress.
On the plus side
The Momentum headphones look pretty darned good. You’ve got to be careful with any product in brown leather, because while it can convey a sense of luxury, it’s also all too easy for it to come across looking either cheap or dated. The Momentum’s mix of soft leather earpads and metal bands combine together into a set of headphones that look (to my eye) exceptional. They’re also available in a straight black leather style if brown really isn’t your thing. There are lots of nice little touches that add to the sense of elegance, from the solid angled 3.5mm plug to the inline controls, which you can omit if you’re not going to use them.
They also sound good, but then, at this price point, they’d certainly want to. There’s a style for bass-heavy headphones that I’m not a big fan of, and the Momentum headphones avoid that with a clean solid sound across a variety of music genres. They’re not specifically noise reducing headphones, but the circumaural design combined with solid audio output means that they effectively block most outside noise in any case, which is excellent if (like me) you’re the type that works best with music but often find yourself in noisy environments.
When I first unpacked the Momentum headphones, I was concerned that, like many full headsets they’d quickly become heavy and hot on my skull. They’re actually surprisingly light for their size at 190grams; while that’s still bulkier than, say the Bose AE2w set I reviewed recently, it means they’re a comfortable and lightweight pair of headphones for extended listening sessions.
On the minus side
They may be on the light side, but they’re certainly not small, and that’s something of a problem for headphones that you might want to move away from your desk. Sennheiser do provide a large brown carrying case for the headphones (and at this price, you wouldn’t want them jostling around loose), but that just makes them even larger. If you’re pressed for portable space, the Momentum headphones aren’t going to be your best bet.
Pricing
Officially speaking the Momentum headphones have an asking price of $449.95, but it doesn’t take much searching around to find them quite a bit cheaper; even the Apple store has them at $399.95 and Harvey Norman is currently listing them at $314.97. Given they’re rarely the cheapest of outlets, you may be able to do even better than that for a pair.
Alex’s Verdict
The Sennheiser Momentum headphones sound great, fit well and look good. You can’t ask for much more than that, so the only real caveat here is the asking price. You do get what you pay for, but it may be just beyond the budget of some buyers. If you’re after a premium sound experience and you’ve got the funds to support them, however, they come highly recommended.