Sennheiser Momentum On Ear Headphones Review

Sennheiser are probably one of the world biggest and most reputed headphones manufacturer, I’ve had the pleasure of trying many of their headphones, and this time I will be reviewing their Momentum on-ear. Further to the great success of the Momentum over-ear headphone, Sennheiser came up with a smaller one and more affordable, yet without compromising any of its qualities, the Momentum on-ear.

Manufacture’s Specifications:

• Type: On- ear headphone (Supra-aural)
• Drivers Size: NA
• Drivers Type: Dynamic, closed back
• Frequency Response: 16-22000 Hz
• Sensitivity: 112 dB
• Impedance: 18 Ω
• Microphone sensitivity: NA
• Maximum Input: NA
• Weight with cable:  160 g
• Connecter: 3.5mm
• MSRP: 899 Aed
• Warranty: 2 years

Design:

The Momentum on-ear are a lifestyle closed back on-ear headphones, Momentum are Sennheiser’s first attempt to enter the lifestyle headphones market such as Beats, V-moda, and SMS…etc. They consider headphones to be not only a device for music listening but also as a fashion statement and a great looking accessory, and I truly believe that Sennheiser have succeeded in competing for a top spot with the Momentum on-ear.

Out of the box

They are nicely packed in an elegant fine black box, you’ll get a hard carry case, soft carry pouch and a pair of detachable headphone cables. The carry case has two hard sides with the Sennhieser logo on the top, and serves its purpose for protecting the headphones while carrying around, it has two inner pockets that you can store the cables in, it’s not as fancy as the hard case that comes with the Momentum over-ear but it does the job, the draw string carrying pouch is a nice addition because some people just don’t like big cary case and they just want to through the headphones in their back pack. Both cables are made from tangle free material and are terminated with a twist-in lock mini jack at the side that plugs in the headphones so it stays secure while listening. The first one is an Apple compatible cable with a three button built in metal mic & remote so you can make and receive calls while listening and it has a ninety degree jack, the second one is a normal headphone cable with a straight 3.5 mm jack. The headband is made from high grade polished stainless steel, coated with synthetic suede leather material called Alcantara with very nice stitching instead of the natural leather used for the headband and ear cushions on the bigger model. Ear-cups are made of high quality plastic, they slide on the headband to adjust the size and can be tilted to suit the shape and size of the head. If you feel that the headphones are hugging your head hard, the headband could be slightly bent to ease that. And finally, the cushions are padded with the same fancy matching color Alcantara.

Style

This got to be one of the most beautifully designed on-ear headphones I’ve ever seen, Sennheiser had hit the Jack pot with this brilliant design for both Momentum’s: the on and over-ear. The perfect blend between the stainless steel headband and the colorful cups furnished with the fine quality plastic give it an edge over most competitors. The original over-ear had only 3 colors: Black with red stitching, Dark Brown and Ivory. Whereas the new on-ear have a great variety of colors: Red, Blue, Green, Black, Pink, Ivory and Brown. And to be honest it was tough to choose which one to get for my review. Every small detail of the Momentum screams of beauty and elegance, from the fancy colorful Alcantara coating on the headband and headband, to the steal brushed thin headband.  The classic shaped Sennheiser took great care of every single detail, even the inline remote is made from high quality metal with gloss finish.

Build quality

The Momentum are very well built, constructed from very fine material, the stainless steel headband is pretty strong and durable and could withstand any amount of normal use. The Alcantara used in the on-ear instead of natural leather is a very high quality material normally used in fancy sports cars such as Lamborghini and Porsche for its moisture and stain resistant characteristics, it prolongs the life span of the Momentum. And I loved the fine stitching done on the headband and ear-cups. Both supplied cables are tangle free, and transfer very little audio phonics to the headphones while moving so they wont affect your listing experience.

Comfort

I found the Momentum on-ear to be even more comfortable than the over-ear model even though I normally prefer over-ear headphones since the most on-ear puts pressure on my ears. But with the Momentum, the foam padding made the ear-cups to get softer and more comfortable with time, plus the stainless steel head band can be adjusted to perfectly fit your head size.  The headband doesn’t have much padding but since the it’s flexible it distributes the weight evenly so you don’t feel any pressure.  And it’s important to mention that the Momentum are really light weight, Sennheiser even cut extra openings in the head band to reduce the weight in both models.  The Alcantara lets your ears breath so they wont get warm and sweaty.

Supplied accessories:

• Momentum on-ear headphone
• iPhone cable
• Audio cable
• Soft carry pouch
• Carrying case

Sound:

The Momentum on-ear are not only great looking headphones, they are also a great sounding one, I was really impressed with their sound, I even favored it more than the full sized model, it has a nice lively feel to it, and normally you don’t get that feeling from such small cans but somehow Sennhieser made it work. The frequency response is good but it has a V shaped sound response, meaning that the Highs and Lows are more accentuated and the Mids were a little drawn back, this would give them this lively sound character. I noticed a slight distortion in the Bass on high volume with tracks that have a lot of deep bass notes like R&B and House music, and some times with fast pace tracks the Bass can be a little too much but that all depends on which type of character you prefer. They are fairly easy to drive by almost any audio source, they sounded very good directly from my iPhone, but the improvement in sound when using an AMP was surprisingly good so I would advise listeners to invest a little more and try pairing them with and AMP. plus the improvement was far more noticeable with the over-ear model, the bass was much more tight and controlled and details were a lot clearer.

Bass: Great strong Bass with a nice punch to it with very little distortion/booming. However, if some tracks has a lot of bass it can sound a little Boomy on high volume levels, low frequencies are a little emphasized and pushed forward as i mentioned earlier but that gives the Momentum a live and dynamic sound character, I thought that the on-ear handled bass with better control than the full sized ones.

Mid-range: Mids are slightly drawn back and overpowered by the high and low notes, but still they sound ok overall.

Treble: Great crystal clear treble and natural highs, it has a warm shimmer and brings life to the sound of the Momentums without sturdiness of harsh sounds.

Sound Stage and instruments separations: It is surprising how can such small ear-cups provide such a pleasant sound stage. For a closed back headphones, the Momentum sure puts a good performance for their worth, and they do a fairly good job when it comes to instrument separation.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Well balanced sound character
• High quality build from the finest materials
• Light weight and extremely comfortable
• 2 replaceable cables
• Elegant design with a great variety of colors

Cons:

• Big and bulky carry case
• Mids are little drawn back

Conclusion:

Momentum are probably one of the few headphones I’ve decided to keep for myself after reviewing, they might not be the best sounding headphones I’ve listened to but they are a piece of beauty with a nice musical sound. I highly recommend that every one looking for headphones in this category to give them a try.