I tested the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless — sorry AirPods, these are the earbuds to beat in 2026

Tom's Guide Verdict If you take sound quality seriously, you’ll want to know about the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless ASAP. Every genre sounds rich, immersive, detailed, and, most importantly, fun. On top of excellent sound, you also get a litany of useful features like personalized sound in the Sennheiser app and a sleek design. Pros +Premium design, no plasticky finish here +Divine sound quality, with balanced bass and mids +Vocals sound excellent +Wide soundstage +Good ANC and great call quality Cons -Fit could be a bit divisive Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate. Jump To: Specs Price & availability Design Sound quality ANC Call quality App Battery Verdict The Sennhesier Momentum 5 True Wireless are the audio brand stalwart’s latest flagship Bluetooth earbuds — but I know the question on your lips is, “Well, are they best earbuds of 2026?” Yes, the Momentum 5 TW are definitely in the running.Thanks to the rich, complex, well-balanced, and vivacious sound quality, the Momentum 5 True Wireless are, without a doubt, one of the best-sounding sets I’ve had the pleasure of putting in my ears. Ever. Warmer than AirPods Pro 3 and XM6 but more nuanced than Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2, the Momentum 5 TW are seriously ones to beat.Not only do they sound fantastic over run of the mill codecs, they also come packed with aptX Lossless and Dolby Atmos head tracking for summer immersive movies. Might these be the perfect earbuds for you? To find out, keep reading this Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review.Latest Videos FromTom's GuideSennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally Price $299 / £249 Drivers 7mm proprietary Frequency response 20Hz - 20,000Hz Durability IP54 Connectivity Bluetooth 6.0 Multipoint connectivity Yes ANC Yes Wear detection Yes Battery life 12 hours (buds) / 40 hours (case) ANC off Weight 2.2 ounces Colors Gray, cream, copper, dark blue, and purple Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Price & availability (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless earbuds are $299 from Amazon U.S. and £249 from Amazon U.K.This places the earbuds within the premium lifestyle bracket. Think your Apple AirPods Pro 3, your Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, your Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2, your Sony WF-1000XM6. I’ve also recently tested the Status Audio Pro X, which sound utterly divine, and the Technics AZ100, another non-big-name high performer.For your $299, you get excellent sound, including aptX Lossless support, Snapdragon Sound, and Dolby Atmos-optimized head tracking (great for movies), and lovely ANC. While $300 is, objectively, a large amount of money, this price is expected for flagship Sennheiser wireless earbuds.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Design (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless are your typical bean-shaped earbuds, with a large nozzle that sits in your concha. This is great for those who don’t get on with stem designs, like AirPods Pro 3. If you’re more of the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2 or Sony WF-1000XM6 persuasion, you’ll like the Sennheiser Momentum 5 TW.Tom's Guide: Direct to Your InboxGet instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.I tested the lovely dark blue (“Denim”) colorway, as you can see from the images, which is sleek and premium. I have nothing bad to say about the aesthetics of these earbuds.You also get five tip sizes — they’re all silicon with no foam buds, so sorry to any silicon haters in the house. I used the smallest size because I have weirdly small ears… subtle foreshadowing.The buds themselves are IP54-rated, which isn’t as waterproof as the AirPods Pro 3’s IP55, but better than Bose QC Ultra Earbuds Gen 2’s IPX4 rating. In real terms, this means you’d be able to wear the Sennheisers on a run or during a light rain shower without breaking them.ComfortIf you’ve got small ears, the Momentum 5 TW won’t be for you. The bean-shaped nozzle is so large that it made my ears ache after around five minutes. However, my normal-ear-sized colleagues reported that they were comfortable, so this is solely a small-ear issue.Controls Controls are easy and customizable. A single tap pauses the music on the right ear and adjusts ANC on the left ear. A double tap skips ahead, and a long press changes volume. Of course, if you don’t like these default commands, you can customize them in the Sennheiser Smart Control Plus app.ConnectivityI was incredibly pleased to see Bluetooth 6.0 on the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless. You’d think in 2026 all new earbuds would release with the latest Bluetooth version, but this is not the case. Apple launched the long-awaited AirPods Max 2 with 2021’s Bluetooth 5.3. Eesh.Thankfully, Sennheiser has bucked this trend and “treated” us to Bluetooth 6.0. In real terms, this means it’s more reliable, has a longer range, and can transmit higher-res files faster. I was able to get out of my apartment and up the stairs before the earbuds disconnected from my iPhone 16 Pro.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Sound qualityTo test sound quality, I listened to a range of genres on Qobuz, our best music streaming service for audiophiles.Spoiler alert: the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless sound awesome.First, I played 'Roslyn' by Bon Iver and St. Vincent. I could feel every vibration of the acoustic guitar, each chord change reverberating in my brain. The layered vocals were dreamy, atmospheric, and evocative, and the bass notes flowed along the side of the soundscape beautifully.Next, I switched up genre to 'iPod Touch’ by Ninajirachi. The deep synth bassline thumped through the earbuds without overpowering the higher-pitched female vocals or the snapping hi-hats. Each housey piano chord was layered gracefully underneath the vocals and melted into the mid-track EDM breakdown. In this section, the glitchy, over-processed bass felt alive, and every squeaky sound effect was present over top of the soundscape. This song sounded awesome. Deep bass was also powerful yet balanced in ‘Wifey Riddim (George Daniel remix)” by Shygirl and 'space cadet' by sim0ne. (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Finally, I went for something heavier. 'Punishers' by Die Spitz is an atmospheric guitar-led track with immersive growly guitars and crunchy bass. The sub-bass was clear and controlled with zero grinding or cutting out. The female vocals were powerful and layered perfectly at the top of the track, with zero tinniness from the snare drums or cymbals. On top of this, the soundscape was expansive and wide, and truly immersed me in the music.To test the Dolby Atmos head tracking, I watched 'Twilight' on Apple TV. The Dolby Atmos performance was intriguing, but it didn’t impress me enough to claim I can’t live without it. I could hear dialogue from the far edges of the soundstage, and footsteps sounded like they were coming from below me. Of course, this is a nice feature to have, but I’m not sure I would get much use out of it. If you’re an avid laptop/phone movie watcher, this is a fantastic feature, but it’s not really for me.Overall, the Momentum 5 TW sound excellent. Given Sennheiser’s reputation, you’d expect its earbuds to sound good, but I can attest for it right now: the Momentum 5 TW are richer than AirPods Pro 3, and warmer than Sony WF-1000XM6. They’re more detailed than Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2, and just as fun and vivacious as the Status Audio Pro X.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: ANC (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The ANC on the Momentum 5 True Wireless is good, but not jaw-droppingly good. If you’re after “ANC so good you feel lonely” (thanks to my colleague Nikita for the everlastingly good quote), you’d be better off with the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2.All that being said, the Momentum 5 True Wireless still block out the majority of environmental noise. When I was walking around the city, I could hear low frequency rumbling engines and some high-frequency sounds like car horns, but most chatter was blocked out. When I tested with a city noise track on YouTube played at 67dB, I couldn’t hear the track at all.This is more than enough for everyday usage; if you’re needing earbuds for commuting or office work, you’ll be fine. If you live next door to a construction site, though, I might recommend the Bose instead.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Call qualityTo test call quality, I called my boyfriend. As mentioned earlier, I love how the earbuds switch to transparency during phone calls; this means I can actually hear the volume of my voice. The earbuds also announce when the call is ended, which is a nice touch.He reported my voice sounded perfectly clear, with zero metallicness or echoing. When I played a city white noise track at max volume (from my laptop), he couldn’t hear it at all. This is a fantastic performance; I’m really impressed.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: App (Image credit: Tom's Guide)The Sennheiser Momentum 5 TW use the Sennheiser SmartControlPlus app, which is fantastic. The layout is clean and easily navigable, and the app itself has a plethora of interesting, effective functions. You can test the ear tip fit, make a personalized EQ, activate head tracking, rename the earbuds, and control transparency levels.As mentioned in “Call quality”, you can customize the earbuds to turn off ANC during phone calls, which is a useful feature for walking around the city. (Image credit: Tom's Guide / Sennheiser)A new feature is “Sound zones”, which is like Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control. In short, you can set the earbuds to turn ANC on or off depending on your location. In theory, you could turn off ANC as soon as you arrive home, or turn on ANC when you arrive at the bus stop. I don’t really lean towards these kinds of features — I’m more than happy to simply tap the touch control on the earbud — but it’s nice to have if you’re the sound-zone-inclined.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Battery (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Here’s one for the eco-conscious amongst you: the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless have replaceable batteries. Yes, replaceable batteries! Just like the new Sennheiser Momentum 5 headphones, which I reviewed earlier this year, you can also replace the batteries on the TW earbuds.Sennheiser rated the battery for up to 12 hours in the buds and then 40 hours overall in the charging case. I tested the Sennheiser Momentum 5 for a whole weekend and then three working days, and I had to recharge the case once. I did have all the bells and whistles turned on, though: Dolby Atmos head tracking, ANC on max, playing with all the features like custom EQ. I’m sure normal listening wouldn’t use this much battery.Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless review: Verdict (Image credit: Tom's Guide)I’m really, really impressed with the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless earbuds. Not only do they sound divine, they also boast a multitude of fun, useful features like head tracking, integrated Dolby Atmos, personalized sound, and sound zones. For me, sound quality is King, and I’m pleased to report that if you’re a fellow sound snob, you’ll get on just fine with these buds.While I wish the fit was more accommodating for fellow tiny-eared folk, “it’s not you, it’s me” is actually relevant here — normal-to-large-size ears will be fine with the snug bean-shaped fit. Unfortunately, I won’t be replacing my AirPods Pro 2 with the Momentum 5 TW due to the size issue, but it’s a me problem.If you value premium sound quality, a sleek design, and a bunch of cool features, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 True Wireless will be the earbuds for you. Erin Bashford is a senior writer at Tom's Guide, focusing on reviews. She has a Masters in Broadcast and Digital Journalism from the University of East Anglia. As an ex-barista, she knows her way around a coffee machine, and as a music lover, she's constantly chipping away at her dream of having a multi-room home sound system. In her spare time you can find her reading, practising yoga, writing, or stressing over today’s NYT Games. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.