Right off the bat, we will realise that all 3 headphones shares a sense of opulence in their own way. The AirPods Max features matte anodised aluminium cups as well as a stainless steel frame for a durable yet flexible fit. The rather controversial canopy sits atop spanning the headband is made from a breathable warp-knit mesh, distributing weight to reduce on-head pressure. Personally, I applaud the design change and shift away from the regular thick cushions that every other headphone has. It seems to do well in day-to-day use and doesn't seem like it will tear if you treat it with a bit of care. Now for controls, there is no touch pads on the AirPods Max for controls. Apple stuck with the tried-and-true dial inherited from the Apple Watch. as well as a single button. The WH-1000XM5 and Momentum 4 Wireless on the other hand, has a more elegant and upper-class aesthetic that has made it a subtle status symbol even with a mostly plastic build. From the top, the Sony's have the thinnest possible headband ever made with plush cushions wrapping it entirely while the Sennheiser's has a headband covered with a fabric material with Sennheiser logo plastered on both sides in a subtle finish. The underside uses a soft rubber finish that grips onto my head and hair decently well.. Both headphones share similar uses of a sleek yet premium plastic arms extender that are shifted nearer to the ear cups, so it does not click in steps or make any noises like previous generations. It works as good as before and has enough resistance for the earcups not to shift the set length.With much softer, thicker and deeper leather cushions, the experience of long periods of wear is comfortable, even for users who wear spectacles like myself. The depth of all headphone earcups are significant too; of which your ears will never touch any part of the inside fabric and I got to say, this new material not only fits snugly around the head with little to no clamping force, it smells really good when you first unbox it. On the Sony's, the strong leather smell is so fresh and fragrant like that of a new car or designer handbag. The headphones, however do picked up fingerprint smudges and facial oils quite easily in day-to-day use. Now, onto the most disappointing part of this new design, all models now do not stow into a much more compact form like its predecessor. It will only stow flat as the earcups no longer fold inwards. Both the Sony's and the Sennheiser's headphones use a touchpad on the right side to control the playback controls as well as ANC and Transparency mode. From my experience, I can wear all of them all day without fatigue. In regards to weight, the Sony WH-1000XM5 weigh in at 250g, the Momentum 4 Wireless at 293g and the AirPods Max at 384g, making them the heaviest not just between the 3 but also among every headphone out there. However, it is commendable that the AirPods Max manage to keep their low-profile look very well compared to the rest. It is worth noting that the AirPods Max as the best build quality followed by the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and lastly, the Sony WH-1000XM5.

Moving on to comfort, the Sony's are definitely the way to go as they weigh the least. Their earcups do encase your ears and it is important to take note that the fabric inside the Sony's will touch your ears, so if you are nitpicky, the Momentum's or the AirPods will be a better option. Both the Momentum or the AirPods have extremely spacious ear cups that fits very large ears without a problem. The ear cushions on the Momentum's are made of leather, while the AirPods Max cushions are of mesh textile material so they are more breathable than the rest. It can feel a little on the rougher side and can take some time to get used too. The ear cushions on the AirPods Max are the easiest to replace too with a magnetic removal and click on style. The weight distribution is also done excellently though I have to say it is nearly impossible to forget that the headphones are on your head. Similarly, the Momentum 3 Wireless feel a little heavy, but it manages to distribute the weight evenly through its cushioned leather headband.

Next, Sound Quality. In my opinion, I find that the sound of the AirPods Max is the best for all genres of music ranging from soothing jazz to bass-heavy EDM tracks. The AirPods Max produce an energetic and dynamic sound signature thanks to some great expertise of the H1 chip. Highs are crisp and clear. Mids come off as balanced and forward, and bass is slightly boosted which gives off a nice thump in your ear. When compared to the sound of the Momentum 3 Wireless, the sound signature of the Airpods Max is much clearer and less bass-focused. The bass of the AirPods Max hits quite deep but never did bottom out and turn muddy when you blast the volume at around maximum volume. The soundstage and surround the best I have heard, the experience is very much like having a full-on movie theatre with surround speakers. When I tried it with spatial audio while watching compatible content, the dynamic head tracking give a very immersive experience and keeps you in awe every single time. The instrument separation were well-defined with sound coming in all directions; very similar what you can get with Dolby Atmos or Sennheiser Ambeo sound systems. The sound signature never felt like it was trapped in your head like other headphones, it often feels like loudspeakers were in your surroundings, especially with 8D Audio. There was a little sound leakage at full volume and no high-volume distortion. Call quality was fantastic just like the AirPods Pro since it uses 3 microphones to pick up my voice while filtering out my surroundings. The caller on the other end heard me loud and clear without any trouble no matter where I may be. Those who like to tune their sound should look at the WH-1000XM4 as Sony allows userscustomise their sound with selected presets in the Headphones Connect app, available for download on the App Store and Play Store, The app has an internal equaliser to enable the best output of music. With a large category ranging from Bright, Excited, Mellow, Bass Boost, Treble Boost, Speech Etc. You can also choose to customise your own too! Similarly, the highs are crisp and clear. Mids come off as balanced and forward, and bass is slightly boosted which gives off a nice thump in your ear. The mids do also sound quite forward and the highs had some definition. The soundstage is decent but definitely not near the levels of the AirPods Max or Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless. When compared the sound to the AirPods Max, the sound signature of the WH-1000XM4 is unfortunately far from what Spatial Audio in the AirPods Max can achieve even with 36o Reality Audio, Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology that enables users to be immersed in music as intended by artists. However, this feature is currently only available to users of Deezer, nugs.net, and TIDAL. There is currently no support for mainstream music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube Premium as of yet. There was only a little sound leakage even at full volume and no high-volume distortion. Call quality is not bad as the caller manages to hear me on the other end and the mics on the headphone pick up some surrounding noises. Lastly, the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless produce a very dynamic sound signature and users can also tune the sound settings to their liking via the Sennheiser Smart Control App available on the App Store and Play Store. In the app, you will find an equalizer which allows users to tune the sound signature to their liking. Fiddling with the in-app equalizer, you will hear a bass boost or treble boost depending on which side of the equaliser you raise. Highs are crisp and mids have clarity and bass is resonates deeply for the impressive thump. The soundstage was not too bad either with distinct left and right channels being heard clearly. This makes the headphones great for deep immersion in your music especially for content with lots of deep bass kicks and drops. There was minimal sound leakage at full volume and no high-volume distortion. Call quality on the Sennheiser's was mediocre, the caller managed to hear me on the other end but feedback that I sound muffled. If I was to rank the three, I would pick the AirPods Max first, the Momentum 3 Wireless second and the WH-1000XM4 third.

Moving on to the most important part, Noise-Cancelling. From my test, the WH-1000XM4 managed to successfully beat the AirPods Max and the Momentum 3 Wireless. The WH-10000XM4 feature Adaptive Sound Control allows for toggling of different noise-cancelling modes like Walking, Staying, Transport and Running. Each has different levels of noise-cancelling and ambient sound mode. These are all automatically detected by the headphone itself. Users can toggle the amount of ambient sound let in, focus on voice only or just turn it off completely. Atmospheric Pressure Optimizing is another feature that helps to optimize the noise-cancelling to fit different environments such as in an aeroplane or on the ground. In the end, these features managed to defeat the noise-cancelling abilities of the AirPods Max by just a tad bit since Apple use an automatic noise-cancelling to adjust to its surroundings. The AirPods Max noise-cancelling doesn't have any cabin pressure as well. Meanwhile, the Momentum 3 Wireless noise-cancelling is the weakest amongst the rest. Based on user experience, the noise cancellation is still top-notch, I could not hear much of my surroundings other than a faint hint of voices and high frequencies that can pass through. There are three modes of noise-cancelling: Anti-pressure, Anti-wind and Max. Max for flight use and maximum reduction of noise, Anti-wind for combating wind and movement noise outdoors and Anti-pressure to comfortable pressure-free experience indoors. These can both be changed easily via the rocker on the top right of the headphone and in the app. Personally, the WH-1000XM4 ranks first, the AirPods Max second and the Momentum 3 Wireless third.

​In the portability category, I find that the Sony’s does better than the rest as it folds up into a much more compact profile for easy storage. It also come with a full hard-shell carrying case to protect the headphones and a spot to store all your cables. Next, the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless comes with a hybrid hard shell case, that in some ways keep the case thin when the headphones are not in it. However, when stored, the Sennheiser's will only fold up but not flat, making it footprint quite bulky. The case does protect the headphones on the top and bottom but no protection is offered for the side. Not too bad when you actually consider the more viral case of the year, the AirPods Max ones. First off, the AirPods Max do not fold up but instead they fold flat, hence taking u much more storage space and come with the Smart Case that is not quite useful, other than putting the headphones in low-power mode, it doesn't do anything smart that makes it more useful especially when you are only covering the ear cups and not the mesh headband that would tear if you leave it with keys in you bag. The AirPods Max ear cups also knock into each other when they are not in the case, which can create scratches if you accidentally do so too often. The AirPods Max and the Momentum 3 Wireless also do not have any power buttons instead they rely in the folding of ear cups to switch on or off. In some cases, this is convenient but it can also lead to battery drain which I found it to be true in the Momentum's but so far I have not had any issues with the AirPods Max.  

In terms of connectivity, all 3 headphone operates both passively with an audio cable and wirelessly via Bluetooth 5.0 and the basic AAC and SBC codecs. You can also switch between 2 devices on the WH-1000XM4 and Momentum 3 Wireless, as well as on any IOS or Mac devices with the AirPods Max. Additionally, the WH-1000XM4 supports LDAC while the Momentum's support AptX Low-Latency and AptX, In wired listening, the WH-1000XM4 and Momentum 3 Wireless uses the 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable while the AirPods Max can only use the Lightning to 3.5mm cable for listening. It is worth pointing out the the Momentum's have the capability to use the USB-C to USB-C cable for wired use too. Moving on, the battery life of the WH-1000XM4 is the best at 30 hours, the AirPods Max at 20 hours, and last in place, the Momentum's with only 17 hours of battery life.

Overall, all 3 headphones come at very different price points and have very different target audiences. Now, let's recap and break down the differences to further understand which is the best for your ears. First, the AirPods Max is the best amongst those who are in the Apple ecosystem and have the budget to afford it. It has the best build quality, sound quality, and on-par noise-cancelling as the WH-1000XM4, as well as new innovative design language. Next, the WH-1000XM4 still holds its position as the best noise-canceling headphones in the industry up till today that is aimed squarely at appealing to travellers. With excellent features like lightweight and comfortable ear cushions, customizable noise-canceling, comprehensive app support, long 30 hours battery life, and easy to use controls, it is highly recommended if you don't wish to spend too much on the AirPods Max or if you are in the Android camp. Last but not least, we have the bass-heads favourite, the Momentum 3 Wireless with a dynamic sound signature, customisable sound settings and premium build, making it worthy of its rather high price too. The noise-cancelling may be the weakest amongst the rest, but it stands out in the providing an immerse listening experience with deep bass and sparking highs.