Design & Construction

If there is one true wireless earbuds that is ahead of the competition in sound quality but yet in some sense falling behind newer earbuds in features, it has to be the Sennheiser Momentum series of earbuds. And today, we are finally getting a much needed update that we have all been waiting eagerly for, the Momentum True Wireless 3. Can it stay as the hot favourite? Well, there is only one way to find out? Taking cues from its predecessor, the new Momentum shares many similarities in terms of embracing the classic Sennheiser design. Starting off with the case, the earbuds case has a rectangular look to it. While it is far from being the slimmest nor smallest case amongst the competition, its size has significantly being reduced from the Momentum 2 True Wireless case. Granted, it is still thicker than the Jabra Elite 7 Pro or the Sony WF-1000XM4. On the outside, the fabric wraps around its entirety with the white Sennheiser logo stuck to the top. The USB-C charging port is shifted to the front of the case with an accompanying LED indicator to show you its charge. Like all true wireless earbuds, the earbuds dock in fairly easily and will not fall out when the case is flipped since there are magnets inside to keep them secure. In terms of durability, it is definitely one of the strongest cases out there that protects well against scuffs and accidental drops. As for the earbuds, they are now much smaller than their predecessors. Overhauling its circular conventional shape, the new slightly rectangle design isn't the smallest but it fits well into most ear shapes and sizes. After listening for an hour or two, it is quite easy to forget that you have them in. As usual, Sennheiser went ahead with touchpads that feels responsive even when you tap them lightly. Now for the controls, a single press on the right earbud will play/pause your music, a double press will skip forward and a triple press will bring up Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri; holding it down will increase the volume. Moving to the left earbud, a single press will enable Transparent Hearing while a double press will skip backwards and a triple press will enable Active Noise Cancelling.  Meanwhile, holding it down will decrease the volume. For calls, there is yet another set of controls that does the same command on either earbud. A single press will pick up the call and a double press will reject the call. When you are in a call, a single press will mute/unmute the microphone. Similarly, the volume can be increased by holding down the right earbud and decreased when holding down the left earbud. Now, it is worth mentioning that though these are the original out of the box settings, you can customise the touch controls to any command you would like to either earbud and the app will sync the new settings immediately. If you need to pair another device, you can hold down both earbuds for 3 seconds to enable Bluetooth pairing. It takes about 1.5 hours to charge both the case and the earbuds from a dead battery. However, if you are in a rush, there is always quick charge which will allow for 1 hour of playback with a 10 minutes charge. Both earbuds has the debossed Sennheiser logo and have subtle LED indicators on the inside that will only light up when necessary such as in situations of pairing them. In normal usage of music playback or calls, they never light up to attract unwanted attention. In the box, there are extra sizes of silicone ear tips and wings to ensure a tight seal and secure fit. Even though the Momentum True Wireless 3 isn't a sports earbud, it boasts a decent IPX4 water resistance for those intense workouts or rainy days, giving users the ultimate peace of mind. The earbuds itself also do a great job at resisting fingerprints smudges with a matte finish. 

​

Sound Quality

Exciting, bass-focused and energetic is how I would describe the sound of the CX Plus SE. Let's start off with the bass response. In short, it is deep, punchy, and tight. It never managed to distort at loud volume and never bleeds into the mids when it is at a low volume level. Thanks to the refined 7mm TrueResponse transducers, the highs sound bright and forward with plenty of details. The mids do sound extremely crisp especially with the help of the equaliser tuning that is found in the Sennheiser Smart Control app that really help to configure the sound to your ears. The soundstage is indeed the widest I have heard from any earbuds on the market today and nothing comes close to it. The instrument separation is excellent with distinct left and right channels being heard clearly. If you are not so much of an EDM or Hip-Hop fan, I am glad to report that the Momentum True Wireless 3 works perfectly with all other genres ranging from Pop to Jazz after you fiddle with the customisable sound settings in the Smart Control App available for download from the App & Play Store. In the app, you will first see the My Devices page where you can select which compatible Sennheiser device to delve into. Thereafter, you will be greeted with the selected devices' settings where the battery life status is shown as well as the option to manage your earbuds' connections to your devices. Next, there is the Equaliser setting which you can choose to customise your very own or choose from the presets. There are presets like Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, Classical and Movie. Different presets do work well with different music genres and I personally prefer the Dance preset. You may also select any presets available and further tune and rename it to become your custom setting. Additionally, there is the Bass Boost option which I greatly enjoyed using to boost my low frequencies as well as the Podcast mode where the equaliser will be disabled fully and set to Sennheiser pre-made Podcast mode. Should you happen to mess up doing custom presets, a simple tap on the Restore all Sennheiser presets will revert all changes made. Now, you can further take this experience deeper using the Sound Check feature where you can play your favourite songs in the background while you choose from the 3 options in the low, mid and high frequencies that the app boosts to compensate for your hearing needs. Personally, I find that amongst the 3 options of A, B and C, I could hardly tell a difference, but you will definitely hear a slight difference in the sound if you pay attention and listen closely. At the end of it, I couldn't tell a huge difference before and after I use the Sound Check feature. Well, some additional tuning is definitely better than nothing, I guess. Moving on, we have the Transparent Hearing option where you can change the setting from Off to using it With Music or enable Pause Music to stop the music every time you enable it. There are also options to set the Transparency Mode from Low, Mid and High levels so you can find the middle ground between mixing in your environment and your music. Next, Transparency Mode allows you to hear your ambient surrounding sounds so you can always hear the next train announcement or traffic noise to stay safe. Comparing it to the champions of Transparency Mode, the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) and the WF-1000XM4, the Momentums did not manage to beat both of them since its transparency doesn't have the smarts to detect and filter out loud bursts of noises or selectively take in voices only. Just below, Adaptive Noise Cancellation is next with the simplest option of all, just a simple Off, Anti-Wind or On. No advanced customisation here since Sennheiser have specially tune it to simplify the process for the end users. Comparing the ANC performance of the Sennheiser's to the competition, I found that the Momentum True Wireless 3 isn't too far from the best of the best. If I were to rate it, I would say it is on par with the Jabra Elite 7 Pro but weaker than the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation). You will then see the newest feature here, known as Sound Zones where the app will automatically switches to a certain equaliser and ANC or Transparent Hearing setting when it detects that you have reached a frequent destination like your office, school or at home. You can set up to 20 different zones and each can be from a close radius accuracy of 100m to 1km from the selected location. The Noise Control settings will tap into existing equaliser presets that you have and you will need to set what happens when you arrive and leave the location. Personally, I don't use this feature as it can be quite gimmicky as well as making it a great way to give away your location to Sennheiser too. Back to Home page, you can enable or disable the Touch Controls or switch SideTone from Off, Minimum or Maximum. SideTone is basically how loud you would like to hear yourself in your earbuds when you talk to another party over the call. Onto the Discover tab, you can read and catch up on the latest Sennheiser press release and news where they will share their latest product offerings and possibly entice you to buy them? In all case, its possibly the least important and useful feature in the app. In the settings, you can enable Smart Pause if you prefer the faster way of removing one earbud to pause the music to hear someone and that you may turn off if you want it disabled. You can also enable the ability to auto accept calls when the earbuds are removed from the case as well as set the duration for auto power off ranging from 15 minutes to an hour. Lastly, you choose to use both tones and voice prompts, use tones only or just turn it off completely. At the bottom, a factory reset of the app settings is possible together with the ability to show or hide the individual tiles to show on the homepage. You can easily check the current codecs used or the model name too. In terms of call quality, the Momentum True Wireless 3 uses 3 beam-foaming mic array per earbud to capture your voice while eliminating ambient noises. In my opinion, the quality is pretty usable though in some cases very strong winds or loud traffic noise does affect its quality and lowers the voice pickup. It is defintely comparable in quality to the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the Jabra Elite 7 Pro.

​

Connectivity & Portability

The earbuds support the latest and greatest AptX, AptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC codecs together with Bluetooth Version 5.2. The earbuds also automatically power on/off when docked and taken out from the case. The battery life peaks at 7 hours per use with ANC and up to a maximum of 28 hours with the case.  The package also comes with a USB-C cable for charging and if you ever wished for wireless charging, the earbuds doesn't disappoint. Like the Sony WF-1000XM4, the Momentum True Wireless 3 is now Qi Wireless Charging capable with either earbuds available for one-sided listening. Fortunately, it supports Bluetooth Multi-point connection so you can only connect up to 2 devices at any one time. The earbuds connectivity to the app is perfect as it is able to detect my device when its already connected via Bluetooth all the time. If you try to watch videos or movies with these, they do not have any latency in audio transmission.

​

PROS​​

• Durable Construction

• Ergonomic Fit

• Low Profile

• Customisable Equaliser

• Energetic, Bass-Focused Sound Signature

• Sound Check Customisation

• Active Noise-Cancelling

• Transparent Hearing

• Responsive Touchpads For Music Play & Calls

• Bluetooth 5.2 with AptX Adaptive

• Quick USB-C Charging

• Long Battery Life

• Qi Wireless Charging

• IPX4 Water Resistant

• A Range of Colours​​​​​

• Multi-point Bluetooth Pairing

The Bottom Line

In all, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 is a premium travel-ready earbud with strong yet straightforward features that keeps its users happy. The top features why it is so sought-after in a saturated market of true wireless earbuds has got to be its signature Sennheiser sound signature, adaptive noise-cancelling as well as overall user experience. The Momentum True Wireless 3 is definitely the way to go if you need a complete package with an attractive price tag to match. It is indeed a seamless and hassle-free experience that Sennheiser has nailed after going through a few iterations of perfection.