Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear: Big Sound, Small Headphones

I got sick of carting around full-size monitoring headphones real quick, but I wasn’t of the mind to go back to my distorted, sucky Sony earbuds.  Then, thanks to God, Buddha, Vishnu, or whoever is pulling the strings up there, I came across a severely discounted pair of Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear Headphones.

The first thing you will notice about the Momentum In-Ear is the clarity.  It’s not like most in-ear headphones that you’ve tried.  Bass is fairly tight, tonal range is superb, and a low impedance coupled with a wide frequency range mean it’s pretty much THE in-ear headphone to own.  You know, for under $100.

Sennheiser touts an all-metal construction, but I really can’t say how this comes into play.  I imagine resonance is better, but I’m not going to get all science-y on you.  Suffice to say, they sound damn good.

I have only heard two complaints so far about this headphone:

1.)  Brassy sound.  After 50+ hours of listening, I still don’t hear a brassy sound.  Now, maybe I’m just crazy, but I think I’d have heard it at some point during my six-month love affair with these headphones.

2.)  Don’t stay in your ears.  The particular customer who brought this issue to my attention may have been expecting a sport model.  I imagine at some point during a decathlon, these headphones would fall out of your ear.  But that’s why Sennheiser gives you multiple sizes of earbuds.  And if you run out of those, you can buy some cheap Panasonic earbuds and swap out the tips to your Sennheiser model.  And you really shouldn’t buy this headphone for sports anyway.  I mean, who works out to Schubert?

Which brings us to the meat and potatoes of any headphone review:  sound quality.  These babies take the cake on in-ear sound quality.  The range is perfect.  Not too wide, with just enough bass to let you know it’s there but not not so much that it blows out the low end.  Mids and highs are exquisite, allowing me to hear sounds in my music that I didn’t know existed.

These headphones are ideal for classical or instrumental music.  They’re also ideal for oldschool hip hop with an emphasis on something we used to call vocal talent.  Run DMC, Biggie, and even modern stars like Action Bronson and Mos Def sound fantastic on these headphones.

EDM and Techno aren’t bad, but there are bassier headphones out there that will give you a more immersive experience for less, though you would lose that luscious high-end that comes along with the Momentum In-Ear.

Build quality is stunning on these headphones as well.  The elliptical cord doesn’t tangle, they can take some physical abuse and then some, and they sit most comfortably in the ears – not too far in but also not jutting out.

So, all in all, would I recommend these headphones?  And if so, who would benefit from using them?

If you buy one pair of decent headphones in your life, please for the love of tap-dancing, dinosaur-riding Jesus, make it a pair of the Sennhieser Momentum In-Ears.  They are just.  that.  freaking.  good.

Are they going to be right for you?  If you love bass to the point that you want to feel your molars rattling around inside your skull on every beat, these are not the headphones for you.  And if you’re the kind of person who expects these headphones to stay in your ear while you run with the bulls, you will also be disappointed.  But if you’re looking for a small, inconspicuous in-ear headphone that kicks ass when playing a wide range of music, you’re going to love these suckers.

Maybe you won’t love them as much as I do, but then you also won’t have to explain to the missus why the headphones have to sleep in the middle of the bed.

Pssh.  Women.

If you’re interested, check out the Momentum In-Ear over at our Web Store:

For iOS.

For Android.