Product Review: Sennheiser MOMENTUM Over Ear Headphones (And Giveaway)

Disclaimer: Sennheiser provided me with these headphones for review and giveaway, this in no way affected my review. The post does contain affiliate links, #FeedABlogger.

Two weeks ago, tragedy struck. My beloved Panasonic RP-HTX7 headphones died after five years of loyalty (which really is pretty amazing for a pair of $30 headphones). Since I was able to keep those nice for so long, I decided I was comfortable upgrading for my new pair. But what to get?

I started looking around on Amazon and reading Head-Fi reviews. One pair that stood out to me were the Sennheiser MOMENTUM over the ear headphones. They have a stylish look very similar to my Panasonics, but are a higher end version. I had to try them. I would have loved to have compared them to my Panasonics, but alas, they were no more. Instead, I used my husband’s Sony MDR7506s.

About the Sennheiser MOMENTUM Line

Sennheiser is known for high-end headphones. With the MOMENTUM line, they’ve added a bit more style. Instead of going with just garish colors though, they’ve given the headphones a stylish retro look. There’s an on-ear and over-ear model, the over-ear being the model I received to review.

Comfort

Comfort is one of the most important things to me when it comes to headphones. I wear them basically all day, Monday through Friday. They can sound amazing, but if they aren’t comfortable then I’m not going to wear them. When I pulled them out of the box, I had expected the MOMENTUMs to be uncomfortable. They were smaller than I was expecting. Instead, I noticed was how little pressure the MOMENTUMs put on my ears. They fit securely, but didn’t feel like they were clamped on. That has made a huge difference in my comfort level. Often, unless they’re huge, over the ear headphones push on my industrial. By midday it’s achy. But the difference in the way the MOMENTUMs apply pressure made a huge difference.

A little plug for my friend’s band.

Vinyl & CD

The first test I tried with the MOMENTUMs was to listen to some of my vinyl with them. I wanted to get range of styles, so I listened to parts of Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials, The Faint – The Danse Macabre, Devil to Pay – Fate is Your Muse (my friend’s metal band), and Weezer – The Blue Album. They sounded amazing. Both the music and the vocals sounded great. I wouldn’t have minded a little more bass, but that’s what an equalizer is for. I compared them to my husband’s Sony MDR7506 and felt the sound was leaps and bounds better. Granted the MDR7506s are still kicking from his days as a sound engineer for a concert lighting and production company, so that may affect how they sound today.

In case you were wondering where the pink for the site came from.

Digital

Testing vinyl and CDs is all well and good. But most of the time, I’m listening at my desk at work. My headphones are either plugged into my work PC, my Galaxy S4, or more recently my iPod Nano. One of the cords included in the box has an iPhone/iPod remote on it, and the remote was responsive and a nice extra feature if you’re an iDevice user. I found myself drawn to use my iPod more with these because the files on my iPod are at a higher bitrate and sound better to begin with and these headphones made that quality difference more clear.

Overall

I really dig these headphones. They could be improved by having a feature that allows them to fold flat, but my particular use doesn’t make that a huge deal (my headphones live at my desk). The only build issue I noticed at this point was the case zipper pull wanted to slide out often (consequently, I lost one of them. Sorry about that). I appreciate that the cord on the headphones is interchangeable, since this is most likely to be the point of failure. (It’s actually where my Panasonics failed). And you don’t want to have to replace a set of $300 headphones because of a cable. But overall, they’re solid and look good as well. If Sennheiser hadn’t asked me to use these in a giveaway, I would have kept them for myself. Instead, I’m putting them on my birthday wish list.

You can buy the over-ear model of the Sennheiser MOMENTUMs from Amazon for $299.95.

Update (2/18/2015)

Since this review I picked up my own pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. And yup, the sound quality was being affected by age. I also have bought my own pair of Sennheiser MOMENTUMs (well, my husband got them for me for Christmas. But the point is they weren’t a review unit), so I was able to further compare the two. I don’t think the MOMENTUMs sound $200 (the approximate price difference) better than the Sony’s. In fact, I prefer the Sony’s for my vinyl setup. But I prefer the MOMENTUMs for my iPod or for using with my phone. They just do better with compressed music.

I also prefer the MOMENTUMs for long term listening. They don’t get as hot (they have leather earpads, where the MDR-7506 have synthetic), and the padding is memory-foam like. Comfort is very subjective though, and the fact that I have a smaller head and ears might mean they’re a little on the small side.

Overall, I still love the MOMENTUMs. They’re comfortable, stylish, and are great for on-the-go listening.

The Giveaway

As part of the MOMENTUM campaign, Sennheiser is asking users to start their own MOMENTUM chain, or add to another. Chains are focused around sound, and we’ve started one to see how it sounds when you geek out. I’ve uploaded a video of me playing a record, because vinyl is the thing I’m geeking out about the most at the moment. Head over to the MOMENTUM site to watch the video. And then add your own geek sounds to the chain. (Plus, it enters you to win in the Sennheiser giveaway too).

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