Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless 80th Anniversary Edition marks an audio milestone

Sennheiser has done the best they could to mark this moment in time, which is with the best headphone they currently sell

This sort of longevity is rare. For any tech brand to be doing what they are, for 80 years straight, is no mean feat. Turns out, Sennheiser has achieved that milestone this year, of delivering audio as the artists intended it to be heard. Very few brands have had that sort of stamina, and in recent years, there have been moments of competitive sparks from the likes of Sonos, Bose, Sony and Apple. But largely, the Sennheiser sound signature, one that has always maintained a continuity of balance and purity, continues to be just that. Despite market pressures, an illustration of which is to sculpt the bass to sound more powerful, or heavy audio processing to forcefully try and reproduce finer details. There perhaps isn’t a better celebration for this milestone, than an 80th Anniversary Edition of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless headphones. Their best headphones at this time lead the celebrations.

There was absolutely no reason for Sennheiser to change the underlying hardware or the physical form factor, and they haven’t. (Official image)

Over time, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless has seen price corrections bringing the current market price close to ₹20,990 from the highs at launch, of ₹34,990. The 80th Anniversary Edition of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless gets a slight premium, priced at ₹22,990. For all intents and purposes, the audio hardware remains as it is with the standard versions of this headphone. However, that meets a design created by graffiti artist Bond Truluv, a collaboration that adds a dash of yellow to the headband and the graffiti design on the earcups. Each of those has a different theme too — the design on the left earcup is supposed to be a nod to the transformative power of music, while the right earcup is trying to represent technical precision that is important to good sound. The infusion of yellow, Sennheiser insists, is a nod to the legacy of the HD 414 introduced in 1968.

My only contention at this point is, would a typical premium Sennheiser customer really be comfortable wearing this colourful concoction in public, perhaps a business class flight or while sitting in an airport lounge? The standard Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless’ more subtle colours (Denim is a personal favourite, if I had allocated money to buy one), may just be a better fit in that scenario. The attempt to appeal to a more youthful audience is appreciated, but think of this as one choice and not the only choice. I feel more typical Sennheiser flagship headphone buyers may still want the subtlety, over this exciting colourway.

There was absolutely no reason for Sennheiser to change the underlying hardware or the physical form factor for the 80th Anniversary Edition of the MOMENTUM 4 Wireless. The headline capabilities include a 42mm transducer in each earcup, battery life that can go as long as 60 hours, adaptive noise cancellation that is standing up to tough competition from the efforts of Sonos, Apple and Dyson, as well as a neat Sennheiser Smart Control companion app (mind you, it isn’t as easy to make a slick app, as some audio makers have shown in recent years).

Sennheiser’s always got the balance between design, comfort, and performance spot on. By keeping familiar hardware foundations, that doesn’t change here as well. Sennheiser’s neutral sound signature still comes across as a refreshing approach in an era when sound sculpting to make music sound richer, layered or uptempo, is largely the norm. Premium headphones, the category the 80th Anniversary Edition of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless sit in, still largely remains untouched, but a change in broader approach with competition may not be too far into the future. The companion app is your ideal port of call to tweak the sound as you’d want to, and the standpoint from which this builds, gives more than enough flexibility to do that effectively.

When the EQ is set that way, these over-years can be transformed into something quite bass heavy, a scenario that’s on-point if your playlists are mostly trance, techno, EDM or hip-hop genres. Alternatively, these headphones are versatile enough to become adept, with the right EQ alignment of course, to work brilliantly with vocals and the spoken word. The standout observation is the excellent mid-range frequency performance, which remains neutral and yet doesn’t get overshadowed by the lower mids. Higher frequencies too, which are the vocals, remain always crisp but never too much.

I have not tested Sony’s new XM5, but the 80th Anniversary Edition of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless certainly sounds a notch richer and more dynamic than the slightly more bass-leaning XM4 (the difference certainly stems from cleaner midrange frequencies). And gets very close to the likes of the Sonos Ace and the Dyson OnTrac. Audio is never a simple checkbox so to say, but my opinion is, Sennheiser’s endurance with the sound signature over the years has kept fans onside, and given one of the finest foundations from which to build an headphone audio experience.

Essentially, you must approach this 80th Anniversary Edition of the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless as yet another choice in an already fairly elaborate flagship headphone portfolio — Black, Graphite, White, Denim and Copper, being joined by the most youthful and visually exciting design till now. Sennheiser has done the best they could to mark their 80-year milestone, which is with the best headphone they currently sell. To that extent, and then in terms of the experience as well as flagship-grade character, it has all come together brilliantly. The only question to ponder is, have they gone too youthful in that pursuit?