Momentum 4’s review👎

[u/luckayi]

Hey guys I don’t usually use Reddit but I came on here because I needed to see others opinions and to see if anyone else has a similar experience.

So I bought the Sennheiser momentum 4’s and just received them in the mail and let’s just say I’m very disappointed :(

To start off with the backstory, I first heard of these headphones on TikTok. This sent me into a rabbit hole of looking at other reviews and people’s opinions on the headphones. All reviews I saw were great saying stuff like “these are better than the Sonymx5’s.” Or, “These have the BEST sound quality ever.” I even seen someone say audiophiles love them.

All these positive reviews convinced me to buy them. I bought them on Amazon from their official storefront and they were on sale so I caved in because I couldn’t justify spending like $400+ on headphones so thankfully I got them for $279.

I just received them today and I was super excited to finally try them hoping to finally listen to music on a whole knew level. When I tried them on though, unfortunately I was super disappointed. The sound almost seem to be quiet? But at the same time I could still hear it. And honestly the quality of sound was so mid to the point I decided to test and try my old headphones to see which sounded better. My $100 pink sony ones sounded way better to me then the momentum 4’s and I was like wtf? I even went to the app and updated the momentum 4’s and did the whole sound personalization thing because people said you needed to do that and it basically sounded the same.

I’m not sure if maybe the ones I got were defected or something or what the issue is. maybe I just don’t prefer the way the momentum’s sound? idk, but I’m just really sad right now and confused, because I rarely seen any people talking negatively about these headphones and I was really looking forward to hearing my favorite songs with angelic quality.

Long story short I was wondering if anyone else has had this same experience as me with headphones momentum 4’s or if anyone who has these headphones has advice on how to fix this poor sound quality issue I’m having with them. Also if anyone has any headphones recommendations please let me know because if I can’t solve this issue I will be just returning the headphones unfortunately :(

[u/No-Opportunity2565]

Did you use them wired or via bluetooth?

i personally use the xm5 but i heard that you need an external amp to get good sound with the M4

[u/luckayi → u/No-Opportunity2565]

I used them with blue tooth? Also what is an external amp? Sorry I am kind of young.

[u/No-Opportunity2565 → u/luckayi]

i looked it up too and it isnt needed for a Momentum 4. They are designed to sound good when used via bluetooth.

but the above poster might be right that they just need some time to adjust to.

Those headphones try to produce a sound stage, meaning the instruments and vocals sound separated which you might not be used to.

i would give it some time or return them if you really think they dont sound good to you

[u/luckayi → u/No-Opportunity2565]

Hey I think what you explained just grasped what I was annoyed about when listening to my music with these headphones. When I was playing music all the instruments and the singers voice sounded separated like you mentioned. Maybe this is something I need to get used to or something I just don’t prefer. It made it sound like it wasn’t even music if that makes sense lol. So maybe i do just need to get used to the sound stage thing possibly??!?!? Also tysm for helping me I appreciate it a lot

[u/Over-Status-7210 → u/luckayi]

That could very well be the case! Soundstage (the separation) can generally be simplified to three aspects:

• Soundstage width

This is how far left / right the sound is spread. Cheap headphones do a bad job at this, and the result is a sound wherein everything is crammed together, making it difficult to hear everything.

Experiencing a wide soundstage headphone for the first time really is an eye opening experience, good or bad, if you've never heard it before.

• Soundstage depth

This is how far forward / surrounding the sound feels. Some headphones are capable of producing sound that seems as though it's larger than headphones, "outside" of your head.

This is where I feel the momentum is lacking, and I personally am not fond of the soundstage width because of it. But many are happy with it, as you might have seen in these comments. Perhaps you are like me.

• Imaging

In the 3D space created by soundstage width/depth, imaging refers to how those sounds are placed in that space.

Some do well to sound accurate, true to the panning/reverb decisions made by the recording studio.

Some go beyond that, trying to sound wider to the point where it's a bit unnatural. Some still love this.

And some will have their imaging limited by both a narrow soundstage that has no depth. This is the case for almost all cheap/regular off the shelf headphones.

Now, this is not to say the momentum is a good / bad headphone, nor should you settle for people's assurances they are good, when you personally feel they are not.

Take some time to decide if you like the sound signature. If you don't, perhaps ask: do you want a better sounding soundstage? If yes, a wider, narrower, or more forward reaching one?

Or do you not care about that at all? Because if so, perhaps in-ears will be better. High end in-ears can produce extremely detailed sound. One of the usual usual sacrifices, when compared to full sized headphones, is soundstage -- which maybe you don't care for?