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Posted: 2018-12-19 20:48:42

There are only a few truly wireless earphones worth buying right now and Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless are one of them. At $300 (£279, AU$499), they're more expensive than Apple AirPods, Jabra's Elite 65t and Elite Active 65t and Bose SoundSport Free. But they sounds superior to those models with better bass and cleaner, more detailed sound. They also feature very good performance for making calls and offer a generally comfortable fit, though they're bigger than the Jabras and stick out of your ears a little more.

The Momentum True Wireless are expensive but sound excellent.

Sarah Tew/CNET

While the earphones have no physical buttons on them, they're equipped with a touch control scheme that works pretty well once you figure out exactly what it is. It's a good idea to run through the "help" tutorial in the companion Sennheiser Smart Control app for iOS and Android. It shows you the various taps -- or taps and holds -- for controlling track and volume, answering and ending calls and accessing your phone's voice assistant. Like other touch controls, these can be a little finicky, with some hit-and-miss taps, but they grew on me over time.

Other settings, including an EQ option that lets you tweak the sound profile, as well as a transparency mode that lets ambient sound in and slightly amplifies it, can be accessed from the app. Additionally, there's an auto pause feature that pauses your music when you pull one of the buds out of your ear.

Battery life is rated at 4 hours between in-case charges. That's a little less than what you get with competing models from Apple and Jabra that are rated at 5 hours. Like them, this Sennheiser comes with a charging case that has a built-in battery for charging on the go that delivers two additional charging cycles. While the case isn't as small as its Airpod and Jabra equivalents, it looks good and the buds adhere to their charging slots magnetically. I appreciated that the case charges via USB-C and that the earphones are equipped with the latest Bluetooth 5.0 technology.

They're a little bigger than competing models.

Sarah Tew/CNET

New York City, with all its conflicting wireless signals, can be notoriously difficult on totally wireless earphones. In my two weeks of testing these in the city, I experienced only minimal dropouts and a few pairing snafus. I thought wireless performance was generally quite good -- right there with the AirPods and Jabras. However, at the end of the day, what sets these earphones apart from the competition is their sound quality.

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