Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless leak reveals a new, if familiar, design

Sennheiser‘s Momentum Wireless headphones have long been a staple of Stuff‘s Top 10 lists. Currently, the brand is on its third-generation Momentum product but the Momentum 4 Wireless is waiting in the wings. And now, we know all about it thanks to a Canadian online retailer that jumped the gun. This is weird because Canadians are more sensible with guns than their American cousins.

It’s mostly the look that was spoiled by this errant leak, though. The visual redesign is the largest change coming to the lineup anyway, but the leak itself doesn’t drop any specs beyond what is included in the product description.

Keeping the Momentum going

The list of features, as described, are items we could have guessed anyway. Adaptive noise cancellation, a transparency mode, and codec support are all listed. They’re also all obvious. Other features are just the usual suspects — smart pausing, excellent audio quality, and a folding design are listed. But it’s the Momentum 4 Wireless’ design that’s the real game-changer. For Sennheiser, anyway.

Rather than the classic collapsible design the Momentum series has used for ages, Sennheiser is opting for an all-new look. Perhaps unfortunately, it’s the same look just about everyone else has chosen for 2022. Sony, Bose, even Apple are taking a similar tack for their headphone designs. We’d have guessed that the Momentum 4 Wireless cans were produced in one of their factories, if not for the Sennheiser badge on the headband.

If everyone is doing it, it might be all right. Right? Well, that remains to be seen. They’ll certainly take up more space in your backpack. Sennheiser’s newest over-ears only fold flat, requiring a larger box to stick them in. But Sennheiser promises 60 hours of battery on a charge, and leaked Canadian pricing suggests they’ll be cheaper when they launch. A set of Momentum 3 Wireless cans, following a price dip, will cost you R7,000. Canadian pricing suggests that the fourth-gen headphones will rock up at closer to R6,500 when they launch. As for the launch date? Overseas estimates are later in August, so expect them in South Africa a little later.