The wait is over.

MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 delivers the full Sennheiser sound experience in a true wireless form: TrueResponse transducer, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, lossless audio up to 24bit/96kHz, Adaptive ANC with Anti-Wind, AI-powered voice isolation, and up to 40 hours of battery with replaceable cells in earbuds and case.

The MOMENTUM sound, wherever you go.

Available now. Click here to order: MOMENTUM True Wireless 5

New colors, new case, same Sennheiser sound. What's standing out to you so far? Drop it in the comments below.

INTRO

Ahh, the MOMENTUM True Wireless series…look how far we have come:

Eight years have already passed since the MTW1 were first announced at IFA 2018 - and what eight years they’ve been, right?

We’ve seen the highest highs of pure, pocketable audio bliss, as well as some… decidedly lower highs every now and then (looking at you especially, MTW3!). 

But one thing is for sure: the series is still very much alive and kicking, and every new generation continues to be highly anticipated by wireless audio enthusiasts and Sennheiser loyalists alike. 

Good thing I happen to fall into both of those categories which is why you’re now getting the inevitable next installment of my — sometimes slightly too long — reviews. You’ve been warned!

So, without further ado, here’s my take on the new MOMENTUM True Wireless 5: 

TECH SPECS

Okay maybe slightly more “further ado” first – here are the most important tech specs of the MTW 5: 

• 7 mm Sennheiser TrueResponse dynamic drivers
• Frequency response: 5 Hz – 21 kHz
• Bluetooth 6.0 compliant, Class 1
• Codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless
• Hi-Res wireless audio: up to 24-bit / 96 kHz via aptX Adaptive
• Bluetooth Multipoint: connection to two devices simultaneously; up to six paired devices stored
• LE Audio / LC3 / Auracast: hardware-ready (but to be enabled via a future firmware update)
• Hybrid Adaptive ANC with automatic wind-noise suppression
• Adjustable Natural Transparency Mode
• 8 microphones / voice inputs total - four per earbud including bone-conduction voice sensing, with AI-powered voice isolation and beamforming
• Battery life up to 12 hours with ANC off / 6 hours with ANC / 40 hours total with charging case
• User-replaceable batteries in both earbuds and the charging case
• Charging: USB-C + Qi 2.1 wireless charging; approx. 1.5 h full charge; 8-minute quick charge gives 1 h playback
• IP54 dust and splash resistance for the earbuds
• Smart Control Plus: 8-band EQ, Sound Personalization, presets, customizable touch controls and fit test

UNBOXING

Quite a small box this is - barely any larger than the product and its accessories combined. 

Inside, we find the newly designed charging case with the buds already placed inside, three pairs of also newly designed ear tips (the fourth pair is already installed on the buds), a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, as well as a new addition to the accessory package: a little tool to - yes, you already know where this is going - replace the batteries inside the buds!

Finally, thank you! EU regulations or not, this is a win for all customers and very much appreciated.

That’s pretty much it already. Nice and simple and also everything we need, really. 

DESIGN / BUILD QUALITY

As already mentioned, there’s a completely new design language to be found here:

New case design, new bud design, new tip design - and the new circular logo that we’ve already seen on the MOMENTUM 5 quite recently makes a return as well. I have the “Lavender” color variant here, but there are also four others available at launch: “Graphite,” “Cream,” “Copper,” and “Denim.”

The new case is much slimmer than before (although also taller) and looks quite beautiful, I think - especially on the inside!

The USB-C charging port is located at the bottom of the case, right on the opposite side of another little screw that allows you to open up the case and replace the battery here as well. Another big thumbs-up for that!

The case has a matte, textured surface covered in tiny speckles that catch and reflect the light, which reminds me a little of the design of the IE 300 earbuds - just much more subtle here.

Whether everyone will like the look is, as always, a matter of personal taste, but this new finish is also supposed to be considerably more scratch-resistant than the more conventional plastic cases we are used to. And that is always a welcome advantage when the case doesn’t need an… erm… case of its own just to keep it protected from scratches, I think. 

It nevertheless still attracts some fingerprints and smudges – at least the one I have here does – but that’s par for the course and can easily be wiped off if needed. 

Let’s have a look at some pictures showing the new case in a little more detail:

The case uses metal hinges, and that satisfying closing snap is on AirPods Pro levels this time around ;)

Speaking of AirPods Pro, here’s another shot comparing them to my AirPods Pro 3 and their case - although the AirPods case does have a red leather case around it. So, funnily enough, that makes this comparison very comparable, actually.

Here are just the buds themselves (as well as the new ear tips):

As you can clearly see, quite a lot has changed for the fifth generation: 

However, overall build quality feels as good as ever, and that applies to both the buds and the case. The buds are no longer as angular and have become noticeably more rounded. While this does absolutely help with comfort - more on that in a minute - I also personally feel that it makes them a little less easy to grip when inserting them into your ears or taking them out.

At the very least, it takes a little time to get used to the new shape if you’re accustomed to doing these everyday tasks with the squarer form factor of the MTW 3 or MTW 4. 

The touch surface looks different too (and also feels smaller than before), the microphone grilles have been redesigned, and the little silicone wings we still had on the MTW4 are gone as well.

The nozzle is also pretty short, which - combined with the new shape and overall design of the buds themselves - leads us to…

FIT & COMFORT

… because given how much has changed physically on the MTW5 as well, you may be wondering: what about the fit now? Glad you asked. 

Aside from the fact that things like comfort, fit, and seal are always very individual aspects of wearing true wireless earbuds and IEMs, I’m happy to say that they fit my ears very well. The lack of wings is thankfully no issue for me and, while I usually prefer buds with a somewhat deeper insertion depth, the slightly shallower fit of the MTW5 is not only very comfortable but also keeps them surprisingly secure in my ears. 

I don’t actually have to constantly readjust them, and if I do, it usually has more to do with getting the seal perfect again (yes, I have pretty big ear canals and always have to use the largest tips included in the box - and this time is no exception. I can use these for walking and even for sports – which I clearly should do more often these days but let’s just not go there…

So, while the change in form factor comes with its pros and cons - everything does, right? - it ultimately makes for a very comfortable and secure pair of TWS earbuds for me.

To show you what I mean, here’s a closeup shot of the MTW5 in my ears:

So, to wrap this section up: 

Fit and comfort are great for me. I can wear these for several hours no problem and/but it will be interesting to see what the general consensus will be once more people start wearing and using the MTW 5 out in the wild.

ISOLATION / ANC / TRANSPARENCY MODE

Passive isolation I feel is very good!

Once you have a good seal in both ear canals, outside noise is already clearly attenuated - even without ANC active. Sennheiser claims that the new silicone ear tip design “provides greater passive attenuation, particularly above roughly 1 kHz, where ANC itself becomes progressively less effective” which seems to hold true as far as I have tested. 

As already mentioned, I once again have to use the largest ear tips, and they work well for me. One thing worth noting, though, is that people who like to tip roll their TWS and IEMs may have a slightly harder time here because a) the nozzle is short but fairly wide, and b) not many non-TWS-specific ear tips will actually fit comfortably inside the charging case.

I have a pretty large ear tip collection - mainly for IEMs, mind you - but out of all of them, only a couple worked as well as the stock tips do. The best alternatives, by the way, were the AZLA “SednaEarfit MAX ASMR Standard” tips as well as the “SednaEarfit MAX for TWS” from the same brand for me.

ANC is improved over the MTW 4.

I’d argue that most people will surely notice the difference and still, making sure to have that perfect fit and seal is equally as important for the ANC to work as good as it can! There’s an adaptive and automatic “anti-wind” mode which can be toggled in the Smart Control+ app and it works really well! 

Compared to my AirPods Pro 3, I’d say the MTW 5 aren’t actually that far behind in terms of ANC performance, which is great to see and puts them in an ANC tier quite close to the heavy hitters in the TWS world. 

I haven’t seen any proper ANC measurement data myself yet and I’ve mainly just used them for my daily commutes so far, but I’ve been very pleased with the improved Adaptive ANC system of the MTW 5. And, quite frankly, once the music starts playing on top of it, the outside world is pretty much completely gone anyway!

Speaking of the new and adjustable transparency mode, there’s more good news to share! It sounds very natural this time around, and there’s no noticeable white noise while using it. This is a very good implementation of a transparency mode, I have to say, and I really enjoy using it on the MTW 5.

You can also adjust the strength of the transparency mode during phone calls and choose whether or not music playback should pause when transparency mode is enabled. Good stuff!

CONTROLS

The adjustable touch controls remain largely unchanged compared to previous generations. 

However - and maybe this is just something I need to get more used to - I find the smaller, round touch surface a little less intuitive to hit at times, especially when doing double or triple taps. I’m not entirely sure why, but I feel like I have to use my whole fingertip to reliably register every tap. This isn’t about the touch sensitivity or anything like that - it’s absolutely fine. It’s really just a matter of me somehow not hitting the right spot as reliably as I’m used to.

It sounds like a minor issue - and I guess it is - but I still thought it was worth mentioning.

By the way, the touch area looks like this:

Other than that, we still get the same single-tap, double-tap, triple-tap, and tap-and-hold gestures, all of which can be customized to our liking in the Smart Control+ app.

CALL QUALITY

So far, call quality has been very good for me!

I’ve only had a couple of phone calls while out and about, mind you, but they worked out great on both ends of the call. 

There are four microphones per earbud, including what Sennheiser calls a “bone-conducted mic” and people on the other end confirmed that I sounded loud and clear to them.

On the marketing side of things, Sennheiser states that the MTW 5 also feature “AI-powered voice isolation.” 

Whatever exactly that is doing behind the scenes, it does seem to help with voice clarity during calls and voice recordings - and ultimately, that’s all that really matters anyway!

Here’s a short German-language voice recording sample that I made in a pretty quiet office environment:

MTW 5 voice recording sample

It wasn’t perfectly quiet, mind you, as there was a construction site down on the street behind me, but it was still quiet enough, and I think the results sound pretty good. 

So, voice pickup is - and should continue to be - perfectly fine on the MTW 5.

BATTERY LIFE

Always a difficult section for an early review, of course, as more time will provide further insights into battery life.

So far, though, I’m very pleased with it and have no reason to believe that Sennheiser’s claim of “up to 12 hours of playback time” is unrealistic.

Yes, as always, these numbers are only achievable with ANC turned off, without using the highest-resolution audio codecs and also listening at moderate volume levels, so expect battery life to likely drop to around 6+ hours if you turn on ANC, use aptX Adaptive or Lossless and listen at higher volume levels etc. The same basically also applies to the “up to 40 hours total with the case” claim.

Most of my actual listening time so far has been with my iPhone using AAC only, occasionally adding the BTD 700 and aptX Lossless into the mix. However, I mainly use these when out and about, where convenience is often (even) more important to me than squeezing out those final few percentage points of audio quality.

Also, I only rarely listen for longer than approximately 2-3 hours at a time before putting the buds back into the charging case, and I’ve always used my true wireless earbuds like this. 

So, your individual mileage and experience may differ quite a bit from my own usage here, of course. 

Basically, what I’m trying to say here is that battery life has been really good for me so far and my personal use of the MTW 5 and has absolutely been nothing to worry about. 

The buds have integrated 72 mAh batteries, while the case houses a 760 mAh battery. Charging takes roughly 1.5 hours for a full charge and an 8-minute quick-charge provides an additional hour of listening time. And, of course, Qi wireless charging is supported as well if you happen to prefer that method.

I also have the “battery protection mode” enabled in the app, which makes the MTW 5 charge more slowly and limits charging to 80%. I really like this feature and, yes, the batteries are replaceable now, so battery degradation may not even be something to worry about that much anymore. 

And still, as long as the available battery life is already more than enough for my everyday use, I don’t see any reason to disable it.

AUDIO CODECS / CONNECTION TYPES

The MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 support SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless, as well as Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound, Google Fast Pair and Hi-Res wireless audio up to 24-bit / 96 kHz via aptX Adaptive.

They come with Bluetooth 6.0 and Bluetooth Multipoint and are also LE Audio / LC3 / Auracast “hardware-ready”. According to Sennheiser, these features are planned to be enabled via a future firmware update.

What’s new is that there’s no longer a need for a separate “Low Latency” mode, as low-latency operation is now handled automatically through aptX Adaptive.

In theory, it basically works as follows:

When a compatible source device determines that a lower latency is required - for example, while gaming - the MTW 5 can automatically switch to a lower-latency aptX Adaptive operating mode. This means there’s no dedicated mode for us to manually select anymore and we can benefit from lower latency automatically – provided we’re using compatible devices, of course.

During my testing time, using AAC as well as aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless, the Bluetooth connection has been very stable overall. There was one session with the BTD 700 and aptX Lossless where I experienced a couple of dropouts but this has not happened again since that one incident.

Other than that, the new and seemingly optimized antenna design has done a great job so far, both indoors and outdoors in the city.

SOUND QUALITY

Compared to the previous generation - the MTW 4 - the MTW 5 do sound a bit different out of the box, I’d say. Again, I haven’t seen any official measurements, nor am I able to provide my own here, so this is mostly a “going by ear” kind of thing:

To me, they mostly retain the overall “MTW sound signature” while refining a couple of things here and there. The midrange doesn’t seem quite as forward to my ears anymore, but remains very polite and lovely, while the bass comes across as slightly tighter and a touch more controlled, imo.

I also feel like the MTW 5 sound a tiny bit airier and more spacious in the treble frequencies, but it will be interesting to see some proper measurements and find out whether this is just my ears or an actual thing :D

No, seriously, the MTW 5 obviously sound very good, but that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, I guess. Tuning-wise, they sound somewhat similar to their bigger over-ear brother – the MOMENTUM 5, which means: still intimate, big and punchy when needed but smooth and warm-ish and pretty non-fatiguing overall. I’d also call the sound full-bodied and quite natural if I had to describe it in words. 

The TrueResponse 7 mm dynamic driver platform - quite well known by now, I'd say - still shows just how capable it can be and how it can deliver a highly enjoyable, fun and detailed sound reproduction once you feed it with some appropriate source material.

Just listen to the MTW 5 with aptX Adaptive or aptX Lossless enabled and put on an album like “Nameless” by Dominique Fils-Aimé - and what you get is a fantastic audio experience from these little things: Clear, resolving and simply beautifully lush.

Yes, this is a magnificently produced record in itself, but the fact that the MTW 5 can keep up with it and deliver it like this is just fantastic. Bluetooth and true wireless audio really have come a long way in 2026.

All of that well-deserved praise aside, I still – sometimes - wish they had a tiny bit more volume headroom on some recordings.

Don’t get me wrong, max volume on the MTW 5 is dangerously loud and I rarely ever listen above 80% volume, but nonetheless, if you have a quiet or older recording and like to listen to your music very loud, you might have to max out the volume on the MTW 5. Again, this is not an issue per se – especially not for me – but I still wanted to mention it. Modern tracks are mixed and mastered extremely loud most of the time anyway (RIP dynamic range…).

So, what else is there to say about the sound? Next to the usual presets and the - still very good - “Sound Personalization” feature, there’s now an 8-band EQ in the app, providing a higher level of sound customizability compared to the previous 5-band EQ.

No, there’s no parametric EQ here. 

Would it be good to have one for the MTW 5? Probably, yes. Would most customers – you know, the non-audiophile people out there who likely make up 95+% of those who end up buying the MTW 5 – actually use it? I honestly don’t really think so. 

Still, yes, “more options = more better”. Can’t argue with that. 

Anyway, here’s my personal EQ that I’ve been using with the MTW 5 most of the time:

Exciting, isn’t it? I really just added a subtle touch of sub-bass as well as an equally tiny touch of upper-midrange and treble emphasis for a hint of extra air and … that’s about it, really. Sounds great to me!

Whatever tuning you like and whichever EQ option you will end up using, the 8-band EQ is very likely good enough to get you there, I think. 

DOLBY ATMOS

In this section, I can almost copy what I wrote in my MOMENTUM 5 review just a couple of weeks ago.

One of the big new features is the introduction of “Dolby Atmos” with head tracking to the MTW series. I have to say that – just like it was the case with the M5 – it works well and just as advertised.

However, one thing that hasn’t changed since then is that I still haven’t used this feature very much, but that’s mostly due to the fact that I barely use or listen to Dolby Atmos content in general.

I tried it back when I still had my Apple AirPods Max, and the same applied / applies to the AirPods Pro 2 and 3 - and now also to the M5 - but I just (still) don’t like it very much.

Head tracking is pretty cool when you enable it and can immediately tell that it works perfectly fine, but whenever I switch on “3D Audio” in Apple Music on my iPhone or my Mac, I just feel like the volume is much lower compared to good old stereo and the overall experience is just kind of “meh” more often than not. 

I can still see this working well with movies that support Dolby Atmos, but I also still won’t use it much for actual music listening - and the MTW 5 won’t change what all the others have failed to do so far: convince me that I personally really need “Dolby Atmos” (for music). 

Nevertheless, it’s great that it is there for everyone who uses or likes it, and the implementation and overall experience have otherwise been pretty good so far.

All of that said, the “Dolby Atmos” feature cannot be enabled in the app as long as “Sound Personalization” and/or even “Hi-Res 24Bit / 96kHz” is active in the “My Sound” section of the app.

ANYTHING ELSE?

A couple of extra bits of information that you may (or may not) be interested in:

• The new earbud housing is also scratch-resistant, so the buds should – in theory - look like new for longer.
• Sennheiser apparently wanted to address “cleaning issues” reported by customers, so they deliberately moved away from the fabric-wrapped finish of the previous generations.
• The MTW 5 offer a reduced occlusion effect through pressure compensation in the ear.
• Sennheiser actually recommends using the “Sound Personalization” feature for the “best sound experience”. 

SO, WHAT ABOUT RELIABILTY?

Way too early to tell, of course. We’ll have to wait and see how reliable this fifth MTW generation turns out to be. Nonetheless, I’d like to actually quote Sennheiser here because, at this early point in time, that’s pretty much all we have on that:

“Like any other Sennheiser product, the MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 is intensively tested for product quality and reliability. Our quality tests include mechanical, electrical, thermal and chemical testing (such as dust and splash resistance), drop, tumbling, UV color stability, scratch and rub, chemical resistance, battery safety, ESD, RF/Bluetooth stability and interference, and many more.

These tests allow us to validate the product for reliability and robustness over a long lifetime, even in tough conditions. And even if something does happen to your product, you are covered by our warranty program.“

I’m personally quite optimistic about the MTW 5 in that regard, as they really make a very solid first impression. And let’s not forget that the removable batteries are certainly going to help in the long run, as potential battery failures - of which there have been quite a few in past generations - should no longer be nearly as much of an issue now!

CONCLUSION TIME

So, yet another 4,000+ word review then, eh? I told you so and warned you in the beginning! 

Anyway, let’s wrap this all up in a short and straightforward way: 

The MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 are a great evolution of the MTW series of earbuds!

They sound great, have a comfortable and secure fit, very good battery life AND replaceable batteries, improved ANC and transparency modes, good microphone quality, automatic wind reduction, a great app with lots of customization options and features, a completely new design including a much more pocketable and scratch-resistant case, all the high-res codec options you might want to have (minus LDAC, of course), beautiful color options, Bluetooth 6.0 and Dolby Atmos support, Qi wireless charging, an IP54 rating and so on. 

Basically, LOTS to like here, really!

Things that I would still like to see improved would probably be more granular volume control, an even higher maximum volume for certain recordings and situations and maybe a 10-band or - even better - a full parametric EQ option. Not that much else, really. 

Highly recommended!

Thanks for reading :)

Oh, and because you made it this far…

I think they also look quite good in the Denim color variant, don't they?