News

Sennheiser doesn’t rush its new products — especially within the best earbuds market. It’s been over two years since the launch of the Momentum True Wireless 4 and, even back then, I remember the brand saying at my product briefing that they were already at work planning ahead for potential EU regulations. Which regulations specifically? That the batteries within these tiny earpieces may well need to be user-replaceable in coming launches.

Those laws are still on the horizon… sort of. Other brands have had their complaints, saying the rules force tiny devices to be bulkier and less waterproof, so there are now various exceptions. Sennheiser, though, stuck to its plan. With the launch of the Momentum True Wireless 5, the company is proving that user-replaceable batteries are possible even in products as small as wireless earbuds.

Longevity is only one part of the story when it comes to these new buds though. Much like the new Momentum 5 over-ear headphones, they’re stuffed full of upgrades. They’ve now got a refreshed premium design, a different shape and fit, improved noise-cancelling and transparency, refined sound, and extra features, such as immersive Dolby Atmos audio and aptX Lossless high-res streaming. Spoiler alert for the rest of this review, but they’re the complete package.

After more than two weeks of use, the Momentum True Wireless 5 (or MTW5) have quickly become my new favorite wireless buds for just about anything and everything. They’re quite clearly the flagship to beat in 2026.

To my ears, they’re better-sounding than the top rivals from Technics and JBL, with an enjoyable, neutral, yet non-fatiguing sound that caters to critical listening. The improved ANC is now only a slight step behind Apple, Bose and Sony’s best, and that gap is close enough to barely matter for most of us.

Crucially, the Sennheiser buds are highly customizable with the Smart Control Plus app, an intuitive platform that I find to be one of the best companion apps in the business. Should you want to, you can adjust the sound, tap controls, ANC levels, codecs in use, battery preservation, and more.

The sustainability credentials and long-term usability make them easy to recommend. But once you add in their natural audio on a wide soundstage, high-end style, comfortable fit, and smart companion app features, the Momentum True Wireless 5 might just be the best buds out there for the money.

• Launched in September 2026
• Sells for $300 / £250 / AU$499

How much money, though? For high-end earbuds, you expect a high cost, and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 are launching at the competitive price of $300 / £250 / AU$499.

Unsurprisingly, that puts the MTW5 pretty much in the mix with the rest of the flagships. Apple’s AirPods Pro are $50 cheaper at $249, but these directly compete with Sony’s WF-1000XM6 — costing $329 / £250 / AU$499.95 — and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) – for $299 / £299 / AU$450. And, of course, luxury or boutique pairs such as the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 ($399 / £349 / AU$599) or Master & Dynamic MW09 ($349 / £319 / AU$599) will still cost a fair chunk of cash more.

No matter how you look at it though, these are pricey for most of us. But once you factor in the replaceable batteries, it’s easy to see how these could keep you going for longer than others on the market. And these are the first premium buds from an audio brand to have this repairability feature, with Fairphone's Fairbuds being essentially the only other rival even attempting it. So, kudos there.

Drivers

7mm dynamic

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Battery life

Up to 12 hours per earbud, 40 hours in total

Weight

7g (per bud)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Frequency range

5 Hz-21 kHz

Waterproofing

IP54

• User-replaceable batteries (for both the buds and the case)
• Bluetooth 6.0 with seamless multipoint switching
• Head-tracked Dolby Atmos spatial audio

The replaceable battery is the headline feature here, of course. It’s a big deal because the batteries are what's most likely to degrade first in your earphones. Until recently, the glued-in cells in wireless buds have meant that, one way or another, they’re destined to be e-waste in only a matter of years.

Sennheiser includes a battery replacement tool for the buds in the case, and you can access the case battery and the bud batteries with the help of a tiny screwdriver. Luckily, the required screwdriver is the one I have on hand to adjust my glasses. To do my due diligence for this review (even though these fresh buds would be a long way away from needing their batteries replaced) I’ve gone through the process of opening up both the case and buds, and can confirm it’s easy enough as long as you follow the instructions on how to use the included tool. Just be careful as you’re dealing with delicate, small parts.

I also spoke with Frank Foppe, the product manager for the MTW5, and I asked how long they’re made to last before a battery replacement might be needed. He confirmed that about 80-90% of the capacity should remain after 500 charge cycles. That’d mean you could use them every single day for two hours and get to four years of use before you notice much of a difference.

And, while Sennheiser isn’t yet able to confirm the cost of replacement batteries, once those are available, they should make a big difference to the longevity of the MTW5. You could realistically buy these earbuds, take care of them, replace the batteries and keep them working for well over five years or much more (as long as all other parts remain functional).

Right now, you should get 6 hours of playtime with ANC on, and up to 12 hours with it off. Sennheiser claims an ANC-off battery life totalling 40 hours once you factor in the charging case, which seems to be about right in my testing. I ran a test playing a Spotify playlist for three hours at 50% volume with ANC on, and had 60% remaining, which confirms a single-charge runtime of around 7.5 hours, a little better than Sennheiser’s estimate. Recharging is via the USB-C port on the case or wireless charging, and a quick charge of eight minutes gives you an hour of use.

Much like the MTW4, Sennheiser has also made these a “future-proof” pair of earbuds when it comes to the feature set. They include several abilities other current launches still lack, and they have the brand’s excellent battery protection feature (to slow down charging and limit the charge level to 80%), which is another way they’re designed for long-term use.

You’ve got Bluetooth 6.0 with Snapdragon sound, a low-latency mode, support for lossless audio and 24-bit/96kHz streaming, Dolby Atmos head-tracked immersive audio, reliable wear detection, excellent multipoint switching, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair, and upgraded microphones for better noise-cancelling and transparency, along with LE audio and Auracast (not at launch, but promised for a future firmware update).

While I’d found ANC on the MTW4 “effective”, I’d say the new version definitely takes things a step further. We’ve now got four microphones per earbud (plus bone-conduction voice sensors for calls), which is up from three per bud on the predecessor. In all the environments where I’ve used noise-cancelling – including coffee shops, city streets and the London Underground – I’ve found my music or podcasts still audible at reasonable volumes without needing to turn it up to overpower the noise.

The wind-noise reduction kicks in quickly and is also excellent, and I should know, as it’s been particularly windy on my walks lately! Noise-cancelling, overall, feels quite natural while still being capable enough to silence a great range of outside sounds, adapting well to changes in your environment.

But it still isn’t quite the “bubble of silence” ANC that you can get from the AirPods Pro 3 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds! I don’t find that it’s a difference that matters that much anymore, but it’s worth knowing that there’s even more powerful ANC out there.

Transparency is brilliant, though, and up there with AirPod models for how natural its passthrough of the outside world is. I also love that turning on transparency pauses your audio. I listen to podcasts a lot, and having a one-tap way to pause and get awareness is fantastic for quickly saying hi to the cashier at my local corner shop. I also tested the microphones with calls and voice notes. They’re decent at isolating my voice when playing loud, busy cafe background noise, but with the occasional missed word or two. That said, they’re good for outdoor calls and great in a quiet room.

• Features score: 4 / 5

• Neutral sound on a wide soundstage
• Excellent detail and warmth for a non-fatiguing listen
• Highly customizable in the app

Sennheiser markets these as “engineered for serious listeners” and I don't disagree. They’re not really made with bass-heads in mind, and have more of a neutral approach when compared to some consumer sound profiles. But they’re also not sterile, offering warmth, depth and smoothness. You get just enough weight and control to the bass, a natural midrange and crisp highs, plus a lot of flexibility to adjust the sound to your liking.

If you know much about the previous generations of these earbuds, all that I’ve just said won’t come as a big surprise. While there are slight refinements to the sound, these essentially sound about the same as the MTW4 and MTW3 before them. They use the same 7mm TrueResponse dynamic drivers from the predecessors, and one notable benefit over rivals is a greater width to the soundstage and a palpable sense of instrumental separation.

Billie Eilish’s Oxytocin is a fantastic test track for these buds — with effects zipping across the mix, perfectly centered lead vocals, and breathy backing vocals coming at you from all sides. I played the spatial mix from Apple Music and switched on Dolby Atmos, and it’s definitely a convincing implementation of the processing. As my playlist went on, I began to encounter tracks not mixed for spatial audio, though, and you’d need to manually turn off Atmos so those don’t sound a bit weird.

I far prefer Dolby Atmos over most proprietary spatial options, so I appreciate its presence here, but I’d make sure you only use it when listening to playlists or albums full of tracks optimized for Atmos. It works best with Atmos-certified content, and in those cases much of the processing will be done on the source device.

Head tracking works, but it’s still not essential. The fixed spatial audio is plenty, and I still recommend mostly using this mode with films and TV shows designed for immersion, rather than music, which can be a little more hit-and-miss. I tested it with Severance on Apple TV and found it enhanced the eeriness of the quiet sound design and the dialogue clarity.

I tested bass with my go-to low-end thump test, the slow-burn sub-bass of Massive Attack’s Angel. The MTW5 excel, not coming off as overly bloated or boomy, but instead clear and textured. Vocal and midrange realism is where Sennheiser’s natural tuning pays off most. Listening to Coldplay’s Clocks reveals more detail and subtleties I don’t usually hear. And I moved on to the busy mix of Muse's Supermassive Black Hole, where every element feels defined, without the smearing you so often hear from lesser drivers. The width of the soundstage makes for a more engaging listen and, when combined with the tightness of the bass and detail in vocals, I’d say they’re a pair that’s ideal for a relaxed listening experience.

They’re so non-fatiguing that I can keep listening for hours and hours. The most intense audiophiles may still have their nitpicks, as these are tuned more for musical enjoyment than they are for being analytical, but I really think there’s very little that can’t be solved with the 8-band EQ. A full parametric equaliser (as on the HDB630 over-ears) would’ve been a great customization feature, but it’s also one that many users wouldn’t find intuitive.

Sennheiser’s Sound Personalization is a companion to EQ, and is a blend between a preference test and hearing evaluation, where you tweak the volume of different instruments to your liking, and then use a slider to find the lowest level at which you can hear the sample track. The result still sounded great for me, but I ultimately found that I prefer the default “Neutral” after comparing the two.

My honest view on the codec support is that it’s very easy to get lost in the weeds with it all, and far more of this is marketing than most of us tend to admit. The high-res aptX Lossless codec is present, but only kicks in with compatible Android sources, so you may not be able to engage this mode anyway.

I tested it with the Fairphone 6 Plus, which supports the full aptX suite, but it wouldn’t shift out of Adaptive. But this isn’t surprising given that “Lossless” is more of a “mode” hiding inside aptX Adaptive. Basically, this can all get a bit confusing, and there isn’t a substantial difference. A competent codec like AAC will give you quality with virtually no audible difference from aptX, thanks to Sennheiser’s great tuning and driver design. If you have a phone supporting aptX Adaptive, you may hear a tiny difference, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

These sound superb, so you’re not losing anything by choosing “Robust connection” instead of the “Advanced sound quality” mode. You won’t be able to tell them apart, and you’ll get to use every feature (Atmos is unavailable if you turn on high-res, for example).

• Sound quality score: 5 / 5

• New, premium design with a shallow fit and slim case
• Comfortable to wear all day
• Screws for the user-replaceable batteries

Fans of the fabric-wrapped case may be disappointed to see how Sennheiser changed things up with the MTW5. The buds now live in a slim and lightweight, textured plastic casing with a shiny circular logo on top. This case has a sturdy metal hinge, one of the best I’ve tried, and the USB-C port is now at the bottom left (it used to be on the front of the older design). On the case and buds, you’ll see the screws needed for changing batteries, but the earphones are still IP54 dust- and splash-resistant.

The fabric case of the MTW4 I tested quickly picked up a big scuff, so I’m hardly mourning its departure. In fact, everything about the MTW5 feels significantly more premium to me. Another added benefit? This svelte approach is far more pocket-friendly.

The buds themselves are very shiny, which I quite like but may divide opinions, and they’ve got a different form factor, at a similar size and weight (7g per bud vs 6.2g for the MTW4). They’re on the chunkier side, so are harder to recommend for those with the smallest ears. They now fit in a totally different way from the predecessor, too, with a much shallower fit and no stability fins. Despite lacking the fins, they actually fit me slightly better.

Even more than with other buds I’ve tried, you absolutely must double-check your ear tip sizes with the four options in the box (I needed a larger tip size in my right ear than in my left). And try not to twist them too much, as I’ve found that can break the seal and introduce friction noise when you walk while ANC is on. A gentle turn is all you need to lock them in place, and with the new thicker silicone tip material Sennheiser uses, they shouldn’t budge. With a good fit, it’s a secure seal that offers great passive noise isolation.

Aside from being shiny, the buds have a more curved look (a bit reminiscent of the Sony WF-1000XM5) and an “anti-wind” design, with a visible grille covering the mics at the front. They’re still controlled with customizable tap gestures, but the touch target is now noticeably smaller, and it’s one of my few (minor) negative points. I find you have to be pretty intentional about where you tap, because it’s easy to miss and do a single tap when you intend to double-tap.

Overall, I’m a big fan of the rounded, stylish new design, and I love that it comes in a more expansive range of colors (Graphite, Copper, Denim, Lavender and the Cream shade reviewed here) than the likes of AirPods or Sony buds. But you might find these distractingly shiny and not suit the shallow fit or chunky body. How much you like them will come down to personal preference.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

• Competitive with other high-end buds
• Feature-packed and premium
• Loads of rivals, but very few offer replaceable batteries

Sennheiser is not short of competition. The key rivals are the AirPods Pro 3, Sony WF-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen), JBL Tour Pro 3 and Technics EAH-AZ100. In direct comparison, though, the MTW5 is packed full of features that some of these lack, and they deliver a natural and clear sound instead of the bass-forward sound of many other buds.

Ultimately, though, Sennheiser’s value argument comes down to how it offers user-replaceable batteries. Assuming these batteries are under $50, you won’t be forced to throw away your $300 pair when the cells naturally degrade in about three to four years or so. That’ll help if you consider them as a long-term investment.

With that said, the landscape won’t stay the same. New buds with replaceable batteries will eventually launch, and many will surely be cheaper than this too. For flagship quality in sound, design, comfort, and battery life, though, I’d bet Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 5 will remain some of the best buds you can buy for years to come.

• Value score: 5 / 5

Section

Notes

Score

Features

The app gives you loads of ways to customize the buds to suit you, and they have all the features you could want.

5/5

Sound quality

These are a fantastic-sounding pair of buds, prioritizing detail, clarity and smoothness on a wide soundstage.

5/5

Design

I’m a fan of the new look and fit, which is sleeker and shinier, but may still be a little bulky for small ears.

4.5/5

Value

They’re an investment, but offer a lot to compete with flagship rivals, and have replaceable batteries that other pairs lack.

5/5

You want earbuds for the long run
Switching out batteries for fresh ones after years of use means you should be able to own these for far longer than others, so they’re ideal for anyone hoping to escape the upgrade cycle.

You like a balanced and natural sound
Sennheiser is known for its trademark natural sound, wide soundstage and relaxed listening experience – these impress on all counts.

You want a premium and comfortable design
The new subtly rounded bud design and slimmer charging case are much more premium than Sennheiser’s old buds and much of the competition.

You need the absolute best ANC around
This is a minor but notable shortcoming, so if you want top-tier noise-cancelling, you’ll still need to go with Apple, Bose or Sony, as these are still a step or two behind the class leaders.

You’re on a budget
I can argue that they’re good value and competitive with other flagship wireless earbuds, but this is still a lot to spend on buds, even if they’re some of the best around.

You don’t like shiny earbuds
There’s no getting around it; whichever color you pick, they’re eye-catching and shiny, and that’s an unavoidable aspect of the design.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen)
If superior noise-cancelling is your top requirement, these are some of the best options out there; it helps that they’re also comfortable, immersive, and offer dynamic and powerful audio that adapts to your unique ear anatomy. Read our full Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) review.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4
The older model is still stacked with features even when compared to today’s rivals, so it’s worth considering if you can pick up the MTW4 at a discount – they’re great all-rounders with detailed and balanced sound, strong battery life and future-proof Bluetooth support including aptX Lossless, LE audio and Auracast. Read our full Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review.

Technics EAH-AZ100
Our current top pick for wireless earbuds overall, the Technics flagship won’t disappoint with its secure and comfortable fit, nuanced and customizable sound and control, and excellent triple-device multipoint connectivity. Read our full Technics EAH-AZ100 review.

• Tested for over two weeks
• Paired with Android, iOS and macOS devices
• Used during multiple activities

I tested the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 for over two weeks, pairing them with my iPhone 17 Pro, MacBook Air, Fairphone 6 Plus and Activo P1 music player, all of which allowed me to thoroughly test different codecs and multipoint connectivity.

I took them with me everywhere and I used the earbuds while on the London Underground, at coffee shops and while walking on city streets to test the active noise-cancelling capabilities, and I used them for long listening sessions while working to evaluate battery life. I tested calls and microphone recordings, and ran a controlled battery test to see how much they drained over the course of three hours. While testing, I listened to podcasts and music from a wide variety of genres, mostly streamed from Apple Music but also on Spotify and Deezer.

I've been testing gadgets since 2020, and I've reviewed countless headphones and earbuds, including several flagship earbuds including those from Bose, Apple, Technics, JBL and Sennheiser, and I previously tested out the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 and Momentum True Wireless 4.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: September 2026