Sennheiser Has the Perfect Gym Earbuds
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport pairs top sound quality and noise-canceling with a secure fit and a tough weather-resistant build quality.
Gym earbuds are an odd category. Despite Bluetooth earbuds now being generally excellent, with many great options across the price range, and despite many people listening to music when they exercise, there has really only been one great pair of workout earbuds: the Powerbeats Pro from Apple.
Despite the Beats branding, they are not particularly stylish and are fundamentally just sweat- and weather-resistant AirPod Pros. However, this makes them much better than most other options.
Competitors are so focused on the sports’ essential features —a more secure fit in the ear, sweat resistance, and increased bass — that they forget that you still want them to sound good. And so, even AirPods Pro’s quality is leaps above the rest.
For years, they have been the only workout earbuds I could solidly recommend, other than wearing your old earbuds and just accepting that, in time, they will die from the sweat. However, Sennheiser has taken the formula of the Powerbeats Pro and applied it to their industry-leading earbuds, the Momentum 4, and the Powerbeats are solidly out of the lead.
On a fundamental level, the Momentum Sport buds are essentially the Momentum 4 — so expect basically the same sound quality and noise-cancelling that I raved about in my review — but IP55 weather-resistant, sweat-resistant, slightly bigger, and come with adjustable wing-tips to lock into your ear. They also swap the stainable but small fabric-lined case of the Momentum 4s for a large, durable rubber-lined case perfect for your gym bag and come in black, dark grey, or a fun green and orange color.
They are not as comfortable as the Momentum 4s, but that’s necessary for the durability and in-ear lock-down. Regardless of my running, VR, or weight lifting vigor, they haven’t once fallen out or even slipped in my ear, which I can’t remember ever experiencing with a pair of earbuds. They also are very customizable with a range of tips and wings.
The other addition is their range of sports sensors, which are cool and remove the need for other wearables you might buy, but I’m not certain of either their usefulness or reliability. Namely, the Momentum Sport has an optical heart rate sensor and a temperature sensor with data handled courtesy of the wearable company Polar. Though you can access this in their app, it comes as standard in Sennheiser’s own app, which also allows you to customize sound settings.
The heart rate consistently appeared in the app, and ear contact is likely to produce more accurate data than a wrist-bound smartwatch, for example, but I can’t tell the accuracy or utility of the temperature sensor. Maybe the temperature readings are accurate, but I couldn’t test that without running with a thermometer in my ear, and it’s not revelatory or useful to know my body is warmer when I’m working out.
The biggest sticking point is the price, as this added durability and sensors take them above the already premium Momentum 4s $300 price tag to $330. If you don’t care about music quality that much, only exercise intermittently, or do short intense workouts, you should save your money and just use an old pair of earbuds. And even if you do, but just don’t care about having the very best, the Powerbeats Pro are still great, are currently down $90 to a reduced price tag of $160.
Are the Momentum Sports twice as good, given that they’re twice as expensive? No. But if you want to listen to great music while you’re out running or block out the awful music or cable TV at your local gym, the Sennheiser Sport are a big step up, and there’s no better option than these.
My one caution: don’t expect them to be your all-in-one earbuds because of this price. The most comfortable earbuds for all-day use sit lightly in your ears and are small, whereas the best gym pairs—like the Momentum Sports—have to lock securely into your ears and be built to take a beating. This means that they are comfortable for sports earbuds, but I wouldn’t want to wear them for six hours straight. After 90 minutes of wear, I found their pressure against my ear to get a little sore, and I was happy to switch back to my normal pair.