Sennheiser Momentum 4 or Sony WH-1000XM5

Freddie1980 · 26 Aug 2024 at 15:26

I'm currently using a set of Sennheiser HD515's which I bought long time ago (before I joined these forums) and have been pretty happy with them, using them solely with my PC. However I would like to something I can take with me when I travel that's both wireless and has noise cancellation and after a lot of reading and searching I've identified the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 as being suitable for my needs. So if I go ahead and purchase one of these

a) Will there be a noticeable improvement/reduction in audio quality compared to my HD515's?
b) These headphones are required for all round use (PC gaming, music from my phone, noise cancelling, wireless) so should I be considering any other options?

My budget is flexible but I'm looking in and around the £300 level.

Freddie1980 · 31 Aug 2024 at 08:04

Participant said:
Look into the Denon Perl Pros if you haven't already.

Will do but they look like ear buds. Whilst there more practical being ear buds I'll be worried I'll end up losing them or dropping one while I'm out and not being able to find them.

Freddie1980 · 31 Aug 2024 at 08:15

So I watched a few reviews where these have been compared and the consensus is the XM5's have a better ANC and mic whereas the M4's have better audio quality and battery life and are generally a bit cheaper.

At this point I'm leaning towards the XM5's although I'd probably be happy with either. The only thing that's putting me of the M4's is the choice of materials as the the thin plastic body doesn't look that durable and looks like they might fall apart after a few years.

Freddie1980 · 5 Sep 2024 at 13:12

Andybtsn said:
I have just picked up the XM5s. My first impression of them regarding music is that they sound superb. However, I want to use them as my headset for work, so they'll be used primarily for Teams calls. The background noise that people will be able to hear is really poor, considering they advertise the below. I tested being in a call with my wife talking in the background, and the team's narrator started writing down what she was saying and me! This is one of the reasons I chose them. I'm tempted to take them back.

Thanks for the feedback, I probably wouldn't use these for work unless it was an emergency but that's good to know about the background noise.