Sennheiser Teases Wireless Earbuds With Triple Battery Life AirPods Max

Sennheiser Teases Wireless Earbuds With Triple Battery Life AirPods Max

Considering a set of Apple AirPods Max or another of the best over-ear headphones currently on the market? Maybe read this first; you'll just have to wait until August for them to come out.

Sennheiser has just officially unveiled its Momentum 4 wireless noise-canceling headphones ahead of their confirmed global arrival in August.

The German brand has quite concisely revealed the first official images and details of its highly anticipated wireless boats, which will succeed 3's Momentum 2019 Wireless, but we do have a few key tidbits. And one in particular is really impressive.

Three years is quite a long time between headphone iterations in the ever-changing world of wireless audio and Bluetooth technology, but 2020 hasn't been a good year for anyone. And given the information we now have, Sennheiser has clearly used the time to go back to the drawing board and start over, rather than tweaking and refining an older model for its latest release.

The Momentum 4 Wireless promises "best-in-class sound, advanced adaptive noise cancellation, and an all-new design for exceptional comfort," and that gray fabric that covers the headband (which looks a lot like the one that adorns the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 and the older Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 charging case) is definitely a new direction for Sennheiser's flagship earbuds.

Opinion: With this spec, Sennheiser could rule them all

The headline here is the claimed battery life, at (frankly unbelievable) 60 hours. Whether or not that figure is there with ANC in place remains to be seen, but given that Apple's higher-end AirPods Max only offer a third of that, at 8pm when listening with ANC and Spatial Audio on, that's a bold claim. .

Do you need another reference? The Sony WH-1000XM5 can go up to 30 hours with noise cancellation on or 40 hours with noise cancellation off, which is a two hour improvement over the still excellent WH-1000XM4.

We still can't say how Sennheiser managed to stretch the battery to 60 hours when Sony could only squeeze an extra two hours out of its flagship wireless earphones, even after a drastic upgrade. .

But we do know to expect an "audiophile-inspired 42mm driver system" with slightly angled drivers to "ensure sound is channeled slightly from the front toward the user's ears," which should promote a "more natural soundstage." .

Elsewhere, we can anticipate advanced voice pickup for optimized calling and voice assistant access, as well as "multiple customizations to allow users to tailor sound to their unique preferences."

Will we see Bluetooth 5.3 and support for Bluetooth's new Auracast audio exchange protocol, which should arrive in the coming months? We don't know yet, but given Sennheiser's track record, it seems likely.

The price is also still free. But remember, Sennheiser's new headphones have actually brought the launch price down from their predecessors, so a starting fee of less than $399.95 (about £280 / AU$500) is hardly out of the question... And wouldn't that be nice?