An Amazon leak has revealed new information about the next Sennheiser wireless earbuds, which were teased by the company in a recent virtual briefing.
The UK listing for the Sennheiser Momenum True Wireless 3 was spotted by What Hi-Fi?, and has since been taken down – but not before we were able to get our first glimpse of the successors to the excellent Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds.
The listing revealed that the new true wireless earbuds will cost £219.99, which works out at around $280 / AU$380 – that's cheaper than their predecessors, which cost $299 / £279 / AU$499.95 when they launched in 2020.
It's also cheaper than the best wireless earbuds you can buy today, the Sony WF-1000XM4, and the ever-popular Apple AirPods Pro.
The now-deleted product page also revealed some of the specs we can expect from the new in-ear headphones, such as support for the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec, which should bring improved latency and high-quality audio.
The Sennheiser Momentum 3 True Wireless will also apparently come with adaptive noise cancellation, which allows the earbuds to detect the noise levels in your environment and automatically optimize how much sound they block out.
The noise cancellation offered by their predecessors was good, but not great, so this sounds like a welcome improvement that'll allow you to listen to your music without being disturbed by your surroundings.
Audio quality seems to be getting some improvements, too. You'll be able to personalize the sound of the earbuds via a guided listening test, or choose between a selection of EQ presets to really tailor the sound profile to your tests.
We loved the sound of the Momentum 2 True Wireless, so any enhancements in this area could make the next-gen buds a real competitor for the likes of the Sony WF-1000XM4.
We were also impressed by the battery life offered by the second-gen Momentum earbuds – and that's been improved for the third generation, too. The Momentum 3 True Wireless will offer seven hours of onboard battery life, with the charging case providing an additional 21 hours of playback.
Curse my weirdly-shaped ears
All those specs – and the new lower price – makes the Sennheiser Momentum 3 True Wireless sound like a very attractive prospect indeed. However, I'm not convinced that I'll actually be able to use these earbuds.
Frustratingly, I've never found the Momentum lineup of in-ear headphones comfortable enough to wear for long periods of time – which is a shame, because they really are among the best-sounding true wireless earbuds on the planet.
It's a problem I have with most earbuds that have large housings designed to sit snugly in the conch of your ear. While most people use these earbuds with no issues, something about the structure of my ears makes them unbearable to wear for longer than the time it takes to listen to a few songs.
I had a similar experience with the Sony LinkBuds. I loved everything about those unique true wireless earbuds, but was unable to use them for long period of time due to their shape.
While it's possible that the Momentum 3 True Wireless will fit differently to their predecessors, the images in the listing show a similar design. Saying that, the housings look to be more angular than on the Momentum 2, which could make a difference to my comfort levels.
I'll reserve judgement for now, but I have a feeling the Momentum 3 will be yet another pair of true wireless buds that give me more pain than pleasure; although that's not to say you shouldn't buy them when they're released. If the details in the listing are legit (Sennheiser hasn't confirmed its validity), these buds could be excellent for just about any set of ears – except mine.
