Sennheiser announces Momentum 4 earbuds and revamped sport buds with health sensors

Sennheiser’s latest exercise-focused headphones, the Momentum Sport, are sturdy enough to handle the stresses and strains of a sweaty workout and sophisticated enough to track your heart rate and body temperature. They’re being announced today as part of a trio of new Sennheiser headphones at CES alongside the company’s new flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds and a new pair of over-ear Accentum Plus headphones.

Heart rate-sensing earbuds have been around for at least as long as true wireless earbuds themselves, but they’re still far from commonplace, and the feature hasn’t appeared in Sennheiser’s previous exercise earbuds like the Sport True Wireless. According to Sennheiser’s press release, its new Momentum Sport earbuds can track your heart rate using a built-in photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor and sync with sport devices and apps from Apple, Garmin, Strava, Peloton, and Polar. In particular, the earbuds will be able to send biometric data in real time to the Polar Vantage V3 smartwatch during a workout, Sennheiser says.

Otherwise, these have many of the same features you’d expect from a pair of sports earbuds. They’re IP55 rated to withstand dust and water splashes (read: sweat), and they have a semi-open design that’s meant to help you stay aware of your surroundings. But if you’d rather keep the outside world out, then there’s also adaptive noise cancellation. Battery life is rated at up to six hours for the buds themselves, extending up to a total of 24 hours with the charging case. (Charging via either USB-C or Qi wireless is supported.) Available codecs include AptX Adaptive, AAC, and SBC.

If you’re after something less rugged and more premium, Sennheiser is also announcing its new flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds today. Here, the focus is less on durability and more on sound quality. The earbuds come with support for Qualcomm’s AptX Lossless technology, which delivers lossless CD-quality audio when paired with a compatible device as well as support for new technologies like the power-efficient Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast, which allows one-to-many broadcasting. You also get adaptive noise cancellation for good measure.

Battery life is rated at up to 7.5 hours from the earbuds themselves, rising to 30 with the charging case, rivaling our top pick for the best true wireless earbuds available today, the Sony WF-1000XM5. The case can also be charged using either USB-C or Qi wireless charging.

Finally there’s the Accentum Plus over-ear noise-canceling headphones. These come with up to 50 hours of battery life, touch controls on the ear cups, and support for AptX Adaptive and multipoint connectivity. They charge via USB-C, with 10 minutes of power delivering a claimed five hours of listening, and there’s a 3.5mm port for when you want to plug into a wired audio source.

Sennheiser’s three new devices are releasing in the coming months. The Accentum Plus are shipping first on February 20th for $229.95 (€229.99 / £199.99), followed by the Momentum True Wireless 4 on February 29th for $299.95 (€299.99 / £259.99). Meanwhile, the Momentum Sport will arrive with their heart rate and body temperature sensors on April 9th, when they’ll retail for $329.95 (€329.99 / £259.99).