Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2022
Initial Review: May 21, 2022:
Before I start, I like to begin mentioning that I believe that any good quality earbuds/earphones should reveal the sound(s) for what is was originally and naturally intended, thus it should not reproduce the sound artificially and/or overwhelm the integrity of the original intended sound.
Everyone will have their different opinions and feedbacks; everyone all has different standards and expectations, so something to consider when reviewing my review.
Whenever I write my reviews, I make sure that I'm mindful with the length of my reviews as I understand that some of us don't like reading long reviews. So, I try to be as straight forward as possible, while still trying to also be detailed.
My reviews are more based on usage, so if you're wanting a review with technical specs/data (i.e., exact dimensions of earbuds, driver size, frequency range, total harmonic distortion, etc) and other technicalities, then my review might not be good for you. However, if you want to know if the Sennheiser Momentum 3 (m3s) true wireless earbuds (TWE) might be good or bad for you, then here it is.
If you are simply wanting to know how the m3s compare to the Sennheiser Momentum 2 (m2s), then fast forward towards the end of the review.
I've categorized my verdicts into 7 categories: (1) sound quality; (2) battery life; (3) carrying/charging case; (4) quality of mic/call quality; (5) Fitment/Use Type and Controls; (6) connectivity; (7) noise cancelation
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of sound quality:
Sound Quality (why it might be good for you):
If you want clear, accurate, smooth, and rich sound, then the m3s are for you; if you mainly listen to music such as jazz, classical, pop, rock, instrumental, podcast, and vocal-intensive tracks that are instrumentally and vocally heavy, then the m3s are for you. The m3s thrive in this kind of musical/sound spectrum.
Sound Quality (why it might be bad for you):
If you’re into bass and/or mainly listen to bass heavy music, then the m3s are not for you (why – because although the bass is adequate for my taste and the bass is neutral and not overproduced, the bass might not be what you’d like it to be if you like some good bass. If you want superior bass, maybe the Sony WF-1000XM4 and/or Bose QuietComfort might be good for you). The m3s mainly provide clean and organic bass, so if you want more bass, try the Sony or Bose.
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of battery life:
Battery Life (why it might be good for you):
With an appropriate sound level, I got approximately 4.5 hours on a single charge. It’s also important to note that it takes about 10 minutes to provide 1 hour of batter life; which is impressive. If you don’t constantly use earbuds on a daily basis and don’t mind charging the carrying case 1-2 times/week, then the m3s might be good for you.
Battery Life (why it might be bad for you):
If you use earbuds on a daily basis and often have them on mid to high volume levels, the m3s might be bad for you. If you’re looking for a TWEs with great battery life, consider other options; here are a few options that have significantly better battery life than the m3s: Edifer TWS1 Pro (10hrs); Master & Dynamic MW08 (9hrs); Jabra Elite 7 Pro (8hrs); Sony WF-1000XM4 (7.5hrs); Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros (6hrs)
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of carrying/charging case:
Carrying/charging case (why it might be good for you):
If you don’t mind a Keurig-sized carrying/charging case, then the m3s might be good for you. Also, the case is able to charge the m3s approximately 3 times from empty to full, and with a 10 minute charge in the case, it provides the m3s with 1 hour of battery life. I'm a bit annoyed with the size of the case; however, it isn't a deal breaker for me; it's more of an eye sore whenever I look at my bulging pocket.
Carrying/charging case (why it might be bad for you):
If you don’t want a case bulging from your pocket, then the m3s are not for you (why – because I believe the case is a bit tall (height) and no angle is going to prevent it from bulging from your pocket). There are several TWEs out there that have a smaller carrying/charging case; to mention a few: Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros (it’s shape like a pebble, so it’s short in height); Jabra Elite 7 Pro (much smaller in terms of width and height). In terms of size, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros are my favorite; however, in terms of function, it's probably the worst given the angle it takes needed to put/remove the earbuds from the case.
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of quality of mic/call quality:
Quality of Mic/Making phone calls (why it might be good for you):
One thing that many people disregard with TWE is mic quality/call quality. One of the big things I look for when it comes to TWEs is mic quality/call quality (in which how well the other caller can hear me). I drive a lot, so it annoys me when I’m calling my bank or contacting customer service, and the representative can't hear me loud enough and/or clearly as they hear background noise from driving.
If you like being able to be heard clearly and loudly from other callers, the m3s might be good for you. The m3s offers great mic quality, it is able to moderately suppress background noise. Overall, I haven't received too many complaints from other callers. When compared to the Jabra Elite 7 Pros; Sony WF-1000XM4; other several TWEs I’ve used in the past, the m3s beats them in this category by a mile. Even the m2s was mediocre on making phone calls, so the m3s are much improved for making phone calls.
Quality of Mic/Making phone calls (why it might be bad for you):
If you want to be heard even better (more clearly, loudly, and suppress background noise), I found that the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros is able to do just that. So, if making phone calls is very important for you, the m3s might not be good for you). Similar to my situation with the m2s, the sound quality was there, but the phone quality wasn't there, so I ended up getting and sticking to the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros (as it both had the sound quality and mic/call quality that I wanted).
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of fitment/use type/controls:
Fitment/Use Type and Controls (why it might be good for you):
If you’ll be mainly using the m3s casually, commuting to work, wanting a comfortable fit, then the m3s might be good for you. Fitment wise, the m3s fit great. There are several ear tips to choose from, but the default one was sufficient for me. I would feel confident running in them, but I know the m3s aren’t really intended for that use, so I’d rather use a different TWE for running. Length of wear time is good; I feel that I can have them on for hours without having ear fatigue.
In terms of controls, I found the touch control to be responsive and accurate. As of now, I haven’t had any accidental presses and I always knew what I was pressing since I’m able to customize the touch controls via Sennheiser Smart Control App. The one thing I wish the m3 had regarding touch controls is getting some voice confirmation on what I had activated/deactivated; for example, the Jabra Elite 7 Pros would give me a confirmation on what I had activated/deactivated every time I had touched the button. Aside from the m3s lacking the voice confirmation, the m3s touch control is sufficient for my use.
Fitment/Use Type and Controls (why it might be bad for you):
If you’ll be mainly using the m3s to run/jog/work out, then the m3s are not for you (why – because the m3s are rated IPX4 (water resistant) and although fitment is secure for daily use, fitment is not highly secure for exercising purposes). Since the m3s are rated IPX4, it’s not going to be exactly the best TWE to work out with, especially if you sweat heavily. Also, if absolute fitment is key to you, I suggest probably the most secure TWE with customizable fitment is the Ultimate Ears (UE) Fits; these literally can precisely mold into your ears. Other options to consider might be the Jaybird Vista 2, Beats Powerbeats Pro, Bose Sport Open, and the Anker Soundcore Life Dot 2; all these are better than the m3s in terms of fitment/use type.
Regarding controls, everyone is going to have their preference (touch controls or physical controls?). For me, I prefer physical controls as I like the affirmation and tactile feeling of knowing that I had pressed a button. With touch controls, sometimes you can’t even tell if you had press something intentionally and/or unintentionally; therefore, I prefer physical controls. So, if physical controls are important for you, then the m3s might not be good for you. Consider the Jabra Elite line (e.g., 75t, 85t, 7 pro, etc) if physical controls are important. If you don’t mind the touch control, then the m3s might be good for you. The m3s have much of a better touch control than some of the TWEs out there; to name a few, m2s (not always consistent and wasn’t always accurate), Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros (one of the worst touch controls as they are very sensitive); Sony WF-1000XM4 (touch control was decent and better than the Liberty 3 Pros and m2s, but not better than the m3s). Although physical buttons is my preference, for me, it’s not one of those deal breaker features.
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of connectivity:
Connectivity (why it might be good for you):
The m3s have Bluetooth 5.2, aptX Adaptive, aptX, AAC, and SBC. These are all great connectivity features, only if you have devices that support these; if not, then it won't matter; although having it is better than not having it. Since the m3s support 5.2, this means Bluetooth range is great and pairs much faster to devices than TWEs that are on 5.0 or 5.1 Bluetooth. For these reasons, the m3 might be good for you.
Connectivity (why it might be bad for you):
The m3s might not be a good for you if multi-point is an important feature for you, which if you don't know, multi-point allows the connection of two devices. So, this might be a deal breaker for some people; however, multi-point can be added in the future with a firmware/software update.
Verdict for why the m3s might be good/bad for you in terms of noise cancelation:
Noise cancelation and Transparency mode (why it might be good for you):
If you’ll be using the m3s while commuting and while at the office, then the m3s might be good for you. The noise cancelling on the m3s are great (8 out of 10). Even without having adaptive noise cancelation on (passive isolation), the passive isolation is impressive and sometimes is sufficient where I just disable the adaptive noise cancelation to save battery. So, when you don't have active noise cancelling turned on, it still feels like it's on because passive isolation really blocks out background noise well. The m3s also don’t have that cabin pressure effect that the Sony WF-1000XMF have. Since I commute a lot, I can say that I can comfortable have the windows mid-way half down and still be able to listen to music without any interruptions from the wind noise; one of the great features of the m3s is being able to customize your settings through the Smart Control App; there's a feature in which is primary intended to block wind noise.
Regarding transparency, if you want detailed and close to natural sound as if you aren’t wearing earbuds, then the m3s might be good for you.
Noise cancelation and Transparency mode (why it might be bad for you):
If you’ll be using the m3s in very noisy environments (e.g., stadium/arena full of people, busy malls, busy call centers, outside construction, and/or anything with that nature), then the m3s might not be good for you (why – because although the m3s have great passive noise isolation and great active noise cancelation, however, it is not superior in the noise cancelation category. If you want superior noise cancelation, maybe the Sony WF-1000XM4 and/or Bose QuietComfort might be good for you; the Sony’s or Bose will be more sufficient to block out most if not all background noise of a stadium/arena full of people.
Regarding transparency mode, to put it simply, if you have transparency mode turned on with the m3s, the outside will sound very detailed; so if you don’t like that, then the m3s might not be good for you.
Overall comparison between the m2s and m3s:
-Loudness drastically improved from the m2s; even at max level volume, the m2s didn’t seem that loud; however, with the m3s, it gets very loud and have yet to reach max level volume (wouldn’t want to do that anyway).
-Nose cancelling have drastically improved from the m2s. The nose cancelling from the m2s is a bit of a joke as it feels that it only reduces background noise by approx. 5-10%. However, with the m3s, background noise reduced approx 80%; this is a big jump from the m2s.
-Mic/call quality significantly improved from the m2s. I really wanted to keep the m2s at the time because of the sound quality, but settled for the Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 because the mic quality on that thing is one of the best in the industry. So, now that I’ve been using the m3s and have noticed a significant improvement form the m2s, I’ll be selling my Soundcore Liberty Pro 3 and keep the m3s.
-Touch controls have significantly improved from the m2s and are less sensitive, yet naturally responsive. The m2’s touch controls were a bit finicky and didn’t seem well-developed; however, the m3’s touch controls are accurate, responsive, and well-developed.
-Sound quality considerably improved from the m2s. Although the m2s sound quality were already great to begin with, the m3s appears more articulate and detailed, thus sound quality is excellent as opposed to the m2s.
-The design has considerably improved; the m3s appears sleeker and no longer have the shiny aluminum finish (my personal preference) from the m2s. The m3s are also smaller and weighs less than the m2s.
-The m3s are cheaper than the m2s when they were first introduced (however, the m2s are now cheaper due to the availability of the m3s).
One of the reasons why I returned the m2s were because the call quality and/or mic quality was mediocre; this is why I ended up getting the Soundcore Liberty Pro 3s because the mic quality in addition to the sound quality was excellent.
My overall take:
I've tried many true wireless earbuds, endlessly searching for the right ones. To name a few: Sennheiser Momentum 2 (currently $199), Jabra Elite 7 Pro (currently $199); Jabra Elite 85t (currently $229); Jabra Elite 75t (currently $215); Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro (currently $129); Master & Dynamic MW08 (currently $299); Bose QuietComfort (currently $279); Sony WF-1000XM4; Apple AirPods Pro; Klipsche T5 II McLaren Edition; Bowers & Wilkins PI7 (currently $400); Grado GT220 (currently $259); Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EQ (currently $399).
Based on my numerous attempts from trying my numerous TWEs, I hope you can tell that I like quality sound and although I won’t consider myself an audiophile, I can differentiate between quality sound and poor sound. Originally, I ended up with the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros. The sound quality is amazing, almost just as good as the m2 and m3s; however, where the Liberty Pros lacked was with its weak noise cancelling, awkwardly having to put and take out the earbuds from its case; fitment wasn't always great; touch controls were overly sensitive. After a few weeks and usage of the m3s, I can say that the m3s are one of the best TWEs that I've tried. I've been wanting to replace the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros for awhile now due to the annoyances that I've mentioned earlier, and the m3s have taken my spot in terms of best overall TWEs (for my use and preferences).
I plan on trying the Technics EAH-AZ60-K ($229) to see if it can beat the m3s. I'll update my review once I receive it. If not, I plan on keeping the m3s for awhile. For now, I'm happy with the m3s. I plan of updating my review to 5 stars if the m3s is still able to beat the Technics. Likewise, if I have start having problems with the m3s, I’ll adjust my review accordingly.
Updated Review: June 02, 2022:
Here’s an update (and why I’ve decided to keep the M3s):
As mentioned earlier from my initial review, I would only give the M3s 5 stars if it held up to the Technics AZ60s.
So here’s the update:
*Call quality is very important to me; that’s why I previously had the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros (L3P) as I believe it’s the best true wireless earbuds (TWE) for both audio quality and phone/mic quality. However, I ended up getting rid of the L3P due to several reasons (e.g., ANC was mediocre, connectivity issues, odd fitment, touch control sensitivity issues, and a finicky case). For these reasons, I decided to give up the L3P and try out the M3s. So, after trying out the M3s, I decided to try and compare it to the Technics AZ60. So here’s my take between the M3s and the AZ60:
*Both have very good mic quality, but I thought the Technics AZ60 had better a better mic quality; however, it only shines in environments with minimal background noise. In contrast, the M3s seem to do a better job overall in call quality/mic use in both noisy environments as background noise is less noticeable than with the AZ60s. As soon as there is heavy background noise, the AZ60s voice clarity and quality start to deteriorate.
*The max volume level on the M3s is one of the loudest (I have yet to have it on max volume as I wouldn’t want to) from the other TWEs I've tried in the past. In contrast, the AZ60s don't get to a level high enough where it would hurt my ears if volume maxed out (a similar issue with the L3P).
Verdict:
I've decided to bump up my review to 5 stars as I believe the M3s were able to hold off the AZ60s. Although, here's why I WOULD have kept the AZ60s:
*The AZ60s case is almost less than half the size of the m3s. This is not too much of a big deal for me, but it just annoys me to see the M3s case bulge out in my pocket. Although the case quality is much better on the M3s, I don’t mind the case quality of the AZ60s as it is fairly a straight forward case, that’s small and light weight, which I prefer.
*The sound quality on the AZ60s is slightly better the the M3s in terms of clarity and richness; although bass is a bit more prominent on the AZ60s than the M3s.
*The AZ60’s provide voice feedback/confirmation whenever pressing/tapping the touch control (e.g., “noise cancelling on,” “transparency on,” etc.); whereas the M3s offer no kind of confirmation after tapping/pressing the earbuds.
*Noise cancelling on the AZ60s are somewhat identical to the M3s; however, I believe the AZ60s is slightly better, with about a 2% edge over the M3s.
Here's why I DECIDED to keep the M3s:
*Phone/Mic quality is probably the most important factor for me when it comes to TWEs; secondly, it would be the sound quality. I could not fathom why there are a lot of reviews out there praising the call quality from the AZ60s. Yes, the call quality is great, but ONLY in quiet environments. Overall, it does a terrible job, as I mentioned earlier, on being able to suppress the background noise from my end to the other caller. I've done multiple tests to test the call/mic quality by leaving myself voicemails in different environments (e.g., driving with the window up/down; walking in a busy street; being near a large crowd, etc), and I found that it doesn't make any sense to have a high quality mic, when voice gets distorted from the background noise. I only found the call quality from the AZ60s to be great in quiet environments. However, the M3s did a great job on suppressing background noise from my end to the other caller.
Due to the reason above and reasons mentioned prior to this update, I’ve decided to keep the M3s and return the AZ60s.
Hope this helps.
