Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 vs Sony WF-1000XM4 Review - The new KING? 👑😲
Today we are going to compare the Sennheiser MTW3 to the Sony WF-1000XM4. And we’re going for deep dive into how they stack up in these areas: call quality, music reproduction sound and noise cancelling performance. But first, their call quality.
Call Quality Comparison
When I was comparing them in both quiet and noisy environments, I think the MTW3s did perform better than the XM4. In quiet conditions my voice did sound more natural on the XM4, yes, but under extremely noisy conditions, when it’s really being tested, the MTW3s are doing a better job at reducing background noise. To hear the difference for yourselves, listen to the samples here.
Noise Cancelling Comparison.
Both earbuds did about as well at cancelling low frequency rumble. But the Sony’s XM4 does seem to perform a bit better at muffling mid-range noises. It probably is the foam tips, but overall both the Sennheiser MTW4 and the Sony XM4 are quite close in terms of active noise cancelling. In terms of transparency mode, the Sennheiser;s do feel quite transparent, but you still get a bit of hiss in the background, so it does sound more like passthrough audio. In contrast the Sony's sound a little more clean, more transparent, almost like you’re not wearing earbuds at all. That being said, the Sennheiser MTW3 is not far behind at all in this aspect. Listen to the samples here.
Sound Quality Comparison
In terms of sound quality, the MTW3s sound more relaxed, and a bit more laid back in the mid range. So if you’re listening to anything with vocals, it sounds like the XM4 has a bit more attack and vibrance in the vocals. Vocals separation on the Sony XM4 also seems to be cleaner. That’s because the MTW3s seem to have a little bit of upper bass bloat that bleeds into the mids. However the Sennheiser do seem to place more emphasis on background detail and sound-staging, so while the XM4 sound just about as open, there is more airiness on the MTW3 with background details shining just a bit brighter. The frequency sweep below shows that the MTW3 has more emphasis in the high frequencies, that’s probably the reason.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 (Red) vs Sony WF-1000XM4 (Blue)
In terms of bass, the MTW3 presents a heavier thump, so if you like more muscle, more impact in your bass, it’s got that, but the Sony XM4 seems to emphasize on bass being more clean. It doesn’t have as much thump as the Sennheiser but it does have more texture. Listen here for the sound samples.
Bluetooth Delay
When watching videos on both iPhone SE 2020 and the Samsung Galaxy S22+, there was no noticeable lag. But that’s partly because video apps like Youtube have their own latency correction which minimises that lag.
Mobile games, don’t have that automatic latency correction. So when I was gaming with the MTW3s, I clocked in 218 ms of lag on the iPhone. That’s still a bit of lag when playing FPS games on mobile. Its syncing is a bit tighter on Android (198 ms) compared to the XM4 earbuds (229 ms), but the difference is so small that it’s not really possible to tell the difference without slow motion.
Conclusion
It seems that the Sennheiser MTW3 has caught up with the Sony WF-1000XM4. Its call quality is better, and it does support aptX Adaptive codec, which means it syncs across all Android devices, not just those that support Sony’s LDAC, but it is debatable whether most laypeople can even tell the difference with LDAC when compared to aptX HD.
The MTW3’s battery life is equivalent to the XM4 as well, though you do get more endurance, on paper, from Sony’s earbuds with up to 8 hours of battery instead of the Sennheiser’s 6, but in real use, folks usually put on earbuds while commuting, which is at most a few hours a day, that may not be a game changer, especially as both earbuds come with battery charging cases.
Sony wireless earbuds used to be way ahead of their competition, because the Sony Headphones Connect app was more feature-rich and had more custom options. But now the Sennheisers are coming very close after their big revamp of the Smart Control App.
There’s now transparency adjustment, its custom sound settings are almost as good as the Sony’s now, providing presets and a simple graphic EQ. It even offers something quite similar to Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control. They’re calling it Sound Zones. You can make presets of transparency levels and EQ Settings tagged to specific locations. So when the app sees that you’re approaching that location, it triggers the preset. Not a feature I’ll use personally because I prefer to stick to just one setting, but perhaps others may find that useful.
Sennheiser Smart Control App Graphic EQ
In terms of fit, I think the Sennheiser MTW3 are easier to wear, and more comfortable too because they use silicone ear tips. The Sony XM4 use foam tips so it requires a bit more adjustment and elbow grease to wear. Another benefit of silicone is durability. Foam tips have to be changed occasionally if you use them everyday cause the foam does wear out eventually. That does not happen with silicone. Now, those are all compelling reasons why the Sennheiser MTW3 makes a great alternative.
However there are also reasons why the Sony XM4’s might be more appealing. It’s got a smaller case, more portable, its noise cancelling is slightly better, and for people who just wanna make sure that they are getting the most out of their hi-res music, the Sonys are Hi-Res certified, which means that these have double the usual frequency range, and that gives extra headroom for your music to shine.
The Sonys also features DSEE Extreme, so when you’re streaming audio, this upscales the audio by patching the missing bits of data that might have been lost during Bluetooth transmission, mostly in the upper frequencies. I use this feature everyday, and I can say that the audio does sound cleaner and better separated with DSEE Extreme.
So there are compelling reasons to pick either the Sonys or the Sennheiser’s, it really depends on what you think is important. If it’s call quality and a more comfortable fit, the MTW3 should be your choice. If, however, you need your earbuds to be hi-res certified and more portable, I would go for the Sony XM4. Everything else about them is comparable. You can check these earbuds out by clicking on the links below.
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 on Amazon
Sony WF-1000XM4 on Amazon
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