Sennheiser's best wireless headphones get a great free sound upgrade
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 headphones are getting a free upgrade today – thanks to a firmware update to Sennheiser’s Smart Control app on iOS and Android.
The new 4.3 update expands your ability to personalize the listening experience of your Sennheiser headphones, helping to tweak the audio output to your own preferences.
Specifically, the Smart Control app has gained an expanded equalizer (EQ) section for these two models, allowing you to more precisely adjust the prominence of certain frequencies for your ears. Where there was previously only three EQ settings (Low, Mid and High) available for adjustment, you’ll now be able to make use of additional Low-mid and High-mid options for a total of five.
There’s also now an interactive ‘Sound Personalization’ mode, developed in tandem with the Hearing, Speech and Audio Technology department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology.
This mode “intelligently calibrates a custom audio profile from a sophisticated analysis of user reactions against a series of benchmark sound samples” – tracking how your ear responds and then customizing a sound profile for any music, podcasts, or calls experienced through your Sennheiser headphones.
In a press release, Sennheiser claims that the “latest Smart Control App update is the biggest yet [and] supercharges our latest Momentum series.”
Dr. Jan Rennies-Hochmuth, head of the group Personalized Hearing Systems at IDMT, adds that “The unique feature of the Sound Personalisation is that it can account for differences in personal sound preferences that naturally occur due to different listening levels [...] This ensures that the sound is optimally matched no matter what the listening volume is.”
Gaining momentum
Quality-of-life updates are a crucial way of ensuring shoppers stick with their devices in the long term, helping to increase the longevity of a pair of headphones, and gradually improve the user experience as time goes on.
In our Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless review, we praised the comfort, detailed sound, and astonishing 60-hour battery life – making any tweaks to EQ an added bonus for what’s already one of the best over-ear headphones out there.
While it’s hard to recreate the same sonic heights in true wireless earbuds, given their compact form factor, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless range generally does a brilliant job at transposing quality sound and Hi-Res audio support into these in-ear buds. Given they’re still relatively expensive for true wireless earbuds, though, any increased functionality is welcome for those who dished out the full price.
