Podcast #895: Sennheiser Momentum vs GoNovate Airo True Wireless Headphone Face-Off

Recently my Bragi Dash Pro headphones broke which ended my love hate relationship with them. I loved how they were truly wireless, had great sound, and fit comfortably in my ear. I hated how the Bluetooth connection was flakey, the short battery life, and were really expensive.  Granted they do far more than play music wirelessly. It could track your heart rate and was geared towards people who worked out.

So I was on the hunt for new truly wireless headphones and I found two candidates. One was a low cost Chinese brand that I had never heard of, GoNovate Airo and the other was a well respected manufacturer of headphones the Sennheiser Momentum. The Airo sells for $60 on Amazon while the Momentum is $300.

Momentum

• Exceptional clarity - experience sound that's like ‘being there’ thanks to sennheiser category-leading truly wireless technology
• Fingertip control - control your music, calls and voice assistant simply through intuitive touchpad technology built into both True Wireless earbuds
• Stay aware - transparent hearing keeps you aware of your surroundings, allowing you to easily listen and chat wirelessly Without having to remove your earbuds
• Extended listening - 4 hours of truly wireless listening becomes 12 with our compact charging case that gives you 2 full extra charges
• Handle conditions - made for every True Wireless listening environment with durable, Tough, splash-resistant materials. (IPX4 rated)

Airo

• Innovative Design: With the Airo truly wireless earbuds shark fins design and anti-sweat feature, they’ve been crafted to offer superior stability and comfort when exercising.
• Clear Phone Calls: Featuring CVC 6.0 noise reduction and true stereo call making for crystal clear voice transmission.The left earbud can be used individually.
• Superior Sound Quality: Airo’s composite diaphragm material, provides 3D stereo HiFi sound. We’ve also packed in the latest and most powerful Bluetooth 5.0 so you receive the fastest and most stable transmissions speeds up to 10m away(For IOS).
• Long Battery Life: With the Airo wireless headphones’ Bluetooth 5.0 massively reduced power consumption breakthrough technology, you get an above standard 6 hours of playtime (at 30-40% volume,tested multiple units with iPhone). Plus, an additional 30 hours with the charging box, keeping you in control of your music for several days.
• Advanced Design: Experience instant device pairing as soon as you remove the Airo wireless earbuds from their charging case. Control your music and accept or reject calls with just one button, and activate voice assistance to easily control your device while driving.

Sound Quality - There is a definite difference in sound between the two devices. The Momentum has a deep rich bass and warm sound. The Airo has decent bass and a brighter crisper sound. For music I would select the Momentum but for Podcasts and phone calls both work well. With that said the music sound quality improvement of the Momentum is not worth the $240 price difference. As far as phone call quality goes, both work well. Recipients of my call were able to hear me clearly on both headphones. Momentum wins this category based on its ability to give you rich deep bass and full warm sound for music.

Bluetooth - Pairing the headphones are simple and take all of about two minutes to do. Both are Bluetooth 5.0 and have a range of about 30 feet. But I found the Airo consistently kept the connection for about 40 feet. If you work in your garden or around the house that extra ten feet could be the difference between a good experience or frustration with the headphones. The Momentum had a rock solid connection via both the iPhone and MacBook Pro. The Airo would drop out from time to time not enough to make it unusable but enough where you noticed that it wasn’t as good as the Momentum. However, this only happened with the MacBook. The connection on the iPhone was rock solid. Even though the Airo had a longer range I had to give the nod to the Momentum because the connection was rock solid all the time.

Fit - Both provide a solid fit and will stay in place. I wore them while walking and exercising with no issues. They stayed in place even under strenuous conditions. The Momentum were more comfortable to me but that may be due to my ears so your mileage may vary. The Airo claims it is sweat proof as does the Momentum. Actually, they are both IPX4 rated which means they can take water splashes from any direction. The Momentum wins this category but by the slimmest margin.

Battery Life - The momentum got four hours and forty five minutes of use listening at a comfortable level. I could have gone louder which would have reduced the battery life but it would have been unbearable to listen at that volume for an extended period of time. The Airo did meet it's advertised battery life of six hours at 30% to 40% volume. A win for the Airo!

Everything Else -  The Momentum has a Transparency mode which allows outside sound to be allowed in. This is a big benefit for those who work in offices and need to communicate with others or those who workout outside. It allows you to hear things around you. The Airo blocks out noise, as does the Momentum with transparency mode off.  The Momentum has a smartphone app that gives you more control of the headphones. There is a setting that allows you to adjust the EQ to sound to exactly how you want it. You can update the firmware through the app as well. I was not able to find a way to update firmware on the Airo. Both can activate your phones Smart voice Assistant. And of course they both have touch controls. The Airo’s touch control is better than the Momentum but regardless of model you have to have a good memory to remember which does what and how many taps it takes to get something done. This one is a win for the Momentum mainly because of the app and EQ control.

Truly wireless headphones have come a long way and have come down in price dramatically from when I purchased my Bragis. Simple minimalistic headphones can be had for $60 or less. But in this head to head competition I have to give a slight nod to the Momentum because they sound a bit better and have more features via the app. If you throw bang for the buck into the equation the winner by a large margin would be the Airo.