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A bit less successful is the analog headphone input. When we paired the Momentum 4 with an iFi hip-dac2, we found that the headphones got overdriven very quickly. That’s really not convenient and definitely could have been implemented better.
Furthermore, if you use the headphones in their powered off state, the sound quality is bluntly unsatisfactory. It is clear that Sennheiser has used the DSP built into the headphones to optimize the sound. Nothing wrong with that in principle, but it does mean that with an empty battery on the road you cannot continue listening in a decent way.
Undoubtedly you will be able to adjust some things yourself with the equalizer of your phone or another source, but that will take a lot of time. In short: do not forget to turn on the headphones when using the analog input.
Mismatch?
This problem (the distortion) can be caused by the impedance of the headphones when turned on: 470 Ohm versus 60 Ohm when turned off. But as said: passive listening does not sound very good, so you are actually stuck with headphones with an impedance of 470 Ohms when switched on. Which potentially creates a mismatch between source and Monentum 4. (470 Ohms is hard to drive).
Via USB-C to internal DAC
Via the USB-C connection it is also possible to listen to digital sources. Convenient, because this way there is no need for unnecessary digital-analog-to-digital conversion. This method sounds fine, although nowhere in the specs does Sennheiser mention the resolutions and sampling frequencies that the DAC in the Momentum 4 ‘likes’.
And also on the headphones themselves (and on most mobile sources such as smartphones and the like) it is not possible to check what quality is used. As far as I am concerned, such specifications should simply be stated on the site and certainly in the manual. Unfortunately, there are many manufacturers who do not.
Hearing test
It is possible – again via that app – to have a hearing profile made. Unfortunately, this requires the creation of a Sennheiser account; yet another registration. According to the manufacturer, this is “convenient” because the profile (you can also create several) is then available on all devices at once.
I’m sure it is, but if you don’t feel the need, it would have been nice from a privacy perspective if registration was optional. Well, we’ll leave it at that.
What is also striking about the “test” is that it is a question-answer system in which you play your favorite track. Each time you choose the one that sounds best to you from two equalizer settings controlled by the app. In the end, this creates a setting that sounds good to you.
The disadvantage of this approach – compared to automatically whistling through your ear canals – is that you will most likely have to create multiple profiles for multiple types of music or even albums. You can do all that, but it will be a lot of hassle.
