These Earbuds Borrow Crucial Health Features From Your Favorite Smartwatch
Sennheiser's Momentum Sport earbuds come with a heart rate and body temperature sensor.
If you had to choose one thing to bring on a run, a smartwatch, or earbuds, which would you pick?
If your answer is a pair of earbuds, then hello, comrade. The problem here is that fitness tracking is also kind of important to lots of people, which is why Sennheiser is asking us: “Why choose?”
To bridge the gap between fitness and audio, Sennheiser introduced the Momentum Sport wireless earbuds which come with a tandem of health sensors that can read your body temperature and heart rate.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport
The Momentum Sport buds debuted at CES 2024 and are Sennheiser’s first pair of fitness-focused buds. The company says the earbuds work with popular fitness apps like Apple Health, Garmin Connect, and more.
While the data from both of those sensors can be sent to your smartwatch in real-time, I personally think it makes more sense for people who want to leave other devices behind while going on a run or to the gym — aka people who are comfortable looking at their heart rate data later on. After all, smartwatches can kind of already do all of this stuff, so if you need one to enjoy the Momentum Sport buds, it ends up being a bit redundant.
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport are fitness-focused wireless earbuds that don’t compromise on sound.
It’s not just about fitness, though. The Sennheiser Momentum Sport buds also bring some audio chops to the table. There’s a new 10mm transducer and one of my favorite inclusions is an acoustic relief channel that helps mitigate that pressurized feeling when you have earbuds in. This feature also helps block out noise from running or breathing hard, which can be pretty distracting.
Naturally, the Momentum Sport will also come with active noise-cancellation — this is 2024 after all — and will have six hours of battery life outside of the case. That’s about standard for wireless earbuds with ANC on, though Sennheiser doesn’t say if that figure is with ANC activated or not.
The Momentum True Wireless 4 pack in lots of upgrades.
It may seem strange to bring health devices and earbuds so close together, but Sennheiser is likely far from alone in its endeavor to make audio and health gadgets one. Apple is reportedly working to bring body temperature tracking to its AirPods, as well as other health features, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
In addition to the Momentum Sport, Sennheiser also revealed its Momentum True Wireless 4, which come with lots of upgrades over its predecessor, including more support for lossless audio, improved ANC, and more.
Release Date and Price
Neither of Sennheiser’s wireless earbuds will come cheap, which is to be expected — the brand is known for its premium audio products. The Momentum Sport will be released on April 9 and cost $330 while the Momentum True Wireless 4 will ship March 1 with a price tag of $300.
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