Premium wireless sound for a premium price

In the last few months, Sennheiser's been blowing out the original version of its highly regarded Momentum headphones, selling them for less than $200 online after starting them out at $379 a couple of years ago. The reason for the price drop is that the company has new over-ear and on-ear Momentums hitting stores soon, including new wireless models.

Not surprisingly, those new models don't come cheap. The over-ear Momentum Wireless (M2AEBT) we're looking at here carries a list price of $500 or £380 (that's AU$745 converted). While I expect that it will street for a little less, you're still looking at a pricey headphone, and I can tell you right now that the original Momentum at $200 is a much better deal. But putting price aside, the Momentum Wireless is a great Bluetooth headphone, one of the best you can buy -- or will be able to soon, anyway.

What's great about it? For starters, it's a very comfortable, well built headphone. Sennheiser has tweaked the designs of both its Momentum over-ear and on-ear models. Both the wired and wireless versions have a new folding design that gives the headphones a slightly smaller footprint when they're in their included carrying case.

In the case of the new wired Momentum M2 and this wireless model, Sennheiser has made the earcups a little bigger so they fit over your ears better and don't pinch anything (some users complained that the headphones were too small, sort of in between on on-ear and over-ear headphone). The designers also made the earcups softer.

On top of its Bluetooth capabilities (it uses Bluetooth 4.0), the Momentum Wireless also features active noise cancellation and NFC tap-to-pair technology for compatible devices, and supports the aptX codec (aptX is supposed to improve the sound when streaming over Bluetooth). Additionally, you can attach a cable and use the headphone as a wired headphone. Not only does it sound better in in this mode, but it plays louder.

The playback and volume controls, as well as the power on/off button, are on the right earcup, and I was able to operate everything easily enough just by feel.

The noise cancellation, which isn't too heavy, is always on -- there's no switch to turn it off -- but battery life is still quite good at 22 hours. The noise cancelling worked well in the streets of New York, and the integrated microphone, which is actually dual mics, worked very well for making calls with my cell phone. You can hear your own voice as you talk inside the headphones, which keeps you from talking louder than you need to.

In many ways this is a direct competitor to the $379 Beats Studio Wireless and has very similar features, including active noise cancellation and those aforementioned dual mics. The Beats is an excellent wireless headphone and just as comfortable. But the Sennheiser sounds a bit better, with tighter bass and an overall more textured, refined sound. It's not a huge difference, but there is a difference. We also thought this sounded better than the Parrot Zik 2.0, which I'm in the process of reviewing.

Performance

Whenever I get a Bluetooth headphone I really like, I have Steve Guttenberg, who writes CNET's Audiophiliac blog, take a listen to it. His reaction was pretty predictable. He's not a fan of Bluetooth or noise-cancelling headphones and was only mildly impressed with the Sennheiser Momentum Wireless, which -- trust me -- is pretty high praise coming from him.

He thought it was very good for a Bluetooth headphone, but still left something to be desired compared to a good wired headphone. In fact, as I mentioned, the Momentum Wireless sounds better as a wired headphone (the noise-cancelling does stay on in wired mode). And by "better," we mean that it just sounds a little more dynamic and has a little more sparkle. If you were a chef, it would be the difference between having a sharp knife and having a razor sharp knife.

I also have a review sample of the new Momentum M2, which lists for $350 or £270 (around AU$530) and also features active noise-cancellation. So we compared that new wired Momentum to the Momentum Wireless with a cable attached to it, and the two headphones sounded very similar.

We next compared the original (old) Momentum to the new Momentum M2. The original has a little more zip to it, particularly in the bass (the old model has slightly clearer, tighter bass). That said, their sound profiles are similar, just not the same.

As with anything, some people will prefer the old sound and some will prefer the new. However, there's no denying that the new Momentum over-ear models are more comfortable.

What I can't tell you exactly is how the Momentum Wireless compares to the Momentum On-Ear Wireless. I only had a short listen to the On-Ear Wireless on the show floor at CES, and my impression was that it's a slightly faster, more exciting headphone that's got a touch more bass and treble push compared to the more balanced over-ear Momentum Wireless.

Early conclusions

I feel comfortable saying that the Momentum Wireless is an excellent and well-designed wireless headphone that performs even better as a wired headphone. It's great if you can afford it.

However, I feel less comfortable putting a final rating on the headphone until we get the new Momentum On-Ear models. Hopefully, that will happen soon.

Editors' note: The Momentum Wireless appears to be shipping to the UK, but isn't due to arrive in stores in the US until March.