At first glance, the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s are easily superior to both the Bose QC45’s and Bose NC 700’s. They have almost 3 times the battery life, they have better preforming ANC, and they sound much better than either of Bose’s headphones. However, the Momentum 4’s do have some glaring quirks that are just too hard to ignore. So today we’re going to see how the Momentum 4’s stack up to both the Bose NC 700’s and Bose QC45’s… and personally, I am very excited to compare these headphones to the Bose QC45’s, cause I feel the Bose QC45’s have aged very well.

Regarding pricing, the Bose NC 700’s are the most expensive headphones here retailing for $380… but they’re also the oldest headphones here. These things came out in the summer of 2019. Then there are the recently released Momentum 4’s that retail for $350. And finally there are the Bose QC45’s which are one year old now, and they retail for $330… but they like to go on sale for $280. Now I am going to have to confess, the Bose QC45’s are currently my favorite ANC headphones to recommend especially if you’re a traveler. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these headphones up they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button. But personally, I would avoid the NC 700’s these days.

Now first lets talk about these cases. Now all off these headphones come included with decent hard shell cases, which is new for the Momentum 4’s. However, the Momentum 4’s case is noticeably larger than these other two headphones. Now the NC 700’s case has a similar foot print as the Momentum 4’s case… but it is noticeably thinner. And then, there’s the Bose QC45’s case which is just the smallest here. So if you’re someone that’s looking for a pair of headphones to constantly travel with… then personally I would recommend the QC45’s cause of their small case… among a few other reasons.

But something that I do have to point out with the momentum 4’s, is that when you remove these headphones from their case, they will automatically power on. Now in theory this sounds cool, but I have found that if you have this case standing upright or upside down, the Momentum 4’s will power on and sometimes get connected to your phone. So until sennheiser fixes this or allows you to turn off this feature, you’re going to have to be mindful about how you store these headphones while they are in their case.

But now, lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now both the Momentum 4’s and QC45’s have a mostly plastic body. However, the Momentum 4’s have a little bit of fabric on the top of their headband… and they have padded silicon underneath their headband. But then there the NC 700’s. Noe these things also have padded silicon underneath their headband… but the padding here is much softer and cooler to the touch. Plus there’s some exposed silicon on top of the headband… and the headband itself is exposed stainless steel and we’ve got plastic ear cups. But something that really separates both of Bose’s headphones from the Momentum 4’s is their leatherette. The leatherette on both the NC 700’s and QC45’s is very soft and its very supple. Now this leatherette doesn’t feel as good as some real leather earpads out there… but it still feels really good. Where as with the momentum 4’s ear pads… this leatherette feels very synthetic, very plastic. It does soften up after awhile… but it just doesn’t feel anywhere near as good as the leatherette on either of Bose’s headphones. Overall, I do feel that the Bose NC 700’s have the best build quality here… where as both the Momentum 4’s and QC45’s are on par with one another.

But when it comes to fit, both of Bose’s headphones are easily way more comfortable than the Momentum 4’s, and this can easily be a deciding factor for some people… cause it is for me. Now, I will say that all of these headphones are big head approved, cause I can wear the Momentum 4’s for extended periods of time… but the Moemtum 4’s have a firmer fit to them. Where as, the QC45’s have a very loose fit, so if you have a big head and if you like to wear hats… then these are definitely for you. And finally there are the NC700’s which have a little more clamping force than the QC45’s… but they fit much looser than the Momentum 4’s. But then, there’s the padding underneath these headbands. Like I mentioned earlier, the Momentum 4’s have padded silicon underneath their headband… but its not the softest, and I have found that after 40 minutes or so… it does create a pressure point. Whereas… with the NC 700’s… these things don’t create any kind of pressure point cause they have a lot of padding, and they do an impressive job of conforming to the shape of your head. Now the QC45’s don’t have all of this silicon padding underneath their headband… but their headband also doesn’t create a pressure point cause it has a good amount of padding and surface area. But then, there’s the weight of these headphones. Now the Momentum 4’s weigh in at 295 grams. Now these headphones aren’t above average like their predecessors and they certainly aren’t in AirPods max territory which weigh in at 384 grams… but the Momentum 4’s are noticeably heavier than the NC 700’s which weigh in at 264 and the Bose QC45’s weigh in at 234 grams. So with the QC45’s, these are a pair of headphones that you can easily forget that you’re wearing whether you’re sitting down or walking around. The NC 700’s are also fairly easy to forget that you’re wearing… but then there are the Momentum 4’s which are a pair of headphones that you are going to notice shifting around when you’re walking around with them on. But finally, there are the earpads on these headphones. Now the earpads on the Momentum 4’s are going to have no problem accommodating most average sized ears… However, both of Bose’s headphones have much more spacious ear pads which are going to be able to much better accommodate larger ears or ears that stick out a lot. But also, Bose’s ear pads have less surface area coming in contact with your skin… so these ear pads stay a little cooler for a little longer. Where as with the Momentum 4’s ear pads… these do heat up a little faster. So overall, one of the main reasons while I simply love the Bose QC45’s is cause they are super comfortable. They have a loose fit, they’re light weight, they don’t create any pressure points, their ear pads are super spacious and their ear pads stay cooler for longer. Now the NC 700’s are also comfortable but just not as comfortable as the QC45’s. And finally there are the Momentum 4’s… now don’t get me wrong, I can wear these headphones for long stretches of time, but I am never happy about it.

But now lets talk about tech specs, when it comes to battery life, this is an area where the Momentum 4’s simply crush both of Bose’s headphones. With their active noise cancellation turned on, the Momentum 4’s have an advertised battery life of 60 hours. Where as the NC 700’s have an advertised battery life of 20 hours… pretty weak if you ask me, and the QC45’s have an advertised battery life of 24 hours… a little better, but it could be better.

However, with the NC 700’s you can always extend their battery life by using them with the ANC turned off… Now you’re not going to get anywhere near that 60 hour mark… but its on option on the NC 700’s. Where as with these other two headphones… you can’t use them with their ANC completely turned off. You either have to have their ANC or ambient mode turned on.

And when it comes to fast charging… this is something that bose is really struggling with. With the NC 700’s if you plug them in for 15 minutes from a dead battery, they are going to get you two hours of playback time. And the QC45’s are going to get you 3 hours of playback time. But with the Momentum 4’s a 5 minute charge is going to get you 4 hours of playback time. So yeah, Bose really needs to work on their overall battery life performance.

But now, let’s talk about the bluetooth connectivity on these headphones… and this has been somewhat of an issue with the Momentum 4’s. Now all of these headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time. Which is good if you’re a power user. And with Bose’s headphones connectivity is not an issue.

Where as with the Momentum 4’s on a semi regular basis, these headphones won’t automatically connect to my phone. So sometimes I do have to go into my bluetooth menu and manually establish a connection. Now this doesn’t happy all of the time… but it does happen enough to where I have to point it out. And this is just something that you should have to deal with these headphones… and this was never an issue with any of sennheiser’s older headphones.

Now when it comes to overall performance, all of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device. But when it comes to audio codecs, both of Bose’s headphones only have support for SBC and AAC. Now AAC is going to work perfectly whether you’re an iPhone or android user… but the momentum 4’s have support for higher quality audio codecs. The Momentum 4’s have support for SBC and AAC… very standard… but they also have support for APTX and APTX adaptive. However, if you do want to take advantage of APTX you do have to be an android user.

But if you want to, you can always just use a wired connection with any of these headphones cause they all still have an audio jack… and they all still come included with audio cables. However, just keep in mind that all of these headphones are using 2.5 millimeter audio jacks… And with the Momentum 4’s, you can use their USB C as a wired connection. Which is something that you can’t do with either of Bose’s headphones.

But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these headphones. Now both of Bose’s headphones are mainly geared towards someone who likes a more vocals or neutral EQ. Where as the Momentum 4’s are going to have an easier time pleasing more people, whether they like a neutral EQ or if they like a more bass heavy EQ. But also, the Momentum 4’s simply have better instrument separation. Making them sound more open. Now with both of Bose’s headphones, they have decent instrument separation, but the mids on the Momentum 4’s are more pronounced and they have better separation… making the instrumentals on the Momentum 4’s much more dynamic. Where as Bose’s headphones can sound a little narrow by compassion because the instrumentals aren’t as defined, and they do put a little more emphasis on the treble. But then there’s the bass on these headphones. The bass on Bose’s headphones don’t have all that much physicality to them… you can defeneitly hear it, but you don’t feel it. Now with both of Bose’s headphones, you can go in and raise their bass… but if you raise their bass to much… these headphones do start to sound shallow. Where as with the Momentum 4’s if you want, you can raise their bass and they are going to rattle your head a decent amount. And the bass on the Momentum 4’s not only kicks significantly more than Bose’s headphones… but it also resonates much cleaner. So plainly said, Bose’s headphones are mostly geared towards people who like a more neutral or vocals focused EQ. If you want to physically feel your bass, then you shouldn’t get these cause you’ll start to complain and say that they sound flat. Where as with the Momentum 4’s, if you want to feel your bass, then they can deliver, but if you’re someone that want a more neutral EQ, then they can also deliver thanks to their instrument separation and well defined mids.

Now when it comes to the media controls on these headphones… both the Momentum 4’s and NC 700’s have touch pads. And personally, the touch pad on the Momentum 4’s isn’t my favorite cause its a little too sensitive for my taste. Where as with the NC 700’s its touch pad isn’t as overly sensitive… but its so tiny. Personally I kind of prefer the physical buttons on the QC45’s here.

However, something that the Momentum 4’s have that neither of Bose’s headphones do are wear sensors. So when you take these headphones off, they’ll automatically pause your music, and when you put them back on they’ll start playing your music again. Now the wear sensors on the Momentum 4’s work very well… but they only work half of the time. The other half of the time they forget that I have them on. Now I usually just turn off the wear sensors on all of my headphones… But I don’t know why the Momentum 4’s keep doing this.

But now lets talk about the active noise cancelation on these headphones. Now the ANC on the Momentum 4’s is very good, it even rivals the ANC on the Sony 1000XM5’s which is super impressive. However, the QC45’s also have very impressive active noise cancellation. And this is another reason why I like traveling with them so much. But so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC Test.

So surprisingly, the Bose NC 700’s have the worst preforming ANC here. Cause these are supposed to be Bose’s top teir ANC headphones. And initially, they used to block out more noise than the QC45’s. But thanks to a firmware update in early 2022, the QC45’s got a noticeable ANC performance bump. Now the Momentum 4’s block out a little more low frequency sounds than the QC45’s, cause they did a slightly better job of blocking out road noise. However, the QC45’s do a slightly better job of blocking out random higher frequency sounds like chatter. Overall, both of these headphones are top tier when it comes to blocking out noise cause they both block out a lot of noise, without a whole lot of cabin pressure.

But what really separates these headphones are their ambient mode. Now with the Momentum 4’s you can adjust how much noise these headphones let in. And you can also adjust how much noise the NC 700’s let in. However, with the QC45’s you’re stuck with only one option. Now I think the QC45’s let in a decent amount of noise… but more importantly, both of Bose’s headphones do a much better job of letting in people’s voices, so its much easier to understand people when they talk to you. Where as with the Momentum 4’s, these prioritize noise pollution… so people’s voices can sound a little muffled. Now the Ambient mode on the Momentum 4’s gets the job done, but its not my favorite. However, something that I don’t like about the ambient mode on the Momentum 4’s is that their microphone array picks up a lot of wind noise… where as the microphone array on both of Bose’s headphones do a better job of rejecting that wind noise.

However, something that the momentum 4’s do have going for them is that they have an active ambient mode, meaning that when they detect a sudden loud noise, they’ll automatically turn off their ambient mode like this. Headphone warning

And when that loud noise stops, they’ll turn their ambient mode back on. Where as with both of Bose’s headphones, they just let in every thing.

So yeah, if there’s a police siren rolling by, then your ears could get blasted. Now there are a few other earbuds and headphones out there that have an active ambient mode like the Momentum 4’s… but now that apple is show casing this feature on the AirPods Pro 2… I expect active ambient modes to become more popular and get better.

However, something that the QC45’s are sorely missing, is a conversation mode which is found on these other two headphones, where you can quickly lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you, so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove your headphones, like this.

And then, the headphones will go back to normal. So yeah, these conversation modes are very useful especially is you plan on constantly traveling with your headphones… and I really with the QC45’s had this.

But finally here’s the microphone test. Now even though the microphone on the Bose QC45 is decent… it is the worst preforming microphone in this lineup. It does sound a little hollow

Where as the NC 700’s have a little better clarity to them.

But then there are the Momentum 4’s which have decent clarity as well… but I feel that these sound a little more robotic.

However, when it comes to blocking out noise pollution… I feel the Momentum 4’s do a slightly better job of dealing with this road noise.

Cause with the NC 700’s they’re also trying to block out this road noise… but these let in more noise pollution and they are interfering with my voice a little more.

And then there are the QC45’s which are letting in even more road noise.

And the same thing can be said when it comes to blocking out chatter, the QC45’s are letting in a decent amount of chatter.

And with the NC 700’s even though this microphone is trying to block out this chatter, there is some interference with my voice.

Where as with the momentum 4’s these are doing a slightly better job of dealing with this chatter with interfering with my voice as much. Overall, I would say that the momentum 4’s have the best preforming microphone here cause they deal with noise pollution that best.

But with all of that being said, On paper, the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s are an amazing pair of ANC headphones… and they should be the clear winners here. They have the better battery life here, they block out a ton of noise with very little cabin pressure, and they sound WAY better than either of Bose headphones. But the overall user experience isn’t the greatest. For starters, as of September 2022, bluetooth connectivity in the Momentum 4’s isn’t flawless, as it should be. The ambient mode on the Momentum 4’s does prioritize noise pollution over people’s voices. And if you have these headphones upside down in their case, they can power on and connect to your phone. Now I hope that sennheiser will fix these issues soon through a firmware update. But even if these software issues are fixed… Personally I don’t find the momentum 4’s to be the most comfortable headphones out there… and their large case wouldn’t be my top pick for traveling. But hey, if you’re willing to put up with these possible short comings, then the Momentum 4’s will might be for you. Personally, I simply love the Bose QC45’s cause they’re super comfortable to wear for multiple hours on end. They also block out a ton of noise without a whole lot of cabin pressure… and their smaller carrying case makes them great for traveling. You just have to learn to enjoy their more neutral and less physical sound signature. But then there are the Bose NC 700’s… personally I wouldn’t go for these headphones today. They don’t block out as much noise as the QC45’s and they have slightly less battery life.The only thing that these things have over the QC45’s is their conversation mode and adjustable ambient mode. However, I am really looking forward to the successors of the NC 700’s.