Sennheiser announced the MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 on 20 August 2026. They ship on 3 September at a US recommended price of 299.95 dollars, in five colours: Graphite, Cream, Copper, Denim and Lavender.

The battery thing

This is the headline and it deserves to be. Both the earbuds and the wireless charging case have user-replaceable battery cells. Sennheiser says you can swap them in a few minutes using a compact screwdriver that comes in the box, the same approach it took with the full-size MOMENTUM 5 headphones.

Think about what that actually means. The failure mode for every pair of buds is the same: two or three years in, the battery holds twenty minutes instead of six hours, and there is no fix, so you buy another pair. If Sennheiser keeps selling cells, these could keep going long after the point where the alternative is landfill.

That last part is the catch, and nobody else covering this launch has said it plainly. Replaceable batteries are only worth anything if the replacements are still on sale in five years. Sennheiser has not committed to how long it will supply them or what they will cost. I would want to see spare cells actually listed and in stock before I paid a premium for the feature.

Sound and connection

A 7mm TrueResponse dynamic transducer, made and tested at Sennheiser's facility in Tullamore, Ireland. Bluetooth 6.0 with aptX Adaptive, high-resolution audio up to 24-bit and 96kHz, and aptX Lossless on supported sources through Snapdragon Sound. Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair and multipoint switching are all supported, and there is a selectable robust mode for the antenna when you are somewhere with a lot of radio interference, which in practice means a train station or a gym.

The buds are optimised for Dolby Atmos with head tracking, which follows the over-ear model.

Noise cancelling and calls

Adaptive hybrid noise cancelling with an automatic anti-wind mode, a redesigned ear tip and a four-microphone array. For calls, Sennheiser uses all eight sensors on the buds, six microphones plus two bone-conduction voice accelerometers, feeding an AI speech-extraction algorithm to pull your voice out of a noisy room. There is a micro-perforated mic plate to keep wind from wrecking both calls and the noise cancelling.

Battery life and fit

12 hours of playback per charge, with more than two extra charges in the Qi-enabled case for up to 40 hours total. An 8-minute top-up gets you an hour. IP54 for dust, sweat and splashes.

The housing has no fin, and Sennheiser says 73 percent of testers found it more comfortable than the previous generation. The case is narrower than before so it sits better in a pocket. The Smart Control Plus app adds an 8-band equaliser and guided sound personalisation.

Australian pricing is not settled

Sennheiser's own release quotes the US price only. Australian coverage has landed on two different numbers, with one outlet reporting AU$479 and an Australian site reporting AU$499. Those conflict and neither is confirmed by Sennheiser, so take it as somewhere in that range until Sennheiser Australia lists it.