Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: what are the differences?

We’ve said it before, but there is no shortage of noise-cancelling headphones on the market these days. If you are willing to part with a three-figure sum for a pair of over-ear headphones with solid active noise cancellation, you’re likely to find yourself spoiled for choice.

The Bose QuietComfort range has a storied history when it comes to noise cancelling technology – in fact, the company was among the first to release ANC headphones, after its owner got frustrated with the sound of an aeroplane engine during a flight.

Recently, Bose has released the QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen), which put in a smooth sonic performance with expectedly refined noise-cancelling. But these cans have been born into tough circumstances, with the five-star Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 5 already waiting in the ring.

The Sennheisers earned a glowing review from the What Hi-Fi? review team for their sonic talent, impressive battery life and comfortable design. So, with two solid options in the same price bracket, which should you go for?

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: price

The Bose Quietcomfort Headphones (2nd Gen) launched at a price of £300 / $359 / AU$550. Given they were only released in August 2026, we haven’t yet seen them selling at a reduced price just yet.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless are also a fairly new pair of headphones, released just two months prior to the Bose. They launched at a price of £330 / $400 / AU$750 and, similarly, we haven’t yet seen any significant reductions in price.

So, without sale prices adding an element of flux to this comparison, the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) take the lead for being the more affordable set.

**Winner: Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen)**

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: build & comfort

The updated QuietComfort Headphones have seen several design updates from their first generation, including a new headband, improved clamping force for a more secure fit, and new oval-shaped earcups with plusher cushioning. The headphones are available in five colourways: Black, White Smoke, Eucalyptus Green, Dewdrop Mint and Rosewood Mauve.

We thought the 2nd-gen QC headphones were a very comfortable pair of headphones, but most significantly, they remained so across a range of head sizes. In our review, we said "these headphones fit firmly, without becoming constrictive, even on the very largest and smallest of What Hi-Fi? reviewers’ heads.”

Thanks to their roomy earcups, which are angled so your ears won’t touch the grille cloth, our ears didn’t ache over longer listening sessions, either.

The headphones sacrifice a more premium feel for lighter weight (just 230g) and foldability. There is no capacitive touch strip built into the earcups, so all controls are done via built-in buttons on the earcup or by using the Bose app. The right earcup also features a USB-C input for charging and audio playback up to 24-bit/48kHz, alongside an LED indicator showing Bluetooth and battery status.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless have shaken off the slightly-too-functional look of the previous Momentum models by including “little touches, such as the headband’s attractive fabric exterior” and metallic badges which we think “go a long way to making the Momentum 5 Wireless feel more premium”.

The earcups are plenty large enough, but feel a little looser on our heads than the Bose headphones. This is, no doubt helped by the Momentum 5’s weight of 290g, which isn’t particularly light by class standards. With less internal space inside the earcup than the Bose, we also find that our ears begin to heat up slightly and ache during longer listening sessions.

The Sennheiser’s earcups swivel but don’t fold down completely like the QC headphones. Their larger surfaces do, however, come in handy when using the responsive, built-in capacitive touch controls for volume, playback and ANC. Like the Bose, these headphones can use a wired connection, allowing playback up to a slightly higher resolution of 24-bit/96kHz.

It’s a close match for these headphones when it comes to their design, as each seems to fill in the other’s gaps. So, here, we call it a draw.

**Winner: Draw**

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: features

In terms of battery life, the QC Headphones can provide a fairly standard 24 hours with ANC switched on, which falls to 18 hours once the immersive modes are enabled via the Bose companion app.

Immersive Audio is Bose’s take on spatial audio, and these headphones feature three main immersive modes: ‘Still’, which keeps audio in place relative to the listener’s head; ‘Motion’, which tracks head movements and reconfigures the soundfield accordingly; and ‘Cinema’, which is similar to the Still mode, but with dialogue optimisation and a ‘wider’ soundstage.

We found the ‘Still’ and ‘Cinema’ modes interesting, despite a slightly more “processed” sound, but due to a lagging response to movement, ‘Motion’ mode left us feeling disoriented, and we prefer keeping these modes turned off.

From the Bose app, users can also make tonal adjustments using a three-band equaliser and configure their own ‘modes’, combining ANC, equalisation and immersive settings.

When it comes to wireless connectivity, the QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) feature Bluetooth multipoint for connecting two devices simultaneously, and support Bluetooth 5.4 for standard AAC and SBC codecs. There are no high-quality codecs available here.

In our review of the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless, we said that battery life was “a nice feather in Sennheiser’s cap”, boasting an impressive 57 hours with ANC switched on – a figure which towers over most price rivals, let alone the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen).

Sennheiser’s companion app gives users access to Dolby Atmos-optimised immersive listening options with optional head-tracking, adjustable ANC and an eight-band equaliser. We find Sennheiser’s immersive audio somewhat less enveloping than the Bose equivalent, but it certainly sounds more natural and is less distracting.

Unlike the Bose, however, the Momentum 5 Wireless also feature optional ‘on head detection’, which enables smart pause, holding calls and power-saving mode when the headphones are taken off. Handy.

The headphones also offer a wider range of Bluetooth codec support, with standard SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality aptX HD, aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive options. The headphones currently support Bluetooth 5.4, but a firmware update scheduled for later this year promises to bump this up to Bluetooth 6.0 with LE audio for reduced latency, improved battery life and potentially better sound quality.

We were pleased to see higher-quality Bluetooth codecs included in the Sennheiser headphones. At this price, we think it’s a shame that Bose didn’t include these options at their price.

For the cherry on top of their fully-loaded feature set, the Momentum 5 Wireless also support Bluetooth Multipoint for simultaneous connection to two devices.

**Winner: Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless**

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: ANC & call quality

In an ever busier world, solid ANC performance has become a vital characteristic of a good pair of wireless headphones. Bose has quite the reputation when it comes to ANC, so we were pleased to hear that the company wasn’t resting on its laurels and had made “subtle upgrades” to the ANC of the new QC Headphones, especially to account for any gaps in the earcups' seal for listeners with glasses.

Like the flagship QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen), the QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) feature ‘Quiet’ and ‘Aware’ modes, as well as the option to adjust the amount of ANC to your taste, or turn it off completely.

‘Quiet’ mode provides full-fat noise cancellation, while ‘Aware’ mode lets environmental sounds in, so you can remain aware of your surroundings. The headphones also feature ActiveSense technology, which smoothes sudden spikes in environmental sound while using ‘Aware’ mode.

In our review, we said that the ANC performance of the QC headphones (2nd Gen) did a “sterling job, effectively countering the low-frequency rumble of trains, as well as the hubbub of traffic and ambient chatter”. We also found that ‘Aware’ mode worked well, letting a touch more external noise in than the Sennheiser’s ‘Transparency’ mode.

But how did the Momentum 5 Wireless perform?

We said that the Sennheisers' ANC put in a “good performance”, keeping “most noises – traffic, wind, the hum of air conditioners – at bay”. We did note, however, that the overall effect was “more like a softening of sounds rather than a complete exclusion – something which the Sony and Bose manage more effectively”.

Taking the Sennheisers to the gym, we said: “The ANC results in a softening of the hubbub of a busy public space, even if harsher noises, such as clanking weights, can penetrate through.”

‘Transparency’ mode, which is Sennheiser's version of ‘Aware’ mode, is highly effective, but doesn’t quite bring the same level of clarity to environmental sounds as Bose managed.

In terms of call quality, however, the Sennheisers do a better job of blocking out surrounding sounds than the Bose headphones and leave voices sounding slightly more natural on the other end of the line.

**Winner: Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen)**

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: sound

Sonically speaking, these two headphones are of fairly different characters, but they do have some things in common.

Both headphones offer rich, smooth performances, with ample detail and texture in the middle and high frequencies. We described the Bose’s midrange as “tightly controlled but nonetheless expressive”, while the Sennheisers impressed us with “naturalness and insight that gives even more premium alternatives a run for their money”.

In both cases, using a wired connection provided a palpable uplift in dynamics and midrange sweetness.

Both headphones handle high frequencies responsibly, too, providing ample shine and sparkle without overwhelming the sonic balance. Even during the most raucous punk rock tracks in our music library, both of these headphones kept their cool, delivering our music with maturity and a satisfying degree of detail.

These headphones begin to diverge when it comes to bass performance. During testing, we found that the Momentum 5 Wireless sounded a little too rich, and noted that “some listeners might prefer a tauter reproduction at the lower end”, which we think the Bose provide.

Both headphones struggled somewhat to “clip along” during songs with propulsive central rhythms, but we found this to a lesser degree with the Sennheisers. During driving, rhythmic tracks, the Bose left us “feeling somewhat left behind”, while the Sennheisers simply favoured a “more relaxed presentation”.

The most notable difference, however, is in the way that these headphones handle dynamics.

Listening to the QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen), we found ourselves craving “a greater degree of dynamic subtlety and nuance”. Large jumps in volume were convincingly rendered, but “finer dynamic details felt less explicit than we would expect” at the price.

The Sennheisers, on the other hand, teased out dynamics ably, with a performance that was subtle and delicate, “bringing out small-scale dynamic shifts superbly”. Overall, we simply enjoyed listening to the Sennheisers' peformance more at this level.

**Winner: Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless**

Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) vs Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: Verdict

With virtues in slightly different places, both of these wireless over-ear headphones put in a respectable performance, with each having its specific advantages and designs that will suit many prospective buyers.

While the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) are slightly cheaper, weigh less, feature a foldable design and have stronger ANC performance, sound quality plays a vital part in our assessment, and the Sennheisers prevail in this regard.

With more nuanced dynamics and a greater sense of fun, plus the fact that they feel more premium and have almost twice the battery life, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless are our preferred pick at this price.

*Overall winner: Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless**

MORE:

Read our full Bose QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) review

Plus, our Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless review

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