Sennheiser - SPORT True Wireless In-Ear Headphones - Black

These earbuds sound amazing there is no doubt about that but it took me almost an hour just to connect these earbuds properly to my phone and the secondly, I was missing the open and closed or “Focus or Aware” ears tip with my unit, so I was only able to test out the earbuds with the tips that were on the set which were the “Aware” or the open tips. Unboxing and Setup: In the box you are supposed to receive pair of earbuds, Open and Closed (S, M, L) ear adapters, Ear Fins, charging case with lanyard, USB-C cable and a quick start guide. Unfortunately, I was missing a few items so, I did the best I could with what I had. Next came the setup process, you will need to download the Sennheiser Smart Control application. This is where I started having issues. My earbuds would connect and then disconnect automatically on their own and they kept doing that for a little bit, so I ended up doing a factory reset on the application and restarted the phone, they finally connected and stayed connected. I thought that my issues were over, but no that was only the beginning, then came the software update which was estimated to take about 19 minutes to complete per the app but it took a whole lot longer. First, I kept having issues with the update installation, which I had to restart about 3 times and when it finally was able to complete the installation it took almost 40 minutes to install. I have never seen any earbuds take that long just to install a software update. Believe me I nearly gave up on these earbuds before I even tested them out. But, not everything about these earbuds was bad. Once the update process was complete I was finally able to listen to some music and it sounded amazing. You will have to adjust the equalizer to your liking but once you get that perfect setting, you will not want to take them off. Comfort and Fit: As far as comfort goes the earbuds are not bad at all. The medium ear adapter that was on the ear buds was actually pretty comfortable to wear to extended periods, there was no pressure or pain in the ear canal and with the tip the ear buds sat pretty securely in the ear, I would recommend that you test out all the ear tips for a secure fit before working out with the buds. I was able to wear them on a run and I did not have to worry about them falling out. So, as far as comfort and Fit goes, they are solid. I can also tell you that they are sweat resistant and that the touch controls respond well even with wet finger tips. Touch Controls and Battery Life: The touch controls respond really well both dry and wet. The controls are customizable and can be turned off as well. I particularly liked the volume controls where you press and hold the right earbud for volume up and left for volume down. The battery life is not bad on the unit either. After using these for about an hour I was down about 10 percent. The earbuds have about a 9-hour battery life and a total of 27 hours with the charging case. The charging case can be charged with he provided USB-C cable but unfortunately lacks wireless charging, which is not a deal breaker but a really nice option to have. Call Quality and Clarity: No complaints in this section either. I made a few test calls with the earbuds and they were crystal clear on both ends. Touch controls are also available for the calls as well, but cannot be customized. Aside from the issues that I had these earbuds are really not that bad. The sound quality is amazing. They fit comfortably and securely in the ear and the touch control options worked just fine. I am not sure if the update was to fix the connection issues but it does not seem to be happening anymore. I was unable to test out the adaptable acoustics, focus option due to not having the ear adapters. I did test out the Aware mode which worked OK. The Aware option is just a transparency mode that lets you hear your surroundings and the Focus mode is suppose to block out the sounds, but these do not have active noise cancellation. Overall, for the price point these earbuds are not bad at all, and I would recommend these you check them out if you are in the market.

I am an audio junkie, continually in pursuit of audio excellence. I own and have used headsets, headphones, and earbuds from nearly every major audio manufacturer in nearly every price range and wired or wireless configuration possible – 6.35mm and 3.5mm, USB A and C, every generation of Bluetooth, and proprietary wireless audio devices. Sennheiser isn’t the only brand I use but suffice to say they are a recurring theme. When I’m home or at work I prefer studio level wired headsets, but when I need to be on the go I prefer to ditch the bulk and cables for the convenience of buds that can be more easily pocketed when not in use. For the last couple of years Pixel Buds 2 (PB2) have been my mobile mainstay, and Sennheiser HD1 Free as my primary before those (and the HD1 Free still serves me well, just not as often) and AirPod Gen 1 before that. I love the audio quality, comfort, and controls of the older HD1 Free but have since become drawn to the true-wireless trend. I saw these then and considered it was time to give Sennheiser another go, and will compare them mostly to my older Sennheiser HD1 Free buds. Audio quality: In terms of real world audio quality I’d rate these as good but, overall, as just a notch below my HD1s. HD1s were fantastic at producing an overall nuanced soundscape but I’d give the Sports the nod on the low end, probably due to their larger driver/port size. Keep in mind that the Sport buds come by default with the “open” gels installed which are great for maintaining environmental awareness at the expense of some audio fidelity. If you use these while moving about the open gels (and corresponding app sound settings) are recommended. When you’re more stationary or just want increased passive audio isolation then the “closed” gels and settings are preferred and will give you generally better sound. The Sports were very comfortable after some tweaking – and this will be a very subjective experience for each user. Out of the box the Sport will have “fins” attached, and these are great for helping to secure the buds in the ear for more active use. I used them while playing basketball with my family and at no time did they even remotely feel like they were coming loose. That said, I also found that the fins increased ear fatigue which could really be felt after an hour or so. I’d recommend the fins then for short active sessions, but for longer more casual listening sessions – when watching an entire movie for example – you might find it more comfortable to remove the fins entirely. Without the fins I could wear the Sports for up to 8 hours, nearly a full work day, before starting to feel ear fatigue, though granted they are also a bit less secure in the ear if you rely on just the gels for active use. The touch controls are fully functional, with everything from track skipping (forward and back), volume control, and activating your phone’s digital assistant whether Siri or Google. I had to learn the Sennheiser tap-patterns of course, but they are intuitive. The charging case is the one “negative” in that it, compared to others, is rather bulky. Whereas my AirPod and PB2 cases are rounded and nearly disappear even when in a front pocket, the Sports case is blocky and relatively large, nearly twice the size of my other bud cases (see comparison photos attached) – you’ll definitely see and feel it in your pocket. This isn’t a showstopper, just know that these aren’t as subtle as what you may be used to or expecting. I think Sennheiser knows this and so they include a short lanyard as an option. Overall I'm happy with these, though I’ll probably lean more toward keeping these in my backpack as a backup, and for use with my laptop on-the-go rather than my phone due to the relative bulk of the charging case. Still, they sound great and their passive isolation (with the closed-style gels) is better than my PB2s.

Quick pro's and cons and user tip: Pros: Sound quality for music and calls Great touch sensitivity (you choose how many taps for commands) All day comfortable, no (B)oats or (S)quirrels Above average bass Up to 9 hours on single charge AptX support for those not using Apple 2 year warranty Cons: Case is larger than the competition and not very pocketable The app is just OK, wish for better equalizer Update was a huge pain Tip: These ship with a tiny red tape over the earbuds charge contacts. Its very easy to miss and the instructions only show it needs to be removed, but the wording is minimal. It says, "Wake up and charge earbuds". Don't forget to remove this tape before anything else!! Use Sidetone in the app for calls. Helps keep you from yelling on calls. These new Sennheiser Sport Buds offer quality sound and build with plenty of options to get a secure comfortable fit. After a semi troublesome install and update. Update kept canceling because it could not see that the buds had been put back in case like it asked. Once I passed that hurdle. I swapped from the pre-installed "Aware" to "Focus" tips and queued up a playlist. I found the audio was very good and the bass to be more than adequate and better than many others at similar prices. While there is no active noise cancelation, the "Focus" ear tips do a near excellent job of blocking most ambient noise at half volume and above. There is also an option for some ambient pass-through at lower volumes with the "Aware" ear tips. This will mostly require you to be in quieter environments like offices to be most effective. I tried it outside walking and bike riding and found it wasn't great to hear either world or music simultaneously. Probably best to only wear one bud while needing to hear the world around you, these buds do that trick perfectly. One bud stays charged while the other sings to the ear of choice. As for call quality, everyone on both ends seemed to approve. Must complement Sennheiser on the touch sensor sensitivity. These are the first buds I could easily get the call to answer easily each time. My big rough working man hands have issues with most of these touch/tap devices. Sennheiser got this right and even let's you decide what each tap does. Tap 1, 2, or 3 can be any of the following on either bud: No Function, Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track, Voice Assistant, Volume Up or Down. I have another set of highly rated buds at triple the price and they don't let me have that many choices or tap order option. To sum it up. These are affordable earbuds from a top rated company, good job Sennheiser. Audio with enough bass to make me happy. Once you realize the smaller tips and wings are more comfortable and as secure in ear. These are truely all day wearable. My wife and took a 6 hour bike ride and we both used one. Road bumps, wind, a bit of sweat and these went all day and never skipped and our ears never went numb. Win, win, win!

Though they are not true noise cancelling, they are still good (Because of the app which I will write about shortly). If you don’t want to spend the extra hundred dollars for true noise cancelling then these are a decent option. The fit in my ear is good. I have smaller ears so at first I thought they would be big but the fit is good. Even if they don’t fit there are three different ear fins to help. One of the three should help. There are six different ear tips: 3 for what Sennheiser calls “Focus” and 3 for “Aware.” Focus is for if you need “passive noise cancellation.” Even though not true noise cancellation, it blocks noise from out the outside environment and does a fairly good job of it. Aware allows you to hear more of the environment around you when listening to music with your earbuds. Pretty cool feature. The downfall is that you have the switch out the ear tips for whichever experience you want. 3 different sizes for each one to help with the fit. They do not fall out of my ears while walking or running so that’s a good thing. I don’t feel like I have to keep checking to make sure they don’t fall out like other earbuds. They sound pretty good to me. Very nice bass. But this is where the Sennheiser app comes into play. You can adjust pretty much everything to your liking. I wish other earbuds apps were as good as this one. There’s an equalizer that allows you to adjust bass, treble and mids. There’s a feature that lets you use touch controls on the earbuds to allow you to fast forward, pause, adjust volume and more. You can even change the buttons to your liking (really cool). The only thing I don’t like about it is the sensitivity of the controls. But the app allows you to turn off the controls when you’re not using them or don’t want to accidentally touch them. Battery life is excellent so don’t worry about that. Just throw the earbuds in the charging case. I can recommend these to someone who wants to workout as well as to someone who wants to use them while flying. Either way these will work. Especially if you don’t want to spend a lot more. Not basic and not top tier, but good enough.

Sennheiser is a brand that I’ve known of for years, but for some reason I’ve never tried. After experiencing these earbuds, I definitely wonder why I haven’t. At this price point the sound they produce is better than some earbuds I’ve tried at almost twice the price. From country to rap, I never felt like I was missing anything from each genre. When you have music that you’re looking for highs and mids they deliver and the do it cleanly. When it’s bass, they give it to you but it’s not overpowering to where it muddies the sound. If the sound out of the box isn’t to your liking, the app allows you to create custom EQ settings. The app also gives you the ability to change the functions of the touch controls or disable them as well as other things. One of the best features in my opinion of any earbuds is if they can be used independent of each other and I’m happy to say they can. And not just for music but also calls as both buds have mics. This is a great feature especially if you use them for calls, as if one dies you can swap it out for the other. Fit is subjective, but in my experience they’re comfortable in my ears. Sennheiser provides 6 different pairs of ear tips and 4 different pairs of ear fins to help you get that perfect fit. Along with that, they provide a lanyard and a small USB-C cable for charging. Sennheiser delivers a set of earbuds that punch above their price especially in terms of sound. If you need a set of earbuds that prioritize sound quality over other features and don’t have a big budget, don’t pass these up.

After picking up these earbuds, I was excited to get these in my ears to see how well they perform. The fit of these earbuds are pretty good. The fins that are included are very important for ensuring the buds stay securely in your ears when active. I was a little skeptical of how well these would stay in my ears since the fins were smaller than I'm used to compared to my Jaybird Vistas, but they sure held up! The ear tips included fit well once I played with them to find the right one for my ear. While there is no active noise cancellation built into these earbuds, they rely on the "open" and "closed" design of the included ear tips for a more passive approach to noise cancellation. Not as convenient, but they do an okay job I suppose. Audio quality is honestly where these earbuds shine. They sounds amazing, especially once you get into the equalizer settings in the Sennheiser Smart Control app. There are various presets that you can use as a baseline, or you can create your own equalizer adjustments. Speaking of the Smart Control app, you are really going to want to use this to personalize your earbuds experience other than equalization settings. You can set what touch controls do and perform firmware updates. The charging case is a bit bulkier than I would have expected, but it is what it is. There is a cover on the back of the charging case that you will use to charge the case/buds via USB-C. The case does not support wireless charging like more advanced/expensive earbuds are capable of doing. Overall, these are really good earbuds for the price. They sound great and perform well. They should be something to consider if you want something that fits an active lifestyle.

Sennheiser’s SPORT True Wireless In-Ear headphones deliver an elevated, completely enjoyable listening experience. QUICK COMMENTS: I really love the sound. The Sennheiser - SPORT True Wireless plays so much better than the modest price might suggest. They are not easy to get up and running using their App, but they become trouble-free quickly. The FOCUS and AWARE MODES may be more trouble than helpful for those who lack patience. My first impression was made in the AWARE MODE using an ear adapter designed for that purpose. It was completely satisfactory in every way. My second impression was made using the FOCUS MODE using an ear adapter designed for that purpose. Also completely satisfactory. I’ll sort out the variables in the App controls and ear adapters later on, but I found it easy to accommodate to either MODE and being forced to choose one or the other was a fool’s errand. I really liked the sound whether I chose the AWARE or FOCUS approach. Sennheiser’s sound engineering is first rate. SETUP: [renamed the HURDLE] Download the Sennheiser Smart Control. It’s here that you receive guidance for adding a device to the App so you can customize the sound, choose which listening MODE you prefer to use, and manage a 3-band equalizer. At least according to the instructions, you start with the App to initiate the Bluetooth connections. Or, maybe you begin with the phone Bluetooth connections. I’m not going to be any help, dear reader. It took me just short of an hour to connect. I fussed and fumed connecting, disconnecting, connecting without actual sound coming out, and then disconnecting and stripping away the device from the App and starting over. I’d offer guidance, but I’m not sure what I did that succeeded. I got it working and it has been trouble free, so maybe it was just me. Check out other reviews for comparison. PERFORMANCE: In combination with two distinct Ear tips (adapters), a MODE option lets you choose between passively reducing ambient sound around you, or do the exact opposite … increase the amount of environmental sounds that you hear. It definitely works. I found the passive sound reduction was pretty decent considering this is not active noise reduction. The increased ambient sound from the AWARE mode was less obvious, but there was certainly a noticeable difference between the two MODES. Selecting those MODES in the App appears to alter the EQ setting to compensate for the changed ear tips and how they contour the sound. It’s harder to describe than it is to accomplish. SUMMARY: Using either MODE and the appropriate ear tip, the underlying Sennheiser sound is maintained. Sennheiser sound is detailed, accurate and natural. I listened to a broad mix of music and the Sennheisers continued to surprise with their ability to present a lively and realistic performance. The music was never harsh. I found the bass to be solid, but not over-baked. Some bass heads might be disappointed. For me, it is so easy to listen to these SPORTs for hours. These In-Ear headphones are somewhat larger than I’ve become accustomed. However, the light weight, various sized ear tips, soft edges of the headphones, and that selection of wings all contribute to a headphone that’s easy to wear for a lengthy stretch of time, and a good workout. All this adds up to a great True Wireless In-Ear Headphone… sport enthusiast or not.

Great classic Sennheiser sound. Good fit. Overall great quality at a reasonably affordable price. I really appreciated how many sizing options and retention clip options there were. They were able to fit my big-old ears as well as my 17 year old daughters. Admittedly, we did need to use different ear cups and different ear retention clips. When the say "touch control", they mean "TOUCH control". All in all, the touch options were effective and relatively simple to learn. We used these for several days in the gym and they worked great. That said, I would not recommend these [or any ear-buds for that matter] for a long flight. They are comfy for 60 to 90 minutes or so but wouldn't want to wear them much beyond that. As mentioned, the sound is excellent. I appreciate that they are sweat resistant as my big-old-big-bod sweats a pretty good clip when doing cardio. For affordable, high quality true wireless earbuds, these are a great choice. I would [and have] recommend them to a friend.