Just before the Nothing Headphone 1 launched, there was a bit of needle as Sennheiser claimed in a now deleted Reddit post that it wouldn’t design a pair of headphones in the same way as Nothing have.
So what better match-up for the Nothing Headphone 1 than to go up against the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, the flagship cans from a company that knows a thing or two about headphones.
You might call it a grudge match of sorts, one in which Nothing would dearly like to score a win over its esteemed rival. If Nothing are the upstarts in the headphone market, Sennheiser is the established statesman.
What’s the difference between these headphones? Let’s find out.
The Sennhesiers are less expensive
When the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless went on sale in 2022, and back then they were priced at £299 / $349.
Having been available for longer, the price has dropped to around £199 in the UK.
The Nothing Headphone 1, having been released in June 2025, command an RRP of £299 / $299, and they’re like to stay that price for quite come time.
The Momentum 4 Wireless has longer battery life
On paper, the Nothing Headphone 1 can last for 35 hours on an AAC Bluetooth connection, and 30 hours with the higher quality LDAC Bluetooth stream. Turn the noise-cancellation off, and they can reach a max of 80 hours. Our tests indicated that 30 hours is about correct for the headphones.
But as far as comparison with the Momentum 4 Wireless, it’s a case of “hold my beer” as the Sennheiser can go for as long as 60 hours with ANC, double that of the Nothing headphones.
In our tests, though, we found it’s probably closer to 30 hours of use. Despite that, there’s no doubting that the battery in the Sennheiser can hold its charge for a very long time.
Even three years later, we still find that the headphones have charge and resume a connection a device almost instantly.
They both support high quality Bluetooth codecs
Higher quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX Adaptive and LDAC help widen the bandwidth over a Bluetooth connection, alllowing more data to pass through. More data allows for a higher level of audio quality, such as listening to tracks from services such as Tidal and Qobuz.
The Nothing Headphone 1 support LDAC, and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless support aptX Adaptive. Both these Bluetooth codecs are only available on Android devices.
Which Bluetooth codec is better? To be honest it’s hard tp quantify, but aptX Adaptive does appear to provide a stronger connection to your device than LDAC. Either way, both headphones are good to go to use with higher quality music services.
The Nothing Headphone 1 has stronger water resistance
An IP rating is unusual for any over-ear unless it’s one of the best running headphones. Very few brands even bother to state whether an IP rating is attached or not.
The Nothing Headphone 1 are one of the outliers. They have with an IP rating of IP52, which protects the headphones against water and dust though that doesn’t mean that it’s water- or dustproof.
The Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless apparently does have an IP rating, though this is not a design feature that Sennheiser has (to our knowledge) mentioned before or is even available on the specs.
But the Momentum 4 Wireless have protection up to IPX4, which means they’re not protected against dust but they an handle some moisture if they get wet.
Early Verdict
This is just a summary of the differences and similarities between the Nothing Headphone 1 and Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, and not a full comparison. We’ll update this versus guide down the line for a more comprehensive take.
Judged on review scores, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless would appear to be better than the the Nothing Headphone 1, but we did review the Sennheiser almost three years ago.
Both are aimed at different aspects of the headphone market. The Sennheisers are more traditional in their approach, less stylish, more functional; while the Nothing are more fashionable and take an approach off the beaten path, especially with regards to the control scheme.
