Neck-phones have recently come into their own. And there are some reasons that are perfectly understandable — they’re not bulky like big on-ears or over-ears and don’t weigh you down or make your ears glow red with the heat. Neither are they so flimsy that they would drop out of your ears and be lost forever, as with completely wireless ear-buds. So they fit right in with working out or running.

The Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear Wireless Black phones however don’t seem to be positioned for the runner and in fact bounce around on the neck, to the complaints of many. They’re just generally meant for today’s mobile lifestyle and meant to be used for both music and communication. And why not. Except that they cost almost ₹15,000.

The neckband is made of premium genuine sheepskin napa leather with a red stitching for accents and to match with the red neck-to-ear cables. The ends of the neckband flatten out and become rectangular just for style and to house the Sennheiser logo. The neckband is soft and comfortable enough quite unlike some hard plastic ones that don’t have a good feel to them. All the same, I didn’t think the neck-phones looked particularly cool and sometimes interfere with the look of a shirt or top, especially if there’s a collar involved. When you don them, the cables have a way of billowing out rather than sticking close to your head, which makes the whole ensemble look rather ridiculous. But if you don’t care about that, well, you will be pleased to know that the in-ear component is made of excellent stainless steel and has soft comfortable ear tips, with extras provided in the box. These go right into the ear canal and because of that, block out a little bit of the ambient noise around you. But they aren’t offering active noise cancellation — which they could, given that price.

On the left of the neckband are controls for the usual functions. Nothing additional there. The buttons take some getting used to because obviously you’re not looking at them while wearing the neck-phones. On the tip is a flap that you open to reveal the USB charging port. The device charges in an hour and a half and lasts about nine or 10 hours. All the electronics are housed inside of that neckband including NFC for one-touch pairing. They work with both Apple and Android devices though it’s with Apple devices that you can access Siri. There’s a microphone so you can take phone calls and that’s not an afterthought but meant to be as important as the music on this gadget.

To get on with the sound quality… I’m unashamedly fond of the Sennheiser sound. Except in this case. I’ve experienced inexpensive Sennheiser in-ear headphones sound very impressive, but was not bowled over by the sound from this set. It’s crystal clear, even described as sparkling and it supports Bluetooth 4.1, AAC codec support, and Qualcomm apt-X compatibility is supposed to give hi-fi sound of exceptional quality and with powerful bass. It’s the latter that I found didn’t match up to the promise. You can use Sennheiser’s Captune app on an Apple device and use the equaliser to control the bass and treble, but after much fiddling. I found the default setting was better.

The bright sound leans towards treble with this one.

For what it offers though, I found the asking price for this headset far too much. Real leather notwithstanding, I didn’t think it could command its price this time.

Price: ₹14,990

Pros: Clear detailed sound, good for taking calls, comfortable leather neckband

Cons: Too expensive, doesn’t look great, bounces with strong movements

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