A tale of two airbuds: How do the new buds from heavyweights Sennheiser and Anker compare?

Summary

From music quality to active noise cancellation, battery life and quality of calls, how do the new airbuds from Sennheiser and Anker compare?

Two pairs of True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds. Two different approaches. One with a replaceable battery and the other one a holder of a Guinness World Record. Yes, I'm talking about the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5 and the Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max TWS earbuds. Here's a look at how these two powerhouses compare.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 5

Sennheiser isn't exactly reinventing the wheel with the Momentum True Wireless 5 TWS earbuds (Rs29,990), but they are making a compelling case for using tech longer than most companies would like you to. The premium TWS earbuds segment is full of companies with offerings that have excellent active-noise cancellation (ANC), customisable EQs, multiple drivers and microphones, and enough battery life to last an entire workday.

The Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds though have one trick up their sleeve. Both the earbuds and the charging case have replaceable batteries. That's something that sets these earbuds apart in this segment. Once the batteries degrade, which is inevitable, you can just replace the batteries and prevent them from becoming e-waste.

Sennheiser was already an ANC leader, and for this generation, the entire system has been revamped. It's an "adaptive hybrid ANC system" and it adjusts noise cancellation in real time. There's an automatic anti-wind system for when you're outdoors. For me, it's excellent in varying situations and can even drown out the constant honking on the streets of Delhi.

It all boils down to sound quality. Thankfully, the Momentum True Wireless 5 earbuds deliver on their promise. The soundstage is wide, they are responsive and detailed, and the bass isn't boosted to a point of annoyance. What I liked a lot was that when I fired up Take 5 by Dave Brubeck Quarter or Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk, I could hear the finer details. Instrument separation was class-leading. With Nina Simone's Feeling Good, the vocals were kicked up a notch and were left to shine on their own.

The bass response is where I felt the earbuds could have been tuned better. The bass didn't feel very smooth and natural. Thankfully, the EQ is very customisable and you can get it to your exact liking. Sennheiser says you can get 12 hours per charge with ANC off and up to 40 hours in total with the case. With ANC on the battery life is rated at just 6 hours. Those claims broadly fell in line with what I got during my testing period.

Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max

While Sennheiser went for user-replaceable batteries, Anker decided to get this particular product a Guinness World Record. The company was certified in April 2026, for the "Highest speech quality score (G-MOS) for TWS earbuds (objective test)". What that means is that these earbuds will have the clearest calls of any TWS earbuds.

I can totally confirm this from my time with the earbuds. Call quality is easily the best thing about these earbuds. While answering calls from noisy streets, the people at the other end of the line thought I was at home or in a quiet cafe. The company achieves this feat by using its first in-house AI chip, and eight microphones and two bone conduction sensors work to dynamically separate your voice from the background.

The one thing that separates the Liberty 5 Pro Max from the Liberty 5 Pro is the AI Note-Taker. You can activate this through the cases' 1.78-inch AMOLED touchscreen. Furthermore, there's a pairing button that flags anything important in the transcript and highlights it. Once the recording is done, the audio is transferred automatically. Then the transcript is generated in the app and there are meeting notes as well. To achieve this, the case comes with its own built-in microphone and speaker, and you have to pair the case separately via Bluetooth. Transcription accuracy was fairly good and comparable to other similar options I've tried out like Otter AI. It can trip up when people speak over each other.

You will be buying these earbuds primarily to listen to music. For the most part, these have excellent sound quality. Instrument separation in jazz classics like Take 5 was perfect, and pop songs from the early '00s played along like I was in the front row of a concert. The sound output may not appeal to everyone at first, and there might be a slight crackling in the top-end frequencies. To fix this, just tweak the EQ settings, or use Anker's HearID 5.0 feature to create a custom sound profile based on a hearing test.

With a tight seal, the ANC is outstanding. You can manually adjust the ANC or you can switch to adaptive noise cancelling, both of which work well. Even transparency mode has recieved an update.

The earbuds are rated at up to 12 hours of playback with ANC off and up to 6.5 hours with ANC on. Add in the charging case and that makes it up to 50 hours with ANC off or about 26 hours with ANC on. The case can charge via USB-C or Qi wireless charging. I comfortably hit about 6-6.65 hours even with ANC on and LDAC HiRes enabled.

The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max from Anker are a very comfortable pair of earbuds, with great sound quality. ANC has been vastly improved for this generation, and there's a feature-packed app. The USP though has to be the voice calls. If you don't need the AI Note-Taker and large touchscreen, you can get the cheaper sibling, the Liberty 5 Pro instead. For me, the Liberty 5 Pro Max earbuds are truly in the top league.

Sahil Bhalla is a writer based in Delhi. He posts @IMSahilBhalla.