Sennheiser Sport True Wireless Review: Excellent Sound with a Trade-off on Awareness

Introduction

Sennheiser’s Sport True Wireless earbuds aim straight at runners who care about sound quality first. Priced at £119.99, they combine a secure winged fit with the brand’s signature audio tuning, and they back that up with nine hours of battery in the buds and a further 18 hours in the case.

The headline feature is a dual ear tip system: an open design intended for more outdoor awareness, and a closed design for a more sealed, indoor-focused listen. It is an interesting attempt to solve a problem runners know well, balancing situational awareness against full-sounding music. The execution has some clever ideas, but it also has real compromises worth understanding before you buy.

Who This Product Is For

These earbuds are built for runners and gym-goers who want a genuinely secure fit and excellent sound without paying premium flagship prices. The in-ear design uses silicone wings held in place by four different wing sizes in the box, and during testing the fit proved firmly planted with no movement on the run.

Each bud weighs around seven grams and has a large, boxy shape. That bulk helps battery life but means comfort is good rather than outstanding, especially on very long outings approaching that nine-hour mark, where the wing can create a little pressure. For typical runs of up to 90 minutes, the fit stayed comfortable and reliable.

Main Strengths

Sound quality is the standout. With a seven millimeter TrueResponse transducer and customizable EQ in the companion app, these £120 earbuds sound excellent, holding their own against earbuds in the £150 to £200 bracket. The default tuning is bright, clear and open, and in testing the built-in sound check and preset EQ options consistently pointed back to that default, which says a lot about how well Sennheiser has tuned them.

The two EQ modes tied to the two ear tip types add real versatility. The Focus mode pairs with the closed tips and delivers classic clear, bright sound that suits vocal-led pop and acoustic material. The Aware mode is bass-forward and full, almost like a dedicated workout mode, and it works well for rock and high-energy outdoor sessions. Aware mode also reduces the sound of your footfalls, which many runners will appreciate.

Battery life is genuinely strong. Nine hours per charge is up there with the best true wireless options, helped by the large bud size and the absence of active noise cancellation, and real-world drain matched the stated figure during testing. The IP54 rating means sweat and water resistance that will handle anything a run can throw at them, even if they are not fully waterproof.

Controls are well thought out. Each bud has a touch panel supporting four customizable actions, covering playback, volume, power off without the case, and voice assistant access. Tap feedback sounds help confirm inputs mid-run, though the single-tap action is sensitive enough to trigger accidentally while handling the buds.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The biggest caveat is awareness. The open ear tips add only a slight extra openness compared to the closed tips, and while traffic sounds marginally clearer as cars pass, that is often too late to be useful. In practice, running beside traffic still required removing a bud, just as with any standard in-ear design. The open tips are not a substitute for a true transparency mode or bone conduction headphones, and the earbuds have no active noise cancellation either.

The tip-swapping concept is also fiddly. Each tip type has its own EQ profile in the app, and switching between them mid-run means carrying a loose spare set that can fall out of the case when opened. There is also no way to switch between Focus and Aware modes from the earbuds themselves; it requires the app, which is an inconvenience worth hoping for in a future update.

The closed tips are the softer, more comfortable option, and they ended up as the default choice for most testing simply because awareness differences proved minimal. The charging case is another bulky element, though a small plastic loop lets you clip it to a belt so it cannot bounce loose.

Buying Advice

At £119.99, these earbuds tick the two biggest boxes for sports use: a secure, reliable fit and excellent sound, backed by strong battery life. If sound quality per pound is your priority and you run in places where full traffic awareness is not critical, they are a compelling choice.

If you want a more rounded feature set, alternatives are worth a look. The Jabra Elite 4 Active costs the same and offers a smaller, wingless, very comfortable design with decent sound, usable ANC, an awareness mode and good battery. If you prefer a wing, the Jaybird Vista 2 has more comfortable wings that can be worn for long periods, and Bose’s Sport Earbuds are similarly comfortable, though both come with their own trade-offs at higher prices.

Conclusion

Sennheiser came close to solving the runner’s awareness-versus-sound conundrum, and even though the open ear tips do not fully deliver on that promise, the combination of Focus and Aware EQ modes gives you two genuinely enjoyable sound profiles. Add a secure fit, superb clarity for the price and nine hours of battery, and the Sport True Wireless earns its place among the best sports earbuds around the £120 mark, provided you can live without a proper awareness mode.