A taste of a flagship at a pragmatic price

The Sennheiser Accentum Plus is mid-priced bluetooth ANC headphone with some interesting audio related features borrowed from their flagship Sennheiser Momentum range.

Background

I became curious about the Accentum Plus after having been stuck in an airport for a few hours due to a delayed flight and I decided to spend some time investigating each of the headphones on show within the electronics shop in the airport. I tried all the typical ones that you see from Apple/Beats, Sony, Soundcore, Marshall, JBL and a few others. Mostly from a sound perspective I thought most of these sounded horrible with a very “bassy” default sound profile but the Sennheiser’s I tried (the Momentum 4, the Accentum Plus and the original Accentum) were a comparatively much more normal ‘Harman OE’ sound signature. I thought the Accentum Plus was probably the most pragmatic of these having both decent sound but also more premium controls similar to various flagship models but at roughly 1/2 the price.

So, is it good enough to be a viable alternative to the various flagship ANC headphones which are at least double the price and most importantly does it sound as good or possible even better than some of those flagships?

Read on to find out.

The Accentum Plus typically costs $199, but I believe can be had with a typical discount for about $179 and I imagine there will be some black friday deals.

But let’s get into what you get for this money:

Packaging and Accessories

The Accentum Plus comes in compact packaging with the classic Sennheiser branding:

Opening up the box you see that you get a decent case to protect the Accentum Plus:

The manual is hidden underneath:

Opening the case you finally see the headphones: They look well but maybe lack the ’look’ of a flagship.

The case has some storage options for the cables:

The 2 cables are reasonable good quality:

This audio cable is a little different than you might be used to as it’s a 2.5mm to 3.5mm connector so if you think you might need to listen with using Bluetooth or via USB then make sure to leave this audio cable in the case:

The headphones themselves have some removable stickers on each ear cup with details of how to use the controls:

While I like how the headphones fold flat in both directions :

The ear cups do not ‘fold’ inwards like other ANC headphones, so you do need to store them flat:

Earpads:

Looking at the ear cups you see the wear detection sensor on the right cup:

Looking at the left cup you can see they are not that massive - so if you have large ears you may find it touching the edge of your ears (it does for mine):

Here are the measurements I got and I do find every millimeter matters :

But they are fairly average size and shape compared to most ANC headphones in this price range:

Headbands:

The headband has a soft feel to it and has a good give so is fairly comfortable:

The headband extension is good:

Note: I did find there is a large clamping force so there might be a bit of discomfort for large heads or if you wear glasses. I believe this clamping force does help with the ANC and giving a consistent seal, but I would suggest maybe stretching the headphone a little before a long flight otherwise it might get a little uncomfortable.

Hardware Features

Now lets get into some key hardware features:

Bluetooth Codecs

The bluetooth codecs are listed on the box:

The key codecs for me are that aptX adaptive and AAC are supported so some high quality audio can be expected on both Android and IOS devices. I have the full specifications including all the codecs supported outlined later in the review.

USB Audio Connection

For those interested in listening without using Bluetooth I would recommend using the usb-c connection, you will get lossless audio up to 16bit / 48Khz which while not fantastic is obviously good enough for lossless CD quality audio.

Here formats supported on my Macbook when using the Accentum to listen to music via usb-c:

Note: As you will see in the measurements later the audio quality is excellent via usb-c, it is actually better than using the analog cable.

Touch Controls

So, one of the key upgrades in the Accentum Plus is the introduction of enhanced touch controls on the right earbud from Sennheiser. These controls are responsive, allowing users to easily manage playback, adjust volume, and jump to the next / previous track.

Note: You can’t change the controls within the app, but it does explain in details how to use them:

Note: You can also toggle ANC modes without needing to reach for their device but this was one area where I had some problems using the touch control, as it was too close to the play / pause action. E.g. a single tap will be play / pause the music but a double tap will switch ANC modes, but sometimes the music stopped playing when I was trying to switch modes and vice versa.

Button Control

The advantage of moving lots of control you need to touch control is you do not need as many buttons, so there is now just a single button on the Accentum. There this is how you switch on (and off) the headphone and also how you can switch on pairing mode (by a long press of 5 seconds). You can also activate “Siri” or “Google Assistant” via a single click.

Note: One slightly annoying aspect of this button control is switching off the headphone, so holding it “3 second” will supposed switch it off but that is very close to the pairing enablement time when it does not switch off but goes into pairing mode instead of switching off.

ANC and Transparency modes

The ANC capabilities of these headphones are getting incredible good, each year seems to show leap and bounds in how well the ANC and transparency works. Though ANC is the one feature that I have noticed is very price dependent in that the sub $100 ANC headphones that I have reviewed (like the Soundcore Spaceone or the Earfun Ware Pro) have reasonable good ANC but the Accentum Plus has better ANC (especially with the adaptive ANC enabled) but then the higher end ANC headphones I have used for extended periods, e.g. the Apple Airpods Max and the new Sonos Ace have much better ANC capabilities especially in challenging areas.

Soundguys actually measured the Accentum Plus ANC capabilities:

And it does a good amount of bass attenuation.

Microphone

I found the microphones on the Accentum Plus to be excellent in this price range, both indoors (which is usually easy for most ANC headphones) and outdoors on a noisy street. I could take calls and mostly people thought I sounded clear while working with this headphone.

Software Features

The Smart Control App is well-designed with a nice layout of panels:

You can configure which ‘panels’ you want to appear on the home screen.

Customizable Audio Through the App

Sennheiser’s companion app offers extensive customization options for the Accentum Plus. Users can fine-tune the audio using the built-in EQ, apply preset sound profiles, and adjust the level of ANC.

There is an interesting sound personalisation feature:

Though I personally didn’t use this as I customised the sound using EQ - but as you will see its doesn’t really need much customisation.

As well as custom presets

And then there are a few interesting presets:

Though I mainly used the EQ to lower the bass:

Note: This is one area where I am hoping to see more control but the Accentum Plus at least for my tastes does not need much tweaking. But I would love to see PEQ capabilities in ANC headphones and I will be reviewing at least 2 headphones soon with in-built PEQ capabilities.

ANC

The ANC controls are intuitive:

Mostly I left on the Adaptive ANC which worked very well.

Firmware updates

The app also supports firmware updates:

The App does a nice job of guiding the user through the setup:

Sound Zones

One feature which I initially thought was a gimmick, was sort of useful for me. With this Sound Zone you can set a location where you want to switch profiles. So I live near a forest park, so it can be nice to go for a walk, but I have to walk down a noisy road to get to the forest, but I can automatically turn on and off ANC depending on the location:

Sound impressions

In summary, the Accentum Plus does a pretty great job at being a mostly neutral headphone, I especially liked the Jazz Preset as this dialed back the bass a little.

Note: There is a slight ANC ‘hiss’ when ANC is enabled in an extremely quiet room, so it can be useful to switch off ANC when using this headphone at home. This is one reason I liked the Zones capabilities to turn off the ANC when out walking in a quiet forest. For home listening, I would suggest buying a nice open back (e.g. even the very cheap Hifiman HE400SE) if you find yourself listening to lots of music in a quiet room.

Bass

Out of the box, the Accentum Plus delivers well-controlled bass, particularly with ANC enabled, where it tightens
up even more. The low-end is rich without being overbearing, but some may prefer to dial it back slightly using EQ
for a more neutral profile. A great track to test the bass is “Limit to Your Love” by James Blake, where the deep bass drops remain clear and textured without overpowering other elements.

Midrange

The midrange is where the Sennheiser truly shines. Vocals and instruments come through clearly, offering warmth and natural typical of the brand. “You Never Know” from Iron & Wine’s latest album highlights the clarity in
vocals and the full-bodied sound of the acoustic guitar, making the midrange a standout feature.

Treble

The treble on the Accentum Plus has good extension and detail, though it avoids harshness. While some listeners might prefer to slightly reduce the treble for a more balanced signature, tracks like “Tamacun” by Rodrigo y Gabriela showcase how clean and detailed the high frequencies are, especially with the fast guitar work sounding crisp but not fatiguing.

Soundstage and Imaging

For an ANC headphone, the soundstage is good, offering more width than typically expected in this price range. The imaging, however, is where the Accentum Plus excels, with excellent layering and separation of instruments. “Sweet Talk” by Iron & Wine is a great test of the imaging, with multiple layers of instruments and vocals subtly revealing themselves without blending together.

Specifications and Measurements

While bluetooth 5.2 is not the latest, given we get multi-device connections and some great range with the Accentum Plus I think that matters. The sensitivity of 106 dB SPL is excellent as this headphone can get loud and has a good dynamic range.

Measurements

Note: All these measurements were taken with my KB501X sort ear Pinna with a 711 clone coupler and are available on my measurement database here

First lets look at the default Frequency response with ANC enabled:

So as you can see there is a sub-bass boost but otherwise this headphone does a good job of following the Harman OE target response.

Next lets look at the channel matching:

This is pretty good, the treble differences are probably due to slight variations in the position on the “measurement head”. And you can see that the Jazz Profile does an even better job of sticking close to the Harman OE target.

Usb-c and analog interfaces

I also measured the usb-c and the analog connections (using the supplied cables):

So with the Analog connections it obviously does not utilise the EQ capabilities and therefore based on these measurements I would not recommend the analog frequency response but the wired cable does utilise the EQ profiles (and should provide CD lossless audio quality).

EQ Profiles

But as I mentioned in the features sections above, one of the key features any Sennheiser Accentum and Momentum ANC bluetooth headphone is they have access to a pretty good selection of EQ profiles and the ability to customise the frequency response via EQ.

So let’s have a look at these EQ profiles:

But I did think the Jazz provided a good sounding option that was close to my recommendation (which was just to lower bass a little):

So the ANC, Ambient and Transparency modes all follow the same frequency response (unlike lots of ANC headphones):

But I also measured all the various min and max values of the EQ:

Normalising these you can see you get a good +/- 5dB when customising the EQ:

Distortion:

The distortion is well controlled under the audible limits and well within the THD+N specification:

Comparisons:

Finally, some comparisons with other ANC bluetooth headphones.

First some of the sub $100 ANC headphones I have reviewed recently: As you can see they are mostly all over the place with the Edifier being the worst (but it was the cheapest).

So this comparison is with my ‘best EQ’ for these headphones (The edifier didn’t have custom EQ): Even then the Accentum Plus does the best job of following the reference curve, as it should as it more expensive than those other headphones, sometimes you get what you pay for.

But then for fun here is a comparison with some flagships, the Airpods Max and the Sonos Ace:

The Sonos is all over the place and currently has very little EQ options but they could fix their issues via a firmware update, while the Airpods Max has no EQ options and is strangely poor in the 2K-6K region.

So overall I hope this illustrates how good a job the Accentum Plus does with its sound profile, in my opinion better than those 2 much more expensive headphones, maybe sometimes you can get something cheaper than sounds better.

Rating

I’ve given the Sennheiser Accentum Plus a pragmatic 4 stars. While the default sound signature is excellent, and it is both easy to EQ (or just use the Jazz Present) to get it sounding even more reference, there are a few things holding it back from a 5-star rating. Specifically, for me the clamping force was a little heavy on my admittedly large head and there was some confusing usage with the touch controls.

The ANC is good for the price but not as good as the flagship models, so if you travel allot, I would recommend paying the extra for a flagship ANC headphone (e.g. the Sennheiser Momentum 4 along with Sony XM5 and the Bose Quiet Comfort are 3 with similar sound qualities to the Accentum Plus). Their added comfort, more premium build quality and better ANC capabilities would be worth the 2x or 3x cost compared to the Accentum Plus, but if you only an occasional traveller who just wants to have an excellent sounding ANC headphone the Accentum Plus is a great choice.

Conclusion

The Sennheiser Accentum Plus is a feature-rich, well-balanced headphone that offers superb sound quality, effective ANC, and some nice unique and actually useful features at a very reasonable price.

The Accentum Plus slight shortcomings with its strong clamping force and its touch controls are easily outweighed by its strengths which are some excellent sound quality and good ANC, making it a pragmatic choice for audiophiles who on a budget.