When it comes to some of our favorite brands, we tend to sip champagne with beer budgets. But with Sennheiser’s latest offering, the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless earbuds, that doesn’t matter. Targeting the mid-range market, the Accentums slim down the design and ditch some of the more premium features like spatial audio. But don’t worry; the Accentums don’t skimp in one area that really matters: sound.
That’s right; you’re getting Sennheiser-quality sound at mid-range prices, which is more than enough to put the Sennheiser Accentum on the best wireless earbuds page.
Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Headphones
The Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless earbuds lack the features and specs of their premium counterparts, but they don’t skimp on sound quality. Best of all, they’re about $100 cheaper than some of Sennheiser’s pricier earbuds.
- Lightweight and extremely comfortable design
- Great sound quality
- Strong African National Congress
- Good battery life
- Intermittent call quality
- Lacks spatial audio
Pricing, Availability and Specifications
You might find yourself spending $300 on a pair of Sennheiser Momentum earbuds, but the Accentum is a bit better for your wallet. The earbuds are currently available for $200 on Amazon, Best Buy, and Sennheiser’s website. However, while you can get the earbuds in black, white, or blue on Sennheiser.com, Amazon only has black and white, while Best Buy only has black.
What are the good features of the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless headphones?
Sennheiser sound at a reasonable price
The lower price point of the Accentums suggests that these headphones are of a lower quality than the Momentum series. But despite the few sacrifices made, they are not enough to consider the Accentums an inferior pair of headphones, especially when compared to other brands.
So, the first thing you’ll notice about the Accentum is the minimalist design. Instead of the fabric-covered charging case with a partially textured finish that you get with the Momentum, the Accentum is made entirely of plastic. That’s not a bad thing. The earbuds and case are lighter. You still get some nice touches, though, as the case and earbuds are made of matte black plastic with a shiny logo etched into the top. Open the case and you’ll see “Sennheiser” emblazoned on the lid.
As I’ve mentioned in other reviews over the years of reviewing audio, my ears are quite small, which can make earbuds a bit of a risky proposition in terms of comfort. So I was shocked at how well the Accentum fit into my ear canal without any uncomfortable pressure or compression on my concha or ear bone, even after wearing them for over five hours of continuous use. They’re some of the most comfortable earbuds I’ve worn this year. The snug fit created a near-perfect seal for gentle passive noise cancellation, which only helped enhance the active noise cancellation. The earbuds are IP54 rated, meaning they’re splash-resistant.
The touch controls are nice and responsive and didn’t take long to master. Just keep in mind that there are different controls for the left and right ear.
With two microphones instead of the Momentum’s three to help keep outside noise out, the Accentum’s ANC isn’t as robust as its premium counterparts. However, it still does a great job of keeping unwanted noise to a minimum. I walked around my Brooklyn neighborhood with ANC enabled, but without music playing, and aside from some faint chatter from people sitting on a nearby staircase and the sound of a passing car beeping, the Accentum effectively silenced New York City. However, the subway is a noisy beast, and I needed to play some music at around 55% volume to block out the noise.
The Sennheiser Smart Control app offers three levels of transparency mode. With it enabled and set to “High,” I had a quick conversation with my friend about “what we’re having for dinner” while Camp Lo’s “Luchini, AKA This Is It” played in the background.
Senheisser has one of the best sound apps on the market. It’s very intuitive and includes a ton of customization to create your perfect sound profile. Plus, you can toggle between several assistive tools, including Low Latency mode for gaming, Battery ECO, which is designed to conserve the battery of your earbuds, and Smart Pause, which pauses the music when you remove the earbud.
Now, let’s talk about the sound. Even though the Accentum is a mid-range product, it’s still a Sennheiser, so you still get the great sound you’d expect from the brand. I listened to songs spanning several genres on Tidal at Max stream (up to 24-bit, 192kHz) with the Smart Control EQ set to its default flat setting. The Accentum’s 7mm TrueResponse dynamic drivers didn’t disappoint. Whether it was Wizkid’s fresh and sensual “Essence (feat. Tems),” The Eagles’ “Hotel California – Live On MTV, 1994,” or Clipse’s percussion-heavy “The Accentum,” the Accentum delivered a warm, balanced sound with clear detail. How clear it was, I could hear the grit and explosions as I did during “Hotel California” live.
By the way, the Accentum supports the following codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, and LC3. So, overall, you get Sennheiser sound for a fraction of the price.
Sennheiser estimates that the Accentums will last eight hours on a charge without ANC and six hours with it on (I personally never disable ANC). I got five hours and 41 minutes of battery life from the earbuds, which was a five-hour round trip to my hometown in New Jersey and a trip to Yankee Stadium from Bed-Stuy.
What’s bad about the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless headphones?
Can you hear me now?
This section is tough because I don’t find many faults with the Accent. But I must mention that unlike its luxury counterparts, the Accent doesn’t have spatial audio. That would be a big deal for most people.
Another thing is the call quality. While wearing the earbuds, I called my mom and brother, and they said my voice sounded great. However, my brother noted that while he couldn’t hear any background noise when I wasn’t talking, he could hear some faint sounds when I started talking. But that’s not my complaint. It’s the way my family sounded. And while they reported a very clear experience, it felt like they were both talking underwater or through a pillow.
While the price is great, there are cheaper options that offer great sound and active noise cancellation, like the Nothing Ear, which comes in at $150.
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Should you buy it?
If you’re looking for Sennheiser-quality sound without spending $300, the Accentum is the way to go. At $200, they’re incredibly lightweight and comfortable, with easy-to-learn touch controls. The sound quality isn’t far behind the more expensive devices in Sennheiser’s lineup, meaning you can expect warm, balanced audio no matter what’s on your playlist. While they’re not as powerful as what you’d find in the Momentum line, the ANC is still solid and can block out most ambient noise. And when you want to let the world in, the Transparency mode is great.
I’m a big fan of the Smart Control app, as it gives you a lot of features to play with, and you can create custom sound equalizers to suit your listening style. They also have a reasonably long battery life with ANC enabled, but you can add about two hours if you turn it off. The Accentum are easily the best Sennheiser earbuds released this year.
But they’re not perfect. Being a mid-range product, the earbuds lack spatial audio, which is a bit disappointing, but not the end of the world. The call quality is also mixed, which is even more concerning. Plus, there are cheaper options out there. Overall, if you’re a Sennheiser fan but don’t want to pay the exorbitant prices, the Sennheiser Accentum is the better option.
Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Headphones
The Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless earbuds lack the features and specs of their premium counterparts, but they don’t skimp on sound quality. Best of all, they’re $100 cheaper than some of Sennheiser’s more expensive offerings.
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