Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless
MSRP $200.00
“The Accentum are everything we like about Sennheiser earbuds, but with greater comfort.”
Pros
- New shape provides enhanced comfort
- Same great Sennheiser sound
- Excellent controls
- Very compact charging case
- Bluetooth Multipoint
- Wireless charging
Cons
- No hi-res audio codecs
- Low mic gain on calls
- Not enough sidetone
- Design is a bit boring
Sennheiser’s wireless earbuds rarely disappoint when it comes to sound quality — the German brand’s reputation for solid acoustic engineering is one of the best in the business. But many would agree that the company has struggled with ergonomics. Chunky and a bit bulky, Sennheiser’s earbuds just haven’t been as comfortable as the competition.
With third-gen Momentum True Wireless, that began to change as Sennheiser found ways to make its earbuds smaller. Now, with the Accentum True Wireless ($200), things have improved considerably.
Here’s what you need to know before buying Sennheiser’s newest midrange option.
From a design perspective, with their matte white or matte black finish, the Accentum seem almost boring. There are no glossy surfaces and unlike the company’s flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 (MTW4), you won’t find bronze or titanium accents. The Sennheiser logo is barely noticeable.
And yet, this minimalism is welcome. The MTW4’s case is one of the biggest in the wireless earbud world, a fact that isn’t changed by the handsome fabric that wraps the exterior. By contrast, the Accentum case is lighter and far more pocketable. Access to the earbuds is just as easy, thanks to the clamshell design, and you aren’t giving up convenience — wireless charging is still supported.
However, the most noticeable difference is the shape of the earbuds themselves. Where the MTW4 (and all previous Sennheiser models) are squarish and boxy, the Accentum are elongated, smooth, and curvy all over.
The company says this shape evolved using the data from thousands of ear models, which parent company, Sonova (a hearing aid manufacturer), provided.
It’s hard to argue with the result — the Accentum are by far the most comfortable Sennheiser earbuds I’ve ever worn, though I admit I was skeptical at first.
I’ve come to believe that in order to fit securely, an earbud’s silicone tip needs to sit right up against the entrance of my ear canal — even pressing into it a bit. The MTW4 (and their predecessors) did that handily with their long towers (the part to which the tip is attached). If you read my review of the MTW3 or MTW4, I heap a lot of praise on their comfort and fit. The Accentum are better.
If you’ve ever shied away from Sennheiser’s buds in the past, because of their shape, it’s time to try again. As with any shape, they won’t fit everyone, but I suspect they’ll fit many more people than before. The four sizes of included eartips will certainly help. Workouts and running shouldn’t be a problem. Like the MTW4, the Accentum are rated IP54 for water and dust protection.
Sennheiser’s touch controls are typically great, and the Accentum True Wireless are no exception. You can pretty much tap anywhere on the outer surface of the earbuds, which is far easier than on some models that have a specific touch-senstive area.
Every feature can be triggered using the touch controls (play/pause, track skipping, volume, call answer/end, ANC/transparency, and voice assistant access), and you can also customize the tap gestures within the Sennheiser Smart Control app (iOS/Android). With four available gestures per earbud, your choices are nearly limitless.
These controls are augmented by the Accentum’s wear sensors, which let you automatically pause and resume audio as you remove and replace either bud. It works seamlessly, but you can also disable it if you find it annoying.
Out of the box, you may find the Accentum’s sound conservative. Balanced, yes, neutral even, but also lacking energy. This will be even more apparent if you’re listening at 50% volume or less.
Some wireless earbuds (and headphones too) have a volume sweet spot — a level at which the drivers are getting enough input to really shine. On the Sennheiser Accentum, that spot is somewhere between 60-70%. At that level, you start to hear a lot of detail that feels trapped when listening at lower volumes.
This is where the Accentum deliver that Sennheiser sound — an ideal balance of frequencies that works with a huge variety of genres.
You get clear highs, detailed mids, and resonant bass, each of which avoids muddying the others. As I’ve done many times with other Sennheiser wireless earbuds, I found myself effortlessly running through my usual test tracks, simply enjoying the music.
The Smart Control app’s five-band equalizer, bass boost mode, and presets can all help to finesse the sound to your liking, but don’t expect massive shifts in the sound signature — these are small tweaks.
Curiously, Sennheiser uses a sound personalization feature called “Sound Check” on the Accentum, which is different from the generically named “sound personalization” from the MTW4.
Each gave me different results. Where the MTW4 sounded more lively and dynamic after personalization, I could barely tell the difference after personalizing the Accentum.
It would have been nice if Sennheiser had included support for hi-res audio codecs like LDAC or aptX Adaptive, but I guess it needed to keep something in reserve for its top-of-the-line earbuds. Besides, for iPhone owners, AAC will (for the foreseeable future) be as good as it gets.
One of the few areas where the Accentum noticeably underperforms compared to the MTW4 is noise cancellation. Not that it’s bad — it actually does a decent job of blocking most of the background noise that pops up in our daily lives like traffic, droning engines, and the din of many simultaneous conversations. But it’s not as powerful a filter for these sounds as the MTW4.
Transparency mode follows the same trajectory. The Accentum provide plenty of access to the world around you, but the MTW4’s clarity is better, especially as it relates to hearing your own voice clearly.
Both models let you pause your music automatically when entering transparency mode — I love this feature; it’s one that all ANC wireless earbuds/headphones should adopt.
Speaking of, well, speaking, call quality on the Sennheiser Accentum can be excellent. But you may need to speak louder than you’re used to. The microphones do an admirable job of preventing background sounds from interfering with your voice; however, this comes at the cost of a slightly lowered gain (the amount of boost the mics add to the sound they pick up). Callers on the other end may say you sound a bit far away.
I’m still waiting for Sennheiser to improve sidetone on its earbuds. On a call, you can choose to turn transparency mode on. This lets you hear your surroundings as you talk. But much like transparency mode at other times, your voice isn’t one of the sounds that gets clearly piped back to your ears — it remains fairly muffled, which can make longer calls fatiguing.
The Accentum support Bluetooth Multipoint for simultaneous connections to two devices, and Sennheiser says the earbuds will receive a firmware upgrade to LE Audio, with Auracast support, though no timeline has been committed to so far.
There’s also an interesting feature called Sound Zones, which lets you geofence locations and then select which ANC and EQ settings you want to enable/disable as you enter/leave each zone. Sony does something similar in its Headphones app, and I can’t say I understand the appeal. I’m more than capable of turning ANC on and off by myself, and I rarely change my EQ once I have it dialed in the way I like it.
I’m a bit surprised that if Sennheiser is using its app to track location (which it clearly is), why doesn’t it offer a Find My-style locator for lost earbuds?
Battery life on the Accentum is a very acceptable eight hours per charge, but Sennheiser notes that this number assumes you’re not using ANC. If you turn it on, longevity drops to about six hours — still adequate for most folks, but less than some of the competition. The charging case ups these numbers to 28 and 21 hours respectively, giving you plenty of time before looking for a USB cable or wireless charging pad. There’s a fast-charge mode that gives you an extra hour of playtime after 10 minutes of charging should you start to run low.
For now, the Sennheiser Accentum is a true midrange product: It carries most (but not all) of the strengths of the flagship Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4, at a price that’s $100 more affordable. And yet, regardless of savings, the Accentum’s shape might be all the reason you need to consider it over Sennheiser’s best model. For some, it will simply be a more comfortable experience. For others, it could be the difference between buying Sennheiser and looking elsewhere.
