Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus Headphones Review

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus outwardly look quite a lot like the previous Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless, with slightly different-shaped ear pads. At a glance, it's very difficult to differentiate one from the other. The sleek, closed-back over-ears come in two color variants, 'Black' and 'White'. The 'Black' version is monochromatic, while the 'White' variant uses taupe-colored accents for the padding. Branding includes the manufacturer's logo on either side of the headband.

The headphones feel decently comfortable. They feature a wide range of motion for swiveling the ear cups on a horizontal and vertical plane to allow them to fit over a variety of different head shapes and sizes. The faux leather is soft to the touch, but the padding feels firm and not squishy. Their clamping force is secure and not overly tight, although getting a comfortable seal is harder with glasses. While the inside of the headband is covered in soft faux leather, it can catch on your hair. Additionally, the padding is concentrated only in the center (where it rests on your crown), so every other point of contact along the headband is basically with unpadded leatherette-covered plastic. Unfortunately, this spartan padding on the narrow headband doesn't extend all the way down the headphones, which can make the headphones less comfortable for folks with larger heads.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have impressive controls. Their scheme combines a touchpad with a single multi-function button. If you're left-handed or experience limited hand mobility, the downside is that, unlike the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless, these only have a touchpad on the right earcup's housing. Otherwise, the large space on the flat of the earcup makes entering commands pretty easy to execute. The headphones chime to indicate volume is minimized or set to max, listening modes, low battery, and for each step of powering on through pairing. These may take some memorization, but it's fairly comprehensive.

Multi-function button:

• Single press: Activate voice assistant. Mute/unmute microphone during a call.
• Press and hold for three seconds: Power on/off.
• Press and hold for five seconds: Enter Bluetooth pairing mode.

Touchpad:

• Single tap: Play/pause audio playback.
• Double tap: Toggle between ANC and transparency modes. Put a caller on hold.
• Touch and hold for two seconds: End call.
• Swipe forward: Skip to the next track. Answer incoming call.
• Swipe forward and hold: Fast forward within the same track.
• Swipe backward: Skip to the previous track. Reject incoming call.
• Swipe backward and hold: Rewind within the same track.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus are passably portable. They don't feature articulating arms that fold down any smaller, although the ear cups can lay flat. Because these are over-ears, they're not small, but at least you can use their case.

Their case is good. It has a zipper and a stiff shape with a fabric exterior. The interior has a soft lining, and you can fit all of the accessories; take a look inside. However, it's a bit of a tight fit to get the headphones in, and there's no additional padding to protect from bumps. Nevertheless, the case represents an upgrade over the previous Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless, which don't include a case at all.

Their build quality is good. Their plastic build is virtually the same as the previous generation from the ACCENTUM line. The plastic and faux leather build is reasonably sturdy, with rotating hinges that aren't too loose. While the narrow headband keeps the size and weight down, it doesn't use notched incremental adjustments, and over prolonged use, it can get looser. Like the previous generation, the wiring that runs through the inside of the headband to each ear cup is a potential point of trouble, as the plastic can wear down the outer casing of the wire (as pictured here). Although we didn't experience issues with the cabling, this is more of a long-term concern.

They're decently stable. They'll slightly shift if you're moving about on a walk, but stay put at a desk. If you move quickly into a horizontal position, the headband can slip down for push-ups or sit-ups. Introduce headbanging, and they'll come off your ears.

• Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus headphones
• Soft zip case
• 1/16" (2.5mm) to 1/8" (3.5mm) TRS audio cable (4.07ft / 1.24m)
• USB-A to USB-C cable (4.07ft / 1.24m)
• Manuals

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus are bassy-sounding by default. Their low-end supplies strong thump and rumble without cluttering the high-bass range's transition into the midrange. As a result, EDM and hip-hop gain added bass emphasis, while lead instruments like synths and guitars sound accurate and not muddy, though they might seem somewhat buried by the low-end's relative volume in busy tracks. Vocals come across as concise and intelligible, although their details are dulled due to a dip in the treble. Fortunately, you can adjust the frequency response's tuning in the companion app.

Compared to the previous Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless, they sound very similar. That said, it's worth noting that audio delivery from both headphones can differ per use based on fit, positioning, and seal.

Their frequency response consistency is okay. If you have thick hair or glasses, the headphones will likely sound different between wears and other wearers. This is because they break the headphones' seal. Getting predictable audio delivery demands you pay attention when placing the headphones and positioning them with each use.

Their bass compliance with our target curve is good. The whole range is quite over-emphasized, though this is particularly apparent in the low-bass range. This gives the kick drum and bassline in tracks like September Again by Nation of Language rumble and body.

Their mid-range compliance is amazing. The response is mostly very even across the entire range. There's a slight peak in the response in the low-mids, carrying over from the boosted bass range that thickens up bass guitars and low cello lines. A slight dip at the very top of the range can push vocals back in the mix somewhat, especially in bass-heavy tracks, where mid-range content has to compete with the exaggerated bass response.

Their response complies decently well with our treble range target. There's quite a bit of inconsistency between the responses of the L/R drivers, which is especially apparent in the low-treble, where the upper harmonics of vocals are dulled more in the right driver. These inconsistencies also continue through the rest of the range, though they're not as apparent.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have good peaks and dips performance, and they control their sound profile well overall with a couple of deviations. A peak in the mid-bass adds rumble to kick drums and sub-bass synths, while small dips around it alleviate bloat and muddiness in the bass and transition into the mid-range, which are fairly even. A series of small peaks in the high-mid into the low-treble push vocals and solo instruments up in the mix, making them a bit more harsh. A significant dip in the low-treble into the mid-treble darkens harmonics and detail in vocals and cymbals. A sharp peak follows, resulting in uneven-sounding cymbals that lack detail but sound very bright and piercing, depending on the frequency.

Their imaging performance is very good. The manufacturer usually has strong quality control and ergonomics based on previous testing, and the same applies to our unit. Their phase response means you get a stable stereo image, and group delay results translate to tight bass and accurate reproduction of your audio content. Our unit deviates somewhat with amplitude mismatch and frequency response, although it's difficult to notice with real-world content. The slight amplitude mismatch pushes the stereo image of high-mids slightly more to the right side, but you'd have to focus to notice it. With that said, imaging varies from unit to unit, and these results are valid only for our unit.

These headphones have a poor passive soundstage. This is expected and normal for closed-back headphones which don't interact meaningfully with your environment the way that open-back headphones do. As a result, the soundstage isn't immersive, and your audio sounds like it's coming from inside of your head, and not outside of you or in the room. That said, this soundstage also feels rather wide because of how the sound interacts with your outer ear.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have good weighted harmonic distortion performance. The mids exhibit a range of very low to higher harmonic distortion, but they come across as clean and pure. Higher harmonic distortion peaks are present in the bass and low-treble into mid-treble ranges, which aren't noticeable with normal content. However, you may notice it if you significantly turn up one of those frequencies in the EQ.

These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have good full-range noise isolation. Their adaptive noise cancelling performance is very similar to the previous generation and compares favorably to the premium, Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless, as well. While they struggle to comprehensively reduce the lowest-pitched noise of deep underground rumbles at construction sites, their ANC filters bus and plane engine noise to make trips more tolerable. They're better at dealing with ambient street traffic din and nearby chit-chat. Meanwhile, shrieking brakes on a subway and dish clatter are tackled well by their passive isolation.

While these headphones performed better in our full range test, they didn't do as well in our common scenarios test, which features more irregular sounds. This can indicate that the ANC needs time to adapt to noise and does a better job when exposed to more consistent sound. With common scenarios they do a middling job of isolating you from background noise. They perform better with street and office noise than with airplane cabin din, which can still have some of the lows reach your ears.

They have a wind noise reduction mode, which mitigates the noisy effect of air hitting the external microphones. Here's a comparison of the wind reduction mode and max noise cancelling modes. This feature is useful on a blustery day, but it can possibly impact the overall noise reduction performance if you leave it on when you're not in windy conditions.

Their leakage performance is satisfactory. It's spread pretty consistently across the frequency spectrum, resulting in a somewhat full-bodied version of your audio entering the space. In particular, lead instruments, vocals, and higher-pitched percussion are audible to those around you in a moderately quiet space, if you max out the volume. However, this also depends on how loud you set your volume.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus microphone sounds passable. These use beam-forming microphones integrated into the headphones, which aren't fully compatible with our testing rig. This is largely due to the fact they use software to capture and filter speech and noise. With that said, our results sound like what we subjectively experienced, which is a thin but intelligible version of your speech.

The mic's noise handling is satisfactory, and with constant background noise, captured speech remains intelligible and audible. However, you can still hear the noise in the background. In environments with sudden and loud noise, the mic can't perfectly filter out the sound, and it obscures your voice, making it harder to hear, but it doesn't completely overwhelm your speech either.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have fantastic battery performance. They're advertised to last 50 hours with ANC on, with 10 minutes of fast charging yielding about five hours of playback. In testing, they reached 56 hours with ANC on, although battery life depends on variables like volume and listening modes, so your mileage can vary. They also have an auto-off timer to help preserve the battery life. You can use them passively via their analog cable if the battery drains.

The headphones' companion app, Sennheiser Smart Control, is excellent, but to get the most out of it you'll need to make a free account. You have access to sound personalization features like a customized sound profile based on your hearing, an equalizer, EQ presets, and codec selection. Sound Zones require permission to track your location to automatically change your settings, like ANC and EQ, depending on where you are. So you can have specific settings for at-home use and seamlessly head outside with your pre-selected settings automatically changing when you leave. You can access nuanced control over your listening modes, like wind mode in ANC and transparency mode. For phone calls there's a sidetone you can adjust as well. Take a look at the app here.

You can listen on the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus either over the included USB-A to USB-C cable or using the analog TRS headphone cable. There's slight latency using either cable; it's fine if you're casually streaming video as you'll experience minimal lip sync error, but it could be more of an annoyance if you're working on something that's delay-sensitive. The analog cable connects to the headphones using a smaller 1/16" (2.5mm) port, and it terminates in a standard 1/8" (3.5mm) TRS to fit most headphone outputs.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus have very good Bluetooth connectivity. You can connect to two devices using the multi-device pairing function. One upgrade over the previous Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless is that these support aptX Adaptive, which adjusts the quality based on your selected priorities and connection strength. Through the app, you can select aptX Adaptive (High Quality) for higher-resolution audio playback.

You can also choose aptX Adaptive (Low Latency), which prioritizes synchronizing audio with video content. You might still experience a little bit of lag over aptX Adaptive (Low Latency), but it's drastically better than with their other Bluetooth codecs. This depends on the device you're paired with, as not all devices are compatible with the aptX suite. However, the included AAC and SBC codecs work well for audio with most devices, but they don't adapt or have low latency. That said, some apps and devices compensate for latency, so your results may vary.

You can connect the headphones to a PC in three ways: using the USB cable or over Bluetooth for full audio and mic support, or via the analog cable for audio support only.

These headphones can connect to your PlayStation either using the analog cable for audio only or using the USB connection for audio and mic support.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus are compatible with Xbox consoles via their analog connection, but you can only receive audio. If you want to talk with friends in-game, you'll need a separate outboard microphone.