Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless  Headphones Review

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM have a warm, bass-heavy sound profile. They deliver extra thump and rumble, which is good for genres like EDM and hip-hop. That said, while vocals and instruments are present in mixes, they're a bit veiled and lacking in detail due to a slightly recessed treble. Happily, their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets to help you adjust their sound to your liking.

You can expect the same frequency response when using these headphones for calls while connected over USB-C, as shown in this graph. That said, activating the microphone causes the highest frequencies to be rolled off, drastically changing the sound of the headphones.

The frequency response consistency of these over-ears is middling. Most people will find that they're prone to minor inconsistencies in bass and treble delivery. However, if you wear glasses, you can expect a significant drop in bass response. As a result, it's important to take the time to adjust their fit, positioning, and seal each time you use them.

The bass compliance is excellent. The response is overemphasized across the low- and mid-bass regions, so your mixes have plenty of thump and punch. The high bass is more balanced, which stops the extra bass from muddying up other instruments and voices.

These over-ears have superb mid-range target compliance. The response in this range is pretty neutral, so vocals and instruments sound clear, natural, and accurate. A small dip in the high-mids can gently nudge vocals to the back of dense mixes, but it's not a big problem.

These headphones have okay treble compliance. Most of the treble range is underemphasized and inconsistent. Vocals and instruments like those in Simon & Garfunkel's song The Sound of Silence are very veiled and lacking in detail. Sibilants like cymbals are also a little dull.

The peaks and dips performance is good, meaning these cans generally adhere to their own warm sound profile. The headphones do a good job controlling their own sound profile through the bass and mid-range regions, but struggle a little more to control their sound profile in the treble range. A peak and then dip in the low-treble means voices can sound harsh or distant depending on the singer's pitch, while an inconsistent mid-treble can make cymbals sound just a touch dull or piercing.

These headphones have decently well-matched left and right drivers. With most listening, you won't notice any issues, but if you concentrate while in a quiet space, you may notice the sounds like centrally-panned vocals can sound ever so slightly one-sided in the low-mids. Generally, however, the drivers are satisfactorily matched in terms of both amplitude and phase.

These headphones have poor group delay. The group delay is audible, so bass drums can sometimes feel a little loose.

These headphones produce audio that doesn't interact much with your outer ear. As a result, audio doesn't feel very immersive, and it feels like it's coming from inside your head rather than from speakers placed in the room around you. Since these are closed-backs, your audio feels a bit closed-off.

These headphones have impressively low distortion. You can listen at unsafely loud levels without hearing audible distortion artifacts.

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

These headphones have a similarly sleek and non-descript look as the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless. They have a one-color design with a plastic headband and hinges. The manufacturer's logo is embossed on the headband. They come in two color variants: 'Black' and 'White'.

These headphones are decently comfortable. The ear cups are easily adjustable and feature plush padding. However, the same can't be said for the headband; its padding doesn't feel particularly great, and it's only built into the top of the band, so if you have a large head, your head can rub against the ends of the headband, which don't have padding at all. The headphones also have a high clamping force, so wearing glasses can cause the tops of the ear cups to press against your head. If you have large ears, they can touch the back side of the ear cups, and you may even have trouble getting a good seal if you have a large head.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM have physical controls that are easy to use and responsive. There are warnings when you reach the minimum and maximum volume, and chimes to notify you when you're cycling between ANC on and transparency mode.

Multi-function button:

• Single press: Activates voice assistant. If you're on a call, this will mute and unmute your microphone.
• Double press: Cycles between ANC on and transparency mode, allowing you to hear your surroundings without removing your headphones.
• Press and hold for three seconds: Turns the headphones on and off.
• Press and hold for five seconds: Activates Bluetooth pairing.

Middle button:

• Single press: Plays and pauses audio. Also answers and ends calls.
• Double press: Skips to the next track. If you're on a call, it switches between calls.
• Triple press: Skips to the previous track.
• Press and hold for three seconds: Turns the headphones on and off.
• Press and hold for two seconds: Rejects a call.

Top button:

• Single press: Raises the volume.

Bottom button:

• Single press: Lowers the volume.

These headphones aren't very portable. The ear cups can swivel to lie flat, but they can't fold inwards to save space. They don't come with a carrying case either.

The build quality is good. These headphones don't feel quite as premium as the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless, as they're made of plastic and faux leather. Ensure the earpad seal is securely attached to both ear cups; otherwise, you may experience a difference in audio quality and ANC performance. Even glasses can make a difference, as the arms can disrupt the ear cups' padding on your head. You can see a photo of what an incorrect ear pad seal looks like. The headband extension features a smooth slider, but it feels like it may wear away over time.

The stability of these headphones is decent. They'll stay on your head if you listen to audio at your desk or walk to work. However, if you're wearing them while running, they can easily slip around your head or even fall off.

• Sennheiser ACCENTUM Wireless headphones
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Manuals

Their full-range noise isolation performance is decent. These headphones have an ANC system, but it doesn't block out quite as much background noise as the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless. As a result, it struggles to tackle bass-range noise, like the low rumble of bus and plane engines. It does a better job of cutting down on mid- to treble-range noise, like ambient chatter and the high-pitched hum of AC units.

When it comes to common scenarios, they do a mediocre job of isolating you from background noise. They're not the best choice for noisy airplane cabins or busy streets, especially since they struggle to tackle bass-range noise, like car or plane engines. They also struggle to cut down typical office noise, like coworkers talking and the hum of AC units. It's worth looking at the Sony ULT WEAR Wireless instead if cutting out these frequencies is important to you.

These headphones feature a wind noise reduction technology, which helps to minimize the impact of wind noise. You can see a comparison between this feature on and off. It's important to note that this noise is caused by wind directly interacting with the ANC's mics. The system detects this as noise and plays anti-noise to counter it, even though the sound doesn't reach your ears. The result is loud and unwanted noise. It's also possible that using this wind reduction feature can impact the ANC's performance if you're in a windy environment.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM's leakage performance is good. Leakage is spread out throughout the range, but it's fairly low. If you're listening to audio at a high volume, others around you won't hear it unless you're in a quiet environment.

The integrated mic has okay recording quality. Your voice sounds clear, but it lacks body. You won't have an issue being heard clearly, though.

The integrated mic's noise handling performance is satisfactory. If you're taking a call from a moderately noisy environment, like a busy office, your voice will still be heard above the noise. However, your voice is a bit fuzzy, and the volume is lowered.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM's battery performance is excellent. The manufacturer advertises the battery to last up to fifty hours continuously, although we measured less than that. Battery life varies depending on usage and features, like making calls or using ANC. Luckily, they're equipped with an auto-off timer to help conserve battery life when not in use. You can't use them passively since they don't support analog, but you can use them while they're charging. Their USB cable allows you to stream audio and use their mic, provided the headphones have a charge.

The Sennheiser Smart Control app is great, and you can see a video of how it works. You can access the EQ and presets, change codecs, and customize sidetone, allowing you to hear your voice while on a call. You can also access a wind reduction setting that's enabled separately from the ANC, and there are sound zones you can customize, which dynamically adapt their sound and noise isolation performance to your location. However, you'll need an account to access the sound zone feature.

You can't use these headphones via analog. However, you can use their USB cable for audio support. Since the headphones must be on to be used wired, they exhibit some latency, which causes slight lip-sync delays. If you have devices that still only accept analog TRS headphone jacks, their sibling, the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus Wireless, offers both USB and analog connections.

These headphones have great Bluetooth connectivity. They support multi-device pairing, allowing you to connect them to your PC and smartphone simultaneously. Additionally, you can view the codec being used via their companion app. They have high latency via SBC and aptX codecs, so your audio and visuals will be out of sync. AptX is designed to provide better sound quality than SBC, so if you're only using it for audio playback, you won't notice any latency. Some devices compensate for latency. Like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless, they also don't support aptX Adaptive or LDAC, which is disappointing if you want to stream higher-quality audio beyond what aptX can provide. However, if latency is a real issue, the Sennheiser ACCENTUM Plus Wireless support aptX Adaptive, so you can access lower latency Bluetooth connections for videos without losing the ability to also switch to a setting that prioritizes high-quality streaming.

The Sennheiser ACCENTUM can connect to Bluetooth-enabled PCs with full compatibility. You can also connect them to your PC via wired USB with full compatibility.

These headphones can be used with PlayStation consoles by connecting them via their USB cable. You'll have full audio and mic support via this connection.