Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless headphones review: flagship sound at a mid-price shelf?

The Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless headphones have been launched in India, weeks after the company launched its flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 headphones. The newly launched audio wearables are a mid-range offering from the German manufacturer, priced at Rs 12,990. They support Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint connectivity and are equipped with 7 mm TrueResponse transducers. In this review, we will discuss the audio experience of these true wireless stereo (TWS) headphones and whether they are worth your investment.

Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Headphones Review: Design and Features

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS earphones are lightweight individually, but the charging case that comes with them is thick. They’re not big or heavy, in fact they fit quite comfortably in your hand. But they’ll be noticeable in the pockets of your skinny jeans. The earphones have an in-ear design with no stem. Usually, that comes with the risk of any earphone being big, heavy and sticking out of your ear, but this pair of earphones is an exception.

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones feature a stemless design and ensure a comfortable fit

They come with silicone ear tips in four sizes – XS, S, M and L. Size S or small fits me best. While we’re on the subject of fit, let me mention the level of comfort they offer. They are good. During longer sessions of use, I almost forgot that I had the accessory with me. However, the path to such happiness was initially marred by a bit of chaos.

Due to their design, the Sennheiser Accentum TWS earphones are connected with the body facing the outside of your ears. Then you have to wiggle it until the earphones are screwed into place and don’t fall off. It took a few minutes to get used to it. But it also requires a bit of patience. That’s why.

Since there is no stem to grip to move the headphones, you have to touch the body of the headphones every time. Almost every time you do this, you trigger a single tap command, sometimes on both sides at once. It’s a whirlwind of sounds, and the transparency mode skips around until you go into the app and turn off the touch control toggle. But part of the convenience of TWS headphones is touch controls. So I had to turn them back on. It took me half a day to realize that I could simply uncheck the single-tap command functions and be free from further torment.

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS earphones weigh just 5.5g each and are IP54 rated for dust and splash resistance. However, the charging case weighing 41g does not have an IP rating. In addition to the case, earphones, ear tip options, and reading material, the company is also packing a USB Type-A to USB Type-C charging cable in the box.

The headphones are equipped with silicone tips, available in four sizes

Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Review: App and Specs

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones are compatible with the Sennheiser Smart Control app for Android and iOS smartphones. This app allows users to customize their listening experience and also lets them manage noise cancellation modes. The app also offers users the ability to configure touch commands. Call commands are preset and cannot be changed. Customization is available for everything else, including volume control and track switching.

On the app’s home page, the first few details include the charge percentage of the headphones and charging case. Here you can also view a list of connected devices, manage touch controls, and access equalizer settings. The app offers a five-band, customizable equalizer that you can freely control to personalize your audio experience. It also has two special equalizer settings – Bass Boost and Podcast. The former is obvious, and the latter improves speech clarity. Among other presets, there are seven equalizer modes available – Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, Classical, Jazz and Movie.

You can also customize the preset for yourself using the sound checker. You will get five sets of preset equalizer settings, with three options in each set. While playing the selected music, you need to select the option from each set that suits you the most, and the app will modify the equalizer settings accordingly after selecting all five options. Then you can save this preset and give it a name of your choice.

Another important customization feature that the app allows is to adjust the noise cancellation and transparency modes. There are three levels of transparency – low, medium and high, as well as three levels of ANC – off, windproof and on.

The Sennheiser Smart Control app is available for Android and iOS smartphones

The Smart Control app also allows you to save specific audio settings depending on frequently visited locations such as home, gym, work, coffee shop, etc. This requires access to the location of the connected phone. Basically, a specific combination of noise control and equalizer settings can be saved for each sound zone. They can be saved both for entering and leaving the zone. What is the zone? It can be defined starting from a radius of 100 m to a maximum of 1 km from a given point on the map. If you have location permission, these settings will automatically apply to your music/podcasts as you commute to and from your pre-defined sound zones.

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones are equipped with 7 mm TrueResponse drivers and support Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint connectivity. They also support SBC, AAC, aptX and LC3 codes and Hybrid Adaptive ANC. Each earbud is equipped with two microphones and a 55 mAh battery, while the charging case with a USB Type-C port on the bottom contains a 400-420 mAh battery.

Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Review: Performance and Battery Life

As mentioned earlier, the Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones come with multiple noise cancellation modes and transparency levels. These modes are powerful and deliver what their names promise. The active noise cancellation mode drowns out almost all stray sounds. If you need a moment of peace to finish some work or seek solace from your snoring roommates, this is a good choice. The different transparency levels are of course useful outdoors. Since this mode can track environmental disturbances to help users stay alert, it also has an impact on the sound quality.

ANC mode, however, leaves the audio experience largely undistorted. In addition to bass boost and podcast modes, the Smart Control app offers seven equalizer presets – Rock, Pop, Dance, Hip Hop, Classical, Jazz and Movie. The audio experience in each of these modes is, to say the least, satisfying. After going from constantly playing my favorite music on my regular budget TWS headphones, experiencing the sound quality of the songs using the Accentum TWS headphones was truly delightful.

Each Sennheiser Accentum TWS earbud weighs only 5.5 g

I tried to cover a wide range of music genres and sounds and played around with custom equalizers as well as presets. From Van Morrison’s Moondance to Joji’s Slow Dancing in the Dark, from Killer Queen Queen to BTS’s Outro: Tear, I’ve never found a song that didn’t perform well on these Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones. For me, a testament to the sonic experience these headphones offer was cemented when I played I Want You (She’s So Heavy) by The Beatles. Exciting. The song itself is probably one of the best and earliest progressive rock mixes of all time. Thanks to these worn audio devices, the timbre of this music is only enhanced. Of all my years of admiration for this Lennon-McCartney gem, this is the purest and most detailed listening experience I have had with this piece.

The multi-point connectivity feature of the Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones works smoothly. They were connected to both a smartphone and a laptop at the same time almost all the time. In my experience, switching audio from one device to another was seamless.

The call quality offered by the headphones is also good. However, the microphone is not the best. This is not equivalent to the sound experience. Although this isn’t that surprising considering the headphones don’t have feet and, by design, the microphones are placed higher inside the individual earpieces. Personally, it didn’t take away much, if anything, from my experience with the headphones, as I don’t really enjoy talking to begin with.

What’s most important to me, though, is the battery life of the wearable audio device. Without any noise-cancelling features, the Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones (when used with the aptX codec) offer a total battery life of up to 23 hours, as opposed to the advertised 28 hours. The total battery life of the headphones, including the charging case, drops to 21 hours with active noise cancellation turned on. When used with the AAC codec, the headphones offer a total playtime of up to 24 and 22 hours, respectively, without and with ANC.

Sennheiser Accentum TWS headphones have an IP54 protection class, but the charging case does not have this certificate

Only the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless headphones offer up to eight hours of playback time on a single charge. Thanks to the aptX codec, the battery life of the headphones with and without ANC lasts up to five and a half and up to seven hours, respectively. Using the AAC codec, they lasted up to eight hours on a single charge without ANC and almost six hours with ANC. The headphones’ charging case supports USB Type-C wired charging and Qi wireless charging. Just 10 minutes of charging can give users up to an hour of playback time.

Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Review: The Verdict

The Sennheiser Accentum TWS earphones are sold in India at a price of Indian Rupees. 12,990. This is a hefty amount for TWS headphones, but if your budget allows, these are an easy choice. You get the sound you expect from a Sennheiser audio product. When combined with the Smart Control app, you can gain extensive control over personalizing your equalizer. The noise reduction and transparency settings, including the anti-wind setting, do their job quite well. The lightweight in-ear headphones and compact charging case also qualify these headphones as some of the best wearable audio devices on the market.

However, to buy the Sennheiser Accentum truly wireless headphones, you need to look beyond the battery life they offer. If you use a higher audio codec and noise-cancelling modes, the total playback time drops to 23 hours. This may not objectively explain the poor battery life, considering all the features, but it could be a dealbreaker for some.

If you fall into the latter category, you might want to check out the Moto Buds+ (review). They are priced at less than Rs 9,999 in India but are claimed to offer a total battery life of up to 38 hours. The Moto headphones also support the LHDC Bluetooth codec and deliver Bose-certified audio. Another pair you can check out, priced at Rs 11,999, is the Nothing Ear (review) TWS earphones, which offer up to 40.5 hours of battery life and also integrate ChatGPT.

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