Mid-tier pricing with few sacrifices

When it comes to some of our favorite brands, we have champagne tastes with beer budgets. But with Sennheiser’s latest offering, the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless earbuds, that doesn’t matter. Aimed at the mid-tier market, the Accentum tones down the design and ditches a couple of the more premium features like spatial audio. But don’t fret; the Accentum doesn’t skimp where it really counts: the sound.

That’s right; you’re getting Sennheiser-quality sound for mid-tier prices, which is more than enough to land the Sennheiser Accentum on the best wireless earbuds page.

Pricing, availability, specs

Where you could find yourself spending $300 on a pair of Sennheiser Momentum earbuds, the Accentum is a bit nicer to your wallet. The earbuds are currently available for $200 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Sennheiser’s website. However, where you can get the buds in either black, white, or blue on Sennheiser.com, Amazon only has the black and white colorways, while Best Buy only offers black.

What’s good about the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless Earbuds?

Sennheiser sound at an affordable price

The Accentum’s lower price point signals that these buds are a step down from the Momentum series. But while a few sacrifices have been made, they’re not enough to deem the Accentum an inferior pair of buds, especially compared to other brands.

So, the first thing you’ll notice about the Accentum is the toned-down design. Instead of the fabric-covered charging case with a partially blinged-out housing that you get with the Momentum, the Accentum is an all-plastic affair. And that’s not a bad thing. The buds and the case are lighter. You still get some flourishes as both the case and the earbuds are made from matte black plastic with a glossy emblem carved onto the top. Open the case, and you’ll see a shiny “Sennheiser” on the lid.

As I’ve stated in other reviews over my many years of reviewing audio, my ears are seriously tiny, which can make earbuds a dicey affair in terms of comfort. So I was shocked at how well the Accentum fit into my ear canal with no uncomfortable pinching or pressure on my concha or tragus, even after wearing them for over five hours of straight use. They’re some of the most comfortable earbuds I’ve worn this year. The snug fit created a near-perfect seal for some nice passive noise canceling, which only helped to enhance the active noise cancelation. The buds are IP54-rated, which means they’re splash-resistant.

The touch controls are nice, responsive, and didn’t take too long to master. Just keep in mind there are different controls for the left and right ears.

With two mics instead of the Momentum’s three to help keep outside noise at bay, the Accentum’s ANC isn’t as powerful as its premium brethren. However, they still do a great job of keeping unwanted din to a minimum. I walked around my Brooklyn neighborhood with ANC enabled, but no music playing, and aside from some muted chatter from some folks sitting on a nearby stoop and the gentle swoosh of a passing car, the Accentum effectively silenced New York City. The subway, however, is another noisy beast altogether, and I needed to play some music at about 55% volume to block it out.

The Sennheiser Smart Control app offers three levels of transparency mode. When enabled and set to High, I had a quick “What’s for dinner” conversation with my boyfriend while Camp Lo’s “Luchini, AKA This Is It,” played in the background.

Senheisser has one of the best audio companion apps on the market. It’s incredibly intuitive and has plenty of customization to create your perfect sound profile. Plus, you can toggle between several help utilities, including Low Latency mode for gaming, Battery ECO, which is designed to preserve the earbuds’ battery, and Smart Pause, which stops the music when an earbud is removed.

Now, onto the sound. Just because the Accentum is a mid-tier product, they’re still Sennheiser, so you’re still getting that great sound you expect from the brand. I listened to songs spanning several genres on Tidal at Max stream (Up to 24-bit, 192 kHz) with the Smart Control EQ set to its default flat setting. The Accentum’s proprietary 7-millimeter TrueResponse dynamic drivers did not disappoint. Whether it was the breezy, sensual “Essence (feat. Tems)” by Wizkid, The Eagles “Hotel California – Live On MTV, 1994,” or Clipse’s percussion-heavy “Grindin’,” the Accentum delivered warm, balanced audio with crisp details. How crisp, I could hear the grit and plosives as during “Hotel California” live.

BTW, the Accentum supports the following codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, and LC3. So, all in all, you get that Sennheiser sound for a fraction of the price.

Sennheiser estimates the Accentum can last eight hours on a charge without ANC and six hours with the feature enabled (I, personally, never disable ANC). I got 5 hours and 41 minutes of battery life out of the earbuds, which was a 5-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 Earbuds?

Can you hear me now?

This section is difficult because I can’t find much fault with the Accentum. But I do have to mention that, unlike its more premium brethren, the Accentum don’t have spatial audio. That’s going to be a dealbreaker for most people.

The other thing is the call quality. While wearing the earbuds, I called my mom and my brother, and they said I sounded great. However, my brother noticed that while he couldn’t hear any background noise when I wasn’t speaking, he heard some faint sounds when I started talking. But that’s not my complaint. It’s how my family sounded. Despite them reporting a crystal clear experience, to me, they both sounded like they were underwater or talking to me through a pillow.

While the price is great, there are cheaper options that offer great audio and ANC, like the Nothing Ear, which come in at $150.

Should you buy it?

If you’re looking for Sennheiser-quality audio without spending $300, the Accentum is a no-brainer. At $200, they’re lightweight and incredibly comfortable with easy-to-learn touch controls. The audio quality isn’t that far off from the pricier devices in Sennheiser’s stable, which means you can expect –– warm, balanced audio no matter what’s in your playlist. While not as powerful as what you’d find on the Momentum line, the ANC is still powerful and can keep most ambient noise at bay. 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 EQs to suit your listening style. It’s got reasonably long battery life with ANC enabled, but you can add approximately another two hours if you turn it off. The Accentum are easily some of the best Sennheiser earbuds to launch this year.

But they aren’t perfect. Being a mid-tier product, the earbuds lack spatial audio, which is a bit of a bummer, but not the end of the world. And the call quality is a mixed bag, which is more concerning. Plus, cheaper options are out there. Overall, if you’re a Sennheiser fan but don’t want to pay premium prices, the Sennheiser Accentum is the way to go.