The Accentum Plus are Sennheiser’s latest pair of noise-canceling headphones. They’re one of many two new pairs of headphones which might be a part of the corporate’s new mid-range Accentum vary, the opposite one merely being titled the Sennheiser Accentum. The Plus mannequin options a number of additional options resembling contact controls, adaptive ANC, put on detection, and so forth., and prices a bit extra. That is the mannequin we might be specializing in as we speak.
Design and luxury
The Accentum Plus are a full-sized pair of circumaural headphones. The headphones function an all-black design with full plastic building that has a uniform matte end to it.
The earcups use comfortable foam pads with a pleather overlaying. The earcups have about 2cm of depth earlier than you hit the comfortable padding overlaying the speaker grille. The earcups are simply detachable however require some effort to place again on accurately.
The earcups are mounted on a swiveling mechanism that gives 180 levels of movement, permitting you to maintain the cups flat dealing with both facet. Nonetheless, the earcups don’t bend inwards, so whereas they will lie flat, they can’t be folded to take up much less area.
The yokes are mounted on a clean sliding mechanism that slides into the headscarf. I am not notably keen on adjustable headbands with out preset notches because it’s tough to get either side precisely the identical size however in fact, no regular individual cares about that. The headscarf has a good quantity of padding within the center with a matte rubberized coating.
The fitting earcup has all of the controls and seemingly all of the electronics. There’s one bodily button, which acts as the facility and pairing change however also can summon your voice assistant of alternative. The remainder of the controls are dealt with by contact gestures by swiping on the facet panel. There’s additionally a USB port right here, which can be utilized for charging in addition to audio, together with a 2.5mm connector for the equipped analog audio cable.
The headphones total will not be too huge. This makes it straightforward to put on them outdoor with out drawing an excessive amount of consideration to them and likewise to hold them round. Talking of which, the headphones do include a carry case that may additionally maintain the charging and analog audio cable.
The consolation of the Accentum Plus was a contentious concern. The earcups have plush padding and a very good quantity of depth to them. Nonetheless, the diameter of the pads is moderately small. So small, in truth, that regardless of having smaller than average-sized ears, I may nonetheless really feel the earcups urgent across the edges of my ears as a substitute of sitting comfortably round them.
This made it tough to simply plop the headphones on and be on my means. I needed to alter them a number of instances each time I put them on in order that they may match round my ears as a substitute of crushing some components of them. I exploit the time period ‘crush’ right here loosely because the clamping pressure is not too excessive but it surely’s nonetheless not gratifying to have not less than some a part of your ear below the rim of the padding.
The opposite concern is not unique to the Accentum Plus however being noise-cancelling headphones they have an inclination to dam all air motion as soon as you place them on. In case you stay in hotter climates like me, this leads to your ears being sous vide in their very own sweat over time. In fact, should you stay in a chilly climate setting, you’ll admire the added overlaying on your ears.
Software program and options
The Accentum Plus assist Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity with multi-device pairing. In addition they assist SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, and aptX Adaptive codecs. Whereas aptX and aptX HD are discovered on most Android units because of their inclusion inside Android itself, aptX Adaptive is often solely discovered on units with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.
The headphones may be managed with Sennheiser’s Good Management app. From right here, you possibly can handle the paired units, alter audio and ANC, entry further options, replace the firmware, and reset the headphones.
The Equalizer function has a five-band EQ, which helps you to create a number of customized presets or you should use certainly one of Sennheiser’s personal. The problem with the EQ, aside from having only a few bands, is that any adjustment causes a big drop within the audio ranges throughout the board. I discovered it higher to regulate the sound by means of every other EQ that is perhaps there on the gadget or the music enjoying app.
Good Management app for Android
Nonetheless, the equalizer does not actually matter as Sennheiser’s Sound Personalization function is a vastly higher substitute. Utilizing an ingenious methodology of enjoying music samples and letting you alter the stability of the devices you hear inside, it permits you to tailor a sound profile that may be very a lot exactly what you’re searching for. Additionally, in contrast to the EQ, this does not appear to drop audio ranges when enabled.
Just like the EQ, the Sound Personalization profile is saved on the headphones themselves so it really works even when the gadget you paired them to does not assist the app (like a PC). Nonetheless, for no matter purpose, the headphones have to load the profile each single time audio is performed, which causes about two seconds of delay the place the headphones play of their default mode earlier than the sound from the profile kicks in. This occurs each single time the audio is paused for quite a lot of seconds and finally will get a bit annoying.
However the greatest annoyance with this function by far is that Sennheiser had the audacity to lock it behind an account. It’s a must to create a brand new Sennheiser account or log into an current one (which, I imply, who amongst us does not have???), and solely then are you able to entry this function. It is truly spectacular the methods firms give you to siphon your information however thankfully, faux electronic mail websites exist so good strive, Sennheiser.
Sound Personalization
The app additionally permits you to create Sound Zones. This allows you to create as much as 20 sound zones, that are geo fences round areas of curiosity, resembling your private home or work, and you may have sure audio settings robotically apply as you enter or go away these zones.
It’s also possible to management the ANC by means of the app. The necessary factor to notice concerning the ANC processing on these headphones is that it can’t be disabled. The headphones can change between ANC and transparency mode and there is even a slider to allow you to easily transition between the 2. Nonetheless, at no level are you able to merely flip these options off fully like on each different ANC headphones. The Accentum Plus mannequin positive aspects an Adaptive ANC function, which robotically adjusts the extent of noise cancellation primarily based in your ambient noise ranges.
Different options embody wind noise discount, auto transparency mode when on a name (with adjustable ranges), auto pause while you allow ANC, on-head detection utilizing a sensor inside the fitting earcup, and auto energy off when not in use.
ANC settings and Sound Zones
The very last thing I need to point out is the contact gestures. The Accentum Plus have a considerably lengthy record of faucet and swipe gestures for the fitting earcup (and solely the fitting earcup) and for no matter purpose, none of those are customizable and even viewable by means of the Good Management app. I needed to obtain the person handbook to determine how any of them work as a few of the gestures aren’t even intuitive. You additionally can’t disable any of them, which is particularly annoying as it’s fairly straightforward to set off them whereas merely dealing with the headphones.
Efficiency
Audio high quality
The Sennheiser Accentum Plus are decent-sounding headphones out of the field. The sound signature must be acquainted to anybody who has used the corporate’s non-pro fashions, which is a desire in the direction of hotter sound with darker mids and highs.
Beginning with the bass response, the Accentum Plus function a large increase within the decrease octaves. This provides percussion devices and bass drops a heftier thump in addition to a little bit of rumble on the bass guitars. The advantage of the bass on these headphones is that it is not too exaggerated, so you possibly can nonetheless hear the unique sound over the rumbling, and the bass increase begins low sufficient within the frequency vary to not spill into the decrease mids. It isn’t probably the most articulate bass response however it may be gratifying with out being overwhelming.
The decrease mids sound a bit recessed however have respectable timbre so deeper male vocals and drums nonetheless sound fairly pure. Sadly, the higher mid-range is sort of missing, which creates a uninteresting, darkish sound that feels prefer it’s missing intimately and determination. This particularly impacts vocals for many singers however particularly feminine ones and string devices additionally are inclined to sound a bit lifeless.
The treble, alternatively, could be a bit spicy at instances. There’s a increase within the higher frequencies that manifests as slight sibilance on sure tracks. Relying in your alternative of music, it could be not too distracting or exhausting to disregard.
I discovered the sound to be most gratifying with digital music with no lyrics. This fashion, you do not actually discover the dearth of higher mid-range element as a lot and might benefit from the bass affect with the slight sizzle on the high.
Nonetheless, quite a lot of these observations exit the window when you allow Sound Personalization and create your personal profile. I used to be in a position to flip the bass down and dial in simply the correct quantity of upper-mid frequencies to my liking after which it was like listening to a very completely different pair of headphones. It isn’t excellent however the distinction may be evening and day and I’ve by no means seen audio customization options have such an affect earlier than.
There’s one other benefit of tuning the sound to be brighter is it helps enhance the imaging and soundstaging of the headphones. By default, the sound feels very congested and intimate however boosting these higher mids actually helps open it up. It is nonetheless comparatively boxed in round your head by giant headphone requirements however will get much more spacious in comparison with the default tuning.
Microphone
The Accentum Plus have common microphone efficiency. The sound is sort of tinny and considerably robotic in timbre. It is also a bit quiet so you will have to talk as much as be heard. The standard is ok for the occasional voice name however I’ve heard rather a lot higher even from cheaper earbuds. The one good factor is that the transparency mode kicks in each time the microphone is on so you possibly can hear your self fairly nicely, which helps rather a lot.
Noise cancellation
The ANC on the Accentum Plus works fairly nicely. The earpads passively block quite a lot of noise even earlier than you flip the headphones on. The ANC then kicks in and irons out the low frequencies additional. Whereas you will discover higher ANC on dearer fashions, what’s on supply right here continues to be fairly good for many use circumstances.
Equally, the transparency mode additionally works nicely. The graceful adjustment dial within the app helps you dial in simply the correct quantity of out of doors noise, which is rather a lot higher than the binary on/off setting you discover on most different headphones.
Latency
The Accentum Plus have good latency efficiency. Whatever the codec used, the headphones exhibited solely a minor audio delay that was straightforward to get used to and finally ignored.
There was a difficulty with the aptX Adaptive implementation, nevertheless, the place there was extreme distortion in some apps that appeared to set off a low latency mode on the headphones. This wasn’t seen on different content material together with most different video games, all of which sounded superb. In case you face this concern, the answer is to change to different one other codec, which generally can be SBC.
Connectivity
The Accentum Plus exhibited flawless Bluetooth connectivity throughout testing as there weren’t any points to report.
The headphones additionally assist audio enter over USB and analog connector. The USB enter labored superb and you may obtain 16-bit, 48kHz audio over the related gadget. The headphone additionally helps its controls and microphone when used on this mode. Nonetheless, the headphones should all the time be on to make use of this mode.
As for analog enter, the headphones can both be on or off. You’ll be able to nonetheless use the mic however the controls clearly don’t work. In case you flip the headphones off or in the event that they die then you definately lose the ANC however the audio continues to work. Funnily sufficient, the sound is rather a lot leaner and brighter when the headphones are off, which suggests the bassy, darkish signature is solely fabricated throughout the DSP and never inherent to the drivers.
Battery life
The Accentum Plus have a claimed battery life of fifty hours. In my testing, utilizing the aptX HD codec, I bought simply over 47 hours of steady playback.
Sennheiser additionally claims 5 hours of utilization after a 10-minute cost. I managed to get 5 hours and 45 minutes.
Conclusion
At $230, the Sennheiser Accentum Plus sit someplace between the entry-level wi-fi headphones and probably the most premium fashions from Sennheiser and different manufacturers. The nice factor is that the efficiency is nearer to the latter so that you get a lot of the technique to the flagship fashions with out having to spend the large bucks.
The issues I favored included audio high quality, which is respectable out of the field however may be improved wildly utilizing the corporate’s intelligent Sound Personalization function. The battery life can also be good and it is good to have wi-fi in addition to two wired strategies of utilizing the headphones. The ANC and transparency modes additionally work nicely sufficient.
Sadly, the headphones merely weren’t snug for me because the earcups had been too small. The microphone high quality is lackluster for this value vary and there must be extra (or moderately any) management provided for customizing the contact gestures. Lastly, locking helpful options behind a compulsory account is unconscionable.
Nonetheless, for the value and particularly coupled with any future reductions, the Accentum Plus could be a good buy for these nonetheless wanting to purchase full-sized headphones for out of doors use.
