Sennheiser Accentum Plus review: making a strong case

Sennheiser looked like it was keeping things simple when it launched the excellent Accentum headphones in late 2023 - it offered a more wallet-friendly way to get some great sound and active noise-cancelling (ANC) compared to the flagship Momentum 4 Wireless. 

You got a similar look and feel, but smaller drivers and fewer extras, like no carrying case or touch controls. Now, with the Accentum Plus, the gap between the two is plugged. This is an upgrade for those who want a little more, and lands just as impressively at its price.

Sennheiser Accentum Plus: Price & Availability

The Accentum Plus is available to buy from Sennheiser right now and it retails at £199 in the UK ($230 in the US, AU$400 in Australia), compared to the standard Accentum's £160 price.

That's substantially lower than the £270 price of the Momentum 4, and makes for a real spectrum of options, all of them standing as some of the best headphones around (although none of the three is truly a budget pick).

Sennheiser Accentum Plus review: What's new?

It's probably important at this stage to just break down exactly what is actually different about the Accentum Plus compared to the standard Accentum - what does your extra cash get you?

Well, firstly the Accentum Plus comes in a carrying case for travel, something that was missing from the original model and is welcome. 

The Accentum Plus also now has touch controls on its earcups, for easier control while you're listening to music or audio, along with adaptive noise-cancelling rather than just standard active noise-cancelling - so it'll adapt to your surroundings. 

Finally, there's the addition of a 3.5mm audio jack for analogue audio, and a smart pause system that will stop your audio when you take the headphones off without needing to power them down.

This means that it might be worth spelling out that the Accentum Plus is emphatically not intended as an upgrade path for those who bought the Accentum - far from it. Rather, it's just a slightly uplifted option for those shopping for a new set of headphones. Especially those who want a carry case.

Sennheiser Accentum Plus review: Features

If we've just listed the new additions to the Accentum Plus, they do come on top of everything that the standard Accentum offers, meaning you get the exact same exemplary 50-hour battery life, for one. 

You can charge nice and quickly, too, with a 10 minute burst gaining you 5 hours of listening time, and the build and design of both headphones is basically identical.

In fact, you'd only really be able to tell the difference between an Accentum and an Accentum Plus by looking at the Sennheiser logo on the headband - it's black on the standard model, and metallic on the Plus. 

That's a good thing in our books, though, since the Accentum already brought a lovely new modernised look and feel to the table, and these stand as some of the classiest and lowest-key midrange headphones we've tested.

They both also have the exact same audio drivers and the same microphones, and if you use Sennheiser's Smart Control app you'll find most of the same options for each in terms of EQ control and customisation. 

This makes the Accentum Plus a fairly simple and easy-to-use set of headphones, one that can easily be set up and that doesn't demand much from you as the user.

Sennheiser Accentum Plus review: Performance

Musically, there's no difference to speak of between the Accentum and Accentum Plus' performance, but that's no bad thing.

We were extremely impressed by the Accentum, and that isn't remotely diminished by a slight bump in cost explained by other new features. Rather, once again the Accentum Plus demonstrates just how well Sennheiser can tune its audio products.

That telltale balance is here in spades, making for a wide and clean soundstage that suits all genres - we bounced from long-awaited new Justice tracks to cello solos without feeling as though we were straining the headphones at all, and everything sounded rich and clean. 

Bass response is also really solid, making them more than capable of handling deeper tracks, and a great all-round option for genre-hoppers. 

The addition of adaptive systems for the headphones' noise-cancelling is welcome - although not necessarily hugely noticeable. Still, travelling with them on demonstrated that the Accentum Plus can hold a decent candle to more expensive options in terms of isolation, even if the uplift over the Accentum is pretty nominal. 

Those added touch controls are less of a slamdunk, though - we found them a tad fiddly, just as we did on the Momentum 4 Wireless at a higher price, and still found that we didn't use them much. 

With battery life living up to its 50-hour billing even with ANC turned on and at its maximum, a clean software experience and easy updates when required, and the extra security of being able to zip them up in a decent case when not in use, the Accentum Plus make a really solid addition to Sennheiser's lineup.

Sennheiser Accentum Plus review: Verdict

We weren't sure the Accentum Plus were a necessary release when we first checked them out - the Accentum and Momentum 4 seemed to already cover the two most important bases in Sennheiser's line-up.

However, after using them for over a week we're won over. That bump in price is modest enough to be entirely acceptable for what you get, especially as a carry case is included, making the choice between the Accentum and Accentum Plus a close-run option. 

If you would want a case for your Accentum anyway, then pick up the Plus; if you love having on-earcup controls, buy the Plus; if you do a lot of travelling on public transport and want the best ANC for the money, opt for the Plus. 

Still, if you listen at home most of the time, and don't really care about those additions, buy the Accentum and go forth without any regrets - both options are really sterling choices.

Also consider

If it wasn't already extremely obvious, the standard Accentum from Sennheiser is a great choice if you're looking to save a little but get a very similar experience to the Accentum Pus. With a discount live on Amazon UK right now, that becomes an even more compelling option. 

If active noise-cancelling is your big focus, though, and you instead are happy to spend a chunk more, very little out there can really compete with the superb Sony WH-1000XM5 or the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones.