Sennheiser’s mid-range on-ear noise-cancellers try to fill rather a large gap in the market
Wireless headphones | £200| whf.cm/AccentumPlus
The Sennheiser Accentum Plus Wireless is the German headphone giant’s latest attempt to plug a gap in the noise-cancelling over-ears market. That gap – between some outstanding products at the more premium end of the market, and a real bargain at around the £100 mark – is proving a tricky one to fill for most manufacturers.
A glance at the features offered here ought to make prospective purchasers excited; on paper, these headphones enjoy a very similar specification to those offerings a little bit further up the (canned) food chain. As ever, though, for us it is the sound that takes priority here – and it was with sound that the Sennheiser Accentum Wireless (£160) struggled somewhat. So, how will the step-up Plus model fare?
Middle ground
At £200, the Sennheisers occupy a slot pretty much bang in the middle of the company’s over-ear noise-cancellers. The Accentum Wireless come in at £160 while the excellent Momentum Wireless 4 (£300 at launch) can now be had for nearer £250.
The question then becomes, is that £40 or £50 difference worth saving or investing higher up the range? And that is talking simply about Sennheiser’s offerings – things get even more tricky for the Accentum Plus Wireless when rival brands come into the picture.
First things first though: the Accentum Plus Wireless continue with Sennheiser’s strengths of making nicely put together headphones. There’s nothing outrageously over the top (in any way) about them, but they are well built from good-quality materials and are every bit what one ought to expect from the look and feel of a £200 pair of headphones.
The padding around the earcups is nicely soft, and should please spectacle wearers – they grip the arms of your glasses firmly enough, but don’t force them uncomfortably into the back of your ears. These are headphones that will easily be able to stay in place for extended periods of time – on the train or plane, or over a few hours in the office when required.
Where the step-down Accentum has a number of buttons on the earcups, the Plus has only one button on view. That, unsurprisingly, is for powering on and getting a Bluetooth connection sorted. All other control is done via a series of taps and swipes on the right earcup – and through a fairly easy to
