Sennheiser has just launched its latest pair of true wireless earbuds, the Accentum True Wireless.
Joining Sennheiser's competitively priced Accentum range – the excellent Accentum over-ear headphones and Accentum Plus – these earbuds pack an incredible amount of functionality into a tight, compact design, and come in a variety of white, black and navy blue colorways.
True wireless earbuds are ten-a-penny these days, but the Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless is notable for offering a full suite of impressive features for just £169.99 / $199.95.
Firstly, these earbuds feature what's called hybrid ANC, which alongside an exterior mic array also records sound on the inside of your ear, helping to block and counteract frequencies in a variety of places for more effective noise cancellation.
You'll get support for the efficient and advanced Bluetooth 5.3 standard, with Bluetooth LE audio and the ability to join Auracast audio broadcasts. There's also Qi wireless charging capability and a USB-C port, plus dual mics on each earbud for picking up your voice during calls. The Accentum True Wireless carries an IP54 rating.
The earbuds have a decent battery life of 28 hours – 8 hours (with ANC off, 6 hours with ANC on) through the earbuds, and an additional 20 through the charging case.
Tough competition
Sennheiser's existing Momentum True Wireless range is a more premium offering, with a slightly improved battery life (30 hours), Bluetooth 5.4, and adaptive ANC that automatically adapts to the level of noise around you – but cost far more at £259.90.
The Momentum Sport earbuds are a similar £279.99, packing in adaptive ANC, shock/dust/water resistance, and even heart rate and body temperature sensors. But the Accentum True Wireless earbuds are a good 40% cheaper than these alternatives and also undercut much of the competition from Sony, Bose and Apple for what they offer.
The new Accentum earbuds are considerably cheaper than the AirPods Pro ($249 / £229 / AU$399) and pretty much on par with the $159 / £159 / AU$229 MSRP of the third-generation AirPods. But the latter AirPods are far behind on Bluetooth capability (they use Bluetooth 5.0), don't feature any noise cancellation (let alone hybrid ANC) and can't beat Sennheiser's new buds for battery life either.
While you generally pay a price premium for any Apple product, it's often worth it for the style, or its compatibility with other Apple devices. But when a challenger gives so much more for the money – especially better noise cancellation and a much broader suite of connection features – it's worth paying attention.
The Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless earbuds are now available to pre-order ahead of their May 21 release.
