Sennheiser ACCENTUM Open – open back pod style earbuds (review)

Sennheiser ACCENTUM Open are premium BT open-back buds, a design made famous by Apple’s original ear-pods.

If you don’t know what ‘open back’ means, it simply refers to earphones that sit in the concha outside the ear canal instead of inside it. Ergo, there is no pressure or tight seal inside the ear canal to enable noise reduction (ANC). You can also hear outside noise, which is important for those who need to be aware of their surroundings.

Another benefit of open-back buds is that they can be worn by individuals with pulsatile tinnitus and those suffering from hay fever or itchy ears.

The real test of any open-earbud is whether it sounds good and whether you need to increase the volume to the extent that it drowns out external noise.

Sennheiser Consumer Products has a distinguished German heritage and is now part of the Swiss Sonova group, which comprises over 30 affiliated companies. It makes Phonak and Unitron hearing aids and cochlear implants. Sonova knows sound.

Australian review: Sennheiser ACCENTUM Open

Website	Product Page Manual
Price	$179.95
Colours	Black or White
From	Sennheiser online, JB Hi-Fi
Made in	China
Warranty	1-year ACL
Company	Sennheiser (founded in 1945) is a privately held German audio company that designs and produces a wide range of high-fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories, and aviation headsets for personal, professional, and business applications. Sonova Holding, based in Switzerland, is a global provider of medical hearing solutions, now owns its consumer audio business.
More	Cybershack Sennheiser news and reviews

We use the following ratings for many of the items below. CyberShack regards 70/100  as a pass mark. You can click on most images to enlarge them.

• Fail (below expectations), and we will let you know if this affects all use.
• Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be.
• Pass (meets expectations).
• Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good, but does not quite make it to Exceed
• Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader).

First Impression – if I could only get them out of the case!

I love Sennheiser for its dedication to delivering excellent, pure sound without manipulating it to something it thinks we want to hear. That means more effort, cost, and time in developing and tuning those mini speakers than via electronic manipulation. Which is just as well, as there’s no app, EQ, or adjustments – nothing, and that’s good for privacy.

But Sennheiser made a significant error with this product. I struggle to remove them from the matte black charging case, as they are slippery little buggers. Seriously, I tested on five other people, and they all had issues. No, it’s not a FAIL, but grow your fingernails to help prise them out.

And I have never been a pod stalk fan, but Apple apparently knows best, and it is fine to have two sticks coming out of your ears. To be fair, they make it easier to insert and remove.

In summary: Open-back, pod-style, plug-and-play Bluetooth buds with Sennheiser sound heritage.

Controls – Pass

• multipoint connectivity (pairing with up to 8 devices).
• Stalk touch controls for play/pause, track skipping, and volume.
• Stalk touch controls for answer, hang up, and mute.
• Smart Pause – remove to power off
• Long-press both for BT connection or supports fast pairing

Comfort – Pass+

Each bud is 4.35g. You can wear these all day. It should stay in the ear, but the stalks can get in the way during exercise.

IP rating – Pass

It’s IPX4 for splash resistance. Being open-backed, the X means it’s not dust-resistant.

BT 5.3 – Pass

It has SBC and AAC codecs, 16-bit, 44100Hz. Multi-point works well.

Battery life – Pass+

Sennheiser claims 6 hours for the buds and 18 extra hours in the case. Charge time at 5V/.5A/2.5W was just over an hour. Fast charge is 10 minutes for 1.5 hours of music playback.

Sennheiser claims 28 hours, which is due to the no noise cancellation and no constant Bluetooth polling from an app. We got 5.5 hours at 60% and 4.5 hours at 75%.

Sound signature – Pass

Here is how we rate all sound devices How to tell if you have good music – sound signature is the key (AV guide)

The 11mm drivers provide:

• Deep Bass 22-50Hz: Nil
• Mid bass 50-100Hz: More of a slight feeling of bass than real bass. Whump instead of a thump.
• Upper Bass 100-200Hz: Quite good but no oomph!
• Mid 200Hz to 4kHz: Flat and great for clear voice.
• Low/Mid Treble 4-10kHz: Just enough, and string instruments are clean.
• High Treble: 10-20kHz: Not enough to be immersive.
• Sound stage: quite wide, 5-10cm from the ear
• Spatial: Reasonable spatial effects around the head

The listening volume is comfortable at about 60%, but as you increase it, it starts to drown out external noises.

Summary: It’s a decent sound signature, but there isn’t much depth or dynamism – it’s all about pleasant listening.

Hands-free – Passable

There are two microphones per bud – one for voice beamforming, which is quite good. The other is for noise cancellation, which does not perform well and fails to effectively cut wind noise, although this could be a function of the open-back design.

CyberShack’s view: Sennheiser ACCENTUM Open are for Sennheiser lovers

There is nothing wrong with these, but there are decent BT-only open-back buds from $29.95 that offer just as much – or is that just as little as these do? Jumping to the excellent JBL Wave Flex 2 at $99 doesn’t add much. With the AirPods 4 at $189, Sennheiser will face tough competition.

The leader by far in this category is the $199 Anker soundcore AeroClip – open ear, clip-on BT buds (review) with SBC, AAC, and LDAC and an excellent sound signature and app that really adds value by allowing you to customise your sound environment.

I see the appeal of open back, and maybe that is enough for Sennheiser aficionados.

Sennheiser ACCENTUM Open ratings

• Features: 75. Basic essential features, no app
• Value: 75. Not competitive in this market
• Performance: 80. It does not offer much better sound than open-backs at half the price
• Ease of use: Plug and play
• Design: 75. It is a me-too stalk design with nothing to differentiate it.

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