The company’s second Arm device is too similar to its predecessor.

Less than four months after the launch of its Accentum mid-range headphones, Sennheiser unveiled another Version at CES that remains more affordable than its flagship product, Momentum. Nicknamed the Accentum plus, this more expensive model replaces body catchs with touch controls while offering revised active noise cancellation (ANC), wear detection and other amenities that the first version did not have. However, all the additions have a price, because the Plus (230) costs 50 more than the regular Accum. Are the internal updates of a headset that looks the same for the most part enough to justify a larger investment?

Design

Accentum Plus and Accentum are difficult to distinguish at first glance. The lack of body controls on the older model distinguishes the two in the first place. The Plus Version still has a catch that manages power, pairing and voice assistants, but all Audio and call controls are touch-sensitive and are located on the outside of the right earcup. They work well, from tapping for playback to swiping for volume, but depending on your preferences, omitting body controls for touch can be a turn-off. The other difference is that the Plus has a 3.5mm auxiliary jack as well as a USB-C port, while the first Arm has only the latter.

Sennheiser Accentumplus

Despite the changes made to the ANC and some new features, the Accentm plus is not a major upgrade compared to the Standard Accentm launched last year.

An almost identical design means that Sennheiser did not respond to my main maul of the first Arm. The headphones are almost entirely made of plastic, which gives them a inexpensive look and feel. In addition, it does not inspire much confidence in the build quality of a 230 set of headphones. The company introduced its new design style for the Momentum 4 which it continued with the overall look of the Accentum line. But the last moments are a little more refined than these two more recent models.

Software and features

For the most part, the Sennheiser Smart Control app offers the same features for the Accentm more than for the Accentm. Almost everything you need is on the main screen, with the battery percentage at the top. Below are the connection management for the Multipoint Bluetooth and my audio-audio customization. There you can set a five-band equalizer, choose a preset sound preset or create your own. The company also offers a sound customization that will calibrate the Audio according to your answers to some examples in the application.

Sennheiser’s sound zones are also there, giving you the opportunity to configure specific audio settings depending on your location. You can create up to 20 for places like home, work, gym, etc. Of course, you have to allow the app to track your location, which might be a non-starter for some users.

The last element of the main interface of the application is the ANC control. Here you can disable the automatic “adaptive” adjustment of the noise cancellation of the Accentum plus and leave the “normal” noise cancellation activated. There is a slider that allows you to mix the ANC and transparency as you wish. You can switch in the middle ANC and transparency modes by pressing the right earcup twice. However, this action does not allow you to activate the favorite mixes. Instead, only full ANC or full transparency is activated.