Sennheiser Accentum Plus headphones swap buttons for swipe touch controls, but keep the 50-hour battery life

Sennheiser just introduced its more affordable Accentum noise-canceling headphones in September, aiming to offer some of the best parts of its pricier Momentum cans at a lower price. At CES 2024, the company is already adding a second Accentum model, the Accentum Plus, that carries much of what made last year's installment an attractive alternative to flagship headphones. Sennheiser has spilled all of the details in Las Vegas, and thankfully, the 50-hour battery life remains from the previous version.

While the design is still inspired by the Momentum line, the key difference on the Accentum Plus is the addition of touch controls. Gone are some of the physical buttons that adorned the 2023 model, for better or worse depending on your preference for sorting playback and calls. Taps and swipes now handle media, volume and transparency mode. The company has also added automatic pausing for added convenience.

I expected at least a slight drop in sound quality from the Momentum 4, but there isn't any. I was amazed by how great the audio is here on the Accentum Plus. There's big bassy boom that offers plenty of thump without overpowering, with crisp detail from the highs and ample mids. The sound is truly impressive for a set of $230 headphones that the company is billing as their mid-range option. The construction isn't as premium as the Momentum products as there's plenty of plastic, especially around the headband. The Accentum Plus is lightweight due to that though, which makes them very comfortable to wear.

Most of the DNA of the Accentum remains, including the 50-hour battery life, 37mm drivers, audio customization and multipoint connectivity. Where the first version had hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC), this model has hybrid adaptive ANC than automatically adjusts to changes in your surroundings. The fast-charge feature on this model gives you five hours of use in just 10 minutes.

The Accentum Plus will be available on February 20 for $230 (€230). That's $50 more than the regular version, which makes them a bit less attractive compared to the 2023 model. They'll be available in black and white color options at launch.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.