So these are the Sennheiser Accentum, they have impressive active noise canlceiton for a pair of entry level ANC headphones, they have a monster 50 hour battery life and they have a lot of resonance in their bass. But the Accentum’s do have their issues. But today we’re going to compare the Sennheiser Accentum to what I feel are their most direct competitors, the Sony WH-CH720N which have been my favorite headphones to recommend for the gym for the past few months.
Regarding pricing, the Sennheiser Accentum have a retail price of $180… where as the Sony WH-CH720N’s have a retail price of $150… how ever I do expect both of these headphones to go on sale on a regular basis, especially the Sony. Nonetheless, if you want to pick either of these two headphones up they’ll be linked down below or you can always press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about the included carrying cases… and unfortunately, neither of these two headphones come included with a case. And I do feel that that is a shame cause there are plenty of other entry level ANC headphones out there that come included with a case. So if you do plan on traveling with these headphones, I do advise that you invest in a hard shell case. And if you do plan on buying your own case, just keep in mind that both of these headphones have a lay flat design to them.
But now lets talk about the headphones themselves. Now both of these headphones are mostly made out of plastic and they both have decent feeling leatherette on them. However, the Accentum’s do feel more premium and a lot more durable than the Sony’s. Now this doesn’t mean that the Sony’s are flimsy or delicate, these have been able to take a beating without any issues… but the Accentum’s are built like a tank.
But when it comes to fit… this right here is going to be a deciding factor for most people. Plainly said, the Sony WH-CH720N’s are a lot more comfortable than the Accentum’s cause they have a lot less clamping force and these are big head approved. Where as the Accentum’s have so much clamping force, they feel like they are squeezing your head. So the Sony’s are going to fit most people just fine, where as the Accentum are going to be for guys with smaller heads or just women. But everything else about these headphones fit wise is great. Both of these headphones have adequately padded headbands so hot spots aren’t an issue. They both have very spacious ear cups, so even if you have very large ears or ears that stick out a lot, they should have you covered, and they are both very light weight. However, the Sonys are noticeably lighter than the Accentum’s weighing in at 192 grams… where as the Accentum weigh in at 222 grams. Now both of these headphones are light weight, but with the Sony’s being 30 grams, these are just a lot easier to forget that you’re wearing when you’re sitting still, and you notice them shifting around a lot less when you’re walking around with them. So their very comfortable fit and very light weight are some of the main reasons why I like to recommend the WH-CH720N’s for the gym. But overall, Sony WH-CH720N are going to fit most people perfectly fine, where as with the Accentum, since these have so much clamping force, these are going to be better suited for guys with smaller heads or for women. But if their clamping force isn’t an issue for you, everything else about these headphones is great.
But with all of that out of the way lets talk about tech specs. Regarding battery life, the Accentum’s have an advertised battery life of 50 hours with their ANC turned on which is very impressive and very above. The only thing is, you cant use these headphones with their ANC turned off. But given their already very long battery life, thats okay.
Where as with the Sony WH-CH720N’s these have an advertised battery life of 35 hours with their ANC turned on… and with their ANC turned off, they can go for as long as 50 hours. Overall, the battery life on the 720N’s is also very good… but plainly put the Accentum’s just beat the Sony’s here when it comes to battery life.
And when it comes to charging these headphones, they both charge via a USB C port as they should. And when it comes to their fast charging numbers… with the 720N’s of you were to charge them up for 3 minutes from a dead battery, they will get you 1 hour of playback time. So basically if you charge them for 10 minutes they’ll get you like 3 hours. Where as with the Accentum, a 10 minute charge is going to get you 5 hours of playback time.
But with battery life out of the way, lets talk about connectivity cause things do get interesting here. First off, with both of these headphones they can be connected to any two bluetooth devices regardless of eco system, so if you’re a power user you can easily hot swap from one device to another.
And when it comes to overall performance, both of these headphones have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether you’re using an iPhone or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, the Sony’s only have support for SBC and AAC, which is perfectly fine. But the accentum’s have support for SBC and AAC but they also have support for higher quality audio codecs like APTX HD. Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of APTX you do have to be an android user cause iPhones top out at AAC.
But if you want to, you can always just use wired connection with either of these two headphones… but the wired connections on these headphones are very different. Now the Accentum’s dont have an audio jack, however, you can use their USB C port as a wired connection. And you can also use these headphones while they are chargning. Now I think its great and all that you can use the USB C on these headphones as a wired connection… but since these headphones dont come included with a USB C to audio jack cable… or any other adaptor… that could be a problem if you want to use these headphones with a wired connection with the entertainment system in an airplane or if you want to monitor your audio.
Where as with the Sony’s you cant use their USB C port as a wired connection… but they do have an audio jack and they come included with an audio cable. So depending on your set up… maybe you’ll miss that audio jack or not… but right now, if you plan on using a wired connection with your headphones on a regular basis… you’ll might want to go with the Sony’s…
But now lets talk about actually listening to music with these headphones. Now the Sony’s are people pleasers. Since these headphones have a fully adjustable EQ, you can make them sound however you want. If you like a neutral EQ you can do that or if you like a bass heavy EQ they can also do that. And more importantly, these have a decent amount of physicality in their bass, so if you crank their bass up, they will rattle your head a little bit. The main critique about these headphones is that they can sound a little narrow cause their instrument separation isn’t amazing. But then there are the Accentum, and these have much better instrument separation, so they sound a lot more open and you get much better detail in the mids and instrumentals. But another major difference between the accentum and the 720n’s is that the bass on the Accentum is mostly on the audible side, as in their bass wont really rattle your head all that much when compared to the 720N’s. So some people will miss that physicality in their bass. But what makes the bass in the Accentum special is that it resonates a lot, it resonates so much that I think some people wont even miss the phscyaility all that much. But I feel the accentum have two problems. First off they also have an adjustable EQ, which is great… but for some reason, whenever I try to use these headphones with a custom EQ, they don t sound right, they feel like they loose a little detail. So I only use them with their stock EQ. But the bigger problem here is the volume. With the Accentum, I have noticed that it is very difficult to find that sweet spot. So either you have to use these headphones at a higher volume and you’ll risk damaging your hearing… or if you use them at a lower volume… then you’re going to miss out on a lot of that great instrument separation. So overall performance wise, yes the accentum sound better than the Sony’s. They sound a lot more open and they have a lot more resonance in their bass. But I recommend that you use these headphones with their stock EQ… and I feel that the volume can be an issue for some people. Where as with the Sony’s their volume isn’t an issue so you’ll be able to find that sweet spot where you can hear all the detail that they have to offer but you wont damage your hearing… and even though they dont sound as open as the Accentum, they sound good enough, you can make them sound however you want, and they have more kick in their bass.
But now lets talk about the Active noise cancelation on these headphones. Plainly put, the Accentum block out noticeably more noise than the Sony WH-CH720N… they block out noticeably more road noise and more chatter, but so that you can see for yourself, we’re going to jump into an ANC Test.
ANC Test
So like you may have just seen, the Accentum’s block out noticeably more noise than the Sony WH-CH720N’s and they do so without a lot of cabin pressure, which is great. Now even though the ANC on the Accentum is impressive for a pair of entry level ANC headphones… they still dont block out as much noise a pair of more premium ANC headphones like in this case the Bose QC Ultra. But overall, the ANC on both the Accentum and WH-CH720N’s are going to be better suited for your bus ride commute or if you’re in a chatty office. Even though the ANC on these headphones is good, they wouldn’t be super effective on an airplane at cruising altitude.
But both of these headphones do have ambient modes, but the ambient mode on the Sony is a little better. First off with the Accentum, there is a slight hissing in the background which you can hear a little bit if you’re watching a movie with these headphones… where as the ambient mode on the Sony’s just sound more natural and theres no hissing in the back and you can also adjust how much noise these headphones let in, which is nice.
But something that the Accentum’s do have over the Sony’s is that if you set them to pause your music when you turn on their ambient mode, then you’re going to have a conversation mode. So if you double press not the main button, these headphones will lower the volume of your music and pump in all of the ambient sound around you so that you can quickly talk to someone without having to remove your headphones.
And then when you double tap on the main button, the headphones will go back to normal again. And personally I love when my headphones have this feature cause its very useful for when you’re traveling. And this is something that the Sony’s dont have. The only issue is, Sennehsier doesn’t allow you to have both features, its either one of the other.
Mic Accentum Quite
But finally heres the microphone test, now overall, I feel that both of these microphones are decent enough to take phone calls with while in a quite room.
Mic Sony Quite
But I do feel that the Sony WH-CH720N’s have a better sounding microphone here cause this microphone doesn’t sound as robotic and it does a better job of focusing on my voice.
Mic Sony Road Noise
But also, the Sony’s do a slightly better job of dealing with noise pollution, cause right now this microphone is blocking out some of this road noise, cause for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone you’re going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the Sony WH-CH720N’s it is reduced.
Accentum road noise
Where as with the Accentums, these are letting in more road noise and my voice sounds robotic.
Accentum Chatter
And its the same thing when it comes to blocking out chatter, these are letting in a decent amount of noise pollution and my voice sounds robotic.
Sony Chatter
Now the Sony’s aren’t doing an amazing job of blocking out this chatter, but they are doing a better job than the accentum’s. So overall I will say that the Sony WH-CH720N has a better sounding and better performing microphone to take phone calls with when compared to the Sennheiser Accentum.
But with all of that being said, if you’re trying to choose between these tow headphones… the Sennheiser Accentum easily out preform the Sony WH-CH720N in multiple categories. The Accentum’s block out more noise than the Sony’s, they have a longer lasting battery life, you can use their USB C port as a wired connection and they also have much better instrument separation and they have an impressive amount of resonance in their bass. But the Accentums do have their issues. First off is their volume, it can be a little difficult to find their sweet spot. They’re either going to be too loud or too quite. They also dont have an audio jack, which could be annoying for some people. But most importantly, these things have a lot of clamping force. They feel like they are squeezing your head. They’re defneitly not big head approved and I have tried multiple ways to stretch out this headband. These are only going to be suited for guys with smaller head or for women. So personally, I still prefer and recommend the Sony WH-CH720N’s… these things will fit everyone just fine and they’re more comfortable too. Even though they might not sound as good as the accentum, they sound good enough and they have some kick in their bass. And their volume isn’t an issue. They also have a decently long battery life, and they also block out a decent amount of noise for a pair of entry level ANC Headphones. And it also doesn’t hurt that they’re more affordable than the Accentum.