Headphone ear pads have one job, and after a year of gym sweat they do it badly. Beats just fixed that. The Beats 360 lets you twist off the ear cushions and pop off the headband cushion in seconds, no tools, then snap on fresh ones in a new color or material. It is also the first over-ear Beats with an IPX4 sweat and water rating, and it costs $349.99.
Swap the cushions, change the headphones
Ear cushions rotate counterclockwise to come off and clockwise to lock back on. The headband cushion pulls down and snaps back. Each pair ships with color-matched Performance Knit cushions, and extra Cushion Kits (earcups plus headband) come in six Performance Knit colors (Black, Cloud, Pink, Sky, Navy and Volt) and two plush UltraPlush colors (Black and Cloud). Mix frames and kits and Beats counts up to 256 combinations. Kits list for $49.99, and Apple has been running a $9.99 intro price in the US.
The clever bit: tiny magnets in each cushion tell the headphones which material you just attached, so the noise canceling and sound get retuned to match.
Built to sweat
IPX4 means splashes and sweat from any direction are fine, so these can go on the run, not just on the plane. Telescoping stainless steel arms, independently rotating earcups and a slim headband keep them planted. At 294.5 g, they are roughly 90 g lighter than Apple’s own AirPods Max (about 385 g).
Best ANC Beats has made
- Noise canceling: up to 1.75x more total noise cancellation than Beats Studio Pro, with nine mics (up to eight for ANC, up to three for calls)
- Battery: up to 32 hours with ANC on; a 5-minute Fast Fuel charge adds about 1 hour
- Sound: custom dual-magnet drivers, Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking, Adaptive EQ, Transparency mode
- Works with both: one-touch pairing and Find My on iPhone, plus Android support
- Colors: Black, Cloud, Pink and Sky
- In the box: headphones, Performance Knit cushions and a fold-flat woven ripstop case (USB-C cable sold separately)
Where to get it
Beats 360 is $349.99 and in stock now. Grab the Beats 360. Extra cushions? There is a Beats 360 Cushion Kit as well.
More audio worth a look: TDM Neo hybrid headphones that twist into a speaker, the soundcore AeroClip 2 open-ear cuffs and the Soundcore P30i ANC buds.
