Review: Beats 360 headphones — customisable, comfortable and sweat-proof

Beats recently launched its new over-ear headphones, the Beats 360, complete with customisable ear cushions and headband.

Beats made a big fuss about the interchangeable ear cushions and headband, almost more than they did about the audio features, but that doesn’t mean they are bereft of decent audio features, far from it.

Beats 360 is available for $499.95 from apple.com/au/ in four core colours – Black, Cloud, Pink, and Sky, with each colour including matching Performance Knit earcup and headband cushions. Performance Knit and UltraPlush Cushions are also available separately for just $14.95 in a variety of colours — a surprisingly affordable price unheard of for official accessories, especially from a company owned by Apple.

Beats sent me the “Cloud” colourway headphones, along with the Volt (fluorescent yellow) knit cushion kit and the black UltraPlush cushion kit, something for every occasion.

  

Design and comfort

The Beats 360 have solid build quality and feel robust without being overly heavy.  They seem to sit about the middle of the pack when compared to my other headphones.  They’re not as light as the Bose QuietComfort 2, but they feel much sturdier.

The Beats 360 have a very minimalistic design to them with a basic-looking headband and a relatively minimal amount of cushioning applied to it but the UltraPlush cushion kit provided enough padding to make them comfortable for long periods of use.  The knit cushioning wasn’t as comfortable as the UltraPlush, but that is why you have options with these headphones.  

The UltraPlush cushioning also created a better seal against my head and was better for a quality listening session, but that’s one of the good things about these headphones: you can switch the cushioning to suit the environment and what you are doing at the time.

The earcups’ clamping force does most of the work of keeping them in place.  The clamping force is one of the highest I have felt on headphones and that is why having relatively less headband padding makes very little, if any, difference to the comfort of the headphones.

As for the headband cushioning, the ear cushions are more comfortable in the UltraPlush, but the knit feel is more breathable and better for the gym.  The knit feel was still comfortable; it is just relative.  Did I mention that the headphones have an IPX4 rating, making them ideal for workouts?

I started off wearing the Beats 360 in the full Cloud colourway (cloud knit cushion kit) to the gym.  The knit cushions were extremely comfortable and breathable, so my ears didn’t get too warm at any time, the knit has a texture that feels comfortable while you sweat it out at the gym.

Change up the colour to the vivid Volt and you have a more funky look to match your outfit/mood.  Of course, there are other colours available – the ‘Performance Knit’ comes in Black, Cloud, Pink, Sky, Navy, and Volt, and the ‘Ultra Plush’ cushions in Black and Cloud. 

All in all, the Beats 360 are right at the top of my list when it comes to comfortable headphones.  They don’t quite match the comfort of the Bose QuietComfort 2 when sitting at a desk but they are not far off.  They are more comfortable during a hot workout though, with the knit ear cushions ideal for that environment.

The earcups have relatively small control buttons, with the power button sitting flush with the earcup.  Above the power button on the left earcup is the listening mode button for ANC/transparency settings, while the right earcup houses the play/pause/skip buttons and a volume rocker.  The buttons are relatively easy to find and use and felt really solid with very little wobble in them.

Unlike other headphones at this price, the case is soft and padded rather than a solid, fully protective case.  I wonder if that’s a testament to how durable they are?  I’m not testing that.  It is disappointing, but probably easier to stick in your gym bag because they will not take up much room.  Unfortunately, the Beats 360 headphones do not fold down so you are stuck with them in full glory at all times, wherever you are.

For those with iPhones and other Apple devices, the Beats 360 support one-touch pairing, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, always-on Hey Siri and Find My, with Fast Pair and Find Hub for those with Android devices. 

Interestingly, the headphones feature an accelerometer and gyroscope in the left earcup for Personalised Spatial Audio with head tracking, but they don’t use these for media control when you take them off or put them on.  I like it when headphones automatically pause the music when you tak ethe headphones off your head.

Sound Quality

I listen to different types of music through the headphones I review, and I also compare them to similarly priced headphones.   To start, I tested out both the UltraPlush and compared it to the Performance Knit cushions and noticed a big difference.

The UltraPlush creates a better seal with the ears and thus the audio is a lot cleaner with less distortion.  The bass had more punch to it, with more detail across the entire soundstage.

The Beats 360 (with UltraPlush) sounded good, with some EQ editing in the EQ app. Using the headphones with noise cancellation on really brought out the bass.  Turning noise cancellation off made less of a focus on the bass, with a less aggressive tune to the sound with added detail to the mids and upper end of the registry.  The bass is less aggressive in this setting, but you can adjust it in your device’s EQ if needed; that is what I did, and it really improved the overall sound.  

Compared to the similarly-priced Bose Quiet Comfort 2, the Beats 360 sounded crisper, brighter and seemingly more accurate, although the bass on the Bose QC2 was deeper.  The sound is very close between the two, with the Beats 360 possibly a bit “tinnier.”  In the end, I preferred the Beats 360 but only just.

Compared to the 0-more-expensive Sonos Ace Ultra, the Beats 360 paled in comparison.  If you can stretch an extra 0, the Sonos Ace Ultra delivers better sound for those into metal and heavier rock.  The bass response is punchier too, so it’s interesting to hear the difference that 0 makes.  The sound may be better from the Sonos Ace Ultra but you won’t be taking those heavier, non-breathing headphones to the gym any time soon.

ANC/transparency mode

The Beats 360’s ANC was impressive, one of the best I’ve used, certainly up there with the Bose QC2.  You should have no issues using these in a noisy environment.  

Transparency mode also worked well at the gym, letting me hear what I needed while still delivering good sound.

Beats app

The Beats app is fairly basic, with no built-in equaliser.  The app gives you the ability to change the noise cancellation levels, the volume of the headphone sound effects and to update the firmware. As I said, basic.

Beats though, are owned by Apple remember, and its products are normally designed to just function straight out of the box, for the everyday person, without having to tinker with settings etc. to get a good experience.  

If you want, you can use third-party apps with built-in equalisers to adjust your music’s sound, but that’s your choice.  I do that myself, from within Poweramp.  I can not only adjust it to my liking but also load others from the community to use as a starting base, or use theirs straight up if they sound good to me.

Battery life

The battery life of the Beats 360 is stated by Beats to be up to 32 hours with ANC on with a fast charge of five minutes delivering an hour of playback.  

I found that to be not quite the case, which I put down to the auto-off not being adjustable.  Other headsets at this price will pause media when you remove them from your ears, then turn off if you don’t use them for a certain period.  Apparently, notifications reminding you the headphones are still connected pop up in an iPhone’s Dynamic Island, but not on Android, unfortunately.

If you remember to turn them off after finishing with them though, you should be able to get near to the 32 hours of playback.  

Final thoughts

There is a lot to like about the Beats 360 headphones, and very little not to. They look great, are extremely comfortable with hot-swappable ear and handband cushions which somehow are actually affordable, have a sweat-proof IPX4 rating and have great noise cancelling — all making them ideal for the gym.

The sound is decent but not the best in this price range but that can be fixed with a simple EQ app. For some reason, Beats do not include an EQ in its app but I found I could easily improve the sound quality with a third-party equaliser app.

The Beats 360 are a great set of headphones for those looking for a breathable set of headphones for exercise but also to use on occasion while lounging about. You won’t get the best sound but you will get comfort, great design, and the ability to change up their look based on your fit and/or your mood.

Beats 360 is available for 9.95 from apple.com/au/ in four core colours – Black, Cloud, Pink, and Sky, with each colour including matching Performance Knit earcup and headband cushions. Performance Knit and UltraPlush Cushions are also available separately for just .95 in a variety of colours.