The Beats 360 are fun headphones that you can mix and match

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been using the Beats 360 for my flights and commutes, and I’m impressed by Beats’ newest and flashiest headphones ever.

The audio device is made to be used all the time, whether you’re at the gym or you’re out and about looking fancy. I really appreciate the customizable headphones; you’re able to swap out ear cups and headband cushion, so you can mix and match to your liking.

At first, I was a bit skeptical because I thought swapping would be a pain in the ass. In the past, when companies say that something is easy to swap out, I’ve found it usually isn’t quite so easy. But what I like about the Beats 360 is that they’re kind of idiot proof, and this is what I need: idiot-proof customization options, and I’m pleased.

With a twist, the cups pop off the headphones, and another twist helps you put new colours in. At the top, the headband has little holes on the underside that make it easy to clip the cushion into it. They’re so easy to remove that another tech creator just snatched an earcup when I was wearing the headphones around my neck.

Now, swappable cups alone wouldn’t be exciting, except Beats lets you mix and match colours, and that’s pretty dope. The headphones come in Black, Cloud, Sky and Pink, and of course these all have matching pieces, but there’s also ‘Spark,’ which is like a neon yellow, and Navy, giving you tons of colours to mix and match. There are also leather options in Black and Cloud as well for a night out on the town. My favourite combination is the Black headset with Spark.

The Beats 360 are IPX4 and come with ‘Performance Knit’ cups that allow you to sweat in the earbuds without damaging them. And if your workout is intense, you can easily swap out the cups or the headband cushion. I’m a pretty sweaty dude, so I was able to see that the cups dealt pretty well with sweat.

The Beats 360 feel okay on your head. They’re comfortable after you start wearing them for a while. At least I found the top band a bit tight on my head, but after wearing them for 20 minutes, this feeling goes away. The Performance Knit cushions also use plush memory foam, which might explain why it starts to feel better after some time. Maybe the shape of my head is weird because I found the AirPods Max headphones more comfortable, which people tend to complain about. But the degree of comfort isn’t that bad at all. For instance, I wore them on a seven-hour flight straight, and even fell asleep while wearing them.

The Beats 360 sound great; Beats said they improved the active noise cancellation from the Beats Studio. It’s pretty good at shutting out most noise without needing to raise the volume too loud. Airplane and subway sounds disappear completely; however, the high-pitched sound of a baby crying made it through. The baby was an aisle over on a two-aisle plane, but it wasn’t like I could 100 per cent tell what I was hearing at first. I just thought it was a sound in the background of my show. I was watching Secret Lives of Mormon Wives; all these women have babies, but when I removed the headphones, it was like, “Oh, this baby isn’t on my show, and is pretty loud.”

The Beats 360 offers rich sound with immersive audio. I played music and watched media for hours, and it all sounds great. It also has Adaptive EQ, which adjusts acoustic frequencies based on the fit. Plus, there’s Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking and Dolby Atmos, with a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope for head tracking.

When I was testing audio, I picked songs like Middle Child by J.Cole, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen, Humble by Kendrick Lamar, and We Are Young, which are pretty different songs, but also the same ones I used to test Apple’s AirPods Max 2. It’s pretty interesting comparing the two headphones; both sound good and are immersive. Strangely, I think the Beats 360 are even louder than the AirPods Max 2, but loudness isn’t everything.

I found that Middle Child had a bit of a punch to the bass that was a little bit overwhelming (though I was playing the music at the loudest volume to compare), which isn’t something I hear with the AirPods Max 2. Other songs like Another One Bites the Dust and Humble sounded very similar on the two headsets; voices are clear and precise, so you can hear harmonies very well. For instance, there’s a very quiet harmony in We Are Young that’s slightly delayed, like an echo, that I can hear pretty well between both headsets.

However, the experience between the two headphones for We Are Young is interesting. I think the instrumentals are stronger on the AirPods Max 2, as it feels like We Are Young is a huge production, whereas on the Beats 360, you can hear a lot, but it sounds a bit lacking. But again, I definitely needed to keep the volume on max to hear the difference.

One thing I found a little weird: when you take off the headphones, your media doesn’t auto-pause. Also, the Beats 360 work on both Android and iOS, but you need to download the Beats app on Android, while on iOS, it just works and you can control the headphones via your settings, similar to any AirPods.

I enjoyed the Beats 360 headphones, but definitely my favourite thing was the customizable cushions and the variety of colours they come in. Although I noted that there weren’t any red options, which feels like a miss considering it’s Beats. The Beats 360 costs $479.95, and the cushion kit costs $74.95. However, until October 31, you can grab different cushion kits for $14.99, which I think is a sick introductory offer that I might take advantage of — I love mixing and matching.