Beats 360 Headphones Launch With Swappable Cushions at $350

Beats has put its newest flagship on shelves, and swappable cushions are the reason to notice. The Beats 360, announced on September 22, went on sale at Apple stores and retailers including Best Buy and Target on September 24, priced at $349.99 in the U.S. It is the first customizable over-ear headphone from Beats: the swappable cushions on the earcups and headband let owners change colors and materials without buying a new pair.

Customization is the headline feature

Every pair ships with breathable Performance Knit memory foam cushions in one of four colors: Black, Cloud, Pink, or Sky. The swappable cushions are the point of the redesign. Beats sells separate Cushion Kits that change both the look and the feel of the headphones, with each kit including both earcup and headband cushions so the whole headphone changes color when you swap.

Performance Knit kits come in six colors, adding Navy and Volt to the four headphone colors, while softer UltraPlush kits come in Black and Cloud. Performance Knit is built for workouts, while UltraPlush has a softer, pillowy feel. The kits are priced at $49.99, but through October 31, customers in select markets can buy them for $9.99, with a limit of three kits per order. The idea, according to Beats, is that one pair of headphones with swappable cushions can work across different settings instead of sitting in a drawer when the situation changes.

The swappable system is a bet that personalization matters as much as sound quality. No other Beats over-ear model has offered swappable cushions before. Over-ear headphones have become a visible accessory, and changing the cushions lets owners refresh the look without buying a new pair. With Navy and Volt available in the Performance Knit kits, early buyers get the most color combinations while the introductory $9.99 pricing lasts.

Sound, battery, and workout-ready design

Under the padding, the new headphone uses a new acoustic platform with custom drivers designed for this model, including three-layer diaphragms and dual neodymium magnets in each driver. Beats says the redesign touched nearly every part of the listening experience, pairing the sensitive diaphragms with the dual magnets to keep distortion low across the tonal range. The swappable cushions form the outer layer of the design, so the acoustic hardware stays the same while the look changes.

The result is the company's most advanced active noise cancellation yet. According to Beats, the new model delivers up to 1.75 times the total noise cancellation of the Beats Studio Pro, the company's existing flagship, which remains on sale at $299.99. Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, Transparency mode, and Adaptive EQ are included, along with nine digital MEMS microphones spread across the design.

Call quality gets its own hardware attention. The microphone array handles voice pickup for calls and feeds the noise-cancellation system, and Beats says the setup keeps vocals clear even in noisy rooms, which matters for a headphone it is also selling as a workout pair.

Battery life is rated at up to 32 hours, and a five-minute USB-C charge through Fast Fuel adds up to an hour of playback. The new model is also the first Beats over-ear headphone to carry an IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance, which positions it for workouts as well as travel and everyday listening. Swappable cushions help here too: owners can keep the breathable Performance Knit set for the gym and switch to UltraPlush for the commute.

Apple and Android support, and where it fits

For Apple users, the headphones support one-touch pairing, Hey Siri, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, FaceTime with Spatial Audio, and Find My with network location. On Android, they support Fast Pair, audio switching, and Find Hub. The headphone is available to order from apple.com in the U.S. and more than 100 countries and regions, in the four launch colors, each shipping with its own set of swappable cushions.

The launch follows months of teasers and leaks. Firmware for the new headphone surfaced in early September, and regulatory filings and retail listings had already spelled out much of the design before the announcement. The headphones arrive in a busy launch week for Apple hardware, alongside the new Mac mini and Mac Studio and launch-week deals on Apple accessories. At $349.99, the new model sits above the Studio Pro in the lineup and undercuts Sony's WH-1000XM6, which sells for $459.99 in the U.S.

That comparison cuts both ways. TechRepublic notes that the Beats model undercuts Sony by $110, but Sony keeps a 3.5mm wired connection and LDAC high-resolution Bluetooth support that the new headphone does not offer. For buyers who want the swappable cushions and workout-friendly water resistance at a lower price, the trade may be worth it; for listeners who want wired audio and the widest codec support, Sony still has the edge. Whether swappable cushions can pull buyers from the established flagships is now up to shoppers.

Full specifications are in Beats' announcement; MacRumors reports that Apple stores and major retailers began selling the swappable-cushion flagship on September 24. For more new hardware, see our latest gadgets and tech and games coverage.