Beats 360 are official with swappable cushions and some serious ANC upgrades

We already knew something was brewing at Beats. Apple recently pushed a firmware update for the Beats 360 before the headphones were even officially announced, and now we finally know what that mysterious pair is.

Apple has officially unveiled the Beats 360, and unlike most over-ear headphones, you aren’t necessarily stuck with the look you pick on day one. Both the ear cushions and headband cushions are interchangeable, so you can swap colors whenever you want to refresh your headphones’ look.

Beats is selling separate UltraPush cushion kits at $50 in the US, but Apple is offering them for $10 for a limited time at launch. That’s a much easier price to swallow if you want to experiment with a different combination.

The design changes aren’t purely cosmetic, either. Beats says its wireless-first construction let it rethink the headband without accommodating internal cable routing, putting more attention on weight distribution, tension, and long-term comfort. We’ll have to actually wear the 360 to see how much of a difference that makes, but comfort can be just as important as sound when you’re wearing headphones through an entire flight or workday.

Beats is also making some pretty big promises about the sound. The company calls this its best-sounding pair of headphones yet, with a new acoustic architecture and custom drivers built specifically for the 360. Noise cancelation is also claimed to be up to 1.75 times stronger than on the Beats Studio Pro. That’s probably the improvement I’m most curious to test, because you notice good ANC immediately on a plane, in a noisy office, or when you’re trying to escape someone playing videos at full volume nearby.

Transparency mode lets you hear what’s going on around you, while Adaptive EQ continuously adjusts the sound based on how the headphones fit. You also get Dolby Atmos, Personalized Spatial Audio, and dynamic head tracking, with sensors inside the left earcup following your head movements for a more immersive effect.

Beats has also given the 360 an IPX4 rating, so sweat or a little rain shouldn’t be a major concern. The headphones also fold flat and come with a woven ripstop case, which should make traveling with them a little easier.

Another nice surprise is that Beats hasn’t forgotten about Android. The headphones use a custom Beats chip and Bluetooth 5.3, and while iPhone owners get the expected perks such as one-touch pairing, Hey Siri, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, Find My, and Apple’s Spatial Audio features, Android users get some genuinely useful extras. Fast Pair, Audio Switch, and Find Hub are all supported, so using Beats with a Pixel or Galaxy shouldn’t feel like settling for the basic Bluetooth experience.

Beats rates battery life at up to 32 hours, including ANC and Personalized Spatial Audio. A quick five-minute USB-C charge can also provide up to an hour of playback when you’re running late and realize your headphones are nearly dead.

The Beats 360 is available to order starting today in more than 100 countries and regions for $350 in the US. It comes in Black, Navy, Cloud, Pink, Sky, and the considerably harder-to-miss Volt. There’s already no shortage of premium wireless headphones at this price, so the Beats 360 needs more than good ANC and sound to stand out. The swappable cushions might just give it that extra bit of personality. We customize our phones, watches, and even their straps all the time, so why shouldn’t our headphones get the same treatment?