Beats 360 Puts Modularity and Split Wireless at the Center of a $350 Over-Ear

Beats is selling the Beats 360 over-ear headphones for $350 with a cable-free, split-sided architecture and user-swappable cushions, according to Engadget.

The industrial design centers on modularity. Users can swap ear and headband cushions to create custom color combinations. Beats says there are over 250 possible configurations when mixing ear cup and headband hues. The ear pads, described as the entire ear cups, remove with a twist. Each set ships with ear and head cushions matching the headphones in five different colors.

Two cushion families define the wear model. The stock option is Performance Knit, a diamond-knit woven fabric designed to be soft, flexible and durable. Engadget describes it as the best option for the gym. The alternative is UltraPlush, which offers the same soft, pillowy feel as the Studio Pro model and is intended for longer listening sessions and everyday wear.

Beats is merchandising the modularity separately. Additional Performance Knit ear and headband pads are sold in the same five headphone colors plus a sixth bright yellow Volt hue. UltraPlush cushions are sold separately only in black or white (Cloud). Cushion Kits cost $50.

The official Beats storefront lists Beats 360 Over-Ear Headphones in Black, Cloud, Pink, and Sky variants with matching Performance Knit cushions, alongside accessories including a Navy Performance Knit Cushion Kit for ear cups and headband, according to Beats.

Mechanically, the 360 uses a slimmed-down headband and a true wireless design with no cable between the two sides. Each side operates on its own with a separate battery, antenna and processing tech. That is a departure from conventional over-ear wiring, where a single headband cable or arm carries power, signal and control between cups, and it puts synchronization, antenna diversity and power management on both sides of the head.

On acoustics, Beats points to a new architecture including a custom-designed transducer with its own venting structure. Controls stay physical. Listening mode and power buttons sit on the left, with volume rocker and play/pause controls on the right.

The positioning looks deliberate against the existing lineup. Engadget reports the Beats Solo 4 and Beats Studio Pro lack the ingress protection to reliably withstand sweat and do not allow changing out ear pads. The implication in the review is that the 360 is meant to cover gym use and daily wear in one chassis through swappable, washable-adjacent interfaces rather than two separate products.

Regulatory disclosure preceded the launch. Apple's upcoming Beats 360 headphones appeared in Brazil's ANATEL regulatory database, as reported by MacRumors on Aug. 20, 2026. The review detailing price and final hardware followed on Sept. 22, 2026.

Looking at what this means for over-ear engineering, the interesting shift is not color. It is the combination of bilateral power and compute with a fully removable acoustic interface. Over-ears have historically treated the ear cushion as a consumable that users were not supposed to touch. Making the entire cup twist off turns fit, hygiene and personalization into a serviceable layer, which matters for sweat, pad compression and long-term seal consistency.

In my view, that serviceability may matter more than the true wireless split itself. Independent batteries, antennas and processing per side add complexity in pairing stability, latency matching and battery-state balancing. If Beats has solved the handoff cleanly, users get redundancy and cleaner industrial design. If not, they get two state-of-charge indicators to manage. The cushion system, by contrast, is immediately legible. Runners and lifters who have retired otherwise functional headphones because pads flattened or absorbed sweat get a replaceable path, and commuters who want isolation without gym fabric get UltraPlush without buying a second headset. Over the long arc, headphones that adapt through inexpensive textiles rather than forced replacement are easier to keep, which is good for users and for waste.