☺

SimplyAmplifying

—

What the experts found, in one honest verdict

Beats 360 review roundup: what the experts found

—

by

Jarna Rik

in

SimplyAmplifying score: 8.3/10 · Confidence: High · Based on 11 in-depth review(s) from 8 outlets, and 14 article(s) read in full

First published 2 October 2026 · Last updated 4 October 2026 · Updated 5 times as new reviews came in

Reviewers’ own scores: SoundGuys 7.3/10 · Engadget 8.2/10 · Tom’s Guide 4/5 · T3 4/5 · Indian Express Tech 4/5

The verdict

Reviewers broadly agree the Beats 360 is a strong, comfortable pair of noise-cancelling headphones with powerful sound and long battery life, and that it costs much less than AirPods Max. Confidence is high, based on 11 in-depth reviews from 8 outlets. The drawbacks are small but real: no wear detection, no wired listening, no custom EQ, and clamping force that bothers some people.

Best for: Anyone on iPhone or Android who wants light, comfortable, long-lasting noise-cancelling headphones for travel, the gym and daily use.
Skip it if: You need wired or lossless listening, automatic pause on removal, or the top sound quality in this class.

Scores by category

CategoryScoreConfidenceOutlets
Sound quality9.2/10High9
Noise cancelling9.1/10High10
Comfort & fit8.6/10High10
Battery life9.2/10High10
Call quality8.3/10Medium4
App & connectivity8.2/10Medium10
Value8.1/10High6

What reviewers liked

  • Powerful, tight bass with clear detail and no distortion at high volume
  • Strong noise cancelling that outlets rate as a clear step up from Beats Studio Pro
  • Battery life met or beat the 32-hour rating in Engadget, SoundGuys and Indian Express Tech testing
  • Light, well-balanced fit with swappable cushions and IPX4 sweat and water resistance
  • Easy pairing and good feature parity on both Apple and Android

What they didn’t

  • Clamping force and heat build-up bothered some reviewers on longer sessions (T3, Engadget)
  • No wear detection or auto-pause, no wired listening, and no custom EQ
  • Noise cancelling is weaker on voices than on constant noise, and Bose is better against jet roar (Tom’s Guide)
  • Call quality results were mixed across outlets

In detail

Sound quality: 9.2/10

Most outlets liked the sound. Engadget found powerful bass, subtle detail and no distortion at full volume. TechRadar praised separation and the head-tracked spatial audio. Tom’s Guide described tight, punchy bass without muddy mids, though it called the tuning fun rather than audiophile-grade. T3 rated it better than Studio Pro, and Indian Express Tech called it one of the most balanced profiles it had heard, apart from the missing EQ in the app. Some placed it a step behind rivals. Engadget and 9to5Mac ranked it below AirPods Max, and XDA Developers said the bass trails AirPods Max and Sony’s WH series.

Noise cancelling: 9.1/10

Most outlets found the noise cancelling strong and a clear step up from Studio Pro. Indian Express Tech measured near-total cancellation and said it shut out loud gym music. T3 found excellent isolation on trains and in offices, and Trusted Reviews said it quickly muted chatter and a noisy event. SoundGuys and Engadget found it works best on constant noise such as air conditioning and airplane cabins, with voices and high sounds leaking through. Tom’s Guide said Bose QuietComfort still handles low-frequency jet roar better. SoundGuys liked the natural transparency mode, and T3 noted a slight delay in it.

Comfort & fit: 8.6/10

Reviewers mostly found the Beats 360 comfortable, with XDA Developers, 9to5Mac and Engadget all calling it lighter than AirPods Max. SoundGuys said the better weight balance beats Studio Pro, and TechRadar said it was easy to forget after 20 to 30 minutes. Tom’s Guide found no painful clamping. Others disagreed. T3 reported ear and neck pressure and heat after a couple of hours. Engadget said clamping gets uncomfortable on larger heads. Indian Express Tech found the knit cushions stuffy on walks or runs in muggy weather. The cushions swap out, and SoundGuys said they suit glasses and sweat.

Battery life: 9.2/10

Battery life is the least contested area, and no outlet reported a weakness. The rating is 32 hours with noise cancelling on, and a five-minute charge gives one hour. Engadget measured 47 percent left after 24 hours. SoundGuys used only 14 percent on a six-hour flight with noise cancelling on. Indian Express Tech measured about 32 hours, matching the claim. T3 needed only one top-up over a week of testing. 9to5Mac found it lasts about eight hours longer than Beats Studio Pro with noise cancelling on. TechRadar confirmed it held up through travel but gave no figures.

Call quality: 8.3/10

Evidence here is thinner and the verdicts split. Only three outlets gave a real verdict. SoundGuys called the microphone excellent. On a beach with waves and crowds, its caller heard only a crisp voice. Engadget said the mics are decent but not perfect, and that callers heard clear audio with background noise suppressed. Tom’s Guide found voices slightly over-processed, fine for quick calls but not ideal for video conferencing. NotebookCheck listed the microphone features without giving a verdict. Treat call quality as acceptable, not a main reason to buy.

App & connectivity: 8.2/10

Outlets agree on smooth pairing across platforms. Tom’s Guide, T3, Trusted Reviews and XDA Developers praised Fast Pair, Find support and Apple device switching, and several liked the reliable physical buttons. The complaints differ. Engadget and T3 found the buttons hard to locate by touch. Engadget, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide and 9to5Mac noted no wear detection or auto-pause. Engadget, TechRadar, T3 and 9to5Mac noted no wired listening. SoundGuys was the most critical, citing no custom EQ and no USB-C audio. Engadget also said it has fewer features than AirPods Max 2.

Value: 8.1/10

Reviewers see the Beats 360 as reasonable value, mainly because it costs well below AirPods Max. Engadget and XDA Developers both stressed the gap between a roughly $350 Beats 360 and a much higher-priced AirPods Max, with XDA saying it offers better comfort and practicality. TechRadar said it punches above its weight at $349.99 for the build, sweat resistance and noise cancelling. Trusted Reviews was more guarded: it called the £299.95 price an appealing investment but more than the reviewer likes to spend. 9to5Mac only listed prices. Check your local price, as outlets quoted different currencies.

Sources

How we put this together

We read the reviews and articles listed above and weigh each by how much it should count: in-depth, hands-on testing with measurements counts most; launch news and press-release rewrites count least; sponsored content is penalised. Category scores are our trust-weighted summary of what those sources found, set to the same 10-point scale reviewers use; the reviewers’ own scores, where published, are listed above. This page was compiled with AI assistance and checked against the source notes. All findings belong to the outlets credited above; follow the links to read their full reviews. How we score.

Header image: AI illustration by SimplyAmplifying, drawn from several reference photos of the product; scores drawn from this page’s data.

Leave a comment