'The Best-Sounding Headphones We've Ever Built': Beats President Talks Beats 360, Customization, And Apple

A few hours after Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo in Cupertino, California, BGR attended a hands-on experience just miles away for another major new release: the Beats 360 headphones. The new over-ear headphones are the most versatile product we've seen from the company, with powerful sound, impressive comfort, and plenty of style. In addition to reviewing the Beats 360, we also had a chance to speak with Oliver Schusser, Beats President and Apple Music VP, who previously spoke to us about the Powerbeats Fit lineup. This time around, we discussed the latest headphones, the relationship between Beats and Apple, and the future of the company's accessory lineups.

What's most interesting about Beats 360 is how much they differ from most anything we've seen from Beats in the past. With a focus on customization, there are over 256 combinations from day one that users can choose from. You might never see another pair that looks exactly like yours. "It's only been a few years since we brought out Studio Pro," Schusser noted, "but we wanted to create a different kind of over-ear product that caters a different use case, which is the active lifestyle."

According to Schusser, Beats noticed how many people have started wearing over-ear headphones to go to the gym. Beats saw an opening. With this release, Beats combined breathable materials, a tight grip, and an experience more similar to earbuds in a pair of over-ear headphones.

While the iPhone Duo represents a new era for the iPhone, Beats is going through a similar shift with Beats 360. While the company took the category by storm when it entered the market in 2008, this is an opportunity to chart a new path forward alongside its parent company.

Besides that, these Beats headphones sound great, and even though the company chose not to use Apple's proprietary audio chips, the sound is crisp, clear, and powerful. "It's a case-by-case decision which chip we use," Schusser tells BGR. "What's important for us is that we want to be optimized for both iOS and Android. With this chip, users can have personalized Spatial Audio, and Android users can have the full feature set as well."

One of the unique features of the Beats 360 headphones is the ability to replace the ear cushions and headband. Customers can choose between four different frames, eight cushions (in both a breathable performance knit and UltraPlush options), and eight different headbands. To celebrate the release, Beats is offering these add-on accessories for $9.99, but they will eventually climb to $49.99 each.

During the interview, I asked Schusser about the relationship between Apple and Beats. After all, Beats 360 sounds great, but they make a few compromises — no auto-play/pause functionality, no Live Translation, and no support for Lossless capabilities, which was something Beats added before Apple. Even when Beats is first to introduce a feature, like the heart-rate sensor available on the Powerbeats Pro 2, the functionality was only fully supported by the iPhone once Apple released AirPods Pro 3 with the same feature a few months later. It gives the impression that Apple wants to be sure AirPods will always take priority.

Still, Schusser tells me that in the organization the teams are the same, and these decisions are all very conscious. "It's all about what we want the product to be, what price point we want it to be at," he says. "We also want to make sure our headphones work just as great on both iOS and Android platforms. Still, everyone at Apple is proud to have Beats, and everyone at Beats is proud to be part of Apple. Customers can choose between AirPods and Beats, and the good thing is they coexist side-by-side in a beautiful way."

Asked about cases, which have been absent from this year's iPhone 18 Pro release, Schusser confirms that Beats is, for now, stepping away from that business." We've had two iPhone cycles of cases. We've actually learned a lot and we've decided not to make any cases this year. However, one of the things that has worked extremely well for us is cables. They're super popular, and we plan to add even more colors to them." Schusser also teases that there's even more to come from Beats, which means the company might not be completely done with releasing new accessories.