The Beats 360 are what I’d bring to the gym if I hated earbuds

With swappable ear cushions and IPX4 water resistance, the Beats 360 should stand up better to sweat than most headphones.

Everyone has seen someone at the gym or running around their neighborhood wearing headphones that were never designed for workouts. Quite often those headphones are Beats. Good news for the earbud haters: The new Beats 360 over-ear headphones are durable and built to withstand sweat, with water resistance and swappable knit ear cups. And there aren’t many headphones out there like them.

IP ratings are a bit out of the ordinary on any headphones, and the Beats 360 are the first IP-certified headphones from the company. Like Beats workout earbuds, the Powerbeats Pro 2 and Powerbeats Fit 2 , the Beats 360 are rated IPX4, which protects against splashes of water and sweat. It’s the minimum rating I would recommend anyone use for a pair of workout headphones or earbuds if you want them to survive for more than a short time.

There’s no way to avoid sweat accumulating around the ear cups when using headphones during a workout. But both wearables senior reviewer Victoria Song and I wore the Beats 360 while exercising, and we both found that the default performance knit ear cups on the Beats 360 did a good job wicking away that moisture. Still, by the end of her 40-minute run and my hour-long gym session, each of our headphones were wet and, as Victoria put it, “icky.” The ear cups are easily removable, so they can be cleaned separately — Beats recommends wiping them with a soapy solution, then a damp cloth with water only, and finally removing any leftover dampness with a dry cloth — and I didn’t run into any issues doing so.

Beats’ first IP-rated headphones Easily removable ear cups in six colors Replaceable battery

ANC not as good as other $350 headphones Midrange sounds shush-y Can shift during high-intensity workouts

The Beats 360 have decent clamping force to keep the headphones secure during most workout movements without causing discomfort. For exercises where my head position was consistent — such as back squats, planks, and lunges — the Beats 360 stayed comfortably in place.

Still, we both had moments where we needed to readjust them: sprints for Victoria and sit-ups for me. The movement isn’t excessive, and for explosive workouts — like the sprints, or even burpees — the Beats 360 would do in a pinch, but both of us still prefer earbuds.

The Beats 360 come with performance knit ear pads, which are good for workouts (particularly because of the moisture wicking), but after a few hours of non-workout use, they make the side of my head itchy. But since it’s super easy and fast to change the ear cups, switching to one of the plush engineered leather options for regular listening is the right move (it’s the same material used with the Studio Pro headphones).

The headphones come in black, white, light blue, and pink, and you can buy extra cushion sets to customize the look. The performance knit ear cups come in black, white, light blue, pink, navy, and a fluorescent green — though the plush are only in black and white.