This may sound like obvious advice, but I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts most headphone wearers rarely bother to clean their headphones. Obviously it depends on whether you’re a heavy user, but setting aside 10 minutes every so often for a little preventive maintenance will significantly add to the longevity of your headphones.
Audio Technica knows a thing or two about this kind of stuff. The Japanese brand’s audiophile headphones have a well-deserved reputation for amazing performance (their £1300 wired ATH-AWAS closed-back wooden Hi-Fi headphones may be pricey but they’ll last a lifetime if well cared for), but it’s a major player in the budget headphones arena too, with the likes of the £60 Bluetooth ATH-S220BT.
Ian Cookson, Audio Technica’s technical content specialist and Thomas Griffiths, the company's training manager suggest wiping down ear pads and headbands with a dry lint-free cloth on a regular basis. However, they advise against cleaning with regular household cleaning products, particularly anti-bacterial wipes as "these can degrade some components over time.” Instead, they suggest using a wipe with soapy water.
The experts at Austrian Audio agree, saying: “Sweaty over-ear headphones are part of life, but once you’re done perspiring, give your headphones a wipe down. Please don’t just let them cool into a stone-cold sweat – nobody wants that!”
In-ear headphones and earbuds are more prone to picking up gunge than their larger stablemates, for obvious reasons.
Silicone-based ear tips can be soaked in slightly soapy warm water, but memory foam tips are best wiped down with a damp cloth. In either case, it’s best to remove the tips from the rest of the earbud first to avoid getting the insides wet! That may seem obvious, but it’s easy to forget and dunk the whole bud.