Apart from tangly wires, one of the most common complaints about headphones is that they can make your ears uncomfortably hot and sweaty after long periods of listening.
Indeed, the padding on most on-ear and over-ear headphones is made of materials like foam wrapped in leather, fleather (fake plastic leather), or felt, all of which don't let your skin breathe and basically act like winter earmuffs.
It's certainly not a major problem, and it bothers some more than others. Personally, it bothers the hell out of me, and it's a common-enough issue that it's often included in headphone reviews.
Yet, headphone makers don't seem to take notice, and they keep making headphones with ear cups that make your ears hot.
The solution
I'm convinced I've found the solution, and only two headphone makers are using it.
Some models of Logitech gaming headphones, like the G933 Artemis Spectrum, as well as Turtle Beach's Stealth 450 gaming headphones, have foam cups covered in a breathable sportsy mesh fabric that keeps your ears comparatively cool.
Logitech recognized that a common complaint among gamers who use headsets is that the ear cups can get hot and sweaty after hours of gaming, but regular non-gaming folk can also enjoy music through headphones for hours on end, too. It's a wonder how more headphone makers don't use it.
The fabric is similar to the kind of fabric you'd find on running shoes designed to let your feet breathe so they, too, don't get too hot and sweaty.
The Logitech G933, however, has an additional trick up its sleeve: You can easily remove the G933's cups and wash them with water and soap to clean away the head and face oils that have built up on the cups over time.
Considering some of us use our headphones for hours on end on a daily basis, removable and washable cups would be a great feature to have.
Gamers get all the cool stuff
The caveat? The Logitech and Turtle Beach headphones are gaming headsets, meaning they're designed to deliver immersive audio for video games rather than music, and they don't sound as good as equivalently priced headphones designed for music. I wouldn't recommend you buy these if you're looking for headphones primarily for music.
And despite the fact that they use a sportsy mesh fabric, I wouldn't go on a run with them, either, as both are chunky and unwieldy. But they're great if you're a gamer!
The best solution for those who hate that hot sweaty feeling when they wear headphones is still to use earphones that fit in your ears instead.
