Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of our music-listening experience is that we have a good pair of headphones.
Whether you’re a professional DJ that needs to be able to adequately hear what you’re putting out during a performance, a music producer that wants to hear their music at an incredibly precise level, or just a random music lover that just likes to enjoy their playlists while on the train or at the gym, headphones are an incredibly important part of our lives.
But have you ever actually considered how to clean DJ headphones properly?
In this guide, we’ll go over exactly how to clean your leather headphones as well as go over many of the benefits that come as a result.
How To Clean DJ Headphones Properly! (in short)
If you want to know how to clean DJ headphones simply follow these basic steps. 1) Carefully disassemble the headphones. 2) Wipe them down with a damp cloth. 3) Wipe them down again with alcohol wipes. 4) For leather headphones treat with a leather conditioner. 5) Let them dry. 6) Reassemble headphones. Repeat the process every 1-2 weeks.
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How To Clean Over Ear Headphones
Unfortunately, they are also one of the devices we put the least amount of time into taking care of.
Despite how important they are, headphones are regularly exposed to accidental falls, drops, spills, or even being stepped on in a DJ booth.
Even if we don’t end up overtly damaging them, many people have headphones that are just horrendous when it comes to cleanliness.
We’ve all been there when we took a look at our headphones and saw more than a bit of gunk sitting on them. Even if we’re talking about the over-ear headphones, making sure they are clean should be very concerning.
This becomes even more important when factoring in leather headphones.
Leather is a particular material that needs to be handled with a bit of delicacy if you want it to retain its look.
What Is The Point Of Cleaning My Headphones?
If you’re like the majority of people, while cleaning your headphones may be an ideal practice simply for hygiene’s sake, it’s tough to pinpoint what the tangible benefits are.
After all, it’s not like they don’t work just because they’re a little greasy than usual. What can you truly stand to gain by spending that extra time to regularly clean them?
Well, we’re about to show you.
#1. Health & Hygiene
Ok, you’re already aware that ear hygiene is important, but it’s not just because it’s “a little gross” to have greasy, gunky headphones in your ear.
In addition, headphones that aren’t properly cleaned also put you at risk of accruing a significant amount of bacteria.
A dirty, messy pair of headphones can be the perfect breeding ground for tons of nasty strains of bacteria.
This can easily lead to an ear infection or an illness via the ear.
I won’t go so far as to say “your life’s in danger,” but I can confidently say you’re risking a lot of pain and a lot of inconveniences when you don’t need to.
#2. Improved Sound Quality
Yes, in most instances, you’ll still be able to hear your music through dirty headphones.
The challenge is that it’s not too dissimilar to hearing things with dirty ears.
Yes, you can still hear if your ears are filled with earwax and gunk, but once you clean them out, it’s like a whole new world of hearing.
The same is true for your headphones.
When you have dirty headphones, you have to understand that, similar to covering a monitor speaker up, you’re ultimately muffling the sound.
By clearing and cleaning them out, you’re getting rid of all of the blockages and allowing the sound to travel to your ears unimpeded.
That’s just logical!
#3. More Cost-Effective
Lastly, we have to talk about money.
The simple truth of the matter is that the process of cleaning and caring for your headphones (leather or otherwise) is going to ensure that they last longer.
This means that you aren’t going to need to either take them to a repair shop or get them replaced nearly as much.
Trust me.
The cleaning solution listed below is pretty much a fraction of the cost you’d have to put forward to have them repaired or replaced.
If you’re a fan of money, cleaning your headphones just makes good business sense.
How to Clean Leather Headphones: The Process
Now, let’s jump into how you can optimally clean your leather headphones. Here’s a list of the different things you’ll need before sitting down to do this.
- Highly-Absorbent Wash Cloth
- Alcohol Wipes
- Cotton Swabs
- Alcohol Cleaner
- Leather Conditioner
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Step #1. Dismantle Headphones
Your first step should be to dismantle the headphones. This will include removing the earpads of your headphones as gently as possible.
Earpads are notorious for being easy to tear if handled too forcefully.
Therefore, you should be as careful as you can.
Step #2. Wipe Down
Next, you’re going to wipe down the entirety of the headphones with warm, soapy water.
To do this, get a highly absorbent washcloth and lightly soak it in warm (just above room temperature) water that has some soap.
The cloth should not be soaked or very wet!
Just enough to dampen the cloth itself should be more than fine.
Once you’ve got your cloth ready, gently go over the earcups, the headband, and the metal grills of the headphone, wiping away any dirt, grease, or earwax you find.
As with the earlier point, you don’t want to press too hard or be too aggressive.
A very light pass-through should be enough so that you can clear all the visible signs of dirt.
Step #3. Secondary Wipe Down Using Alcohol Wipes
After wiping everything down, follow it up with one or more alcohol wipes.
This will work to disinfect all of the areas to ensure that they stay germ-free after cleaning them.
If the metal grills and earpads are especially greasy, and you can’t wipe them away without being too forceful, try using cotton swabs that are soaked in an alcohol-cleaning solution.
This will let you more closely wipe through any of the small areas where there may even still be some dirt residue.
Once you’ve done that, you can wipe them down again with the alcohol wipes.
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Step #4. Condition Leather Coating Pads
Whereas the first three steps work for virtually all headphones, for leather headphones, you’ll also want to do this step, no more than a couple of times a year.
Conditioning your headphones more than twice a year puts you at risk of creating mildew on the ear cushions, which is not something you want.
Here, you’ll need to use a leather conditioner material made specifically to wipe down the headphone pads.
Your best bet is to gradually massage the conditioner into the leather material to best clean it.
Luckily, you don’t need more than a couple of drops, so don’t feel like you need to empty half the bottle to do the job.
Step #5. Let Headphones Dry
A relatively simple step, once you’ve completed all of these steps, set each piece out to let fully dry before doing anything.
A quick job can be around five to 10 minutes, though you’re better off letting them go for upwards of 15 to 30.
Ideally, you shouldn’t bother with them until everything is 100% dry.
Step #6. Reassemble Headphones
Last, once everything has dried off, make a point of putting everything back together piece by piece.
This shouldn’t be too difficult, as you’re just putting the earpads and grill back on.
Just remember to be careful when doing this so there are no issues.
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How Often Should You Clean Your Headphones?
There are a few ways to answer this.
Generally, the simple answer is that you should clean headphones in relation to how frequently you use them. No matter how often you use them, you should ideally get into the habit of cleaning them at least once a week.
If you’re an avid user or use them while working out, you may want to increase the frequency to once every three days, or even once per workout session if you’re workouts are especially sweaty.
As mentioned above, you should only perform the full cleaning process (complete with conditioning) only twice a year.
However, the standard wipe down with alcohol can be done every day or every other day, and the semi-complete clean can be done based on the amount of sweat and dirt you’re likely to produce while wearing them.
Replacing Headphone Pads?
Should you consider replacing headphone pads? The answer is that, not only should you consider replacing your headphone pads, but you should be doing it on a somewhat regular basis, despite how clean or dirty they may be at the time.
This is because, at a certain point, the headphone pads just exceed their level of usage.
By regularly replacing them, you not only make sure your headphones continue to stay at their optimal level, but you can do so without having to outright get new cans altogether, making this incredibly affordable.
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How To Clean DJ Headphones: Takeaway
We finish with our ‘how to clean DJ headphones’ takeaway.
Your DJ headphones are a super important and essential part of your music-listening experience.
This goes double for music producers and triple for DJs. Regardless of your profession, having good headphones that do their job and produce stellar sound is ultimately what we all want.
You can get that by just taking a few minutes out of your week to clear away any of the regularly accruing dirt that you’re liable to pick up.
Trust me, while it may be a bit annoying in the beginning, after a week or two of getting into the habit, you’ll not only not care about the few minutes invested, but you’ll love the fact that your headphones continue to look and feel new even a year or two later.
Oh, and the extra money saved doesn’t hurt either.
