How to clean headset earpads

It’s no one’s favorite chore but learning how to clean headset earpads is worth doing. Not only will it reward you with a generally less-gross experience, but it can also help to prolong the life of your beloved headset.

When we’re talking about cleaning the earpads specifically, it’s basically broken down into two categories: fabric and plastic/leatherette. The process is mostly the same, but there are a few slight differences. We’ll do fabric first, then hop on to leather.

The first step is to remove the earpads all together. This makes it easier to reach all the gross bits as you won’t be swinging the entire weight of the headset around. Perhaps more importantly, it also reduces the chances of accidentally squeezing soapy water into the inside, which could kill the headset outright.

Luckily, the discerning headset enjoyers out there will have a CORSAIR headset, and we make the earpads removeable for most of our headsets, the HS80 MAX being a great example.

If the earpads are not removeable, don’t worry, you can still get in there to properly clean the pads, you’ll just have to be more careful with the water and take a bit more time. So, here are the steps:

• Remove the earpads (if you can).
• Prepare a mixture of warm soapy water.
• If the earpads are removable, do so, then splash a small amount of the mixture onto them and work it in with your hands. If there are any distinctly crusty or otherwise gross spots, dunk a toothbrush into the soapy water and gently scrub them away. Gently is the key word, here, as toothbrush bristles can be quite stiff. No sense getting the earpads totally decontaminated if you had to wear half the fabric away to do it.
• If the earpads are not removable, return to the toothbrush. Carefully scrub the whole surface. Be aware of how you’re manoeuvring the headset to ensure that errant drips don’t fall into the earcups themselves.
• Regardless of the above, leave the headset/earpads somewhere warm to air dry completely. You’re probably already aware but this could take some time so you might have to return to your old spare headset if gaming must be done post haste.
• After half a day or so give the earpads a good squeeze, if any water comes out, or you feel the moisture within, return it to the designated drying spot and check again later. You don’t want to wear a slightly damp headset unless you enjoy the sensation of wearing wet socks... on your ears.

This is pretty similar to fabric, but we shan’t need the toothbrush at all. It’s not needed as leather, plastic, fake leather, are all less porous materials, so stains won’t penetrate like they will with fabric. The venerable VIRTUOSO RGB WIRELESS XT uses earpads like this, by the way. Additionally, these materials can be scratched by the stiff bristles. Let’s clean:

• Remove the earpads (if you can).
• Prepare a mixture of warm soapy water.
• Grab a soft cloth. Dip this into the mixture and wring out the excess.
• If the earpads are removable, simply go over the material with the cloth to remove the gross stuff. Feel free to go a bit harder if the stain in question initially refuses to get lost.
• If the earpads aren’t removable, proceed with the same steps, but, just like we did with the fabric earpads, play close attention when rotating the headset to avoid dripping liquid into the inside.
• Now that the earpads are totally clean, leave them somewhere to completely air dry. This should take far less time than the fabric ones, as not as much water will have soaked in, if any at all.

And there you have it, no more gross earpads. This results in a headset that’s more comfortable to have directly on your head, and last even longer. If your earpads are too far gone, why not head over to our main site and peruse our vast array of headsets for a new replacement.