[crinacle]

I've got around to tinkering with the Be with some spectacular results.

Periodic Audio Be mod

 

[nabeelkhan]

My Humble Review

My musical preferences: Jazz, EDM, Classical, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal, Latin (less Ricky Martin more Rodrigo y Gabriela)

My past IEMs and Headphones: Sennheiser IE80, Eytmotic ER4XR, Sennheiser Momentum II, Optoma Nuforce HEM 6, Sony WH1000xm2, Sony XBA-N1AP, iBasso IT01, Oriveti New Primacy

Current IEMs and Headphones: Music Maker Toneking Shockwave III and Jaybird Freedom IIIs (only for the gym)

As we are all well aware, the journey to finding "the perfect" headphone is filled with lessons, hardships, heartaches, loss of income, joys, celebrations and special moments. A special moment is exactly what lead me to purchasing a Periodic Audio Be. The moment happened at Can Jam London 2018, I had heard of them via browsing on Head-Fi but they weren't really on the top of my list of stalls to visit. My reason? I was put off by the fixed cable.

The Spark: The day of the event, the GF (audiophile noob) and I (relatively new audiophile) decided we had enough time to properly check out all the stands. One of the first stands we came across was Periodic Audio's stand. We were greeted by none other then Dan Wiggins. Dan is inviting and engaging in a very typical friendly way that defines many Americans. He has a lot of enthusiasm for his products and the development behind them, which really sold the story and USP of Periodic Audio. I didn't really have any idea of what I wanted to try out (I didn't know his products that well) so I let Dan guide me through the IEMs to try. We decided to try out the Mg (base model) and go up to the Carbon (Flagship).

My thoughts are below, please note I am far too much of an imbecile to understand concepts such as Frequency response, impedence, sensitivity and maximum output. Neither do I have the audiophile vernacular to use terms such dark, bright, sibilance et al. ;

1. Mg; very nicely tuned but not my cup of tea
2. Ti; great for bassheads without losing clarity
3. Be; wow, balanced, took everything the Ti did, dialed down the bass a smidge but upped the details
4. Carbon; after the Be, I really wasn't feeling this, it's not like it did anything badly, but I couldn't love it after the Be. The GF agreed too

The predicament: I haven't been in this game nearly as long as others, or spent anywhere near as much money as others but I walked away from the show knowing I needed to buy them (ohhh no-sies said the wallet) as they were something special. This is despite hearing some very top notch, the dogs-bollocks IEMs such as the VE8, the Jomo Flamenco, Stage Diver series, Earsonics S-EM10 and similar. Were some of them better? Definitely, were they 2-5x times better? I wasn't quite sure, at least not for my listening habits which is on-the-go and for tapping my feet at my desk.

I have a rule, never buy anything new unless you sell something old. My IEMs at the time were Nuforce HEM 6's which didn't quite feel the same afterwards. Kind of like being in a relationship but meeting someone else who shines a light on what you're missing out on. The "what if" of having the Be hung over me. Sure the isolation is better and the cables are replaceable on the HEM6, but the excitement wasn't there in the same way. BA Bass doesn't quite have the visceral impact and experience of a dynamic driver. I knew then that the journey with the Nuforces' was over.

The reunion: I managed to sell the Nuforces after a long time and quite a hit (£80 down after only 5 months, ouch). I'm sure everyone here has experienced frustration with selling items, it is a cruel hobby, you often have to take big losses and experience much angst trying to move IEMs on, my story was much the same.

Once sold, I had a second predicament, they didn't sell in the UK, luck be it I had a friend visiting NY so I ordered them and had them delivered to him.

Living with day to day: Ok this hasn't been much of a review of it's capabilities so here it goes;

1. Accessories: You get an assortment of tips and a great case. I haven't actually used either, not that they are bad but because I like to keep these items in pristine condition for resale purposes. Dan told me they mill their own tips, thats an incredible amount of effort on their part
2. Build Quality: Too early to tell, I bought a slightly blemished version, honestly I really can't tell where the blemish is. My only issue is the thin wire, only time will tell how this will hold up
3. Isolation: With foams, great! On the London Underground they drown out a lot of the jarring tube noise, on the streets you will need to exercise caution when crossing the streets
4. Microphonics: Some microphonics will travel up the wire, I use these with a Radsone ES100 so wrap up the spare cable or keep the radsone closer up to my chin, this reduces the noises considerably
5. Comfort/Fit: A highly personal issue. I can wear them for hours and hours with no issues. The other IEMs I currently own are the Music Maker Toneking Shockwave III, you can really feel the weight of these. These being polycarbonate are extremely light and comfortable, you barely feel them in your ear
6. Aesthetics: They don't look bad, they are inconspicuous, though they sit almost entirely internally when in use so who cares, you can't listen to how they look
7. Tip Rolling: Wide bore tips work best on these. In the office I thoroughly enjoy them with JVC Spiral Dots. Outside when I need more isolation I use Comply T400s, mids become more muffled but bass goes up, this is good when you're on the London Underground. That being said from experimentation, they didn't appear to have massive variations (as compared to some really tip dependent IEMs) from the various tips I tried; Mee Audio Tips, Spinfits, JVCs and Comply. I liked the pairing with Spinfits the least, isolation isn't great
8. Burning In: Out of the box, they sounded, well boxed in. They didn't sound as amazing as I remembered. I panicked, S#£T what did I do. But I remembered they need burn in, so I'm giving them a chance to open up. I haven't done anything such as leave them running for hours on end feeding them pink noise, monkey noises or likewise. I have however used them exclusively as my go to IEM and boy have they opened up in the three weeks I've had them. I can imagine they'll get better with time eventually reaching what I remembered
9. Amping: I only have a Fiio A3 which I keep at the office. They benefited a little from the extra power but not enough to make me want to carry them as an extra piece of equipment outside the office
10. Sound: "Finally" I hear you say! Lemme state, that these aren't the ultimate in benchmark, reference setting IEMs. What they are though, is a device that has a colouration that makes music very enjoyable. The soundstage on these amaze me as well.
    • Bass: Whilst they aren't basshead level IEMs, they do have enough even to satisfy one. The bass though is my favorite part of these.They bass doesn't however come at the expense of micro-details, The bass extends nice and deep but yet still manages to sound balanced with the mids and highs. A similar IEM (at least to me) were the CA Atlas
    • Mids: The mids are gorgeously clear. These things are so crisp and so musical, it is a testament to simplification and getting one thing right vs the mega-drivers wars
      
    • Source pairing: As stated above, I am but a simple man. I use these with the Radsone ES100 and iPhone 7 dongle thing-a-majigy. I exclusively listen to Spotify on extreme mode. I used to use Tidal HiFi but found that any clarity benefits I got vs Spotify Extreme was lost out in the humdrum of the streets and the drone of the London Underground.
    • These are quite easy to drive, so both pairings work quite well. To me the dongle gets them much louder but with LDAC enabled on the Radsone music sounds crisper. One thing to note, Dan mentioned that he wanted his IEMs to sound good off any source, but I have found on poor recordings, the Be do highlight how bad the recording is. I can't listen to some tracks on these

Closing Thoughts: Is this end game? No, if I am being honest with myself, there will always be an itch as long as I frequent these boards and I know better exists out there. For now I'm very happy. I still don't like the fixed cable, I wish the cables were detachable and I wish I could have waited for the UK Distributor to be sorted out before buying (I'm not covered by the distributor for warranty issues). But perhaps that's a testament to the IEMs themselves, in spite of these drawbacks, I still wanted to buy them. Once you cross that Rubicon of liking something, it takes much willpower to not succumb. The stars aligned with the Be's; I liked the sound enough, I liked the affordability (at USD 199 for the blemished version it's a steal) and I liked the ethos of the Company; everything is done with simplicity and functionality in mind; simple prices, models differentiated by end caps, polycarbonate for the durability & sonic properties, and the simplicity in use (pop in, pop out). For the price-to-performance they give, you'll really (may) be satisfied adding these to your arsenal of IEMs.

 

[jkjk123]

Hi @DanWiggins

Have there been any developments in the replaceable cable version of periodic be?

Additionally, I see some people have added mmcx socket to their periodic be, does anyone know how much this costs usually?

Thanks

 

[mochill]

The periodic audio nickel is out , OMG =-O want to review it as well as the carbon

 

[BuddhaBruce]

I've got around to tinkering with the Be with some spectacular results.

Periodic Audio Be mod

This easy mod seriously does wonders. I covered the back bass port and added the teabag filter and wow... everything is immediately better. Cleaner, more balanced, and somehow imaging feels more precise.

 

[mochill]

I wouldn't change a thing

 

[alpha421]

Better late than never. Some may remember my drive to jump on the hype trains and badged myself as an early adopter of anything new here. To be honest, I've grown jaded over the gigantic jump in prices and the marketing and power reviews that rings in my ears, "haven't I read that before?" Well, I'll get off my little soap box and share my brief review of the BE.

First, congrats to Dan and his team for developing well tuned products that covers the masses. It's obvious to my ears that they know what they're doing with their transducer tuning. Long live dynamic drivers(DD)! Yes, I have posted sparingly here and there that I'm a DD fan through and through. Over the near decade since I originally joins this site, I've had my share of single up to ten driver BA iems/ciems as well as the hybrids. I've resisted the hype of new toys and models, but when a DD starts to make some noise with its sound quality, I had to listen even though as always, I'm a little late in the game.

My last DD product was the Shozy BK. It's the best sounding earbud I've heard and owned and despite my initial search to find its sound signature in an iem form, I got preoccupied by other things in life. Then comes the BE, which comes closest to what I've heard to the BK. But first, I would like to call out HiFlight who I highly value his opinion on head-fi matters not because we probably share the most buyer/seller feed backs between each other, but because we have similar values and preferences when it comes to sound quality. I know that timbre ranks extremely high on the list and like the BK, the BE really nails it. It may not have the widest or deepest stage, but I find it in the sweet spot where it doesn't sound stretched and/or artificially wide/deep.

I'm no longer an analytical listener, which is one of the main drivers to why I don't listen to BA products with an exception for the ER4SR. I want something that reveals how instruments in an orchestra or marching band, and vocals is suppose to sound - warm, rich, engaging, delineates what instruments are recorded and accurately captures the sound of each note that added together creates a musical and joyful experience. The BE does this with aplomb, and for everything it does for the sake of sound quality, I think the price is justified. However, like any product it can be approved upon.

I have the first version BE and I've read that the new one has a different cable. I'm not going to beat the dead horse, but I agree with many that the cable is the weakest link (pun intended) and should be more robust if it's to survive 5 years of use, it should have a cable slider to avoid tangling and knots, and it should have some L/R indicator either by a raised bump or provide red colored ear tips.

Second, I echo the wonderful customer support from Dan and company. I had an issue with my order that was quickly rectified and exceeded my expectations. It's evident to me that he's passionate with his products and customer service. It's refreshing to find this combination, and I hope the bigger Periodic Audio gets, they stand fast.

Well done, Dan.

 

[mochill]

If you love the Bk thrn you'll love the blox TM9 alot. Huge fan of shozy too^_^ , also love periodic audio

 

[alpha421]

Problem is, I won't pay $299 for the TM9 or any earbud for that matter.

 

[DanWiggins]

Thanks all for the kind words! For those going to CanJam Rocky Mountain, make a quick stop upstairs at room 1113 and take a listen to what happens when I retreat to my lab for a few years and work on the best speaker transducer I can make.

 

[Gabriel Sontag]

I want to try the carbon version pretty badly, is there going to be a graphene version eventually?

 

[Dobrescu George]

I am in love with the musicality and sweet warmth of Periodic Audio Be to be honest

Full review is coming soon!

 

[DanWiggins]

I want to try the carbon version pretty badly, is there going to be a graphene version eventually?

Graphene, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. Graphene is a single-atom-thick material and outside some lab conditions it's not available. Typically you end up with hundreds or thousands of atoms thick Carbon compositions and they're called "graphene" because it's hip and trendy. We just went with diamond - the difference being it's a 3D lattice that CAN be grown in quantity and is also incredibly stiff.

Additionally, I'm not sure you want a single-atom-thick diaphragm. You need some mass there or else you end up with a driver with no bottom end. So either you do a thick diaphragm of carbon (thick being 10+ microns, not 0.3 nanometers) or you use a thick diaphragm and plate on the graphene.

 

[DanWiggins]

Update: I'll be at Burning Amp tomorrow, in San Francisco! Come on by and listen to some great audio electronics, systems - and I'll have Nickel there to show as well (the most power you can get in a tiny package).

 

[episiarch]

Thanks all for the kind words! For those going to CanJam Rocky Mountain, make a quick stop upstairs at room 1113 and take a listen to what happens when I retreat to my lab for a few years and work on the best speaker transducer I can make.

Dan, is it correct that the speaker driver isn't under the Periodic Audio umbrella? From what you told me at CanJam London it sounded intriguing. Is there some other brand / label / twitter / instagram we can follow for updates on it?