Periodic Audio “Be” Beryllium diaphragm in-ear headphones assembled in USA

Note: my review is for the V1 of the Be. V2 actually addresses a lot of the issues I have with it (cable and splitter). Pros: Fantastic sound eq, bassy and yet still detailed. You can really get that rumble from the sub bass if you have them inserted correctly. Case is simple yet effective. Light and comfy when inserted correctly and worn over the ear. Definitely sensitive / accurate enough to pick up differences in audio sources. Cons: Metal divider on cable is chunky and gets caught on clothes. Cable and IEM body housing feel cheap and conduct clothing noise. Foam tips are impossible to get onto the wide bore. Wide bore is too wide for some ears and causes discomfort over time. Impossible to tell right from left earpiece in the dark (only differentiation is a red-sharpied grill in the right ear piece). Price should be $100 cheaper (but this is possible to achieve by buying the 'blemished' version on their website) Dan and company spent a ton of time on engineering these things and actually came to the conclusion that a plastic body on the IEM saves precious weight and has better acoustic properties than metal. This still makes them feel a bit cheap - your coworkers will look at you funny when you say that you spent $300 on "cheap earbuds". Overall though, I bought them for the sound, and that has continued to be fantastic over my period of ownership. I will also note that Periodic Audio stands by their products for a full 5 years and actually really seems to care about their customers, which is rare for a lot of Chinese-made audio companies.

Cliff Notes Version After a horrible start and a very long time in training, these “Be-came” so good that I purchased 2 Be. “Be-cause” I never wanted to Be without. I also gave away several other iems “Be-cause” I no longer needed or wanted to listen to them. I think the Periodic Audio Be are one of the greatest bargains in audio at $300. Very Highly Recommended. The Be has a captive cable. I wish I could try my favorite cable with the Be, but cable swapping is not allowed. Maybe the next version of the Be will allow that. Prologue Beryllium in speakers can really Be something very special. About 30 years ago, I heard beryllium as a tweeter in the Yamaha NS500 speakers. “Be-ing” a college student of modest means, I took extra yearbook photography assignments and at the end of the term, I took everything out of the piggy bank except the squeal and bought a pair. Yes, they were vapor deposition Be instead of solid Be foil, but my ears said they were the best sounding speakers that I could afford then and I voted for them with my paychecks and enjoyed them for years. Today, several very well-regarded speakers for pro, home, and mobile use are blessed with beryllium tweeters. The Focal Solo 6be, Twin 6be, Trio 6be, Trio 11be, and SM9 are among the powered speakers that are generally well respected by the pro audio market. They cost between about $2,5k and $7k per pair. The Focal Utopia home series with beryllium tweeters tops out around $65k per pair. The Focal Utopia 6.5” separates car speakers are about $2k a pair. Then there are the very well-regarded Focal Utopia (open back $4k) and Stellia (closed back $3k) beryllium-based full-sized headphones. How could I resist risking $300 for some Be iems from Periodic Audio? Yes, I ordered them from Amazon and paid for them with my very own money. Act 1: Hate As soon as I extracted my new Be from the well-designed packaging, I plugged them into my iPad Pro to make sure they were working. There was sound coming from both channels. This was important. I noticed that the inside of one channel, visible down the hole in the center of the eartip was blue and the other channel was red. This was an elegant way to determine right and left channel, except for in two instances: in the dark, or if you prefer the Comply eartips with the wax screen that would cover the red or blue parts. One reviewer went on a rant about this. I just applied a very simple and inexpensive fix. Since the outside of each golden endcap is nicely engraved with the Company logo, I put a few coats of my wife’s chip resistant clear nail polish on the right channel’s end cap so it is smooth and the left one has the factory engraving. Now I can easily distinguish the right from the left in whatever conditions allow my fingers to feel. (I added the fire engine red metallic later on the right channel to color code the outside.) Since the Be’s were basically functional, I started training them (I loathe the term “breaking in” as that implies either that some kind of crime is happening, and the cops should stop it, or that something destructive is happening. I prefer the term “training” as in “Train up an iem in the way it should go . . .”). Initial training material included Celtic Woman “A New Journey”, Burmester “Art for the Ear”, Berlin/von Karajan “Holst: The Planets”, Michael Card “Starkindler” and Rick Wakeman’s “Merlin”. All were “.wav” files playing on my iPod pro set to repeat all with the volume about a solid forte (volume slider between the pause/play indicator and the next track indicator). Shortly thereafter, I nearly blew it. I know it’s not fair to listen critically after only 13 hours of training, but I couldn’t help myself. I rationalized that I should check the Be progress and target the remainder of the training for the problem areas (if any). So I stuck ‘em in my ears and plugged them into my Roon/Hugo2 and listened up. Here There Be Bass - good, solid, detailed, layered, one of the three best jobs with Enya Watermark bass lines I have ever heard in iems or headphones with my Hugo2 (Jerry Harvey Layla 2 with Silver Dragon cable tops the iem chart for me, and the Fostex 900 with hard-wired Silver Dragon cable for full size headphones). I could tell that for the bass, the Be has the potential to Be something very special. Then I made the mistake of trying a men’s acappella choral group. In just a few notes, I was hit with an intensely negative emotional experience, best summed up by JRR Tolkein’s Gollum screaming: “Nassty, NASSSTY SSIBILANCESSS! It hurts Us! It Hurts Us! We hates it! We HATES IT!” I had to turn off the tunes to shut Gollum up so I could think. (Screeching like that is my worst sonic nightmare. Like several fingernails scraping several chalkboards, it stops further audio processing until it is silenced.) After rational thought returned, I decided that the Be really needed more midrange and treble training to try and make the upper mids and lower treble listenable. I remembered that the Grado 10e’s and RHA MA750’s had similar, but not as glaring, mid/treble issues, which were solved by 5 to 7 days continuous training. I put the Be’s on double secret probation and added sibilance torture tracks like MercyMe’s album “Welcome to the New” on the training playlist. That album actually sounds fantastic through my reference system, but several other systems and less refined iems and headphones can make it screech bigtime. Act 2: Wait Some people tell me that patience is a virtue. To which I usually reply “Yeah, right. I ain’t a doctor and I don’t need patience.” The iPad pro fed continuous music from the Training playlist to the Periodic Audio Be at a good solid forte level for another whole week. That’s 168 hours or half a fortnight. What Happened? I then went back to the Roon/Hugo2 rig and listened to my bass tests first: Bass: Potential for excellence on both acoustic and electronic bass was shown using Major Mackerel’s “Conga Beat the Drum”, Dub Colussus’ “Dub Me Tender”, Kraftwerk “Radioactivity” and “Autobahn”, MercyMe “Welcome to the New” and “Greater,” Rick Wakeman’s “Merlin,” Mannheim Steamroller’s “Prelude/Chocolate Fudge”, Iona “Kells”, and Stephen Wiley’s “Glory to God” from DC Talk’s Yo Ho Ho CD. I say potential for excellence, because there was something about the decay and release of some bass motes that just did not sound quite right, but the bass attack, extension, and the body and layering of the bass notes and sostenuto was as near “spot on” as I have heard through any sub-$1,000 iem or headphone. Mid/Treble: Much improved. Some sibilance remained, but at least the above tracks were listenable without cringing. Gollum’s screaming at me was gone. In general, the mids and treble were nowhere near as detailed, precise, coherent, involving, and attention-grabbing (in a good way) as the bass. If you ever heard one of the ESS Heil or the Carver Amazing loudspeakers, this one-week-of-training sound was the exact opposite. The ESS folded motion transformer and the Carver ribbons made absolutely exquisite music for the midrange and treble, and both were paired with bass sections that sounded like elephants plodding through quicksand by comparison. Conclusion: Continue Training for the second half of the fortnight. Support for this came from a few reviews on Head-Fi. One mentioned 200 hours and another said 250 hours were required. Note to Dan at Periodic Audio: Please emphasize that the Be really needs 10 to 14 days of continuous “Training” or “run-in” to unleash most of their potential. Listening too much before then could make you wish you never bought them. Act 3: Love When music is being played or replayed very well, there is an emotional response. Breathing slows, as if the noise from breathing will shatter the magic of the moment. Heart rate will be affected, racing or slowing as the music carries it along. This is not just getting the notes right. One of my favorite conductors said that getting the notes right does not mean you are making music, you are just not making noticeable mistakes. The bass, midrange, and treble all need to be there at the right time and in the right proportions to permit the possibility of making music. The attack, body, and release of the notes must be right. This elusive ethereal confluence is difficult to achieve through playback, and usually can be fouind only while soaking up the original live event in person. 336. The number of very slow hours in two weeks or one fortnight. The only audio equipment that I have heard of needing more training than that is the new Spectral mono amp – it gets 500 hours before leaving the factory. I have really been enjoying about a month with my now fully trained Periodic Audio Be. Those bass tracks listed above found just about everything I think was missing. I place the Be third on my all-time bass list – behind the Astell&Kern/JH Audio Layla 2 with a Moon Audio Silver Dragon v3 cable and the Fostex 900 (original with Moon Audio Silver Dragon cable “hacked” in). And the Be does this at 1/5 to 1/10 the price. The mids/treble testing included most of the now quite enjoyable MercyMe Welcome to the New album. This, of course, sounded best on the reference rig. Then Quincy Jones’ “Back on the Block” from Burmester’s Art for the Ear. When the female soloist, full jazz choir, and instruments get into a very complex passage, it takes a very good playback chain to handle it without smearing or losing something. At times it can sound sibilant, but it is not. (This was on a Burmester compilation CD that was produced to help sell Burmester systems costing upwards of $100k.) On this track, I realized that Be were the first two letters in “Beautiful” for good reason. With my suspicion confirmed by hearing Radka Toneff “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” from Art for the Ear, and Celtic Woman’s “The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun”, “Newgrange”, “Caledonia”, and “Mo Ghile Mear” on their A New Journey CD, I thought the Be were ready for the final testing. The Be passed my final “goosebump” tests with great delicacy, insight, and that elusive emotional response. Cecelia Bartoli’s “Exsultate Jubilate” from her Mozart Portraits CD at the right volume is absolutely captivating – especially for the last two minutes. It was all there, the orchestra, the hall ambience, Cecelia’s voice soaring and reverberating from the walls. I rarely hear this reproduced this well. Bria Skonberg’s “Trust in Me” was suitably mesmerizing. Kaa (Jungle Book) could not have done it better. And finally, Celtic Woman’s “Over the Rainbow” from A New Journey brings four female voices: Chloe, Orla, Meav, and Hayley, each a soloist in her own right, into a four-part harmony that just begs for absolute silence to hear the voices interplay with each other and the hall harmonics and to follow the melody weaving from one voice to the next. I suppose that I breathed during the 2:38 of that track, but I do not remember. Yes, I still preferred the Layla 2’s presentation, but the Be handily bested most of the other iem’s I have heard. Conclusion: 2 Be or not 2 Be? Yes. I purchased 2 Be. With my very own money. Be-cause I never wanted to Be without. I think the Periodic Audio Be are one of the greatest bargains in audio at $300. I saw on the Periodic Audio website their Be B-Stock sale, I grabbed one for $149 due to some microscopic cosmetic flaw that I may notice someday. The Be sound better and better as the source tracks and playback equipment get better. The same “.wav” file sounds better on the iPad pro than the iPhone 6 plus. There is a bigger quality jump moving from the iPad pro to the Roon on Dell/Chord Hugo2 and the really good gets much better with the reference rig: Furman 15 dmi/MIT power cords/Melco/Silver Dragon USB with or without Audioquest Jitterbug/Chord Hugo2. I try to keep 2 dynamic and 2 balanced armature iems for comparison purposes in reviews, and to have something to take with me – because the Sennheisers and the Laylas do not leave the house. My current Dynamic Duo are the Periodic Audio BE and the Sennheiser ie 800s. Gone are the Nuforce 700 and 800 series, Klipsch 6 ii, Focal Sphear, and RHA MA-750. The Etymotic ER4s and Grado 10e did not fare well against the Be. Be put them on probation and the Massdrop/NuForce EDC3 iem with an aftermarket Moon Audio Silver Dragon v1 cable sent them away for good. Room for Improvement The Be has a captive cable. Please note that all 3 of my favorite headphones and both of my favorite balanced armature iems had the capability to swap cables and I installed my favorite Moon Audio Dragon (Black Dragon for the Utopias, and Silver Dragon for the NightOwls, Fostex 900’s Astell&Kern/Jerry Harvey Layla 2’s and Massdrop/NuForce EDC3’s.) I wish I could try my favorite cable with the Be, but cable swapping is not allowed. Maybe the next version of the Be will allow that. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Periodic Audio Be with a Moon Audio Silver Dragon would be a better all-around performer than the Sennheiser ie800s, at about half the cost, but we may never know. Final Thoughts If you are thinking of making a roughly $300 “Sound Investment” for in-ear monitors and do not mind waiting a few weeks for them to be trained properly, please put these on your very short audition list. Also on that very short list should be the Massdrop/NuForce EDC3 three Knowles balanced armature iems for $100 (for the drop I was in from Drop.com) with another $200 for a Moon Audio 2-pin iem silver dragon v1 cable for about $200 from moon-audio.com. The combination makes the decision between the EDC3+Silver Dragon and a stock Be very difficult. The two iems do different things. I believe that different people will choose differently, but many will find that a close match, even though they have different strengths and different sound signatures. Short Summary: I think the Periodic Audio Be are one of the greatest bargains in audio at $300. Now I know why Be are the first two letters in Beautiful. Shorter Summary: Berylli-Yum. Delicious sound.

Product came in broken slightly broken with sound coming in only one side of the earbuds.

These are great little earbuds that sound amazing for what they are. I got these because I wanted a good set of earbuds that would last me more than just a year or so. But they did not deliver on that. My main gripe is I had one ear go out with no warning. For the price I am paying for these I would like to get a few more years of use out of them so it just gets three stars. I do take decent care of my headphones and have not used these as intensive as i have older cheaper $35 earbuds. (That actually still work over year in the past) If these lasted a little longer I'm sure they would be a great investment but for this cost maybe look at other alternatives. TLDR: Amazing earbuds but lifespan of only about a year and a couple of months, not worth the cost.

The Be's have that "magic" that I'd been searching for. I thought I had found them in the 1More Triples, which are an excellent headphone and a great value, but I was curious if there was something more. So after seeing a few glowing professional reviews I took a chance on the Be's and found the answer: heck yes! First, the Be's do all the frequencies right: powerful but tight, dynamic BASS; MIDS that redefine clarity and naturalness for me; and HIGHS that sound exquisitely detailed yet never harsh. Not a hint of congestion to be found anywhere, rather, everything sounds open, unrestricted, live and real. Second, and this is where the magic really comes in, is the IMAGING: everything sounds 3-dimensional. Holographic, even. With good headphones I can hear/sense the distance between the mic and the subject, but with these, I hear the space behind and to the sides too. Every instrument is pulled away from the back wall, focused in place, and I can hear just how far away it resides. It's like the sensation of closing your eyes right now and being able to sense the exact location and distance of a fan whirring on your desk or some other noise source. This preciseness in imaging has given me a new appreciation for the work of sound technicians. I had no idea they were crafting so much depth, in all directions and volumes, on most recordings. Audio quality is most important to me, but here are a few quick impressions on other aspects: the headphones are very efficient, so I'm getting loud levels without venturing into the "red" warning area on my phones volume meter. The design is very light and comfortable. It blocks outside noises pretty well (though certain high frequency sounds seem to get through, but it's not a big deal.) The metal carrying tin is attractive but a tad too small -- I always feel like I'm crushing the wires or earbuds when screwing the lid down -- so I just carry the headphones around in a plastic bag for now. BOTTOM LINE: The Be's make me excited to listen to music again and revisiting old tracks feels like I'm hearing them for the first time. I almost want to buy a second pair to seal away just in case they ever stop making them! --------------------------------------- Edit: In April 2019, I purchased the Periodic Audio Nickel amp to pair with my Be and, incredibly, the sound quality I'm getting is even better. More dynamics, details, and the vocals just sound more alive. I didn't notice the difference immediately (other than the jump in dB), but after listening to the amp for a week I switched back to listening without it and the difference was very clear. I highly recommend getting the amp. And, BTW, I did end up buying a second pair of Be's just to keep in long-term storage!

First of lets clarify, these sound fantastic, the 3d dimensionaltiy and depth of sound stage of these earbuds is fantastic for the price range and I loved them dearly. However, I went through two pairs of the second gen in 12 months. The first pair the cable came out at the split connection where the cable goes to left and right bud, I called my supplier and Periodic sent me a new pair within a week.....all great, the costumer service is excellent. As few month roll on, same thing happens to my new replacement pair, I love the earbuds so much, I swallow the pain and put a dab of super glue on the junction to keep the cables from coming out of the junction. Super glue fixed the first issue. I reach the end of six months of use again and the the left cable separated form the inear monitor, the earbuds are dead at this point and I tossed them in the trash out of frustration. Dear Periodic Audio, if you are reading this, you have a superior product that I would love to buy again, but until the cable quality improves, I will look elsewhere.

I have not heard anything that bests these at even higher prices. Of course, I have not listened to every audiophile IEM out there, but for me these have ended the search. They sound great with everything I have thrown at them (Classical, EDM, Rock, Jazz, Pop from Spotify and Flac files), using various devices and AMPS (LG G7 smartphone, Dell PC audio output, Audioquest Dragonfly Red, Schiit Magni/Modi). They hold up with everything. Great bass, good mids and highs that are never shrill and fatiguing (I am sensitive to headphones or speakers that are sibilant). There are minor annoyances like no markings for left/right other than the speaker grill color, and the cable is just OK with no microphone if you want to use with a phone. But if you want exciting sound with superb detail and great bass, get these.

These IEM’s are the pinnacle of clarity. After about 20 hours of break-in, I am thoroughly enjoying them. The bass is tight without bloat or overhang, nothing earth shattering but solid. The mids are exceptionally clear and expressive. And the treble is sparkly and effortless. I’ve honestly looked behind me while listening to a live Christian McBride track because I thought someone was in the room with me. These headphones are forward and give a real “you are there” impression. They aren’t harsh and never distort. Very great headphones for someone that wants music to sound like it was intended. These are Not for bass heads or people that want a more laid back presentation.