Periodic Audio Embraces Direct Sales Model and Drops IEM Prices

Periodic Audio, the IEM company created in 2016 by consumer-electronics industry veterans Dan Wiggins, Mike Kim, Zeke Burgess, and Ben Webster, announced that the company will move to a direct sales model and as a result will pass distribution cost-savings to its customers. Effectively immediately, Periodic Audio announced a significant price reduction for its line of V3 in-ear monitors launched earlier in 2022.

Global specialty plastics provider Eastman introduced Tritan Renew, a new-generation Tritan copolyester that offers sustainability without compromise, providing the same durability, performance and safety of the original Tritan formula but now with up to 50% recycled content derived from waste plastic. Eastman also confirms that it is actively working with electronics brands to develop earbuds, headphones, audio cases, and peripherals made from sustainable materials, including Tritan Renew.

In this report, Klasco once again shares his knowledge with loudspeaker enclosures and reports on the progress in enclosure materials and technologies in 2020. And if someone has interesting things to share about wood enclosures, composites, plastics, improved plastic-based formulas, ABS/PA (polyimide), thermoset and thermoplastic resins, bulk-molded and sheet-molded thermosets and more, it's certainly Mike Klasco. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2020.

In the first part of this article, Mike Klasco discussed the contribution of the enclosure on perceived overall product quality as well as sonic clarity. This second part of the article looks closely at material testing, evaluation and manufacturability, and other more recent approaches to enclosure materials, including Thermosets and Thermoplastics, Bulk-Molded and Sheet-Molded Thermosets. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2019.

For the January 2019 edition of Voice Coil magazine, Mike Klasco and Nora Wong have compiled a special Focus article on New Materials for Earphones and Headphones. For those looking to differentiate their new products, the two Menlo Scientific consultants provide a unique and valuable perspective on multiple possibilities and designs for drivers, materials for assemblies and enclosures, choices for headbands and ear cushions, signal processing, and even cables.

Global specialty plastics provider Eastman collaborated with lifestyle audio brand Skullcandy to create a new wireless headphone that lives up to the brand's design pillar of "built for adventure" due to the inherent toughness and chemical resistance of Eastman Tritan copolyester. Used on the headphone's headband, Tritan offers chemical resistance to skin oils and hair products, making it ideal for this application.