Periodic Audio Here With Nickel Portable Headphone Amplifier

Miniaturization may be the future, but a part of it is here and now. Periodic Audio has introduced a tiny and lightweight portable headphone amplifier, and the stunning device goes by the name of Nickel.

Measuring just 2 inches long, with a width of just 1.25 inches, and a thickness of around 0.5 inch, the headphone amp offers an output listed at 50mW into 50 ohms, 250mW into 32 ohms, and 270mW into 16 ohms. It also has a fixed three dB of gain.

The company has also packed in its SmartSwitch technology, patent pending, which senses the presence of the input and output connectors to automatically turn the amp on and off.

Impressively, the rechargeable battery is said to have a run time of anywhere from 8 to 10 hours, which is sure to meet the demands of today’s mobile listener.

Dan Wiggins, co-founder of Periodic Audio:

“We are thrilled to expand our offerings by launching our very first electronics product, the new Nickel amp. Periodic Audio’s mission is to deliver high-quality audio that fits in your watch pocket–we specialize in creating products that deliver superb dynamic range from the smallest of packages.

Given that most of today’s listeners use a smartphone as a source, we created a product to work with a phone rather than working around it. Nickel pulls effectively zero power from the phone, using it only as the DAC. We believe that the leap in performance from using just a phone to using the Nickel, combined with our award-winning Be IEMs, is comparable to the difference between using an integrated amplifier and using a separate preamp and high-power amp in a home system.”

Designed, engineered, and built in the USA, the company says that the Nickel amplifier has been created to provide clean, nearly unlimited power for almost every type of headphone in an extremely compact and portable package.

It comes with a 3.5mm audio input jack, a 3.5mm output jack for headphones, as well as a microUSB port for charging the battery.

The Nickel will be available by the middle of November for $299.99.

You can find out more information about it here.