Feel my pain

I am working on my Chinese homework for tomorrow. This weekend my teacher (laoshi) assigned my some language tape work. Most of it it classic repeat-after-me type of exercises. One section, though, includes dictation, and I'm supposed to write down in Hanyu pinyin exactly what the speaker says. I'm improving on this slowly in Chinese (I rocked at it in Spanish and German, two languages I get little mileage out of these days). One of the words tonight has completely thrown me for a loop, though. I have listened to the speaker and have written d "pian zhong." I've looked up on Mandarin Tools Online website the English word, "variety," the word my book tells me it is. Two of the options listed are "bian zhong" and "pin zhong." While both bear some resemblence to what I believe I've heard, neither are precisely what I have written. I keep listening over and over again, and I can't decide. It sounds more and more like "pian." to me. I cheat a little and look at the characters--it is definitely "pin." It still doesn't sound like that.
My head hurts.