qsk78 said:

I took the R2S drivers today and put them into Pro's.



Actually I don't hear any boost in the sub-bass area, so it was the LME op-amp specifics I guess.


The main difference I hear now is mids - more forward in R2S, and linear in Pro's - more neutral sound.  


I'm confused... How the material of the housing can change the sound..

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It really doesn't. The seal created by the endcap results in a very notable difference depending on how it and the internal O-rings/cable are situated. I really can't stress that enough. It can result in a bloated, overly warm and mushy sound or a thin, and dry presentation or anything in between. Channel imbalance due to different seals on L/R channels can also throw things off. There're inconsistencies in the cables as well. They're grafted/soldered at different contact points and have varying amounts of sheathing stripped to allow for soldering which can also affect the seal. You should theoretically be able to mod both sets of phones to sound pretty much indistinguishable from one another in an ABX test.

idsynchrono_24 said:

It really doesn't. The seal created by the endcap results in a very notable difference depending on how it and the internal O-rings/cable are situated. I really can't stress that enough. It can result in a bloated, overly warm and mushy sound or a thin, and dry presentation or anything in between. Channel imbalance due to different seals on L/R channels can also throw things off. There're inconsistencies in the cables as well. They're grafted/soldered at different contact points and have varying amounts of sheathing stripped to allow for soldering which can also affect the seal. You should theoretically be able to mod both sets of phones to sound pretty much indistinguishable from one another in an ABX test.

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I thought this affects the bass quantity only but does not change the sound signature

The bass has a tendency to permeate through the mids/treble and color the entire signature. It changes the signature enormously. More than tips, DAC/DAP, amp changes ever will. It's practically like hearing completely different IEMs. You can try it for yourself if you're not convinced. Take a hole punch, flip out the silicon portion of a tip, and punch out two discs. Unscrew the end caps and stick the discs on top of the cable/O-ring and push the disc down to flatten it. You'll probably note that some of the silicon doesn't lay flat and buckles and pushes up against the threads inside the housing. Take the discs out and trim tiny bits off until the disc fits flush inside of the housing's chamber. Then screw the endcaps back up. 
 
You'll need to use a tone generator to test for channel imbalance and to test for overall bass amplitude (just use some bassy music). If one side sounds quieter than the other, it's sealed tighter, just unscrew a tiny bit and test again. You need A LOT of patience for this. I've found that a useful trick is to tighten both caps up fully, then take a white out pen or something other marking tool and draw a little line next to the slit on the bottom of the phone. You now have a reference point for how far the cap is unscrewed since it's pretty much impossible to accurately eyeball how much it is, or isn't unscrewed. Beware though, as you can easily lose hours to modding these things and differences in cable soldering points kind of mucks things up as well as I've found that the driver can actually sit lower on some R2s than others. Not quite sure why that is. 
 
I also use tea bags to flatten some of the treble peaks on the R2. There'll always be a peak in the approximately 6 and 8 kHz regions, but I think the overall tonality of the treble is very, very good and isn't problematic on the majority of recordings (i.e. if there's sibilance, it's generally in the recording).

So why R2A, R2Pro and R2S sound differently from the beginning?
There are many reviews mainly of R2A and Pro which say about the difference in sound. 

James can corroborate this, since he's heard quite a few R2s himself, including some Pros that sounded bloated straight from the factory. Like I said, it is pretty much impossible to eyeball the degree to which the endcaps are sealed or whether the caps were sealed to begin with. I have a suspicion that the slit where the cable is compressed by the cap can in fact attribute to a leaky seal, similar to the Tenore. You have to understand that Flare was under pressure to deliver hundreds upon hundreds of these things out to their backers. I doubt there's going to be some lengthy QA process where they go about individually testing each unit for L/R balance and bass amplitude. I've also ordered cables from Flare that are inconsistent with the cables that were inside my R2s. Hell, Cavalli Audio is pretty reputed on these forums and just one glance into the Liquid Carbon thread can show you that they're not without their problems as well, and that's with a limited, 500 batch run. I acknowledge that that isn't a perfect analogue for the situation at hand, just an example that things can, and do go awry when you're dealing with being pressured into shipping out mass quantities of a product to a public that's growing increasingly agitated with delays. 
 
As I said before, you can verify this by testing out the mod yourself. There's a port on the back of the driver, and the phones react in a very, very noticeable way when damped. 

middy said:

Threads are like valley's and mountains. There is a gap when the thread isn't tight. Tight just means two edges are pressed together. The tip mod excellent not just as a bass adjuster. But acts like a spring trying to push the cap out. This closes the gaps between threads causing friction.
Sorry the engineer in me..
A simple mod would be a tiny amount of glue from pva to a little super glue.

Drip on a cotton bud and very light place on the cap thread only a very thin smear. Not a big blob. Let it dry and re screw. This makes the cap thread Bigger and act as a dampener.

Fancy term is you have top end tolerances so your threads are a bit more loose.
 

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james444 said:

 
 
@Middy I was going to suggest the tip / washer mod, but you beat me to it.

  Like you described, the washer acts like a spring and the endcaps stay securely in place, even if you loosen them to get more bass.

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Thank you very much for the tips!!! I'm genetically disabled for this kind of precision work (i feel a very rustic guy when i read about the different and impressive mods that some of you guys are developing), but now at least i know some ways to inspire the hand movements of a more skilled friend...
 
Anyway i see that my unit has a problem with the endcap unscrewing as nobody reports the same fact...

Devastated to find one of my R2 drivers dead, which is all my fault since I had it recabled with solid single core cable (bad choice, very stiff) . I can't buy from amazon directly so I hope someone from Flare answers my email inquiry comes business days. Would be nice if they have driver units without the cable for sale since I don't plan on using the stock cable.
 
It would be even better if they have drivers with detachable connectors somehow, seems unlikely though.

sodesuka said:

 I can't buy from amazon directly so I hope someone from Flare answers my email inquiry comes business days. 

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Just find a third party agent/company in the internet. I can not buy from Amazon UK either but I found a forwarder who gave me a virtual address which I use for delivery. And then they ship my goods to me.
You pay a certain fee for their services but it is very reasonable. 

qsk78 said:

  Just find a third party agent/company in the internet. I can not buy from Amazon UK either but I found a forwarder who gave me a virtual address which I use for delivery. And then they ship my goods to me.
You pay a certain fee for their services but it is very reasonable. 

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I'll do just that if they don't reply to my mail, thanks.

My R2as always sounded pretty good to me but the left earpiece cut out a fortnight or so ago not that Ive been modding mine ~ I would be too nervous of destroying them
. Had a chat with Flare and returned them for recabling under warranty.
I was told it would hopefully be a 24hr turnaround for them to be recabled and tested .
Hopefully without the pressure of thousands of orders to get through they should come back without any problems mentioned above.
They didnt get the job done in 24hrs due to moving sites etc (apparently)but have been pretty good dealing with the customer satisfaction side of things . Fingers crossed all is well after they return tomorrow.

Any news about a balanced 2.5 mm cable/driver replacement kit?

xoxiax said:

   
Yes, i've tightened them many times , but one of them has that tendency to unscrew that forces me to check them regularly to prevent the potential fall and loss. The first time it happened they were in my backpack and when i took them out the driver, which was out of the shell, broke. I've sent them to Flare and they inserted the new drivers but after that the end cap (i suppose is always the same) has unscrewed four times in three months (having to search for it, for example, in a bus full of people). In fact this is a question i had for the forum. Has anyone else had this problem (the end cap unscrewing) or do i have a defective unit?
 
The collateral effect, as @james444 has stated different times explaining the properties of these tiny music robots, is that because of having them a bit more tightened than usual i loose a small amount of subbass response...

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Ah ok. I take it that the rubber washer is still there?

sodesuka said:

  Devastated to find one of my R2 drivers dead, which is all my fault since I had it recabled with solid single core cable (bad choice, very stiff)

. I can't buy from amazon directly so I hope someone from Flare answers my email inquiry comes business days. Would be nice if they have driver units without the cable for sale since I don't plan on using the stock cable.
 
It would be even better if they have drivers with detachable connectors somehow, seems unlikely though.

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If you had it recabled with stiff solid core then is it this that has become de-soldered? I can't imagine that a driver will be dead but that the wiring has failed. In which case you just need to get it rewired again (with something flexible).

Remember at least on my R2B'S there are 2 rubber washers/ O-Rings per driver.
One by the thread cap and one past the driver by the tip..

luckynat said:

   
If you had it recabled with stiff solid core then is it this that has become de-soldered? I can't imagine that a driver will be dead but that the wiring has failed. In which case you just need to get it rewired again (with something flexible).

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One of the earpiece did get de-soldered once, then I sent it back to the modder to get it repaired, when it came back, the other earpiece got de-soldered, so I sent it back again. That was when one of driver met its end due to excessive solderworks (seems the coil snapped or something).
 
The O-rings were intact yes, 2 pairs per earpiece, front and back.
 
Will be trying my luck with litz silver cable next time, it should be more flexible at least...