[Midgetguy]

   
It's not an excuse to be complacent in researching the market they are targeting. Even more so when we consider the little that is being offered to us compared to the competition. It doesn't take much to guess that Flare's main selling point for the R2A was SQ, which may work well in the laboratory/project room/wherever the hell you test models, but not in practice, where they will be subject to weather, strain, and maybe a crazy cat that's in the mood to ruin your gear!
 
Considering this is now going to be sold at MSRP, I hope the next person in the market for an IEM does happen to crawl through this thread and page.

I do agree with you in this sense. Honestly I think there's no way they missed it in research, they had to know what they were getting into when transitioning to the consumer market. But they rather chose to ignore that piece of data, which just isn't acceptable especially in this price range. $10 IEMs come with better packaging and accessories. Based on KS pricing, I'll say I'm happy with the SQ, but definitely not with the packaging and accessories. At retail price, it's even more ridiculous to have this IEM come in something the size of a ring box with only a single set of Comply tips, not to mention I don't personally think the SQ is worth the retail price.

 

[siderak]

Well I am surprised by my newest findings. I was cleaning out my laptop bag. Found the tips that came with my ttpod t1e's. They're all silicone. For kicks wondered if they fit. Sure enough. I have found I have ear canals on the smaller side. So grabbed the smallest ones with the widest openings. Figured if I'm gonna open them up why not go all the way? And then work down if need be.

So far it is actually an improvement for me. They're not harsh at all. Just more open sounding. It very well may be end game for me. Even the bass sounds more open.

So far I've kept my er4's around to check the high end of my mixes. The laid back nature of the r2pro's let me push the upper mids and highs a bit more than I should. And the ety's would show me that immediately. But that's about all they did "better". But with these tips, that may not be necessary.

The one issue I have had. Is I accidentally yanked one out. And the tips stayed in. Easily fixed. But not something I want to happen often. Not sure how isolation will be for stage use. But I'll give them a shot.

Guess I should have ordered some spin fits when someone suggested them back a few pages.

I delivered a fix for some music to a video editor this morning. It was a minor thing so I made the adjustment listening with just the R2A's.
Something told me to take a listen with my trusty HE-560's and I'm glad I did. I had severely overcompensated for the highs on the cymbals.
I had to dial it back down by at least 2 db in the 7-10k to make it sound passable.
Still, I enjoyed them. No fatigue from yesterday. I guess I know why!
I have a feeling the R2A's are probably more problematic than the pro's in regards to mixing.
Still love my er4's. Never gonna give them up!

 

[LuckyNat]

I delivered a fix for some music to a video editor this morning. It was a minor thing so I made the adjustment listening with just the R2A's.
Something told me to take a listen with my trusty HE-560's and I'm glad I did. I had severely overcompensated for the highs on the cymbals.
I had to dial it back down by at least 2 db in the 7-10k to make it sound passable.
Still, I enjoyed them. No fatigue from yesterday. I guess I know why!
I have a feeling the R2A's are probably more problematic than the pro's in regards to mixing.
Still love my er4's. Never gonna give them up!

 
With mixing and monitoring - and I'm only an amateur, home studio type of person - you end up mixing to the response you're used to. You do eventually compensate for the response of your reference monitors and then as soon as you mix on something different you try to make your mix sound like your reference ones. Play back on your trusty reference monitors and you get double the difference in frequency response between the two monitors coming out. One of the reasons why every studio used to have Yam NS10s even though people hated the hard sound - people could mix on them and move to a new studio and mix to the same sound.  That's not the only reason the NS10 became popular though.
 
Perhaps the teabag mod isn't really needed when changing tips but the Comply wax guard deadens the top end and makes it sound more relaxed.

 

[Matte82]

I mix mostly on headphone these days. And have found I tend to compensate very quickly. So I'm constantly swapping just to get a different "point of view". My R2pros are definitely my favorite. Especially with the silicone tips. Next I'm going to cut out the wax guard on a set of complies and see what that does.

I am a little concerned that there is nothing to keep the wax out. But nothing I can't manage. Has anyone found a material that doesn't affect the highs? Or at least very little? Silk maybe?

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

Teabags, fold in half. It flattens the sibilance region just enough so that vocals don't come across as spitty. 

 

[tgx78]

I mix mostly on headphone these days. And have found I tend to compensate very quickly. So I'm constantly swapping just to get a different "point of view". My R2pros are definitely my favorite. Especially with the silicone tips. Next I'm going to cut out the wax guard on a set of complies and see what that does.

I am a little concerned that there is nothing to keep the wax out. But nothing I can't manage. Has anyone found a material that doesn't affect the highs? Or at least very little? Silk maybe?

 
Here is another option I would like to share.
 
If someone bought the Hifiman RE-400 or RE-600, you should already have this in your possession. 
 

 
As you can see, Hifiman includes this acoustic filters that have sticky outer ring and their size is perfect for R2A / R2PROs.
This will slightly attenuate peaks for clarity and perfect guard for ear wax entering the front nozzle.
Quick A/B they are ever slightly clearer sounding than teabags I've tried and noticeably clearer sounding than comply with integrated wax-guard (I am suspecting I could not achieved a perfect seal here).
 
I am currently using silicone and foam tips that came with the Trinity Audio IEMs with a great success.
 
 

Quick search and you can order above sets from Head-Direct site:
 
https://head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=144#
 
 

 

 

[siderak]

Last time I saw NS10's was 10 years ago in a guys studio who mixed for top names at the time (not gonna name drop). He used them specifically for vocals, his specialty.
During my first 10 years of recording, every studio had the yammies and auratones prominently in the monitoring arsenal. Kills me now to think about all the neve and ssl boards I've seen with those crappy but useful speakers on those expensive desks!
 
When I mix music, I want to listen on several setups. I have some full range ushers, ls50's and my late 90's volvo happens to have a dynaudio stereo which sounds superb. I'll never give this car up!
When I mix sound design for video games, I prefer headphones (k702, he-560, srh1840, er4) and a blue sky 5.1 system.  It translates better to the end user.
HD800's may sound better for playing games, but I find them to be too harsh for sound design development. 
 
I agree 100% that one adjusts to what they have.
15 years ago, I could get decent mixes out of alesis or m-audio monitors that translated well because that's what I had. 
I'm afraid that as far as mixing is concerned, the R2A's are much too laid back.
Maybe my hearing is no longer elastic enough to make up the difference.
When it comes to critical listening, I need my high frequencies spoon fed!
 
I've been as careful as one can be with protecting my hearing, but what can I say? I'm almost 50. 
Same as when buying lenses for my telescope. I used to be able to use ones with 7mm exit pupil size but it's rapidly moving towards 5mm.
It happens...
 
Still, I don't believe the R2A's could have ever been suitable for mixing for me. Not enough detail, especially up top.
That said, I can't deny that they are enjoyable for long term listening with the tsx-200 tips. Very smooth and widest soundstage I've heard in iem's. 

 

[John Culter]

   
Thanks for that - always looking for comparisons with top-flight models.
 
Nice photos too.
 
Is the E12A powerful enough for the Flares - I hear that the E12 is the more powerful version. By my experience the Flares aren't that sensitive.

Yes correct - Flares are not that sensitive, but the E12A drives them on the high gain settings perfectly.

 

[Matte82]

Siderak, check them out with different tips. Or take out the wax guard. A lot more high end detail. And not harsh IMO. Much like my etymotics but maybe a little smoother. Haven't had a chance to back to back test them. But it definitely helps clear up the top end. I'll probably end up using tips with no filters for mixing and ones with filters on stage.

But I'm definitely going to try the other filters that were mentioned above. Thanks for that.

 

[siderak]

Siderak, check them out with different tips. Or take out the wax guard. A lot more high end detail. And not harsh IMO. Much like my etymotics but maybe a little smoother. Haven't had a chance to back to back test them. But it definitely helps clear up the top end. I'll probably end up using tips with no filters for mixing and ones with filters on stage.

But I'm definitely going to try the other filters that were mentioned above. Thanks for that.

Thanks!
I'll definitely keep playing with them. 
 
Do you have the pro's or the r2a's?
From what I've read, it seems people do find the pro's to be more detailed.
I wish I could combine the trinity delta's with the r2a's. 
I've spent 4 weeks with the delta's using the pink filter and get a lot of the detail I like for casual listening.
IMHO,  they don't match the width/elegance of the r2a as far as soundstage is concerned but everything else is pretty great.
When I get some time, I'm gonna experiment using my ifi itube to see if I can get a little more soundstage with the deltas and push out the higher frequencies on the r2a's.
 
I wonder if anyone has had any luck with eq'ing the r2a's? I know a lot of people are against that for purity's sake but hey...

 

[Matte82]

I do have the pros. And for a while the A's. But sold them to a friend. And they were surprisingly similar sonically. I wish I would have known about the mods with the caps/seals/o-rings. If I could have got the A's to sound as close to pros as some claim, I might have sold the pros instead.

Anyway I posted earlier in this thread about listening to a swept sine wave. That was with the original ts200 tips. I don't remember the particulars. But I do remember I drop off starting in maybe the 2-3k range and coming back up around 10k before dropping off again. Maybe around 15k. Well I think the wax guard is responsible for the dip. At least that's my thought without listening to a sine wave again. And I need to. As with the silicone tips I am definitely hearing more sibilance in my mixes, that the ety's would point out, but the r2pro's with wax guard kind of mask. I mean it was there. But wasn't it really too much, or just enough to add clarity. Now it's as obvious as it would be on the ety's that's it's too much. But I don't think they have quite the 2-3k push the ety's have.

And as far as eq goes, I say it's worth a shot. If it don't work, it don't work. But if it does then you've made an improvement. Fwiw recently demoed sonarworks plug-in for eq'ing headphones. It has corrections for Sennheiser HD280's and Krk kns8400's. Both of which I have. And it did seem to help smooth them out. Especially the kns8400's. They had a low mid bump that's very noticeable once the correction is turned off.

 

[siderak]

I do have the pros. And for a while the A's. But sold them to a friend. And they were surprisingly similar sonically. I wish I would have known about the mods with the caps/seals/o-rings. If I could have got the A's to sound as close to pros as some claim, I might have sold the pros instead.

Anyway I posted earlier in this thread about listening to a swept sine wave. That was with the original ts200 tips. I don't remember the particulars. But I do remember I drop off starting in maybe the 2-3k range and coming back up around 10k before dropping off again. Maybe around 15k. Well I think the wax guard is responsible for the dip. At least that's my thought without listening to a sine wave again. And I need to. As with the silicone tips I am definitely hearing more sibilance in my mixes, that the ety's would point out, but the r2pro's with wax guard kind of mask. I mean it was there. But wasn't it really too much, or just enough to add clarity. Now it's as obvious as it would be on the ety's that's it's too much. But I don't think they have quite the 2-3k push the ety's have.

And as far as eq goes, I say it's worth a shot. If it don't work, it don't work. But if it does then you've made an improvement. Fwiw recently demoed sonarworks plug-in for eq'ing headphones. It has corrections for Sennheiser HD280's and Krk kns8400's. Both of which I have. And it did seem to help smooth them out. Especially the kns8400's. They had a low mid bump that's very noticeable once the correction is turned off.

Very interesting about your sine sweep. I'll have to give that a go. I already know I'm not hearing much if anything at all above around 14.5k but my hearing is still miraculously decent down to 30hz and even lower.

I'm squeamish when it comes to mods.
Maybe I'll work up the confidence again one day but I'm still recovering from several failed iem cable fixes...
Thanks for the encouragement regarding eq!

 

[LuckyNat]

Here's my way of determining R and L at a glance:



Multi-coloured Comply T200s.

Compaired to the TX200s, the sonic difference was very subtle indeed but they appear to be a little more open without the waxguard. Certainly no big differences or harshness coming through to my ears.

Oddly these feel more comfortable than the waxguard TXs - could be slight difference in size by batch or perhaps coloured ones require a slightly different chemical make up so are softer? Or the pleasing colour makes me feel nice anyway...

 

[sabloke]

Not happy. Paid Flare directly for the Pros a week ago today and didn't get a confirmation of my order or a tracking number, let alone the damn thing. I normally receive stuff from UK within 4 business days. Not impressed especially when got charged 30 pounds for postage.

 

[John Culter]

Here's my way of determining R and L at a glance:



Multi-coloured Comply T200s.

Compaired to the TX200s, the sonic difference was very subtle indeed but they appear to be a little more open without the waxguard. Certainly no big differences or harshness coming through to my ears.

Oddly these feel more comfortable than the waxguard TXs - could be slight difference in size by batch or perhaps coloured ones require a slightly different chemical make up so are softer? Or the pleasing colour makes me feel nice anyway...

Haha, I did the same thing already
 


But I found the Flares were definitely tuned with the Tx version.
If there is no wax guard, the sound is more harsh (5-10%?). It sounds more open, with cleaner highs, so somebody can say it is 'better', but then it goes away from reference signature.
I also noticed, the big L Complys (which I never used before - thought they are so big / was using only M), they actually can be inserted to my ear canal as well, but they provide much better seal, than smaller versions, once the foam spread itself through ear canal = better bass response with tighter body.
 
The Tx200 version provided with flares fits well, but when changing tips, I damaged already couple of Complys. Now I'm using Tx500, which fits also 100% secure, but you don't need to put them on/off with such hassle.