[Deftone]

Deftone, the Flare R2Pro are very good IEMs. They are very linear and neutral sounding, and amazingly natural and coherent. The Flare play music the way it sounds. They don't add excitement. Sound signature is not v shaped. They don't amp up the bass or have over boosted high frequencies. The extreme high frequencies are slightly attenuated.

The Flare do a few other excellent things . They have the ability to put a soundstage more in front of you vs inside your head. The balanced pressure design changes bass perception. It is a little hard to explain. There is the correct amount of bass, but it doesn't build up pressure in your ear. It is more like hearing bass from speakers. I find it less fatiguing than other IEMs.

The Flare are pretty inefficient for IEMs. If you like music loud, the Flare will do better with either a higher power dap ( I use the PonoPlayer) or an amplifier. It is amazing how much power the Flare can handle. The small micro drivers can also play quite loud.

A multi driver IEM with balanced armature drivers may pull out a little more detail. It is usually at the expense of a more ragged frequency response. It is very hard for multi driver BA's to achieve the same coherence a single fullrange driver has.

The Flare probably don't any one thing absolutely the best. But they do every thing very well. It is this balance that makes them so special.

The Flare are some of the most comfortable IEMs around. They are so small and light weight, and can be worn for hours. Some people do not care for the Comply memory foam tips. The Flare can be a little finicky with other tips. All tips change the sound at least a little.

Flare said there will an announcement in July. You might consider waiting for that info before doing any thing.

Hope this helps

 
Thank you for your detailed post, its cleared a lot up for me. i will wait until july like you say then if it does not interest me i will pick up the R2pro for listening at work. 
 
keeping a close eye on things from here on, thanks again.

 

 

[barondla]

Deftone, just noticed you live in London. Flare is a British company. Here is Flare's address:

Flare Audio

Unit 8

Chartwell Business Centre

42 Chartwell Rd

Lancing

BN15 8FB

T:+44 (0) 1903 761 000

E:info@flareaudio.com

How far away are you? They allow visitors and would let you demo their IEMs. Just a thought.

I am in the US but seem to have a thing for british earphones. Have Bowers & Wilkins C5, Flare Audio R2Pro, Trinity Audio Engineering, and the Kickstarter Mitchell & Johnson Electrostatz headphones ( on the way). Crazy.

 

[myemaildw]

its how microdriver is it cant move that much air there is lots of bass but its not big bass like beats or xb90ex with bass amp and bass seitch switched to on. its very nice presice bass with enough bass more than neutral with regular tips. with spin fit tips i bough on trinity audio website bass is exactly neutral and much more extention in higher frequency. with spinfit there is more sparkle, they say it on packaging more bass and more treble while it sounds epic its bass isnt as bassy as one pair of tips which i dont use on flare sounds too bassy. its not xb90ex bass with bass amp and bass switch switched to on, its not bass all the time like on xb90 with bass amp bass switched to on, its bass when it is in song. and its massive bass but when it is in music. and spinfit have the sparkle. you dont need to buy anything im just writing that it is nice for these things. foam tips are also nice. adds differrent varieties to same iem. which tips are better/best/better for me/i prefer/could reccomend to ya folk both great. when i have these ball shaped comply foams its like wearing pillows lol comfy. whether to buy flare i would say yes, these are best iems i know untill now. i dont have second best but probably trinity audio hunter but i didnt hear it and its made yet just my feeling its awesome

 

[sabloke]

Does anyone know how difficult is to solder these tiny drivers? Any ideas on dos and do nots when re-cabling? My Pros are damaged, left driver wire is cut somewhere in the case, so looking at replacing the cable entirely. Not much point in simply repairing it as the other driver might drop out soon after that. I'm concerned that Flare will change the casing for Mk II Pros so we hit a dead end with our IEMs...

 

[LuckyNat]

  Now iv read through the whole thread im even more confused, seems like the most polarizing earphone to date (R2pro)
 
some people think its hitting up with the big boys but then theres them that though it was just ok for the kickstarter price 

 
 
i would love to try them but i dont want waste money still even if half the RRP price.
 
 
Option 1 - Sennheiser IE800, Already owned them, waste of money, serious coherancy issues
 
Option 2 - Westone W60 £570
 
Option 3 - R2rpro £200 or £400
 
Option 3 - Shure se846 £610
 
Option 4 - Dita The answer £420
 
Option 5 - Screw iems and get LCD2 £715?
 
as you can see im running round in circles because theres so much to choose from, i listen to pretty much only metal so i love speed, balance, detail and great extension on both ends and timbre, no V shape for me.
 
if anyone could help me from here i would really apreciate it.

 
Gear4music has everything at much reduced prices from the original rrp. So get the R2As at £99.
 
Or, if you want to just try a pair with no loss of money - find some on ebay. I've seen the R2As sell secondhand for £60 (2 3rds of their new price via Gear4music - so about right). If you don't like them, sell them on for .. you guessed it, £60!
 
£60 !!!    Which others in your list can you try for that little even secondhand? No brainer IMO.

 

[LuckyNat]

   
Thank you for your detailed post, its cleared a lot up for me. i will wait until july like you say then if it does not interest me i will pick up the R2pro for listening at work. 
 
keeping a close eye on things from here on, thanks again.

 

 
Why wait, get some secondhand today. Then you can at least compare them to the new ones when they come out. Who knows, the current ones may be more preferable? Really depends on what Flare Audio's design team (think it's one man) considers to be a good sound and an improvement.  Maybe he'll push for more top end and detail and end up making them fatiguing? We don't know.
 
What I do know is that the Flare Audio R2 is excellent.. today.

 

[LuckyNat]

  Does anyone know how difficult is to solder these tiny drivers? Any ideas on dos and do nots when re-cabling? My Pros are damaged, left driver wire is cut somewhere in the case, so looking at replacing the cable entirely. Not much point in simply repairing it as the other driver might drop out soon after that. I'm concerned that Flare will change the casing for Mk II Pros so we hit a dead end with our IEMs...

 
If you've a broken one and going to replace the entire cable/driver thing then see if you can find a good solderer to play with them. I find soldering headphone jacks difficult because the wires are so thin and you have to get the temperature right - you can't risk holding the heat on the solder for too long so it has to be done nice and quick, otherwise the wire gets destroyed. Same would apply to the driver.
 
I shouldn't have thought it was tooooo hard for an experienced solderer with a good iron (with tips in good condition - that can often be the breaker, the tips don't conduct well enough because of oxidisation etc so the solder doesn't melt quickly enough).
 
Here's good advice for the wire side of things: https://www.alexwhittemore.com/soldering-the-thinnest-wires-ever-conceived-headphone-modding/ 
 
Should be easier than that as soldering wire to wire is harder than to a component like the driver.
 
Then here's a great tip for making a fine solder dispenser: http://www.instructables.com/id/05mm-Precision-Solder-Dispenser-or-Solder-Doodling/

 

[LuckyNat]

I picked up my INAIRS tonight from the local Amazon locker..   Highly recommended by me!
 
Only listened to them in the last 30 mins but immediately there appeared to be a sharper top end and a touch more air. Comfort is very good (same as the Complys) and they seem like they will last longer too due to the more dense foam used. 
 
This is comparing Comply T200 mediums (no wax guard, not the Tx) and INAIRS AIR1 small - so there is a size difference in that comparison. But still, my impression is that I'm getting a faster top end than when using the small Tx200 Complys (with wax guard) too .. which recently fell apart, originals from the R2 Pro package. That's not to say that it IS a faster top end but what is probably a result of slightly less treble absorption by the tips is perceived as a faster top end - that's psycho-acoustics for you!
 
Lovely packaging too and much better value with 5 pairs for £10 compared to 3 pairs for £15 with the Complys. Their website only gives Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de as stockists so perhaps not yet available outside of Europe? They're made by a German company I think.
 
Photos:
 

 
 
 

 

[myemaildw]

https://trinity-audio-engineering.myshopify.com/collections/parts-accessories/products/spinfit-ear-tips
i prefer spinfit tips to comply, i also removed one layer of teabag from iem. i had two layers of teabag before dynamic in iems, and one hole. when teabag is at dynamic it probably has a differrent effect if over noozle and sounds much cleaner with one teabag.

for tips spinfit tips from ta sound better than comply tips i have. with comply bass is dull and not as punchy or fast and detail is less and not as extention in high frequency, and overall sounds somehow more warmer probably because high freq is not extended with comply. but sounds more open with comply but makes no differrence overall.

with spinfit tips ive seen them they are quite stiff at the tip and dont stay outside out flange comes to original place when you dont hold flange out this partially probably helps push more sound forward. plus tips tilt back because ear canals are back directed not forward how iems go in ear. overall spinfit sound better with more clean more fast bass more high freq and also they are quiet so you dont need to turn them loud when not in house.
i would say these are no brainer.

 

[LuckyNat]

No teabagging for me!  I still do not understand the need for putting paper over the ends of the R2s - they sound great as they are and I think even better with nothing between my ear drum and the driver i.e no wax guard.
 
Foam, isolating tips are also best for me so far as the biggest problem I have with any iem or headphone is outside noise obscuring the detail and soundstage. It means you play at a lower volume so less likely to damage hearing which is very important for me too.
 
Still, I should probably at least give spinfits a listen at some point - do they sell them in different sizes or do you have to buy a variety pack and waste all the ones not in your size?
 
Remember though that you don't have Flare Audio R2s - you are using their driver in a completely different, homemade design - no presure balancing for a start. They likely sound different to the real thing.  I seriously recommend you try buying or listing to some actual R2s !  It was probably fun and all but the driver/cable set cost you at least £35 plus postage - had you spend just about another £30 you could have picked up a secondhand R2A from ebay and saved yourself the hours making what you have.

 

[myemaildw]

ah ye but it was fun learning anout it how the flare microdriver works. and i had paul comment on youtube video that my iem doesnt use their iem technology but i actually make it sound better. ive got a metal stack of differrent densities and each helps push each part of sound. quite nice and not jaming my cable. hihi, but ye i didnt hear actual iem but its best iem i heard so its good enough probably.

em for tea bag ye i dont know, i have one layer may be it does sound better without it but i like the sound.

for apinfits ye you get all four, i can send you one pair if you like. medium small is best for my ears. if you need any other i can post a pair. but the tips are reusable they are not gonna wear off? just regular tips probably. i would defo recommend these even post some of pairs i dont use if anyone needs. i have two gabgs of them. hihi

with softer metals pushing bass and denser metals making twits sound better and stacked together help all sounds. i find it peculier that all best sounding headphones had metals in it such as sen amperior also has metal cups, and ba iems have metal iem housing in it. ba driver is made of metal on its own. ie800 is made of ceramic. descent too probably, ceramic is probably quite dense. and se865 has bas which themselves are made of metal ba dynamic. its probably oversimplification but it helps to explain some of the improvements i notice in flare iem

 

[holden4th]

Going to the clinic tomorrow to have some ear canal impressions made (thanks SAbloke) and will send these down to Adelaide to have custom sleeves made for my R2As. While I will really miss them while they are away I'm hoping the results will give me a constant sound. While the Spinfits are wonderful, I have to work at making sure they have the depth of insertion needed - especially in my right ear which waxes up more than the left.
 
The next step is to use the cables from my IE80 to replace the Flares. Still looking to find someone local who can reliably do this for me.

 

[xoxiax]

So...any news about the new Flares???

 

[LuckyNat]

I just did a little scan of their twitter account, retweets etc and found this at least from 13th June via Paul Pab's Twitter (Flare's guy in this thread):
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGm6mVIDbjM/
 

 louisvella01My rather lovely RED Epic setup for shooting a VERY exciting new commercial for Flare Audio in Brighton...! A brand new product, that's actually incredible... Watch this space for when I post the finished film... Some of my best camera work to date I think...!

 
Yes.. going all out with a commercial! They must be pretty confident with the new product.. 

 

[LuckyNat]

Hey, THIS tweet from Fran Healey (from Travis):
 
 
https://twitter.com/franhealy/status/738125100554280960
 
Follow the conversation from that tweet

.
 
....says July release and that they're even better than the R2s. That will surely be the Kickstarter though rather than a full release.