[LuckyNat]

I recently went back to my R2Pros and immediately thought how natural sounding they are, really stood out. For me, the Flares Pro have more detail/speed plus that low bass.

I think overall I prefer the Flares Pro for that extra ability to listen into the making of the track but maybe if music for me was all about vocals I might find myself preferring the R2.

 

[Fiberoptix]

The unfortunate problem with the R2's (I prefer their tonality and presentation to the Flares Pro) is the durability. The cable WILL develop a fault as is very poor quality and there is no driver replacement unless you try to replace the cabling direct on the existing drivers - I've tried this on a spare set of drivers and it is VERY fiddly. Managed to get a decent SPC cable attached but I think the heat from the soldering iron damaged one of the drivers.

 

[barondla]

The unfortunate problem with the R2's (I prefer their tonality and presentation to the Flares Pro) is the durability. The cable WILL develop a fault as is very poor quality and there is no driver replacement unless you try to replace the cabling direct on the existing drivers - I've tried this on a spare set of drivers and it is VERY fiddly. Managed to get a decent SPC cable attached but I think the heat from the soldering iron damaged one of the drivers.

Besides the fiddly aspect of soldering the tiny 5.5mm driver tabs, there is another related problem. Unscrewing the end caps to reach the driver upsets the bass calibration. Without measuring equipment it is very difficult to get the Flare R2 to sound like they originally did.

 

[Fiberoptix]

Well, I was implementing the tube mod on the R2A when I had them which kind of transformed them more into a R2Pro type sound. This was more reliant on tightening the screws to sealing point with a rubber seal.

 

[awayeah]

https://www.flareaudio.com/products/audiophile-replacement-earfoams

Just saw this on flare's website. In the description, it says it's made from a more durable foam so I'm wondering if it's a new version of the audiophile foams. Can anyone confirm?

Confirmed. I've got my Flares Pro back from repair and they've included new foams. They're indeed more durable, at least the foam is, whether the plastic core holds stronger, we will see.

New foams do not bring changes to the sound - it's still harsh and thin in upper midrange/treble.

 

[LuckyNat]

Besides the fiddly aspect of soldering the tiny 5.5mm driver tabs, there is another related problem. Unscrewing the end caps to reach the driver upsets the bass calibration. Without measuring equipment it is very difficult to get the Flare R2 to sound like they originally did.

You think they were calibrated by Flare? I don't.

I think they were assembled by hand - see the kickstarter video and them assembling the R1s by hand - and the ends screwed in until they felt to be tight enough by the person doing the assembling..

I also have slight doubts that someone could reliably tell the difference from when they go them new to how they sounded after a cable swap a year or several months after - unless of course when you replace the caps, you leave them loose.. I think it would be total guesswork ... unless you had that equipment you talk of and measured them when new.

 

[Arysyn]

I like bold statements like this because they make people question and challenge the obvious bias towards more cost = more SQ rationale.

I have been doing some exhausting testing for past few weeks and going back on forth between stock R2A and FlaresPro that I bought and I've never done a comparison as challenging as this. But it was a real fun and interesting experience.
Put brand new Complys TX200 tips on both of them for a fair battle.


(the caps on R2A were actually tightened more during listening)

First and foremost this comparison taught me to realize how damn good R2A actually are and to appreciate them even more. All of my impressions are based on R2A vs FlaresPro in regards to each other. I don't have any other "reference" earphone whatever you might consider one.

On first listen it seemed FlaresPro are more extended on both ends, but running a sinewave across frequency range proved that was not the case and both IEMs extend comfortably till the edge of my hearing. Provided silicone tips (orange ones) gave me feeling of bit harsh upper treble as pointed out in previous @Arysyn posts. However on Comply TX200 tips I was not bothered by that at all.

FlaresPro are very clear-sounding IEMs with amazing bass and vocal reproduction. They are definitely most advanced and neutral IEMs I had overall. Subbass seem to be pronounced more than midbass (in regards to R2A), female vocals appear more upfront. For example Morcheeba - Rome wasn't build in a day and Gimme your love sounded very good and I think better than on R2A. However Sia - Elastic heart, Space between was a bit harsher and sounded better on R2A. I attribute this to different mixing / mastering of producers and Morcheeba seem to have more information in lower mids. FlaresPro render a slight 6khz bump in comparison but I would not consider them overly bright. This reminds me when I compared VE - Duke to R2A, but FlaresPro are not so harsh and have much better bass.

R2A enhance midbass to lower mids more than FlaresPro. There is more energy in 150hz - 600hz region. However this might be considered as boomy / muddy region of music for some, but I did not observe any bleeding or uncalled information here. Due to this, R2A appear warmer than FlaresPro. Songs like Enya - Orinocco flow and Carribean blue 2009 remaster sounded much fuller and encompassing due to this. The upper frequencies are smoother and more relaxed with treble being delicate but does not miss details. Overall I would rate R2A as warm and FlaresPro as neutral but I think I slightly prefer R2A tuning as it appears more fatigue free.

That being said, I just sent FlaresPro back and was hesitating until last moment whether to do it or not. I love balanced option and BT module but had connection interference through my iPhone sometimes and was expecting better battery life and overall loudness. Anyway I am still unsure if returning FlaresPro was a mistake or not but looking from the price / performance point of view I think nothing beats R2A.

Price paid:
R2A - 100 Eur
FlaresPro - 400 Eur

Are FlaresPro overally better? Yes. Are they 4 times better? No.
As of now I consider them more of a sidegrade rather than direct upgrade to R2A due to sound signature preference. They are higher-tech quality but somehow I like R2A tuning more also because I listen to ambient a lot. YMMV!
Anyways I highly recommend FlaresPro to anyone looking for reference IEMs suited for all use.

Interesting comparison and very well researched and written.

I've been vastly delayed writing here on Head-Fi, long with other tech sites I use to spend alot of time and interest in these hobbies, as I've mostly been dealing with health issues lately and haven't yet given a proper listen to do an in depth comparison.

At this point though, I'm not even sure it would be fair of me to go through all the different aspects between the FlaresPro vs the others, as I haven't had the FlaresPro in many weeks since my return. The most I can say now that I'm here finally given some time away from my medical stuff, is I find the R2A to be less dynamic than the FlaresPro, though still more than the HiFiMan RE-00. The vocals on the R2A seem closer to me on the R2A than on either iem. The RE-00 has the most extended lower treble, which the FlaresPro and the R2A have what sounds to be about the same in that regard, but the upper treble definitely is more subdued on the R2A than the FlaresPro. The RE-00 gets up there with the upper treble, but stops right before becoming sibilant.

I mention the RE-00 in this, because it is my favorite iem I have, along with the R2A, which both have their own advantages over the other. However, I admit that if it weren't for the upper treble issue on the FlaresPro, they would be very competitive. I say that because in this brief comparison I'm going by memory, which isn't the best or even that much of a strength for me at the moment with everything else I'm dealing with.

I need to try contacting Flare about the update, as they forgot to reply with it, unless their tests are still ongoing.

 

[dannyking]

Confirmed. I've got my Flares Pro back from repair and they've included new foams. They're indeed more durable, at least the foam is, whether the plastic core holds stronger, we will see.

New foams do not bring changes to the sound - it's still harsh and thin in upper midrange/treble.

I've had them for a while now too and the durability of the foam is quite outstanding. I honestly don't see them ever tearing except you purposely do it to them. The plastic core on the other hand is still weak and I have had to use glue to stick one of them in place after it fell out after washing it.

Confirmed. I've got my Flares Pro back from repair and they've included new foams. They're indeed more durable, at least the foam is, whether the plastic core holds stronger, we will see.

New foams do not bring changes to the sound - it's still harsh and thin in upper midrange/treble.

I've had them for a while now too and the durability of the foam is quite outstanding. I honestly don't see them ever tearing except you purposely do it to them. The plastic core on the other hand is still weak and I have had to use glue to stick one of them in place after it fell out after washing it. (Maybe washing it was the cause though).

 

[barondla]

You think they were calibrated by Flare? I don't.

I think they were assembled by hand - see the kickstarter video and them assembling the R1s by hand - and the ends screwed in until they felt to be tight enough by the person doing the assembling..

I also have slight doubts that someone could reliably tell the difference from when they go them new to how they sounded after a cable swap a year or several months after - unless of course when you replace the caps, you leave them loose.. I think it would be total guesswork ... unless you had that equipment you talk of and measured them when new.

I don't know if Flare calibrates the bass or not. Just because the viddy shows the assembler screwing in the end caps until it feels right, that doesn't mean they aren't passed to another worker for final calibration. I seem to remember someone getting the R2 back from Flare repair saying the bass had been re calibrated. Remember another post about using 200hz to adjust the bass properly. Think the 200hz post was by a Head-Fier and not Flare Audio. Could be wrong.

Either way, turning the end caps can affect the sound. Too far in and they lose dynamics and bass. Way too far in can damage the driver. As they are screwed out there is more bass. Stock, my Flare R2Pro put a voice out in front and centered in a way none of my other IEMs do. After unscrewing and re soldering, the image would pull to one side. With lots of fiddling they are finally back close to normal.

 

[awayeah]

You think they were calibrated by Flare? I don't.

Yes, each Flare of the old series is calibrated. I've spent some time chatting with their R&D. It's an automated process - they have pressure balancing system which carefully adjust end caps on test rig until there's balance and right freq. response. That's why it's a bad idea to screw and unscrew the end caps by yourself. You can manually adjust them by hearing to find the balance but of course it's not precise.

 

[james444]

It's an automated process - they have pressure balancing system which carefully adjust end caps on test rig until there's balance and right freq. response.

Well I'm skeptical about this. Measuring the frequency response of IEMs is a tedious task, if you want consistent results. And I've never seen a working automated solution for this.

Also, my brand new R2PROs had clearly audible channel imbalance out of the box. And two new pairs of R2As I bought from Amazon had different frequency response from each other.

 

[barondla]

Well I'm skeptical about this. Measuring the frequency response of IEMs is a tedious task, if you want consistent results. And I've never seen a working automated solution for this.

Also, my brand new R2PROs had clearly audible channel imbalance out of the box. And two new pairs of R2As I bought from Amazon had different frequency response from each other.

Interesting. My guess is they don't test the whole frequency range. Might only use a very narrow range in the bass. This would allow the endcaps to be adjusted properly. That wouldn't guarantee all IEMs have the same fulll range frequency response. Driver consistency will vary. That might require a whole different set of driver measurements.

Agree with you about testing IEMs quickly and efficiently. It is hard. Don't believe it has to be if a company builds their own test equipment. Think a lot of trouble is caused by the soft tips. Squishy tips provide a great seal in ear canals. Tips also cause measurement problems. Same seal and postioning every time is difficult and time consuming. Professional measuring equipment is made to test all IEMs. Thus the variability in testing.

A custom tester could be built only for a companies exact IEM. Flare have a metal nozzle. Ditch the squishy tips. Make the tester interface mate perfectly to this. Metal on metal could seal very well and there would be virtually no change in positing between thousands of tests. This may not give a good indication of how they would sound to people, but it would allow adjusting the end caps for proper bass. Just a guess on my part.

 

[james444]

A custom tester could be built only for a companies exact IEM. Flare have a metal nozzle. Ditch the squishy tips. Make the tester interface mate perfectly to this. Metal on metal could seal very well and there would be virtually no change in positing between thousands of tests. This may not give a good indication of how they would sound to people, but it would allow adjusting the end caps for proper bass. Just a guess on my part.

This sounds reasonable. Anyway, my personal experience with FR consistency on the R2A/R2Pro units I received hasn't been very impressive.

 

[barondla]

This sounds reasonable. Anyway, my personal experience with FR consistency on the R2A/R2Pro units I received hasn't been very impressive.

Considering problems other manufacturers have encountered with much more expenisve earphones, this isn't that surprising. Don't believe Flare Audio built their own micro driver in the R2 series. If true, they are at the mercy of the driver manufacturer. If the drivers have a lot of variability, it will be very expensive to test, grade, and discard.

Read about a long standing speaker company hiring a QC specialist to improve the consistency of their sound quality. They had all kinds of measurement tools and equipment. Then the expert saw the problem. Every day the production line started and the first speaker drivers off the line were extensively measured. Then all drivers were matched to them - that day. Next day, new first batch of drivers, new standard. Obviously this is the wrong way to guarantee performance. The company should have picked 1 standard set of drivers and used that same set every day. This was a multi million dollar speaker company.

 

[Arysyn]

This sounds reasonable. Anyway, my personal experience with FR consistency on the R2A/R2Pro units I received hasn't been very impressive.

Typically, I'd advise to contact Flare for a replacement, but according to my contact at Flare who has helped me during most of my FlaresPro issue recently told me they don't have any R2 products in stock. While I like Flare, I think its a mistake for them not to stock some supply of new R2 earphones, in case of warranty issues and the occasional special request. I would even have bought the Flare R2Pro from them at a slight price increase for the benefit of having a discontinued model, so that I could do a thorough comparison for Head-Fi and hopefully try to do something to convince Flare to at least revisit their iem product lineup options.

Selling only the FlaresPro I believe is an error Flare is making, especially at its price point. There is no less expensive option from them now, which perhaps would be understandable if Flare was one of a few companies selling iems. However, as we all know very well this isn't the case. Audio products are abundant and the market is extremely vast and competitive. Flare, if they still want to be known for audio, really ought to consider its position. Perhaps they have, and by their lack of action in the audio market makes it seem they've settled for becoming a hearing protection company. Just today, I received an email alerting me to their new sleep/snoring protection device. That tells me all I need to know about their business direction.

I feel its a shame, in a sense, because the FlaresPro are near-perfect, except for that upper treble, but are priced where many can't/won't even bother trying to purchase it because of the price and with it being Flares only iem, its going to keep alot of people from becoming supporters of the company's generally excellent sound tuning. Yet now hearing that some of their items have channel discrepancies with no way of replacement due to none being in stock anymore, it isn't going to help Flare any.