You did say earlier that your preferences have changed. Perhaps after listening to something different to what you normally listen to, you will be surprised and your preferences will change again!
I recommend not going into these things with too many ideals in one's head - it encourages one to search out disatisfaction in my opinion.
Sorry to hear of your experiences trying to buy the R2Pros! I can't imagine why a merchant would sell you something that they hadn't tested and didn't seem to know was only a prototype... sounds like they may be a company that carries minimal stock. Here in the UK, by law all the problems you had were the responsibility of the Merchant to deal with and not Flare Audio.
Very true about Flare not being directly at fault. I do wonder why Flare made this product as they did, unless at some point the l/r markings were removed by the store or whoever had them. At this point though, I wouldn't recommend Audio Sanctuary to anyone. Despite their efforts to assist, there were just so much that went wrong with this purchase it really deserves to be dealt with in a better way regarding resolution.
I wasn't happy with MusicaAcoustics back in winter 2016 with the missing instruction manual I still don't have and the rudeness in their responses toward my inquiries, but at least the product itself is fine. Still makes me skeptical about resellers. Buying directly from Flare was much easier. Unfortunately Flare doesn't have the R2Pro anymore, otherwise I'd buy it. I do think Flare, despite being a small company, ought to have a small stock of them in the rare case of warranty claims in the short amount of time there may be left from the last purchases of the R2Pro. Although, I'm not sure exactly when they stopped being sold, but wasn't it in Spring 2017?
Regarding my preferences, I ought to note that it wasn't so much a change of preference, but more of a realization I had my preferences misunderstood in terms of how I would describe to others about being a major treble enthusiast. That definition I'd tell people was wrong. At the time though I really didn't know. As I understood, the detail, speed, airyness of treble couldn't be too much, and I denied sibilance even being a true factor in audio, but rather I deemed it as some people just having sensitive hearing. I tried not being a jerk about it though, especially as my dislike for heavy bass in music was more of an issue to me than my preference for treble.
Essentially, while I could forgive a person in avoiding a debate about treble having a potential downside in music, I'd be much less tolerable towards bass addicts, if they made a case for bass being so outright important in music. Having a bass preference is fine, but there are those who believe such and such sound signature must be the way people listen to music, which of course is a bad judgment to place upon music listeners.
Again, everyone has their right of preference, but when bassheads push that agenda, which not all do, obviously, but there are some I've encountered. That is when I'll try reasoning with them as fairly I can, but admittedly it can get to a point when they are making an impassioned case for why they believe audio naturally ought to be tuned for bass preference.
When this happened, I'd usually counter with my preference for treble being above the bass in terms of the structure. What has changed is that ever since my experience with the FlaresPro, I realized the negative in treble from the upper treble, while also discovering how valuable a more forward vocal range is in the music I listen to, which the FlaresPro really brought to light, not just the negative issue of the upper treble tuning that ruined listening to some of that music.
So now I no longer state the former focus I had on treble when discussing sound signature preferences with others. Instead, I separate the lower treble from the upper treble when describing my interests, along with now mentioning the vocal range as a very important factor to be forward in my preference. Both forward, enveloping, and 3d-like, with no recess in the vocals at all, not at all 'veiled' sounding.
I welcome any recommendations and suggestions for iems from others who think a particular product is worth listening to. I wouldn't mind loaners either, so long as I'm not expected to keep the product in exchange for a review. I really don't like having the expectation to review a product a manufacturer is giving for free.