[Jonathan Dunham]

I have a friend who had his Pro's repaired in October last year, but I'm not surprised they are not repairing them now, as it sounded like was where they were heading to with regard to the Pro models.

I don't go along with the comments about these being built terribly. They are not at all. I've had six pairs of Flares now, and they've all been perfectly good with never an issue for me.

What is poor is that Flare have not thought about ongoing maintenance of their older products, and not planned for that. I think they'll probably blame it on the pandemic, but its really not good enough. And it may be with the Jet they are now into disposable products, as they realise its the only sensible way to make a profit ongoing without the hassle of repairs etc.

I currently have 2 pairs of the original Pro and one pair of the Pro Gold. My take on it is that I'll buy another set of the Pro's as further spares, and as long as I've got two pairs (Gold plus one Pro) working ok, I'm happy. Any of the later Pro can have the drivers swapped in, so I figure I should be set for a fair while!

Regards to all,

Jonathan

 

[Jackpot77]

There is a pair of Flare R2 on eBay UK at the moment - it's marked up as the R2a titanium - looking at the pic and the committee of the metal, looks like it is the Pro model as the R2A only came in black (and possibly red) as far sI was aware. Going for £90. Pair of Gold going for just over £600 as well. Think I'll hand on to my pro2HD for a while if they aren't making any more.

 

[holden4th]

You are correct about the R2As not being titanium, they're aerospace aluminium. I have a pair and they are a mighty good iem and were my introduction to Flare Audio. I moved on to the Flare Pros but there was an issue with sibilance on some music. This led me to purchase the Golds which are simply - Gold! The Pro 2HD are the next step up from the Golds but as I've never heard them I don't know how big that step is. Yes, I'd hang on to the 2HDs just like I'm keeping my R2As. I had a good offer for them but decided to stick with them. They marry very well with my A&K Jnr.

I've always wondered why Flare decided to step back from the top end of the iem market because their products were always excellent.

 

[Sathindra]

If anyone interested, there is Flare Audio Pro 2 HD on sale for £150 in eBay.

 

[porjdv]

I do have a pair of Flare Audio Pro 2 HD. I had to wait more then 3 months for a repair under warranty of a cable issue. They say that due to the pandemic parts were not available. Now the other cable has the same issue, but Flare doesn't want to repair under warranty. This is very disappointing since the sound is really excellent. When I bought them GB was still in the EU and a 2-year warranty was established by law in the EU. With Brexit Flare seems to believe they can follow GB law and they say repair cannot be done under warranty since they have a 1-year warranty period. I don't think that is fair. And even more important I cannot trust a company that behaves likes this when it comes to warranty for what is their top of the line product.

I'll probably try to repair myself since the repair would just cost too much in part due to Brexit which makes sending a product to the UK for repair a real problem. I've already ordered some replacement parts and will try my luck. It would be nice if someone had placed a how to repair video on the internet. If you know one please let me know.

Jos

 

[sydofne]

Anybody still using Flares pro? I was wondering if somebody uses them or have used them with EQ and that could share to try?

 

[holden4th]

I still have the Flare Pros and they sit in my travel back pack - haven't had much use for that for a while. I've never tried EQing them but now that I have the SoundSource app this might be worth a look at.

I'm a bit of a Flare Audio groupie. I bought the R2As from someone who got them via the kickstarter campaign and was mightily impressed as all I had was a pair of Senn IE80s at the time. From there I bought the Pros from an online seller in this forum. They were a step up from the R2As but had one big caveat. If the recorded sound was harsh, shrill or peaky in any way, the Pros brought this out. Sibilance in particular could be an issue. This only happened on tracks that were recorded this way (Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" is a classic example) but for the vast majority of recordings the Pros were well behaved.

The Pros 2 were released to ameliorate this problem but I didn't test them out.

The Flares Gold were released and the peakiness and sibilance disappeared and the whole sound signature improved. Once again I took advantage of an online offer from this forum and got them for less than half of their original selling price in Australia which was $AUS1700 at the time. These are my go to iem and with really good tips (you can definitely improve on the ones Flare offer) they sound glorious.

The final iteration was the Pro2HD but as I was very happy with the Golds I never looked into them.

Flare, apart from their cheapo 'Jet', have moved on from the headphone business. This is a pity because their single dynamic driver iems were very hard to beat. The other issue is that their iems are very hard (in fact nigh on impossible) to find nowadays. I've searched for the Pro 2HDs and there is simply nothing out there yet Flare made quite a few of them. Maybe the people who've got them are holding on to them.

So if you've made this post because you've found a Flares Pro for sale then I would grab it. If you don't like it then you won't have any trouble selling it. If you were based in Australia then I'd send you mine to have a listen to though I'm not considering selling them at this point in time.

 

[sydofne]

Hi, actually i have the Pro's for like 2/3 years, but because i do not listen out of home much, they do not get much use. However i have a good DAP, and sometimes i use them, and i think they sound good. i tried to EQ, to reduce mid bass, and just get that nice sub bass it has and i try to EQ the treble, because as you say, sometimes it can get a bit harsh. It is a pity, there isnt any measurement of the Pros/2 /2hd as we have for several others today

 

[holden4th]

I have also used the Pros at home which is where I picked up on the treble issue. The DAP I use them with when traveling is the Astell & Kern Junior and this softens that affect somewhat but not completely. At home I would run them out of my iMac into the Burson Playmate 2. The SoundSource app sends a direct digital stream to the PM2s DAC and the powerful amp section does the rest. You can boost the sub bass with the EQ controls on from SoundSource. I make a slight tweak to improve the sub bass of my Audeze LCD1s with a wonderful effect. My A&K has, like a lot of DAPs, the ability to EQ but I've never tried it. I'm not sure of how many points in the audio spectrum it covers. SoundSource is 10 band which is sufficient for me. After I get my next ear wax clean out I might look at them again.

 

[LuckyNat]

You are correct about the R2As not being titanium, they're aerospace aluminium. I have a pair and they are a mighty good iem and were my introduction to Flare Audio. I moved on to the Flare Pros but there was an issue with sibilance on some music. This led me to purchase the Golds which are simply - Gold! The Pro 2HD are the next step up from the Golds but as I've never heard them I don't know how big that step is. Yes, I'd hang on to the 2HDs just like I'm keeping my R2As. I had a good offer for them but decided to stick with them. They marry very well with my A&K Jnr.

I've always wondered why Flare decided to step back from the top end of the iem market because their products were always excellent.

My experience of Gold to Pro 2HD was minimal sonically but slightly more comfortable (and cheaper).

I see the Pro 2HD pop up on ebay UK often enough if one is dedicated in looking for some.

 

[mochill]

Have gold ,no interest in other ones

 

[Haden2866]

Hi,

Long-time Flare fanboy here (R2A, R2Pro Kickstarter backer, PRO2HD & forthcoming EARS R)

PRO2HD was my daily driver but I have a broken cable.

Has anyone had success with re-cabling? Can you point me to any relevant content on this thread, or elsewhere?

I'm handy with a soldering iron, and prepared to take a risk, since EARS are dropping soon.

Thanks, Haden

 

[Jackpot77]

Hi,

Long-time Flare fanboy here (R2A, R2Pro Kickstarter backer, PRO2HD & forthcoming EARS R)

PRO2HD was my daily driver but I have a broken cable.

Has anyone had success with re-cabling? Can you point me to any relevant content on this thread, or elsewhere?

I'm handy with a soldering iron, and prepared to take a risk, since EARS are dropping soon.

Thanks, Haden

Might be worth dropping Flare a line. They used to sell replacement driver and cable sets for pretty cheap for some of the earliest models - then it's just a case of swapping out the existing driver assembly and re-mounting the new one.

That was a while back, though - not sure if they still do that (or have the stock).

Stupid question: since the cake had broken between the driver and the initial v-split, not on the detachable bit below?

 

[Haden2866]

Might be worth dropping Flare a line. They used to sell replacement driver and cable sets for pretty cheap for some of the earliest models - then it's just a case of swapping out the existing driver assembly and re-mounting the new one.

That was a while back, though - not sure if they still do that (or have the stock).

Stupid question: since the cake had broken between the driver and the initial v-split, not on the detachable bit below?

Thanks for your response, yes I'll give Flare a shout but also not averse to a bit of DIY if cost of replacement driver / cable assembly is high. I remember being quoted, I think, £150 for a replacement set for R2.
Yes, it's the upper part of the cake, at the entrance to the housing.

 

[holden4th]

I'm lucky in that all three of my Flares still have intact cables but I don't use them as often as I used to do preferring my overears at the moment. However, I'm going into hospital for a couple of days so they'll go with me then along with my A&K Junior DAP