It is a clearly established fact that I’m a headphone whore. I have many pairs, and use different ones just as the mood takes me. I have favourites, but I’m not tied to any particular brand. But that doesn’t mean that there should be more choice, so I’m more than happy to hear that Flare Audio, a revolutionary British company has a Kickstarter campaign to fund their next round of reference earphones. The R2 range builds upon the success of the original R1 headphones, and looks to bring Flare’s original thinking right inside your ear.
Flare Launches on Kickstarter to Bring Groundbreaking ‘Distortion Free’ In-ear and Over-ear Headphones to Consumer Market
Following its success in the professional sound market, Flare Audio is planning to take its revolutionary technology to the listening public, with the launch of a global campaign on Kickstarter to raise awareness of its groundbreaking innovation in consumer headphones. The campaign launched this week (May 5th) and runs until June 3rd 2015.
British manufacturer Flare has installed audio systems to venues including the iconic Olympic Studios (London) and The Leadmill, (Sheffield), as well as providing live audio to a wide range of artists, venues and festivals, winning support from artists and industry. The company is now using global crowd-funding platform Kickstarter to bring attention to its new distortion free Reference series of in-ear and over-ear headphones – dubbed ‘a revolution in listening’ – and make them available for wider retail.
The Kickstarter campaign enables investors to purchase one of three in-ear R2 models, and the R1 Mk2 over ear model, all at an introductory campaign price that will revert to full SRP following the end of the campaign.
The new Flare Audio R2’s give the listener pure, distortion free, pressure-balanced sound with no ear fatigue.
The Reference R2 in-ear phones provide listeners with an ‘in the room’ experience, and takes Flare’s innovation in distortion-free sound to the micro level. The R2’s innovative design offers unrivalled purity of sound in a small, lightweight package, while its enclosures are precision-milled so that the pressures on both sides of the driver are balanced. The sound is channelled to minimise internal reflections as it travels into the ear. Turned on a robotic precision lathe, the R2 is incredibly compact and has a far higher degree of sound isolation than other earphones due to its solid metal construction. Each R2 driver enclosure measures just 12mm x 7mm.
The R2 earphones will be available in the following options:
- R2A Natural aluminium
- R2A Black anodised aluminium
- R2A Olympic Studios Limited Edition anodised in Olympic Red.
The classic editions of Flare’s revolutionary distortion free, pressure-balanced earphones.
- R2S Stainless Steel: Each R2S is manufactured from a solid bar of stainless steel 303. This material is 6x stronger than aluminium 6082, which is key to improving sound quality when coupled with Flare’s pressure-balancing technology.
- R2PRO Titanium: Each R2PRO enclosure is manufactured from a solid bar of titanium grade 5. This material is 12x stronger than aluminium 6082 and is the only element to feature a close packed hexagonal structure. It’s this atomic symmetry coupled with R2’s cylindrical design (the strongest possible shape) and Flare’s patent-pending pressure-balancing technology that results in the R2PRO’s enclosure being the most rigid possible, creating the highest possible quality of sound.
R2PRO Titanium
Flare’s groundbreaking work in professional audio has already been wowing some of the world’s most respected musicians and producers. Jimmy Page recently introduced the 40th anniversary playback of Led Zeppelin’s seminal album Physical Graffiti on the Olympic Studios Flare system, telling audience members that this would be the best that they, or he, had ever heard the album sound.
Industry testers who have tried the R2s have also been floored. Quotes include:
“I‘m rediscovering recorded music on a truly epic scale. The Sound of R2 is out of this world… quite simply staggering big sound in an unbelievably small earphone.”
Chris Kimsey, Producer for bands including The Rolling Stones and INXS
The Reference R1 Mk2 over-ear headphones follow the soft launch of the R1s earlier this year. These have been designed for the pro audio market and provide distortion-free sound using Flare’s patent-pending Space™ and Vortex™ technologies to remove loudspeaker ‘noise’, keeping the audio signal true to the artist’s original sound. They’re serious kit for those who are serious about sound, and the longer you listen the more the ears ‘adjust’ to hearing ‘pure sound’, as it was created as source.
Options for backers range from pre-ordering one of the three headphone models for delivery this summer, including Flare’s ‘want list’ R2 titanium grade 5 model, which produces the ultimate ‘pure sound’ listening experience. In addition, to celebrate the unique Flare Audio relationship with Olympic Studios, the company is offering Kickstarter investors a limited edition of their Reference R2 earphones, anodised in Olympic Studios red in limited edition Olympic branded carry bag.
Click here for the full link to the Kickstarter video, containing more about the company, campaign and products available, including video feedback from industry figures.
“We’re using Kickstarter to raise awareness of this new technology that delivers not only a totally unique listening experience but with it a new approach to earphone design,” says Flare CEO Davies Roberts. “Our work providing quality sound to the professional audio industry, supported by independent testing, has proven Flare products really deliver what they promise. This campaign will enable us to launch a range of products to the consumer market and bring this technological advancement to the general public.”
Click here to back the campaign! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/584645150/2029044377?token=168acec5
Tweet about it! @flareaudio
Like us: facebook.com/flareaudioTWEET TODAY: Exciting news from @flareaudio. Back their Kickstarter campaign and get distortion free sound in your ears, with exclusive reductions on pre-orders & free worldwide shipping: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/584645150/2029044377?token=168acec5
DJs are a conservative bunch, often sticking with the same brand of headphone until they leave this mortal coil. So the idea of changing from headphones to earphones, let alone changing brand is a big ask. But we’re in rapidly moving times, both technologically and culturally. The need to be mobile is greater than ever, so weight and bulk are becoming primary factors in purchasing decisions.
The issues for DJs are build and sound quality, both of which seem to be well catered for with the Flare Audio R2s. The R2Pros in particular are made from a single piece of Titanium, and all of them have user-replaceable cables too. They’re not cheap — £175 for the regular R2, going up to £400 for the Pro models. But what price to you put on quality and audio fidelity? These are essential tools for DJs so it’s worth paying a decent amount of money for, especially when created and hand assembled in the UK buy people who care.
But what you’re paying for is the technology — Flare Audio are coming up with new ways of looking at how sound is delivered, and I urge you to watch the Kickstarter video to get a better understanding of their Vortex and Space technologies . They’re winning awards for their fresh approach with PAs, so we can only hope that they can revolutionise things on a smaller scale too.
In-Ear — would you?
This whole piece is more of a segue into this question — do you use in-ear monitors? Would you use them? Are there things that stop you from trying them? Or will you be buried in your (insert brand here) cans?