Janine Elliot takes a listen to the Black Rhodium Stream Power cable costing £450 for a 1.7m length…and it’s that length the designer believes to be important.

Reviewing interconnects and speaker cables will inevitably be accompanied with misbelief from a number that cables can ever make any differences to the sound of your hifi. I have even heard that personally from a few ex-manufacturing friends, ‘ex’ being the operative word. To be given a mains cable for reviewing is even more likely to carry that disbelief. I am a realist and not influenced by what I call the Peter Belt syndrome; expecting things to be better because you believe and are told to believe they will be. I listen, and then judge. Cables are just as important as the electronics in your prized audio and video collection, each offering its own resistance and capacitance and, hopefully not, RFI/EMI. Mains cables are just as important a part of your hi-fi collection as the other cables in your possession, and whilst some will replace that cheap and thin interconnect cable supplied with your audio or video component, many more will not bother to change that mains cable. However, this type of cable is as important as any other, even if your amplifier has masses of Farads at its disposal.

The new Black Rhodium STREAM power cable could perhaps be more important to sceptics than many others since founder Graham Nalty goes to great lengths in creating the optimum cable. I should actually say lesser 2cm lengths to be exact, since that is what it is; the STREAM is optimised for the best sound quality by virtue of its length. During the design of a new Black Rhodium mains cable they tested one of their existing power cables, the Fusion which uses the same basic silver plated copper conductors as the STREAM, with several different lengths. Listening sessions they did showed consistently that the best sound quality was obtained from cables cut to a length of 1.65m (wire length 1.68m after untwisting). This aligns very closely with the quarter wavelength of the 50 Hz mains frequency which is 1.7m, and further tests showed that cables in multiples of 1.7m sounded superior to lengths slightly above or below, though longer cables in multiples of 1.7m did not match the sound quality of 1.65m.  As Graham Nalty informed me;

“On longer lengths 3.3m sounded better than 3.0 m and 3.5m and 2.5m sounded better than 3m. I suspect that two things are happening. Firstly those lengths close to a fraction of the sound wavelength sounded better than other values. Secondly as the cable length increased, it picked up more RFI and more electrical forces between conductor.”

For the maths, if you take the speed of sound at sea level to be 340 metres per second and you know that a hertz (Hz) is defined as “cycles per second”, you would therefore have 50 cycles over these 340 metres. So (…calculator at the hand…) 340m divided by 50 cycles equals 6.80 metres (or 22.31 feet). A quarter of 6.8m is 1.7m.  I had been told many years ago that the very short (0.5m) mains cables I had built for personal use were not a good idea as they were too short, though they did mean for a tidier music room. Perhaps if I had made them 0.85m or 0.425m then that would have been OK.  Obviously neither these lengths nor the 1.68m STREAM will be of use in 60Hz countries, unless, of course, a slightly shorter cable is perhaps made; probably just under 1.42m.

Graham Nalty even supplies an 11-point “Highly Essential Steps” brochure with the STREAM (available for £2 separately) to guide you on the importance of cables for your hi-fi, discussing wire material, gauge, stranding and purity as well as insulation geometry and thickness, and whilst asserting resistance and capacitance do make a difference, inductance doesn’t affect cables. Cable design is an art, and more than just mathematical calculations.

“There is a lot we discover in Hi-Fi which we do not understand at the time. When I introduced the ‘Ninja’ cable in 2005 I did not understand at the time why it sounded much more natural than other cables in the range. I now know it was because each conductor was spaced so much further apart from those of the opposite polarity. This had to be done because of the size, but it significantly reduced ‘Proximity Effect’ magnetic fields”

Perhaps the most important thing in the “11 Highly Essential Steps” is that you shouldn’t scrimp on cables, and be prepared to prepare a budget.

The Stream is hand built at the Black Rhodium factory in Derby using high quality silver plated copper conductors.  The wires are insulated in silicone rubber due to its low dielectric loss and ensure extremely low distortion due to dielectric absorption effects. This means sound energy is absorbed in the insulation and released slightly later reducing what BR call “highly audible time-smearing distortion”. The STREAM also includes the use of two separate and complementary materials that effectively dampen mechanical vibrations within the cable, very important in reducing changes of capacitance. Indeed, it is vital in cable manufacture to prevent the cable components and connectors from moving relative to one another, as triboelectric effects (things like rubbing glass with fur, or running a plastic comb through the hair) as well as electromagnetically induced currents will cause distortion and noise in the cables. The Stream is a thick cable with plenty of damping to stop these movements. ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ is reduced by using thicker insulation than is usual in speaker cables, increasing the distance between conductors and therefore reducing the magnetic field seen in each conductor wire due to the magnetic field that is created by the current in the other conductor wire. A further increase in the distance between conductors further reduces ‘Proximity Effect’ distortion, and is achieved by use of the attractive cable braid. Additionally the cable is protected from the distortion caused by RFI/EMI interference by a very tightly braided metal screen. ‘Complementary RFI suppression technology’ located within the connectors reduces the distortion caused by high frequency noise within the power circuits. Finally the STREAM power cable is terminated with the high quality mains connectors including Permaplug 13A plug that have been regularly used in Black Rhodium power cables, and in the basic £450.00 review sample a Schurter IEC. As Graham Nalty informed me “For the more expensive versions, we have our own ‘Black Rhodium Power’ branded plugs in Schuko, UL and IEC sockets which are rhodium plated and specially made for us”.

Sound

Most importantly for me was how this cable length and technology affected the music and video. For the tests I put the cable through a series of equipment that was very familiar to me in terms of sound, plus looked closely at the construction and quality of build. The latter was easy for me to give the thumbs up; the thick cable is good to look at and construction and components are of top quality, and it is available with a variety of plugs.

Some cables can leave you with initial feeling of “wow” or “yuk”, but I like to take a sensible listen and evaluation. After all, having spent more than a quarter of a century sat in front of loudspeakers for 8 hours a day at the BBC and I need a sound that is honest and not tiring. And certainly this power cable is honest and easy to listen to for extended periods of time. That doesn’t mean it is slow. Far from it. I would call it refined and sophisticated. If you want something that changes the sound then look elsewhere, this one just seems to get the best of what is already there but just makes it all behave. Particularly at the midrange. Everything just effortlessly glides.

Playing vinyl using my Manley phonostage I turned to a really lovely new disc of ‘Mozart by Candlelight’, using the Neumann KU-100 Binaural Head, a live recording from Mike Valentine which works with a high degree of three-dimensionality even on loudspeakers.  The performance of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik at St Martin in the Fields in London, The Locrian Ensemble conducted by Rimma Sushanskaya, gave a compellingly fluid performance with a sheen that held it all in place. Nothing too bright or forward, just very carefully presented. This surprised me as I hadn’t heard the recording quite so judiciously performed. My instinct was to turn to something classical with lots of bite, so I put on Walter Carlos’s Switched on Bach, a la Moog synthesisers. Plenty of bass and top-end square, triangle and sine waves produced under the company banner of “Trans-Electronic Music Productions Inc.”, an apt name for someone who would later become Wendy Carlos. I loved this album when I first heard it in the early 70’s, leading to my own interest and endeavours into electronic music in the 80’s. I thought this album would sound gritty and give me a headache – as it did when I last played this recording – but I was surprised at the attention to detail at all speeds of performance and yet there was none of that edginess that even my cat slept through the performance. Normally his ears fidget with anything above 10kHz! The distortion in the recording showed that the STREAM didn’t try to cover it up. The electronic recording of Bach has a clarity, texture and detail that no conventional musical instrument could put across in such a way. I always think of Bach as the inventor of jazz, with musical lines interplaying just as in a trio or quartet, but perhaps he also anticipated the synthesizer. Whilst electronic equipment has come so far since this album I could see why Walter/Wendy had to do this album and that it had to be Bach. The interacting melodic lines and changing dynamics and textures could only be performed with such intricacy in this manner, and the STREAM performed it well.

To conclude the vinyl venture the Third side of David Bowie’s The Next Day was chosen. Some of you will know I’m not fond of David’s mastering technique, even if it does come with a high recommendation of Toni Visconti. Hi-compression and pumping the adrenalin, and very centre-stage and no extremes of frequencies, unlike the very 3-D and no compression/limiting in my own albums, I did find the STREAM did make the sound more manageable and perhaps, just perhaps, Toni goes up in my regards. “(You will) Set the World on Fire” didn’t quite reach out with the flames that it had when using my similarly priced Ecosse Red Mains cable, but it was actually more enjoyable. How weird is that.

Listening to reel to reel was the next order of the day. After delving into binaural Mike Valentine is now looking at reel to reel, and I would like to feel I have a part in that move. The Black Rhodium into my high-speed Sony TC766-2 offered a very exacting, controlled music, courtesy of “Big Band Spectacular”, the Syd Lawrence Orchestra, on a 10 ½” ATR MDS-36 reel to reel tape. “In The Mood” takes me back to holidays at family friends in Gidea Park near Romford when very young and waking up to Glenn Miller in the morning played from a gramophone playing from under the stairs in the hallway. Great days. Whilst the sound is very perfectly timed there was no loss of detail. The cable kept everything running with a fluidity and excitement just like the day I was there at the recording session itself. Decaying cymbals at the end of the final track “Anvil Chorus” just showed how nothing was forgotten in this recording or in playback. Brass covered all the pitch and dynamic ranges with no hew, and speed stability was as good as reel to reel could possibly get. This is a mightily good recording and attention to detail in replay was all there but smooth as velvet. Again, the fact I could audition for ever without fatigue but still enjoy it was something I found every time when listening to sources with the STREAM. Midband vocals and strings in a few albums I had copied to reel to reel were similarly musical and human.

Conclusion

Whether or not the 1.7m makes the biggest difference I will never know unless I chop up the cable – which Graham Nalty might be upset with me doing – so I will just have to believe that he has hit on an important discovery and hope for him that others don’t get out their measuring tapes. But there is much more to the STREAM than just the length. In all sources I tried to introduce RFI’s and EMIs from around the equipment, but again Graham Nalty seems to have sorted that out as well, and 1.7m is a long cable and plenty long enough to introduce such interference in lesser cables. This mains cable is for me one of the best products in the BR line up, and whilst that 1.7m might mean some reorganising of your hi-fi placement from the mains sockets, that will be the smallest price you will have to pay.

AT A GLANCE

Pros: Excellent midrange frequencies and with all frequencies covered well

Good RFI/EMI protection

Velvety finesse but still very honest, transparent and with good speed.

Cons:

Some will still not believe that a mains cable can improve your music

1.68m might be too long for some.  

Prices: 

Stream UK 13A to IEC power cable 1.7m £450.00
Stream Schuko to IEC power cable 1.7m £450.00
Longer cable lengths can be supplied at £100.00 per metre pro rata.

Janine Elliot

Kralk Audio are a small company headed up by Alan Clark and based in the North of England. The Elite 2s are a standmount speaker with an off board crossover and cost £2500. Ian Ringstead fires them up. 

About 2 years ago I reviewed the original Elite which I had seen at the Whittlebury National Audio Show. I’d seen them in Alan’s, the owner of Kralk, room along with the BC30 and I was fascinated by their design and external crossovers. When I reviewed them, I loved their sound and it has been a successful model in Alan’s repertoire of products. Alan is not a man to rest on his laurels though and he soon decided to embark on an upgrade for the Elite. This entailed improved drive units and superb quality components for the crossovers.

It’s a brave move when your current model is so good, but innovation and the desire for perfection is what drives Alan and motivates him to get up in the mornings. I applaud enthusiasm and many manufacturers have done the same. Marantz is one example where Ken Ishiwata produced Special Edition and KI Signature amps and cd players to huge accolades by the public. I have owned several of his models and currently use the SA11 mk 2 CD player, a fantastic machine which I see no reason to change now.

The new Elites look identical to the older version but Alan has worked hard to better them considerably with the drive unit, internal wiring and crossover upgrades. The DTPLS system used in the Elites stands for Dual Transmission Line Port System. It sends the rear output form the bass driver through a folded internal cabinet and then into a rear pressure chamber where it then exits the cabinet through twin ports at low velocity. This gives the scale of a transmission line with the flexibility of a sealed box design (infinite baffle) without the disadvantages of a ported enclosure. The crossover unit has also been further upgraded by the use of new stainless steel terminal panels and silver plated copper terminals, the whole unit is hard wired internally with The Missing Links Slingshot Evolution cable taking the performance to a whole new level of sound accuracy. The speaker has a brand new tweeter with a smoother flatter response both on and off axis and an extended range right up to 40khz, and the bass driver has also been upgraded to a new polypropylene cone which gives less distortion and cone breakup than the old paper cone unit and offers greater power handling. The cabinet is slightly bigger to take account of the changes in drive unit specification the cabinet is now 15mm deeper than the original Elite.

That’s the design and theory, now what about the sound. In a nutshell sublime. I loved the old Elites, but the mk 2 has really upped the ante. I’d heard them at the Cranage show and at Mark Sears home of Missing Link fame so I knew what to expect. There’s nothing like hearing them though in your own system. I hooked them up to my Jeff Rowland 112 power amp and used both cd and records as my source. Having been used to my Audio Physic Avanti’s for a while now, moving to another speaker was going to be somewhat different. I must say that the only real major difference was in the bass output. My Avanti’s are superb here and with four bass units per speaker excel in low end reproduction. The Elites are probably an octave less, but if you hadn’t heard the Avanti’s you would be none the wiser.

Dynamically the Elites are spot on and very fast and tight. I purposely pushed them hard to see what they were capable of and they loved it. The originals had great bass for their size and that port system really works well, but the mk 2 improves here with even better and tighter bass. I tried David Gilmour’s new album “Live in Pompeii” which is a fabulous recording and I was suitably impressed by the sound stage and clarity of the recording. Detailing was superb and I reckon you would struggle to better the Elites here. The combination of the new drive units and cross over certainly win through here with exquisite inner detailing and I’d liken it to a macro lens on a camera where you suddenly see a whole new world of magnified detail or in this case hear things you didn’t know were there before. It’s the startling reality and rightness of the sound that so impressed me. Good products tend to just get on with it and don’t need to shout here I am at you to get your attention. In fact, it’s better that they don’t. If you are impressed by a sound initially, but then tire of it, then it isn’t natural. I liken Class A amps and valve amps in this category which have a certain “Je ne sais quois “which is hard to put in words always, but when you hear them they just sound nice.

I tried Steven Wilson’s album “The raven that refused to sing” which is conceptual rock music and challenging for any system with its dynamics and detail. His music reminds me of King Crimson with its frantic chords and rapid changes in pace, but interspersed with melodic melodies. It is infectious and on a good system is spectacular. The Elites loved it and the rhythms came through superbly with Wilsons guitar and keyboard playing a key role in the music. I marvel at talented musicians and their abilities not only to play, but also write the music in the first place. Progressive rock is one of my favourite types of music to listen to as it doesn’t conform to the three minute pop concept and demands your attention when listening to it. I also like to listen to whole albums rather than skip from track to track on different albums. Other rock included Yes with “Close to the Edge” and “Drama”.

The Elites aren’t too fussy where you place them, although near to a back wall will re enforce the bass output. I used them on the PAW stands Alan supplied and they worked well. There isn’t much more I can add other than if you are interested in upgrading to a pair of stand mount speakers then I seriously recommend trying the Elites out. Alan will happily let you audition them at his home or Missing Link have them on permanent demonstration. Alan will gladly make specials with specific veneer preferences or change the internal wiring and terminals to any the customer so wishes. In conclusion, all I can say is that although the Elites don’t have the weight and gravitas of my big floor standers they certainly fight well above their weight for a £2500 speaker.

AT A GLANCE                                                                                        

Build Quality: Excellent for the price.

Sound Quality: Excellent, natural, open and detailed with superb dynamics and bass for the size.

Value for Money: Excellent compared to the competition. 

Pros: If you have a good system then the Elites will shine brightly and you will certainly be in elite company. 

Cons: Not cheap, but the quality of sound and finish is superb.

Ian Ringstead

Price £2500 a pair.

Having been nominated for an Outstanding Product the KRALK Audio Elite 2s were packed up and shipped over to France for Stuart to have a play…he was always having these speakers anyway as you will read…

There is, like many things, a bit of a story about how this review came about. Back in the cold and dark of January earlier this year we returned to the UK to pick up a new car to import back here to France. Whilst in Yorkshire we thought it a good opportunity to pay a visit to Alan at Kralk, say hello and have a look at his then recently finished demonstration room. Whilst in their he popped on some tunes through his Elite Mk 2s and then disappeared to make a cuppa. The long and short of it is that when he got back with said cup of tea I ordered a pair there and then I was so smitten with them.

However, I didn’t want to be the first of the Hifi Pig team to review the speakers having bought them and what with Ian having reviewed the original Elites it seemed sensible for him to do the MK 2s. So off they went to Ian with me knowing whatever the outcome they’d be winging their way to me. Now the process of reviewing here at Hifi Pig is I think unique. If a product comes in and a reviewer thinks it is worthy of an Outstanding Product award then said product must go to a second reviewer and they must also deem it worthy…no outstanding second review, no gong.

So the speakers arrived with their matching stands a couple of weeks ago and since then I’ve had them hooked up to various amps including the Merrill Audio Thors and the Graham Slee Proprius’ (also an outstanding Product winner) and without fail they have shone out as a really super loudspeaker. Yes they have their limitations in that they are a relatively small loudspeaker and won’t fill a concert hall, but in our pretty large listening room there were no issues at filling the room and energising it to pretty loud listening levels; folk living in the typically sized home in the UK will have absolutely no problems. At 89dB the Elite 2s aren’t the most sensitive of speaker but the little Proprius amps (26 Watts into 8 Ohms) didn’t encounter any problems what so ever.

So what do they sound like? Well Ian has pretty much summed them up and I echo what he has said in his analysis; the Elite2s are fast, agile and incredibly dynamic with oodles of detail in the mid and top. Daft Punk’s Contact (if a speaker can’t play this well they get short shrift here at Hifi Pig Towers) was handled with aplomb; plenty of low end grunt to the sound effects that build through the song with crispy shimmery highs. Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water’s, from Live in Japan, bass line was growly and as it should be. The truth is these speakers aren’t going to plumb the absolute depths, their quoted lowest frequency is 35 Hz, but unless you are one of these folk that insists on subs that go down to the very lowest frequencies you will be well happy. Tight is a word I often use and these were tight as the proverbial, with no bloat in the bass at all. Mid frequencies are fluid and very detailed, in fact detail is a word I’d sling at the Elites throughout.

These speakers offer you an insight into recordings and recording space, or stereo mix, that really does belie their relatively modest asking price. Being a relatively small standmount they manage to create a very believable and not over exaggerated soundstage and in a lot of ways they do what a really good studio monitor should do.

I’d already bought these speakers months ago, after a very brief listen, with a view to them going in a second system in the dining room once it’s done, and this they will, but they will also be getting dragged out into the main system when relevantly priced components come in for review as our mid-priced reference…yes, they are that good.

So, do I second Ian’s nomination for Outstanding Product? Damned right I do, with sprinkles on top. Alan Clark has created a product that performs well in excess of its asking price, with much of this being down to the fact he is selling direct and I wholeheartedly recommend that if you are looking for a relatively compact standmount in the sub £4K region then you owe it to yourself to audition these at your earliest convenience. Even better is that Alan has reduced the price of the Elite 2s from £2500 to £1850 until February 2018, making them even more of a true audiophile bargain.

Stuart Smith

£95 for a mains cable with Furutech hardware and silver plated oxygen free copper (OFC) cable seems to be a bargain in the grand scheme of things. Dominic Marsh finds out.

“For those of you who believe that a mains cable should merely transport the necessary amount of electricity from the wall socket to the IEC inlet of your components without spilling any on the carpet, then look away now, there is nothing here for you to see.  For those of you that are still running their hifi system on basic cheap power cords, then read on, as there might be something of interest written here…”

Read the full review here

Hifi Pig had a very busy month in November, what with trips to Zurich and Warsaw for Hifi Shows.  There was also lots of news and of course reviews.  have a look and catch up with anything that you missed!

McIntosh Announces MA252 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier

Gryphon Introduce Atlas Spikes

KEF Debuts All New Kube Subwoofer Range

Bluetooth Audio From The Swell By Cabasse

McIntosh Announces MC1.25KW Quad Balanced Power Amplifier

CanJam Europe ‘Best In Show’ Awards Announced

Grado Updates Their Classic Phono Cartridges With The Prestige Series 2

TEAC Release ‘Groovy’ Summer Of Love Turntable

HIFI SHOWS – High-End Swiss Show Report

Akiko Audio Phono Booster Available Now

Arendal Sound Introduce 1723 S Series Loudspeakers

Shinola Release Canfield Headphone Collection

Meters Music Introduce M-Ears Bluetooth In-Ears

Elipson Announces Prestige Facet Range Of Loudspeakers

Ortofon 100th Anniversary Products For 2018

Pro-Ject Phono Box E BT & Optical Box E Phono

Clones Audio Launch PSUDP205 Power Supply Kit For OPPO UDP205 Player

+AUDIO Launch In The UK

Arnold Nudell, 1937-2017

Göbel Lacorde Statement USB and Ethernet Cables cost 4500 Euros each for a 1.2m length putting them firmly in the luxury, high-end bracket. Dan Worth has a huge amount of experience with digital cables in Hifi and sees what these bring to the rather exclusive party.

Receiving the ‘Best Sound At The Show’ from Hifi Pig after the Warsaw 2016 event and also given AVShowrooms ‘Best At Show’ award at Munich this year, Gobel High End contacted me to have a look at their latest cable options from the Lacorde Statement range. A USB and Ethernet cable – I think they may have heard through the proverbial grapevine that cables are somewhat of a fascination of mine and I particularly enjoy and employ a digital system.

Finding the perfect cable is like finding the perfect women, you try a few, you may have a short or long-term relationship, but it’s only once in every lifetime where you can find a cable loom that no matter what equipment you introduce it to – the cabling is electrically perfect and ends up being a marriage made in heaven. 

Passion and Commitment Equals Excellence

Music is and always has been a big part of Oliver Gobel’s life, from as early as his memories go back. In fact, his entire family are musicians. For example, his Father played the piano, trumpet and guitar. His Grandfather was a protestant pastor, which is self-explanatory really with music being a huge part of the Church’s way of life.

Oliver himself however was much more fascinated in the best possible playback and reproduction of the music. As a benchmark he always had real music played by his expressive family. Oliver’s passion for Hifi began very early when he was around 12 years old, making him more and more curious as to how the electronics produced sound, even though at the time he had absolutely no idea how it all worked, he would always disassemble equipment and attempt to reassemble it.

This obsession led Oliver Gobel to his first profession – as an electrician in the field of Communication Technologies wherein he also obtained his Masters Degree. After this he worked for Siemens in the field of Electro-Acoustics developing loudspeakers and applications for other manufacturers.

“In parallel I had come across the technology of ‘bending stiff bending wave’ loudspeakers”, said Oliver, “which was extremely fascinating for me – as this technology offers so many advantages in comparison to the common loudspeaker technologies. That’s why I deeply investigated this technology and also researched it during my spare time after work and on weekends. After I made my breakthrough, I applied a patent about my developments on the ‘bending stiff bending wave loudspeaker’. Shortly after I got my patent I canceled my work at Siemens and started my own company and named it Göbel High End. I totally stand behind my products, this is why I can lend my name to the company.”

That was14 years ago now, Oliver as well as heavily investing his time in Göbel High End but also has a secondary company which produces OEM products for other companies such as Grundig’s Home Cinema systems and Audiorama’s statement spherical loudspeakers.

“One great aspect in additionally working as an OEM developer and manufacturer for bigger companies like Grundig is that we learned a lot of the importance of quality control and apply a perfect quality control system in order to really assure reliability of our products.”

The Manufacturing Of Cables

So why are Göbel now manufacturing their own cable line? Actually, it is very simple. Oliver of course was looking for the best possible cables in order to wire his loudspeakers internally. He tested and auditioned many, many cables from many, many different manufacturers and felt he wasn’t obtaining the results he was attempting to pursue.

So, the only real option he told me was to research and investigate even further. Starting with the core wire, different materials, metallurgy and alloys, various cross sections, shapes and sizes of conductor, then dielectrics and dielectric cross sections, differing arrangements and shieldings in order to control the inductance and capacitance along with various heat and cryogenic treatments, connection types between the conductors and the connectors themselves.

Not to mention the thousands of hours of listening; Mr Göbel is an extremely meticulous man who doesn’t do anything by halves, just take a look at the Göbel High End website to discover the intricacies and quality of his designs and finishing touches.

From the initial release of the Lacorde Speaker Cables in 2013 it’s taken until now for Göbel who are incredibly stringent and their own worse critics to produce the USB and Ethernet cables I have here for review, with analogue and digital interconnects coming throughout the three year period as and when the team feel that they are absolutely 100% happy.

This same philosophy is employed to all Göbel products within their development building in Munich, Germany. Oliver Göbel conveyed his thoughts to me, referring to companies who have a tendency to push products through, especially cables, then bring out newer versions of the same products consistently over time. Göbel simply build a product until it is in their eyes ‘perfect’ regardless of how much time and money it takes to get the finished article. Although this isn’t a realistic business plan for everybody, Göbel champion themselves on the ability to be fortunate to do so.

“Our goal is to really bring music alive. That is, and always was the passion behind all our efforts, researches and technologies – to manufacture real statement products which bring the ultimate real music experience!”

A very passionate statement from a very passionate and focused man. So, let’s take a look at these cables and see what all the fuss is…

The Physical Product 

Forget the physical product just now, let’s talk about the bomb proof packaging and beautiful way these cables are presented first. The exterior shipping box has enough reinforcement to make its way across the Middle East on a busy day.

The presentation packaging is gorgeous, a black real leather case with contrasting grey stitching and embossed family coat of arms. Internally the velvet comfortably seats the cable, which looks very elegant and feels sleek and luxurious, luxurious, a cable? Yes, the braided soft cotton mix material finish is plush and the bespoke end caps which also act as strain relief, to two of the worst cables to apply strain relief to, feel absolutely solid. The machining detail and fit on the plugs are second to none, with the companies engraved logo giving grip to installation.

Installation could be a little tricky if the rear of your rack is less than tidy, the overall thickness of this cable is very surprisingly flexible, but things are less bendy towards the ends and the cables overall weight can be a slight strain on lightweight equipment, so ensure you install the cable with as much care as you outdo the associated equipment it’s connecting with.

The Sound

The first thing appreciated when I plugged in the Lacorde Statement USB was a calmness that came over the entire system. An additional dose of smoothness combined with an extra sprinkle of resolution simply left my current very high-end USB in the weeds. I didn’t realise how much I was missing until I connected the LS USB. Going back to the usual reference afterwards was like listening to a piano that was slightly out of tune my cable really is an excellent listen at around £3000 cheaper. imagine a graph plotting the frequency response of what the LS USB was able to offer and then drag a fine toothed comb through the wet ink lines removing fine areas of frequency and detail and at the same time these dragged lines smear across the table – an impression of leaving me with minor amounts of distortion in a fog like mist across the overall sonic picture, that can only be assessed with a comparison such as I have here in the Lacorde Statement.

The Lacord Statement USB was in its earliest stages still really, I decided not to cook it on the Blue Horizon Proburn burning in machine, the LS USB was straight out of the box and was already creating a stir. I wanted to hear the progression of this cable, rather than burn it in on the Blue Horizon, as I was drawn into Oliver’s mantra. Complete burn in took little under one month, so I assume that we are dealing with solid core conductors, most likely of a triple alloy type but as I am not even privy to the contents of the cable, experience makes this assumption.

Once the cable had continued running in for two weeks it became quickly evident that comparing the Lacorde Statement with my previous Chord Sarum T was futile, Chord have produced a cable which makes most other USBs submit before it, but here I was considering a USB cable that was in a completely different league, leaps and bounds ahead of any of the competition that I had heard previously at least, and after around the five week mark the final molecules of haze, which I only realised existed until after they had gone, disappeared. Bass extended a little further and the outer boundaries of the soundstage gained better shape and agility allowing timbre to flourish more naturally.

Listening to Bliss’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ gave me a new look into the structure of the recorded mix. I’ve always obtained a three-dimensional, encapsulating sphere of sound in my listening room, which thrives on tracks recorded like this, but now I was getting a thickness of sound all around me that was now almost as prominent as the front of the stage. Similar to going from an Ordinary CD version to its SACD equivalent.

Drum rolls gained extra extension and solidity with more girth and added control. The tighter leading edges flowed perfectly fluently into the looser extension of the acoustic venue, with a decay that was volumetrically representative.

The vocals were the most liquid I had heard to date on my system and in my room, this track has such a beautiful glow and flow and at the same time also being able to convey so much more information. The Lacorde Statement conveys incredible tone and timbre. The source is incredibly important in the chain of any system and many will state that it’s the most important part, myself I feel each component is just as important as each other –  price relative with an overall attention on synergy of course, the LS USB has given my source the aqueduct required to the DAC that was more crucial a connection than I had previously thought and I haven’t always paid strict attention to my USB cable.

Missing minor undertones gives a perception of a brighter sound and damping the highs with added capacitance for instance warms the sound, stranded cables sound a little spitty because they do not have a linear electron flow. Spittyness can also come from incorrect inductance. Dielectric types and geometries also play a huge part of the whole. There are just so many factors related to building cables which leaves me only imagining how much time and money Gobel have invested in creating the Lacorde Statement range. Being the first and only range of cables from the Munich based company shows how precise and competent they are, as this first and only range has got my full attention.

With a connection as electrically sound and as thoughtfully made as the LS actually makes me wonder whether I should be re-writing previous reviews of the associated electronics as I feel that they are now working to a far greater potential than before. Of course, the influence of other parts of a system effect a new addition in a well-balanced system and vice versa. This is what we know as synergy but imagine if the entire system was coupled together with electrical perfection and the only aspect that required balancing was overall tone, now that would be a dream that many will not achieve but fortunately and currently I’m blessed enough to feel that I have the correct inductance throughout using a full Studio Connections Black Star System (due for review later this year) and with the addition of the Gobel Lacorde Statement USB the act is now more complete and allows me to feel that whatever I place into my system equipment wise will be able to show it’s true potential without any bottlenecking allowing me to  simply forget about the cable loom altogether.

The additional abilities of the soundstage are also reminiscent of installing the Black Star loom, timing is absolutely on the money and placement accuracy within the transparent and effortlessly complex performance again proves electrical compliance to be just so more precise and materials used to be quite exotic in their precise geometry. Air fills the soundstage like water in a fish bowl allowing notes to flow freely around, amongst, in front of and behind a vocalist with absolutely zero smearing of more complex passages which have a confidence that allows for the smallest of transients to be completely appreciable and easy to focus on within the performance.

The only other time I’ve come across a digital cable that performs in a similar manner is the MIT Oracle AES/EBU but then that has a slightly different job to perform. Carrying power and data across a cable is an extremely difficult task to manage in a USB, Go Göbel has had the foresight to split the data and power lines to minimise stray electron interaction and I can only imagine what an incredibly low SNR linear supply would offer in addition to the +5v VCC and ground conductors.

Adding The Lacorde Statement  Ethernet 

In addition to the Lacorde Statement USB, Oliver Göbel had the foresight to send me two of the ranges Ethernet cables in order for me to assess their performance in my streaming setup. If I’m completely honest, conveying the absolute maximum ability of their performance would have possibly more fruitful if I was using them as I2s connections but unfortunately my I2s connections uses the more up to date HDMI protocol. I am able of course to install them between Melco streamer and linear switch and from switch to a linear powered router as well as from the Melco to a Linn Klimax DS which just landed for review and will be backed off of the Melco for its music library due to the Linn having no onboard storage. I also have Tidal and Qobuz streaming services I can use the Lacorde Statement Ethernet cables to support.

I have an existing bundle of ethernet cables from various companies such as Audioquest, Tellurium Q, Meicord, SotM along with some other prototypes which I am testing for companies. I’ve been exploring Ethernet cables since better quality versions hit the market a few years ago with moderate to good effect over the better constructed more standard fair offerings. My most recent acquisition is the Tellurium Q Black Diamond and in comparison, with all other options available to me is a clear step up over the rest in overall bandwidth, background silence and top end control, I’ve been considering trying the AQ Diamond after getting one of their Diamond HDMI cables for I2s duties but in all honesty, I feel that again as mentioned above could well be overkill for a streaming cable rather than I2s.

The implementation of Gobel’s Lacorde Staement Ethernet cable proved that there is still room for improvement in my system when streaming, even over the Black Diamond from TQ which has been an excellent enhancement to my Tidal and Qobuz streaming the Lacorde Statement instantly rained in some timing errors I was not aware of having. The LS over any standard Cat7 cable can be likened to a high-end interconnect change over the throw away ones that come with a cheap CD player, so no need to do any comparisons there. In comparison to the TQ which is less than 1/4 the price performance although not relative is a clear step up again, as it was over all the other Ethernet cables I currently possess.

Overall resolution is enhanced with finer inner details culminating in better micro dynamics especially in the top end where the cleaner presentation makes way for more exposure in the black background. The crowd at the beginning of Fink’s Perfect Darkness sounded as though it had been fed through its own separate speaker and amplifier combination with me able to hear the individual cheers and screams from each of the contributor’s male or female, I could have probably sat there and counted the number of each, there was that much more resolution on hand.

Upper mids too allowed for a smoother and more controlled rendition of female vocals especially and far better balance and cohesiveness of the uppers and midrange, which was already very transparent but now cleaner and more playful in its transient response accompanied with a little more depth than I was used too.

Our Editor here at Hifi Pig Stuart Smith is not a cable enthusiast, appreciating a good well made cable over the pursuit of constantly trying to better what he has or factor them too heavily into his overall plan when building a system. However, the handful of times he has been to shows that Göbel High End have demonstrated at I receive a phone call soon after with emphatic praise for the Gobel Sound. Göbel High End as a company that produce products with real excellence and as stated in my introduction to this review Oliver Göbel and his team have worked over the past couple of years to get this range of cabling just right and previous system setups its other manufacturers cables have just not been able to push their products to their full potential according g to them. What Stuart heard was a combination of the whole, all Göbel’s expertise applied to overall system synergy and being of a similar mindset can really appreciate how important the links between our valued equipment have to be.

To champion a cable as much as I champion what I’ve currently heard from the Lacorde Statement range can be said by some as grave, personally I can understand where all this negativity comes from when it comes to cables? It’s due to insane pricing and the spiel the majority of manufacturers want to influence you with. However, like anything in life you need to trawl through the garbage and build relationships with products and companies that offer excellence, combined with solid engineering techniques, along with vigorous R&D – Göbel are a company who cover all these bases and more. Their attention to the finer final details in all of their products is nothing short of obsessive.

With the Linn Klimax DS having been playing continuously for nearly a week now I feel I have a very good handle on its abilities. It’s a fantastically clean sounding piece of equipment which conveys great timbral qualities and musical tone. At £15,800 it is one of the most expensive streamers on today’s market. This price tag and its lack of inputs – being confined to only one Ethernet input to carry it across a home network and internet based streaming channels, is in fact more relative to the Gobel’s Ethernet price tag of €4500.

My expectations of improvements were thoroughly confirmed when I attached the Lacord Statement Ethernet from the Klimax DS to the Melco. My first observation was an improvement in dynamic dexterity, the Klimax has a very well-constructed soundstage with great timing and with the LS in the front to back projection flared outwards wonderfully, lending its character to much more air and space. My favoured acoustic genre of music benefited wonderfully, with reverbs and acoustic space becoming even more lifelike with a more naturally informed density across the larger picture.

Bass note were given a slightly more elastic bounce as well as a slightly more effortless flow and roll that decayed more appropriately dependent on tempo and beat.

Vocals remained very solid and engaging and I would express my findings to be more openness with the release of the smallest amount of midrange congestion, rather than adjustments of tonality or vocal positioning, allowing them to be more focused and explicitly true to the artist.

Overall, I would say that the Lacorde Statement Ethernet induced an experience into my system every bit as well as the Lacorde Statement USB, with further potential to be had when used in a direct I2s configuration. I favour many many cables at many price points in a market that is flooded with an over-bearing amount of options. This like anything else is simply derived from experience and knowledge.

Conclusion

My opinion, and one that hasn’t changed ever since ever since is that the goal when searching out quality cables and components is to work hard, test whatever you can get your hands on and accept to include cables in your entire system budget. You will then naturally over time find manufacturers that are sincere and capable of building a cable, such as Göbel High End’s Lacorde Statement range (if that’s where your budget lies) that can lend itself to any piece of equipment or system – allowing that component to express itself with more ease conveying its character without the cable being any sort of bottleneck in one’s assessment of the equipment. Rather than being coloured by a link which due to a less than concise electrical match – forcing the character of equipment to be heavily influenced by the cable. The Lacorde Statement cables I have reviewed here have no colour and no influence on the tonal palette of the music, instead they allow every molecule of inhibited information to confidently flow.

On a personal level I’m intrigued to hear what the rest of the Lacorde Statement range will have to offer a system such as my own, which is already connected with expensive cabling that again I believe has been produced extremely critically, from a brand I know and trust for the exact reasons I have gained respect for Gobel High End.

The Lacorde Statement USB and Ethernet cables are very expensive, more so now considering the diminishing value of other world currencies against the Euro, even to those with the thickest of wallets, which is my only criticism. Their performance however, certainly does make a statement – taking my associated equipment to another level of insight, resolution and transparency. So, if this is the price of cable perfection then I leave the justifications down to you the end-user.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: One of the finest built pieces of cable I have come in contact with

Sound Quality: Simply the finest sound I have heard by a fair margin in these cable types

Value For Money: Can you put a price on overall musical satisfaction? Well if they are out of your price range then yes you can

Pros

The most Analogue and effortless sound from a digital cable of this type

Dynamically astute and sincere

Timbrely majestic and tonally expressive

Will extract every ounce of resolution

Increased soundstage size and dimensionality

Build quality, packaging and overall attention to detail is absolutely superb

Best cable strain relief system of any USB or Ethernet to date

Cons

The chunky connectors and thick cable require a system to be organised accordingly

Will be considered as very expensive by many

Price: 1.2m USB or Ethernet – €4500

Dan Worth

Sbooster Best of Two Worlds Power & Precision ECO (BOTW) Power Supplies cost £300 each and are replacements for the all too common wall-warts that seem to be de rigeur with many audio products. Dan Worth feels the power.

“Sbooster are not new in understanding how important  power supplies are in any good audio setup. The “Best Of Two Worlds Power and Precision ECO Power Supply” is more than a mouthful to utter and yes it is one product, so I will be referring to the unit as BOTW. The BOTW supply is the successor to the companies previous supply which was based around a high quality switching supply that was smoothed incredibly well giving a notable improvement overall ripple to standard switching supplies – I’ve used a couple over the years, still favouring good linear supplies…”

Read the full review here

Triple M Icon Smart TVC Preamplifier is handmade in the North of England and has a lot of features for a £1499 preamplifier. Janine Elliot takes a listen. 

“I love TVC (Transformer Volume Control) passive preamplifiers; a transparent sound with no worry about a resistor based volume control affecting the music at different sound levels (particularly at lower volume). A conventional preamplifier will have an electronic circuit which will add noise (hiss) and depends very much on your power supply being good. Conventional resistive loaded preamps can cause impedance mismatching between source and power amplifier, but with a TVC/AVC design the input impedance matches the output impedance. My own reference TVC preamp has been my Baby Reference by Music First Audio for a while now…”

Read the full review here

Janine Elliot takes a listen to the brand new Music First Audio SENLAC SJE Monoblocks costing £4900 plus VAT.

“I love mono-blocks. Maybe it’s the idea of twice as many units stacked on my rack or the fact there are two completely separate power supplies and amplifier circuits.  To be sent two Class AB mono-blocks from the company that makes one of the fastest and purest passive TVC preamps out there was only going to get me extremely excited, especially after reviewing their very able two-box Reference MM Phono Amplifier a while back…”

Read the full review here

Every once in a while a product comes onto the market that is so obvious and so simple that you can’t help but think “How did I not think of that?”, the KALSU from Kralk Audio is such a product. About six months ago Alan from Kralk contacted me to tell me about this loudspeaker set up doodad and my immediate thoughts were “That’s genius” and “Everyone is going to want it”. 

So what is KALSU? Basically KALSU (Kralk Audio Laser Set-Up) is a little box you pop on top of your speakers that has a forward pointing battery powered laser and one on each side to enable fast and accurate speaker set up. In the smart carrying case you get a pair of KALSUs, a tape measure and a little spirit level. The tape measure is there to allow you to get the same distances from the walls of your room for each speaker – speak to anyone who treats rooms and they will tell you that a symmetrical room is important to get the best sound at the listening position. The spirit level you use to get your speakers level. Measure the distance between your speaker and set your chair in the centre and then move it back to where you would normally listen…we use the cheap and cheerful Poang chairs from IKEA so this is not a problem, but for those with heavier chairs just measure the centre spot and adjust your listening chair accordingly.

Now, pop a KALSU atop each speaker and make sure the front is flush with the front of your speaker. Angle your first speaker so it is pointing where your head would be on the chair, or if you share a couch behind the central position ensuring the beams are just within the edges of the couch. Move to the second speaker and do like wise…fans of Ghostbusters will be pleased to know that we suffered no ill effects when we crossed the lasers. So now you have both speakers firing directly at the listening position or hot-spot. That’s your speakers set up in a fraction of the time it normally takes.

But what are the side lasers for, I hear you ask. Well, this is a nifty feature of KALSU, these lasers show you your first reflection points on the left and right walls meaning you no longer have to employ a second person to move up and down each wall with a hand mirror, a time consuming and boring pass-time if ever there was. Once these points are shown you can add room treatment where the lasers hit the walls, we use GIK panels on legs but books, plants and other room furnishings can be added appropriately. Not in the Kralk bumph, but a good and useful feature is that you can, by standing the unit on its side and firing the side lasers at the floor and ceiling, also find first reflection points there too where you can put room treatment, rugs and the like. 

Conclusion

I’m not going to go into the sound of the KALSU units as they don’t have one, but what they do allow is you to set up your speakers quickly and accurately to get the very best stereo image.

If you want to make sure your speakers are set up accurately for your space quickly and easily then the KALSU really is a no-brainer. If you are a hifi dealer who sets up systems in peoples’ homes these units will make your life a whole lot easier. If you have speakers in and out your house regularly then just go buy one. A pair of KALSUs will cost you £120 in the UK but a little more if you reside elsewhere.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Nicely put together but without frills

Sound Quality: Allows you to quickly set up your speakers for best image but obviously no sound character of their own.

Value for Money: For the amount of time these things save they offer excellent value for money. 

Pros: Easy and effective.

Cons: Really, why did I not think of this!

Price: £120, a little more if outside the UK. 

You can find a link to KALSU in our Christmas Gift Guide promotion.

Stuart Smith

Costing £3995 the AVM Inspiration CS2.2 packs a lot under the hood. It’s a streamer, a CD player, DAC, FM radio, Internet radio player, it has an on-board MM/MC phonostage and outputs a healthy amount of power. For those looking for a one box plus speakers solution it looks the business, but does it cut the mustard? Dominic Marsh finds out. 

“The AVM Inspiration CS2.2 is one of many compact “all in one” units found on the market today.  The trend seems to be driven by a desire for people to be living in more and more cramped spaces in housing becoming less spacious, or people don’t want a heap of boxes sat in a rack and  cramping their lifestyle choices.  The word “compact” though conjures up images of cheap parts shoehorned into a small box, beset by a huge list of compromises to achieve that goal and with a sound quality ranking just above the standard of a portable transistor radio…”

Read the full review here

Janine Elliot takes a listen to the Black Rhodium Stream Power cable costing £450 for a 1.7m length…and it’s that length the designer believes to be important.

“Reviewing interconnects and speaker cables will inevitably be accompanied with misbelief from a number that cables can ever make any differences to the sound of your hifi. I have even heard that personally from a few ex-manufacturing friends, ‘ex’ being the operative word. To be given a mains cable for reviewing is even more likely to carry that disbelief. I am a realist and not influenced by what I call the Peter Belt syndrome; expecting things to be better because you believe and are told to believe they will be. I listen, and then judge. Cables are just as important as the electronics in your prized audio and video collection, each offering its own resistance and capacitance and, hopefully not, RFI/EMI. Mains cables are just as important a part of your hi-fi collection as the other cables in your possession, and whilst some will replace that cheap and thin interconnect cable supplied with your audio or video component, many more will not bother to change that mains cable. However, this type of cable is as important as any other, even if your amplifier has masses of Farads at its disposal…”

Read the full review here

Kralk Audio are a small company headed up by Alan Clark and based in the North of England. The Elite 2s are a standmount speaker with an off board crossover and cost £2500. Ian Ringstead fires them up. 

“About 2 years ago I reviewed the original Elite which I had seen at the Whittlebury National Audio Show. I’d seen them in Alan’s, the owner of Kralk, room along with the BC30 and I was fascinated by their design and external crossovers. When I reviewed them, I loved their sound and it has been a successful model in Alan’s repertoire of products. Alan is not a man to rest on his laurels though and he soon decided to embark on an upgrade for the Elite. This entailed improved drive units and superb quality components for the crossovers…”

Read the full review here

The Flare Audio Pro In Ear Monitors have a very interesting design, cost £349 and can be used wired, or using Bluetooth. Janine Elliot takes a listen.

As a school teacher in recent years, whenever I uttered the word “volume”, “balance” or hifi” to students I was looked at as if I was talking another language. Much of the younger generation are fast forgetting about the fun of integrating hifi components and perhaps not likely to spend considerable amounts on audio unless it is for their car, or perish the thought, monophonic wireless speakers. Luckily I am hoping that is all about to change at least for personal listening as younger listeners start to get unhappy with mp3 on their phones and hi-res FLACs become commonly playable on newer models. Better audio coding formats do, however, require better earphones and headphones, and in recent years there have been an increasing number of impressive models bending the audio boundaries even for older hifi bugs like me, and which just make reviewing such fun.

The first headphone, the R1, from Davies Roberts, CEO of Flare Audio, was a great idea but was never their best product. Creating a headphone without that ghetto-blaster bass pressure infecting the music was a great idea, only let down by the driver. What was clever was the spiraling vortex system around both sides of the 40mm dynamic headphone drivers designed to remove all Enclosed Residual Pressure Interference (ERPI). Then came their R2 IEM. Wow, this was a game changer, especially the R2PRO (£200 Kick-Starter price, then £400 after) with its Titanium body-shell. Whilst it was impossible to fit a vortex system either side of the driver in such a small space, in order that there was equal pressure both sides of the driver he created a spring effect system at the front to match that caused naturally on the rear of the driver. Whilst some might think there is no bass, it is just void of the sound pressure usually associated with bass frequencies in IEMs. This allowed much more of the detail and speed of sound at bass frequencies but relies on good fitting of the earfoams, and extended and detailed top frequencies that were so clear you would think your ears had just been syringed. They were respected by professional musicians and producers alike, as is their new offering, a balanced IEM with wireless DAC, called the ‘FLARES PRO’, all for £349. This new top model is loved by Bowie, T-Rex and Iggy Pop producer Tony Visconti (“These are the best earphones ever”), and Gary Langon, engineer of Queen and Yes (“These earphones are absolute game changers”). But not to be influenced by these big names and able to form my own conclusions I decided to put it through its paces myself before coming to any kind of conclusion.

This new model is, however, significantly different from its predecessor. Where the closed-back R2 used 1 jet and had no acoustic lens, the FLARES PRO uses a dual jet, one at either end, and has a special acoustic lens that fires sound onto the ear drum. The driver is only 5.5mm, though ½ a millimetre bigger than the R2, and is made of Beryllium and also very sensitive, which allowed me to get more detail and information from the music that I played. The IEM case itself is made from aerospace Grade 5 Titanium, just like its predecessor, and slightly longer in length. However, this new model should be treated as a completely new product, just as is the difference between the R2 and R2Pro that I reviewed a few years back is huge. Having followed Flare over the past few years I am as excited about the developments in design and audio quality of each new product as Davies will be in presenting them to the public.

One of the key parts of this very reasonably priced package is the wireless module, complete with microphone. This means you can connect your music to your Bluetooth enabled DAP or phone, via Bluetooth® v4.1 with APT-X connectivity.  As CEO Davies Roberts informed me “The Wireless module has a balanced output which removes cross-talk interference”. The output from the dual DAC chips are direct, thus there is no component distortion or noise generated. This is only possible thanks to the linear impedance that the FLARES PRO has, thus as Davies told me “electronics are more stable and produce far less audible distortion”.

Presentation

The first thing I was aware of was the much improved build quality and presentation over previous incarnations. Where the previous model had a unique method of replacing the fragile cable if you were unfortunate enough to break it (or had a cat with sharp teeth, like I did), you needed to have nimble fingers and good eyesight to be able to do this operation. The new model instead has a much better and reinforced cable housing connecting to the body of the IEM, meaning the fragile connector of the predecessor is gone. Indeed, this model has far better cabling design, thicker and with a matt finish which doesn’t make noises when moving around, like some cables still do. All the components are of superior quality as is the presentation box itself. Where it was often confusing which was left or right cable in the predecessor I am pleased to say there are colour-coded light/dark grey cables for right and left ear respectively. Only, perhaps, the manual might be too diminutive for those with failing eyesight. This model comes in a large square box cleverly disguised with noise cancelling foam regularly seen in recording studios.  As well as the remote, the cleverly packaged box with its triple layers also includes 6 sets of earfoams, covering audiophile and everyday ‘fitting’, a carrying case for the IEMs and micro USB charging cable. The wireless unit has a 170mAH 2.4v rechargeable lithium-ion battery, with two hours charge time for the 12 hours playback and 150hours standby time. It is compatible with HFP HSP, A2DP, AVRCP and APT-X.  It allows 48/96kHz 16 bit playback, though interestingly I could actually manage to play WAV files up to 24/192 from my Fiio with minimal dithering, but of course it wouldn’t play FLACs or DSDs. Perhaps a model allowing aptX-HD will appear when the new format becomes popular. Both standard and aptX-HD do still have a compression ratio of 4:1, though, to reduce audio-coding delays and minimise latency issues, so you may or may not use this facility. For the review I used both wired and Bluetooth. Indeed, I was torn between both, which will become clearer later. What is clever, too, is the voice control for answering and ending phone calls, if your phone allows. You can control the playback and answer phone calls just as in most remotes, and therefore of course it has a microphone.

Jets, Lenses and Anti-Resonance

There are three major parts to this design that help to produce an IEM that simply concentrates of presenting the audio rather than dealing with conventional headaches of resonances imposed by the boxes and spaces therein. The titanium shell of the R2 PRO I reviewed back in 2015 was significantly better than the aluminium or steel R2. So, the material’s strength and crystal structure impacts on the sound, and is why it is again chosen for this new model. But there is much more than just the material in the FLARES PRO. This IEM has been totally re-thought. Firstly there is the “Dual Jet” technology to control the movement of the driver, like a jet engine controlling intake of air. Basically there are two jets one at either end of the bullet size unit, each at carefully worked out sizes within tolerances of 10 microns  to achieve the correct pressure at all frequencies. The aim is to reduce distortion, and hence colouration of the sound.  The “acoustic lens” focuses and fires the sound into your eardrums. The tip of the unit is noticeably smaller than the width of the IEM, and smaller than the 5.5mm driver. Only the addition of the ‘earfoams’ makes the whole titanium shell look wider. Thirdly there is anti-resonance technology whereby a small space inside the unit ensures internal vibrations exit out of the rear rather than reflected back inside the unit to “infect” the sound, which would again create colourations and hence distortion. The idea of controlling unwanted sounds has always been central to Flare designs, and the resultant purity and efficiency of the music produced has been one of the reasons I have always liked their products.

The Sound

The initial listening was with the wired connection to my Fiio DAP. My first thoughts were that this is slightly longer than the original model though being so thin allowed the bullet to fit snugly into the ear, if you use the foams correctly (allow 15 seconds to expand before letting go). They can also be rested against the outer ear antitragus, that bit of cartilage on your lugholes, if you want that extra security that it won’t fall out if you are sprinting around the local park, but because the unit is slightly longer you might not find that quite so comfortable, particularly if you like much larger IEMs that do not touch your outer ear. There are three types and two sizes of Earfoams supplied, though the easy-listening Everyday Earfoams are silicone based, and not memory foam, so not so good at staying in place, at least in my ears, and because it is important that there is no leak of sound between the driver and ear for that excellent bass detail, that option of foams will not be so good musically. A Universal version is more durable and shaped to fit the majority of ears, but not so good at isolating and creating that better bass end. I chose to use the Audiophile version, of course, for my serious listening, and though they are not quite so hardwearing they do create an excellent isolation.

The difference in detail of sound and involvement in the music over the previous incarnation was quite staggering. Even listening to my own music, I found I was hearing little details I hadn’t experienced before. Turning to music I thought I knew so well was even more of an Aladdin’s cave. The speed, detail and cleanliness of sound was quite astounding, no wonder record producers love these IEMs. Distorted  spoken word in “I Wanna Rule the World” (from ‘Lazy Days’, 10cc) were very audible, though the intentional distorted guitars in “Iceberg”, track 5, whilst easier to hear. Indeed the musical phrases were much clearer and were therefore made much more interesting, indicating vividly how much the 1970’s band enjoyed making this complicated theatre piece. There are over 4 idioms in this piece including the musique concrete opening and vocal phrases such as “die die” and “Really not a lot you can do” plus the Ken Sykora style guitar passages that combine to make this all such an enjoyable and enticing track. The amount of detail kept me spellbound in my listening.

Which brings me to Beethovens 7^th symphony. When I performed it in a local symphony orchestra the second movement just made me very tearful, especially with the beautiful viola section melody at the start of the movement. It wasn’t bad playing that made me cry, but the emotion of the melodic lines and repetitive death-march rhythm. Music does make me cry, but it has to be a mixture of both the music line as well as the performance itself. I didn’t cry on this occasion, not just because the performance from the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (Herbert Kegal) isn’t the most exhilarating (it’s not so high in my list as performances with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle or Eugan Jochum, for example), but because I was picking out all the instruments and engrossed in every nuance of detail as I would sitting in front of the mixing desk at the recording.  Not that music was overtly critical, it was quite simply just accurately performing what was put in front of it. Such was the clarity and depth of information that even mp3 copy of David Gilmour “Rattle That Lock” came across so clear and extended that I forgot this was compressed music through compressed BT.  This was seriously good listening!

What is so good about the Flares Pro is that due to separate left and right cables with click-on MMCX gold-plated professional connectors a true balanced audio playback can be utilised allowing a greater listening experience. Since conventional earphones use a 3-pin (tip, ring and sleeve) 3.5mm jack this means there is a shared or common earth between both channels, which will cause phase distortions since that part of the signal is being shared.  Whilst not so noticed in loudspeaker listening there are papers discussing the greater effects on headphone listeners. I love my Stax Earspeakers as the sound travels balanced from source to ear. We are beginning to see balanced appearing in DAPs and hopefully more and more earphones soon. Flare Audio will be bringing out a balanced cable especially for this operation, and whilst I hope MMCX plugs will become popular in the portable DAP market, it is most likely the 4-pin 2.5mm jack will be the popular format since it is one plug and not two and less fragile. For wired listening the attractive cable plugs into a good quality y-adapter though this means output at the 3.5mm jack is unbalanced. Whilst the clarity I heard at the start of my listening using the wired set up was on a new level, it was not balanced, and I did hear very slightly more distortion than in the balanced BT mode, though of course that mode did limit me in terms of not being able  to play FLACs/DSD. It was hard to decide whether I preferred playing wired and BT, though luckily you have the choice.

Turning to ‘wired’ listening was such an improvement on the earlier R2Pro, and that model was very good. The precision and delivery of music from this new model made me sad to finish the review. OK, I am a sound engineer by trade, but also a musician playing 27 instruments (at the last count) and so my ears can pull out both detail and musicality. The limit is really the source of the music, as I soon found out listening to Mike Valentine’s reel to reel recording of ‘Big Band Spectacular’, since digital, even at 24/192, doesn’t really stand a chance against the best analogue source. Whether “Sing, Sing, Sing” or “In the Mood” the music not only induced finger tapping (the cable isn’t long enough to permit foot-tapping from where the Revox PR99 or Sony TC-766-2 are sat!) but it kept me engrossed in all that was going on.

Back to digital, this time using line output from the Class-A Slee Voyager headphone amp; Dadawa “The Turning Scripture” (Sister Drum) turned new pages in my listening experience of this track, with bass and top frequencies having quicker attack time and more detail that I only expect on my Stax electrostatics. 03’47 starts off a Dadawa characteristic of a powerful pulsating bass accompanying the chorus of voices that I wondered if the minute drivers would actually cope let alone my ears, and which ends with unusual grunting vocal noises all across my head. I need not have worried; if this can cope with what Visconti and Langon can throw at it then I shouldn’t ever have a problem.  No listening is complete without some Pink Floyd. “On the Run” from ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ (24/96khz ) had impeccable clarity; noises of sequenced synthesiser pattern, repeated drum patterns, that allowed you to feel you were actually sitting in front of the snare drum, the aeroplane engine and deep musique concrete noises allowed me to get closer to the music than any IEM before. The iconic “Time” track again was such fun; from the detailed transients from the clocks ticking to the deep engine noises that begin the track. Impeccable timing. The E and F# chords combined with the tom toms and synths and guitars are full blooded, and the ‘A major’ chord that comes towards the end of this section (2’08”) literally took my head off; it was if I had a 15” driver vibrating away in front of my; it wasn’t the 5.5mm driving having problems but the music in a new level of clarity. This continued in the instrumental verse every 4 bars. Why didn’t I hear this so clearly through the speakers? I decided to put that track on the speakers and whilst I could pick it out now after identifying it, I had never noticed the extent of this before today. I try not to turn my reviews into a record review or a list of all the music I have, but I needed to complete the listening with something I hadn’t played for a while. The Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten is a work with extremes of bass and treble instruments and detailed individual tunes and rhythms from different instruments including flutes, violins, cellos trumpets, with rhythmic statements from percussion including timpani and tubular bells, so a great piece to play to test both detail and musicality. There are four movements in this instrumental work that was written separately but related to the Opera Peter Grimes which has libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the narrative poem, “Peter Grimes,” in George Crabbe’s book ‘The Borough’.  The work is set at a Suffolk sea town, as indeed was Britten born not far from my own late father in Lowestoft.  This is a great work to get emotionally and technically involved in; particularly the third movement, and this version (Michael Stern/Kansas City Symphony orchestra 88.2/24bit) was no exception. The beautiful slow movement with its pulsating rhythm through the beautiful melodic phrases, sounding like a rolling tide at the seashore and was a great contrast from the beautiful desolate muted-trumpet melody. This was not only musically engaging but technically absorbing. I didn’t want to stop the listening.  The third movement with the canon-like violin and brass lines was similarly not only highly detailed and engaging but musical as well. There can be a link; detailed does not just mean technical. There are often 5 movements in this performance despite it saying “Four” in the title, though that is because the Passacaglia, Op33b, is often played alongside the Sea Interludes, which are Op 33a. Don’t ever think there is no bass here, the bass drum and tuba spurts at 5’50” will move your eardrum quite easily. These IEMs do have a clearer and extended bass end to their predecessor, though that model was still excellent if you wore the earfoams correctly. If you want bass pressure and therefore miss a lot of the detail from the music, then there are plenty of options out there on Amazon or from Curry’s but you may perhaps damage your ears if you play too loud. If you want sound quality, detail and involvement, then these could be your best choice, whatever the price, particularly when you consider the option of BT.  The pin-sharp and extended frequency response could be too perfect for some, but just begin to take in what ‘lesser’ IEMs will miss in terms of music and your £349 will be more than well rewarded. Indeed, though my name isn’t Visconti, I would want to use these IEMs to monitor all my heroes, too.

Conclusion

This product ticks all boxes for me in terms of detail, extension, speed and accuracy of the music, particularly in BT mode though that is limited to not playing FLACs and DSDs. This product was also great fun simply just opening the box, all for a very impressive £349. Where you might throw away boxes that your hifi comes in, you won’t want to throw these away.

Clarity of portrayal of the music does mean that what you hear is what you get; no veiling of the sound just to make it sound “nice”. It copes with significant levels of sound with no stress from the small 5.5mm driver and the BT function working up to around 15m. With the rise again in personal listening over the last decade and more recently the desire for better audio quality, the days of using cheap and bad IEMs is gradually fading fast, with top-end products getting cheaper and cheap. Maybe, possibly, the ears of our future heirs will experience even better personal music than we do now. I just wonder what Flare Audio will produce next.  Watch out for the next very exciting chapter.

AT A GLANCE

Pros:

Transparency
Well-controlled, fast and detailed sound delivery
BlueTooth option included
Excellent frequency range
Much improved components and packaging

Cons:

Excellent speed, detail and accuracy might be misconceived as ‘less musicality’.
Build Quality:  Excellent detail to build from the Titanium bullets to BT unit and packaging.

Sound Quality:  An excellently detailed and honest portrayal of the music, far exceeding this price point.

Value For Money:  At £349 this is excellent value considering sound quality and added BT unit. These are cheaper than retail price for the R2Pro that preceded them.

Janine Elliot 

Janine has suggested that the Flare Audio Pro IEMS are put forward for Hifi Pig’s coveted Outstanding Product Award and so they will now be sent to a second reviewer to complete the process

Göbel Lacorde Statement USB and Ethernet Cables cost 4500 Euros each for a 1.2m length putting them firmly in the luxury, high-end bracket. Dan Worth has a huge amount of experience with digital cables in Hifi and sees what these bring to the rather exclusive party.

“Receiving the ‘Best Sound At The Show’ from Hifi Pig after the Warsaw 2016 event and also given AVShowrooms ‘Best At Show’ award at Munich this year, Gobel High End contacted me to have a look at their latest cable options from the Lacorde Statement range. A USB and Ethernet cable – I think they may have heard through the proverbial grapevine that cables are somewhat of a fascination of mine and I particularly enjoy and employ a digital system…”

Read the full review here

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and holiday season wherever you are in the world.  Catch up on the Hifi News and Hifi Reviews that we brought you in December 2017.  Here’s wishing you all a happy, prosperous, healthy and musical 2018!

Edit, Bristol’s First Audiophile Bar And Kitchen

Christmas Gift Guide Promotion 2017

KEF R700 ‘Black Edition’ Loudspeakers

Hifi Shows – Hifi Pig’s Full Coverage Of The Audio Video Show Warsaw 2017

Naim Audio Partner With Princess Yachts For Luxury Marine Sounds

Finkteam Announce David Jefferys To Join Them

SVS New 4000 Series Subwoofers

Pulse IV From Leema Acoustics Launched

Pro-Ject Juke Box E ‘Just Add Speakers’

Bristol Sound And Vision 2018

PS Audio Release Redcloud OS

VANA Ltd. Introduces The E.A.T. E-Glo S Hybrid Tube Phono Preamplifier To US Market

Hear And See Lyrics With The Cotodama Lyric Speaker

Sound Carrier Audio Ultimate Phono

Fostex T60RP Headphones Launched

The Chord Co Shawline Streaming Cable Launched

£1.1m Factory Investment For Linn

Stones Speakers, Music From Rocks!

Harbeth Continue 40th Anniversary Celebrations With New Limited Edition Products

Chord Electronics Leather Case For Mojo And Poly

Boulder Announces Immediate Release Of 1110 Stereo Preamplifier

McIntosh Announce £137 000 Speaker System

Amphion Redesign Helium And Argon Bookshelf Speakers

Amazon Music Now Available On BluOS® For Bluesound And NAD Electronics

Cambridge Audio Announce Two Phonostages

Luxman Announce Flagship Integrated Amp

And the reviews:

Göbel Lacorde Statement USB and Ethernet Cables

Solidair Audio Ukishima Magnetic Isolators

Kralk Audio KALSU Loudspeaker Set Up Device

Flare Pro In Ear Monitors

Dominic Marsh experiments with the Solidair Audio Magnetic Isolators in this review for Hifi Pig.

“I will begin by saying that I am no stranger to using isolation supports employing magnetic levitation principles, as a good few years ago now I owned a SAP Relaxa 1 support that really was effective under my then CD player.  Of course I did try it under my turntable, a Logic DM101 as I recall, but that already had a sprung subchassis suspension system, so it was less effective in that role, plus the weight of the turntable was just a bit too much for the poor old Relaxa to bear comfortably.  It worked rather well though on a Technics direct drive deck which was much lighter.  My biggest surprise was the effect it had on my power amplifier, which, given that it has no moving parts and being solid state electronics, was not as prone perhaps to microphony, as say a valve amplifier can be…”

Read the full review here

It’s that time of year again, Christmas and New Year celebrations are over and everyone is getting back to work.  We have had a brilliant year at Hifi Pig Towers, including plenty of traveling all over the world to find the most interesting and best Hifi for you, our readers. Of course none of this would be possible without the ever growing core team of Pigsters, our exceptionally talented and knowledgeable writers and reviewers.  Team Hifi Pig and every Hifi Pig reader out there, we salute you!

So what better to do than to take a quick look back over Hifi Pig in 2017 and mull over what we think 2018 will bring for the Hifi industry?

January

January kicked off with the usual flurry of new product announcements from brands exhibiting at the annual CES in Las Vegas, including Mark Levinson’s first ever turntable, the N°515, created in collaboration with VPI Industries.  I think that the collaborative way of working will become more prevalent in the coming years with Hifi manufacturers finding ways of working together more and more.

We also saw the iconic British Brand, Harbeth launch their 40^th anniversary year, with limited edition products in January and throughout the year.

The first Outstanding Product of 2017 was awarded to the Tellurium Q Silver Diamond interconnect and speaker cables

February

February saw the unveiling of a pretty incredible set of loud speakers from Wilson Audio.  The WAMM Master Chronosonic, which costs well over $600,000 has been described as Dave Wilson’s Magnum Opus, the culmination of his life’s work. Sadly though, later in the year, we found out that Dave Wilson was suffering from a rare form of bone cancer. We have our fingers crossed for his recovery.

February is always the month when the UK has its biggest Industry show in Bristol. This year the weather decided to make it especially tricky for attendees and exhibitors alike with travel chaos and high winds. It didn’t put a damper on things though and we had an excellent show with plenty of Team Hifi Pig in attendance.  We also got a sneaky preview of the new Tannoy Legacy range of loudspeakers.

We also brought you the long awaited review of the Volya Audio Bouquet loudspeakers with their highly impressive sound and stunning Ukrainian folk art decoration, very deserving of an Outstanding Product award.

March

March was for Headfi with the Headroom show in London, reported on for us by Jay from our partner site Gadgety News.

April

April brought us shocking news about what could happen to the UK’s vinyl industry, post Brexit.

Plus we visited APURNA, a new company in Valence, Southern France, that make highly exclusive amplifiers that start at 200,000€ for the stereo pair, and are finished by the same craftspeople that work on Hermès and Cartier.

In the USA our American correspondent, David Blumenstein, visited the April AXPONA show for us.

And Dan Worth and Dominic Marsh caused cable controversy by awarding an Outstanding product award to a Ziro Audio power cable.

May

If it’s May, it’s Munich! This year we celebrated some of our best British exports, with our Great British Brands at Munich advertising feature. The British Hifi industry is going from strength to strength and our brands remain consistently popular both at home and abroad.

The High End Show itself turned it up to 11 with a show that was even busier and exciting with hifi exotica from all over the world.  Of course it is a major meet up place with industry friends from around the world to see and we met some fantastic fans of Hifi Pig… read all our coverage here! Get ready for High End 2018 whose dates are 10 to 13 May 2018 at the MOC in Munich.

June

We were back at Cranage Hall for the North West Audio Show 2017. This time it was for two days over the weekend and was excellent.  The show is in a wonderful setting and the exhibitors lived up to it with excellent sounding and looking rooms.  It will stay a full weekend event in 2018 with the show on the 23^rd to 24^th of June, there will be returning exhibitors, plus some new very big brands!

July

 There was plenty going on Hifi-wise but July was also a time of celebration, with landmark birthdays for Mr Hifi Pig and his mum, who has become known as Grandma Hifi Pig. Part of the celebrations involved a trip to Silverstone to see Lewis Hamilton win the British Grand Prix, which inspired an article about F1 and Hifi.

August

August saw Hifi Pig favourites Avantgarde Acoustic, of Germany, announce an even more luxurious and technically updated version of their Trio loudspeaker system, the Trio Luxury Edition 26 celebrates the brands 26^th anniversary.

Not to be outdone on the luxury front, we saw the launch of the Technics Reference SP 10R turntable.

Plus also, making it a very High End month, Estelon released more information about their Estelon Extreme Rolls Royce edition loudspeakers.

September

As the Whittlebury National Audio Show had relocated to Birmingham this year, plenty of brands instead decided to launch products at the Indulgence show in London.  In it’s second year we were proud to be media partners with the show who had put a lot of effort to make improvements where they were needed after the debut last year.  Hope fully 2018 will see Indulgence grow further becoming even bigger and better.

October

October opened with the sad news that Gérard Chrétien of French loudspeaker and headphone brand, Focal, had passed away, he will be missed by the whole Hifi industry.

We were soon back in London again, for the launch of the Chord Electronics Poly, which now accompanies their Mojo headphone amp/dac to give many more connectivity options.

After the sumptuous surroundings that Chord treated us to, we also managed to squeeze in a visit to Spiritland with their Living Voice bespoke sound system.

November

Our feet didn’t really get chance to touch the floor in November. We visited the High End Swiss show in Zurich. We also had plenty of photos from the Salon Arts & Hifi in Lyon, France, thanks to one of our readers Sylvain Blanchoud.

Simon Jelffs covered events in London for us including the iFi Nano idsd Black Label product launch and was back at Spiritland for the dCS 30^th anniversary celebrations and discussion on the future of music playback in the home.

We also brought you coverage of the Athens Hifi Show courtesy of Tony Pothiitos.

The main event of November though was the Audio Video Show Warsaw 2017, almost rivalling Munich in size, the show manages to capture many vibes over its three venues and is rapidly becoming our favourite show to go to.  Stuart and I were there to cover the show along with Hifi Pig’s Ian Ringstead and his wife Heather. There really is something for everyone and we saw plenty of families and couples there for a day out. The city centre is easy to get to and it’s a great place to go out and eat, plus not expensive at all. If you visit one European show in 2018 then give Warsaw a go, you seriously won’t regret it…be sure to wrap up warm though.

Debuting at the Swiss show were the new Music First Audio Senlac SJE Monoblock amplifiers which Janine Elliot wrote the exclusive world first online review of for Hifi Pig…watch this space as Janine was so impressed they are now about to have their second review to see if they make it onto the Outstanding Product list!

December

It was time to catch our breath after all that but we still brought you plenty of news and reviews.  Bristol opened it’s own Tokyo style Hifi bar and restaurant called Edit, which we shall be visiting soon.

So, what to expect in 2018 from the world of Hifi?

Probably more high end and high quality all in one devices like the new AVM range of which Dominic Marsh reviewed the Inspiration CS2.2. Portability and connectivity will continue to become more important both in the home and out and about, I think that people are looking for quality with clever products like the Chord Mojo/Poly and Dynaudio’s Music, that fit with your lifestyle and can be used as you want to use them but still deliver audiophile quality sound.

Hifi is becoming a much more accessible and ‘lifestyle’ product, brands like Shinola Detroit are cleverly making headphones and turntables a desirable lifestyle choice, again with the emphasis being on lasting quality and design. Collaboration, as I mentioned earlier, is key.  Sharing knowledge is much better than trying to reinvent the wheel yourself.  Hifi Shows are also reflecting this shift in the industry’s target market with shows like Cranage and Indulgence, in the UK, appealing to a wider variety of visitors and overtaking some of the more ‘traditional’ style shows.

The Tokyo style Audiophile bars and restaurants springing up in the UK are helping to close the gap between the traditional audiophile and people who don’t know about hifi, but love music. Great audio sound and great looking hifi is will be more accessible to all, but without ‘dumbing down’ or loosing quality. Of course though there is always going to be room for the extreme and the exotica, the recent announcement from Metaxas & Sins of their new reel to reel tape machine shows that 2018 will still have plenty of the crazy, wonderful, bonkers hifi that many of us reading this love to see and hear!

So, I wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous and musical 2018, from myself, Stuart and all of Team Hifi Pig, remember Hifi Pig Loves You!

Linette Smith

It’s that time of year again, Christmas and New Year celebrations are over and everyone is getting back to work.  We have had a brilliant year at Hifi Pig Towers, including plenty of traveling all over the world to find the most interesting and best Hifi for you, our readers. Of course none of this would be possible without the ever growing core team of Pigsters, our exceptionally talented and knowledgeable writers and reviewers.  Team Hifi Pig and every Hifi Pig reader out there, we salute you!

So what better to do than to take a quick look back over Hifi Pig in 2017 and mull over what we think 2018 will bring for the Hifi industry?

Read the full report here

Every once in a while a product comes onto the market that is so obvious and so simple that you can’t help but think “How did I not think of that?”, the KALSU from Kralk Audio is such a product. About six months ago Alan from Kralk contacted me to tell me about this loudspeaker set up doodad and my immediate thoughts were “That’s genius” and “Everyone is going to want it”. 

“So what is KALSU? Basically KALSU (Kralk Audio Laser Set-Up) is a little box you pop on top of your speakers that has a forward pointing battery powered laser and one on each side to enable fast and accurate speaker set up. In the smart carrying case you get a pair of KALSUs, a tape measure and a little spirit level. The tape measure is there to allow you to get the same distances from the walls of your room for each speaker – speak to anyone who treats rooms and they will tell you that a symmetrical room is important to get the best sound at the listening position…”

Read the full review here

The Flare Audio Pro In Ear Monitors have a very interesting design, cost £349 and can be used wired, or using Bluetooth. Janine Elliot and then Stuart Smith take a listen.

“The first headphone, the R1, from Davies Roberts, CEO of Flare Audio, was a great idea but was never their best product. Creating a headphone without that ghetto-blaster bass pressure infecting the music was a great idea, only let down by the driver. What was clever was the spiraling vortex system around both sides of the 40mm dynamic headphone drivers designed to remove all Enclosed Residual Pressure Interference (ERPI). Then came their R2 IEM. Wow, this was a game changer, especially the R2PRO (£200 Kick-Starter price, then £400 after) with its Titanium body-shell. Whilst it was impossible to fit a vortex system either side of the driver in such a small space, in order that there was equal pressure both sides of the driver he created a spring effect system at the front to match that caused naturally on the rear of the driver. Whilst some might think there is no bass, it is just void of the sound pressure usually associated with bass frequencies in IEMs. This allowed much more of the detail and speed of sound at bass frequencies but relies on good fitting of the earfoams, and extended and detailed top frequencies that were so clear you would think your ears had just been syringed. They were respected by professional musicians and producers alike, as is their new offering, a balanced IEM with wireless DAC, called the ‘FLARES PRO’, all for £349…”

Read the full review here