Disclaimer: This post is a part of our Picture Sunday Series. You can check out recent Picture Sunday posts HERE. Flares Gold was sent us by Flare Audio of the UK for an in depth review. It costs around 1350$ USD. You can find out all about it here: FLARES GOLD | Flare Audio Ltd
Flare Audio’s latest, greatest, earphone vindicates the most ardent of praise I heaped upon Flares Pro. While shiner and gaudier, Flares Gold is pure gold. Naturally, it’s heavier, more expensive, and because of its color, attracts greater sardonicism. It’s time to put the latter one to rest.
Flares Pro sounds damn good. Its low sensitivity to hiss, great overall presentation, and an interesting, tip-dependent treble presentation, that can be either edgy or feathered, puts it up there with a lot of the greats below 1000$. Its highs could peak strangely around 10K, but again, the right tips sort that right out.
Flares Gold draws on fundamental Flares Pro sound blueprints meats up the midrange and smooths out up top. Like its forebear, it is tip dependent, but even with stock rubber pieces screwed in, its treble is smoother, more mature, and way easier to listen to from trance to hip hop. It’s not a sleepy-time, comfy-chair listening earphone though: there’s plenty of stereo width and mid and low-range texture detail to keep you looking at your music deeper.
Flares Gold keeps the same split-before-the Y cable, the same bluetooth DAC/amp, the same after-Y replaceable cable. The box is the same, but with gold labels. The tips are the same. The case is the same. And just as before, Flare Audio’s penchant for audiophile punnery probably gets them in trouble with the most prude pendants. But just as before, it’s Flare that get the last laugh. If you’re bothered by the tag: ‘The ultimate golden ears experience’, you’re a simpleton.
Flares Gold’s body is a bit tubbier than the Flares Pro. Honestly, I like the look of the Pro. But where it comes to sound – and let’s remember that Flares Pro could hang with some of the best sub-1000$ earphones out there – Gold has totally won me over.
Obviously we’ll get more into all of that. Flares Gold went with me to CanJam SoCal 2018. Had I not heard it or carried it, likely I would have been more impressed by various and sundry earphones I heard. Had I never heard Flares Pro, it’s likely I’d not be as bothered by wireless hiss. But Flare Audio designed both Flares to obviate wireless hiss. They did this at the expense of necessitating more output volume from your player. And they did it with the full knowledge that even the iPhone has a lot more clean and clear volume to give. And they even made sure you can keep the entire length of your post-y-split cable tidy. Check this out:
That’s good design.
Arysyn
Excellent to see you mention the FlaresGold here, Nathan.
I look forward to reading your full review soon. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to read my review posted at Head-Fi, here :
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/flares-gold-by-flare-audio.23024/reviews#review-20112
Note : My review is long, but I described alot in it, along with some of my background getting interested in portable audio technology.
ohm image
Hey man, great work. I LOVE these earphones.
Arysyn
Thank you, Nathan! Very much looking forward to your review.
Clarence
Does it require a lot of power to drive it well?
Love to read a comparision to Vega or even Altas.
Really looking forward to the review
ohm image
No, it does not. I set my iPhone to 2 or 3 bars MAX over what I would with other earphones. I’m careful with my hearing and ensure that I never exceed half unless it is with an open earphone in a situation (like bicycling) that requires me to hear the outside. Flares Gold isolates well and gets loud from any source.
BL
Been using the Pros for a month
Great earphones – I prefer it over my Jh16s
ohm image
That’s… high praise. I also LOVE the Flares Pro. I hope you get the chance to try the Gold, but both are A+ earphones.
Microsoft Support UK
This is a high range headphone. This is reach in sound. This headphone is too costly because of its design and the gold-plated color in it. The gold color looks too attractive. The sound quality of the headphone is too awesome. The cable quality is awesome. It too heavy for the gold. If you need any other support you can check the website.
dale thorn
Now I want it even more!
Arysyn
The FlaresGold certainly is an excellent iem, my very favorite at the moment, one which produces a very rare sound signature for a dynamic driver iem. Neutral bass – though it adapts for songs which require more of it, forward mids/vocals, and a detailed treble that is more controlled than the FlaresPro’s slightly more V-Shape presentation.
Although not a traditional V-Shape with recessed mids/vocals, more like a wider V-Shape allowing for the mids/vocals to be more forward, with an emphasis on lower/sub-bass and upper treble. The FlaresGold pushes back the upper treble very slightly, while doing the same with the bass.
Nick Patel
NICE POST
Daniel
Great review. How would you say the Gold compares to the se846?