DIY Recording Guys · Vadim Kharaz and Benjamin Hull

Bonus: Review of Flare Audio Ear Inserts

March 25, 2021·32 min·2 clips

Vadim used EarHD 360s to uncover why a mastering engineer heard distorted cymbals he couldn't detect.

1. DIY Recording Guys hosts Vadim Karaz and Benjamin Hall review Flare Audio Calmer ear inserts and Ear HD products in a bonus episode following their interview with Flare founder Davies Roberts. 2. Vadim Karaz is a working recording engineer and co-host based at Calm Frog Recording; Benjamin Hall co-hosts and records at Dream Loud Studio — both are practicing mix engineers with professional studios. 3. The episode tests whether Flare Audio's ear inserts solve real hearing-comfort and monitoring problems for home studio engineers and daily listeners, building on claims Davies Roberts made in episode 62. 4. Vadim describes a mastering dispute: he judged a master's guitars too harsh while the mastering engineer complained about a distorted cymbal; inserting the EarHD 360s reduced the perceived guitar harshness, suggesting ear resonance was the root cause rather than the master itself. 5. Vadim now plans to mail a pair of EarHD 360s to the mastering engineer to test whether the engineer's cymbal complaint originates from a similar ear-resonance issue in a slightly different frequency band. 6. Ben's standout Calmer test was watching Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay — a show whose intentionally anxious music normally triggers a physiological stress response — and finding the response absent while wearing the inserts. 7. Vadim tested Calmer inserts across three personal scenarios: walking along busy streets with Corvettes revving, his mother's speakerphone calls, and kitchen dishes clanking — reporting meaningful reduction in irritation in all three. 8. Both hosts note the Calmer inserts are nearly invisible in the ear; Vadim's wife could only spot them after being told they were there, which the hosts flag as a significant usability advantage. 9. Vadim's wife uses the Calmer inserts in the company of someone whose eating sounds trigger her misophonia, and she reports the inserts appear to help, though the hosts say more testing is needed. 10. Ben tested the Ear HD 90s in his treated studio, reporting that the phantom center image became more prominent and vocals and guitars snapped forward, but the side-blocking design also collapsed perceived stereo width. 11. Vadim tested the Ear HD 360s against a Bluetooth mono speaker, finding sibilance reduction on streaming vocal tracks immediately noticeable when swapping them in and out across two bars of the same verse. 12. Ben identifies a key design difference: the Ear HD 90s physically shield the sides of the ear to focus sound from directly ahead, while the 360s have no such shield and preserve peripheral sound, producing different stereo-width outcomes. 13. Both hosts agree the stereo-width loss from the 90s is a direct acoustic consequence of blocking first and second reflection points, which are what give listeners a sense of stereo field in a treated room. 14. Ben draws an analogy to binoculars at a live arena show — using 21 Pilots at an arena as a specific example — saying the Ear HD 90s serve the same focusing function for hearing that binoculars serve for vision at distance. 15. Vadim raises a counterpoint: the Ear HD products could be genuinely useful as a mixing reference check tool for engineers who over-compensate for their own hearing sensitivity, framing it as "removing sunglasses while mixing." 16. Ben notes that the Calmer inserts are now part of his day-to-day carry, slotting into the keychain earplugs he already uses, due to their small size and ease of removal. 17. Both hosts describe the episode in a conversational two-host review format, with each host sharing independent test scenarios before comparing notes; the tone is practical and measured, with neither host over-hyping or dismissing the products. 18. The episode is unscripted and lightly edited, with the hosts acknowledging their tests lacked scientific rigor — Vadim notes his three-scenario street test was more systematic than Ben's couch setup. 19. Audio engineers, musicians, and people with sound sensitivity issues who want a practical take on Flare Audio products from working studio engineers will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who have no interest in mixing, mastering, or ear-insert gear, or who want a fully controlled double-blind product review, will likely find the format too casual.

As heard by us

A grounded Flare Audio ear-insert review for engineers trying to separate real mix problems from everyday harshness.

DIY Recording Guys use this bonus episode to test Flare Audio's ear inserts where they matter most: in the messy gap between studio judgment and everyday hearing fatigue.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Want a grounded gut-check on whether ear inserts can make harsh listening moments easier to handle?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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