Flicker Ear Flow Review: Crisp and accurate
Based in Hong Kong, Flicker Ear is a custom in-ear monitor brand. This brand would probably be unheard of for most as they’ve been mainly dealing with the domestic market only. Although I’m not sure of the exact years, they’ve been in the game for quite some years, at least since 2018 at the latest. While Flicker Ear may be unfamiliar to you, I suppose PW Audio would definitely be ringing the bell for most of us.
Why am I mentioning PW Audio out of nowhere? That’s because Peter Wong himself has joined the team of creating Flicker Ear. I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s inspiring to see such a renowned custom cable maker to be joining an earphone brand. Flicker Ear has a wide range of in-ear products that vary between $100 to $2k. Today we’ll be reviewing their most affordable entry IEM priced at $119, the Flow. Let’s see how it sounds and performs.
Packaging
For this review, we unfortunately don’t have the original box or package for Flow! Let’s instead jump right in for the accessories and quickly move to the real deal. Flow comes in a square-shaped box that is decent in size. Once you open the box sideways reveal two trays inside, including the earpiece on the upper layer, and the lower layer includes 3 pairs of silicone tips and a stock cable.
The variety of accessories is a bit lacking especially considering the size of the packaging box. It’s a slight downslide that Flow doesn’t come with a storage case although this is usually considered essential. More varieties in eartips would have been nicer too.
Earpieces / Cable
Flow uses a single proprietary 10mm dynamic driver. What’s interesting is that the driver diaphragm materials. Flow’s dynamic driver is made of 3 layers of diaphragm which are each different in materials – LCP, silk, and bio-cellulose. The LCP diaphragm is added with nanofibers to increase the stiffness of the drivers, helping the IEMs to sound agile. Meanwhile, the bio-cellulose diaphragm is applied with the silk layer to achieve better dynamics and natural nuance. We’ll soon see how it sounds…
The earpieces are small and compact to the ears, being one of the most comfortable and smallest over-ear earphones. Flow is available in two color options – black or purple. Of course, Flicker Ear is a custom in-ear brand, so once you go for a CIEM, the design options are countless. The earphone duct and nozzles are finished in metal parts, giving a sturdy look and feel. The cable feels like a general IEM stock cable. The cable is finished with black sleeves and is very smooth and light. The cable uses a 3.5mm plug termination.
Sound impressions: Bass
Flow has a mild w-shaped IEM with a slight extra emphasis on the lows. The bass quantity is on the calm side, being about 25% elevated from flat. It’s similar to slightly v-shaped IEMs, which may not be sufficient for bassheads. However, the unusual thing is that the bass is very dynamic and thick.
Flow provides excellent clarity in bass texture by controlling the reverbs and sub-bass quantity. The texture grains are well presented which gives agility to the bass. Speaking of agility, Flow has a strong bass control. The reverbs are mildly done to have clean bass grooves. Although Flow keeps the bass quantity calm, the bass doesn’t feel lacking due to having a full-bodied thickness. Overall, the bass is even, deep, and thick. Flow has a nice bass extension, fetching the ultra-low growls loud and clear.
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