I’ve recently obtained a soundcore flare 2 speaker, and am quite in awe. So much so, that when fellow core member @matthew_wright indicated Costco had a deal on said speaker, I thought that I better Linus up…
Below is my review of the OG flare 2 and some of its features, and later in the test vid, OG is joined by his siblings… hope you enjoy.
Unboxing:
The box containing the flare 2 was pretty flashy, simple, but had some pretty cool artwork on it. After taking a few minutes to figure out that the outer box was a sleeve, I managed to take the inner box out and open it up. Inside was a slender black box that contained the USB c charging cable and the standard paper for use / warranty / happy.
Nestled inside a form fitting black tray was the flare 2, wrapped in a soft plastic wrap. Unwrapping the speaker, yielded a very slender profiled speaker with a nice fine mesh cover, slick to the touch,
The speaker was powered on, and the fun set to begin.
Pairing: Grade A
After powering on the speaker, and being greeted with the signature power on “doo do dooo”, I pressed the Bluetooth button on the back of the speaker to start the pairing process. It connected quite quickly.
Once paired to my iPad, I started the soundcore app and added it to my devices.
Functional items:
BT range: Grade A
Range for the flare 2 to my iPad, seems to be at the top of the range for BT5. In the house, I am able to get at least 40ft with an obstructed line of sight. I’d offer to test outdoors, like I did with my liberty 2 pros, but 2 ft of snow would say otherwise… ooooof.
Battery: Grade A-
The speaker, when received, was pretty much fully charged. I’ve been using it quite a bit and have been pushing on 6 hrs play time before I decided to charge. This due to me choosing to update the firmware, and the app suggesting the battery being below 50%, needed to be charged.
It took a bit of time to charge to full, but I didn’t do it any favours by charging from the laptop USB a port… when this does get to flat, I’m thinking it will take some time.
Soundcore app: Grade A+
For the liberty 2 pros, I hadn’t really utilized the app to unlock all of the power contained therein… I was oblivious to what secrets and power was awaiting… I figured I giv’er a try with the flare 2. Once the flare 2 was added as a device, there were plenty of things to play around with.
First was the various light patterns that could be chosen. With each, the colours were customizable, so you could taylor the colours to suit your mood. I like the cool breath on the best.
Eq settings: Grade B+
While not as many choices as perhaps the L2Ps or the Q30s, there were enough to adjust as necessary. A custom eq setting was available as well. I prefer the “flat” setting.
The app also allows you to control the firmware updates for any supported soundcore items. I took the time to update the flare.
Lastly, the app also has a helpful page to aid in setting up the partycast function, I’ll have to see if I can test this out… 
Multifunction / control: Grade A
The flare 2 can be controlled in a multitude of ways. The top of the speaker has light control, volume / track control, power control and also (unbeknownst to me) Alexa / Siri control. As I was out making snowmen, and wanted to power off the speaker on my way inside, I almost Siri dialed a contract in my iPhone…
Apart from the speaker, the app also allows for total control of the speaker as well, just not the Siri / Alexa tie in (phew).
On the back of the speaker, is the Bluetooth button as well as the base up function button.
My preference is currently the use of the app to get things setup, and my device to control volume.
Sound quality (FINALLY!!) 
Grade: A+
Well thanks for sticking it out this far, here’s the good stuff…
The lil speaker boasts 360* sound. And I believe the speakers are all directional. Meaning the all face the same direction. Along with the speakers, some passive radiators are incorporated into the mix. The result??? A stunningly loud speaker, that when you roll it in your hand, is difficult to tell which way the internal speakers face. Yes, I can honestly say it’s 360* sound. Very impressively done.
Now to properly test out the soundstage of the speaker, I decided to put together a speaker test playlist
Songs ranging from Hollywood undead, to Mackenzie Porter, to Beethoven… the sound response of this stout lil speaker was superb, fantastic, incredible… on the track “The Lark Ascending” the violin and stringed instruments came through clean and crisp. “Radioactive” yielded a better response than I expected, as the bass forward track often is met with distortion on most other speakers / earbuds. It pushed the flare 2, but with minimal distortion. Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” was incredible… all of the nuances of the song came through clear and clean… the shakers, rattles and of course the blistering guitar solo.
Great job on getting such a little speaker to punch way above its place in the soundcore lineup.
Last but not least,
Partycast function: Grade B+
wait let me explain…
Partycast is without a doubt, one of the coolest features I have ever heard about for a speaker. With it you have the ability to connect 100 speakers that have partycast… at the time of this review, I believe the rave series as well as the mini series have the partycast ability.
Now, the reason for the deduct in the grade, is that setting up partycast is a bit fiddle farty… tricky if you will. Granted the app has some doco to help step through the process.
After visiting Costco, and buying a couple 2 packs, I managed to get the triplets setup with partycast. However, it took me a couple of tries.
Once connected, I sent the triplets throughout the house, and instead of listening to crying… I enjoyed the song stylings of LØLØ, Anna of the North and others from my speaker test playlist.
You can check out my testing video link here:
All in all, very impressed with the triplets. I know some fam that will be getting a flare 2 for Christmas…
Overall grade: A
If you are looking for a small speaker that kicks… I highly recommend the Flare 2.
Cheers.
