SUMMARY :-
Instead of a one on one comparison I think a mixed comparison feels more appropriate given the diversity of the R2 Aten.
Let’s start with the hard part. Are the black and gold sets good? Not really, they are wooly and lack essential amount of details and clarity. The bass is woolier and slower than the Shozy pola, the required amount of clarity is missing. Notes are thick and blunt. The red and purple filters are good and find a nice balance of most of the things, A-Bing these two filters is more than enough for most of the users. The Green filter is very good but kind of flawed for most.
What is the best set or combination to go with? The best set is Pink/purple, it has the best balance of everything. As per combos the red nozzle with pink and blue filter and pink nozzle with blue filter are some of the best combinations. There are a lot of possibilities but I like these combos.
This is how I find the filters stand against some good quality earphones.
| Earphone/color set | Details and resolution | Clarity and transparency | Layering and separation | Bass quantity/ quality | Treble quality | Stage size and quality |
| Black | 7.5 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 9.2/7 | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| Black nozzle, Blue filter | 7.8 | 7.8 | 8 | 9/7.2 | 8 | 8.7 |
| Gold | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 8.8/7.5 | 7.3 | 8.4 |
| Red | 8.2 | 8 | 8.2 | 8.5/8.1 | 8.2 | 8.8 |
| Pink/purple | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.1/8.6 | 8.6 | 9 |
| Green | 9 | 9 | 9 | 5/8 | 9 | 8.7 |
| Avara AV3 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 8.7 | 7/8.2 | 8.8 | 8.4 |
| Fibae 3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 7.5/8.3 | 8.6 | 8.3 |
| Shozy pola | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8.5/8.7 | 8.8 | 9.2 |
| DK-2001 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.5/8.3 | 8.45 | 8.6 |
CONLCUSION:-
Why will you buy this? The huge stage size on its own is enough, but there are more tricks under R2 Aten’s belt.
Overall the R2 Aten is a mixed kind of earphone. It can give everything you can ask for thanks to its tuning diversity but not the best of everything at once(maybe the Pink filter, but Green has better notes sharpness and clarity). It does very good with red and purple filter sets and the combos of red filter with pink nozzle and red nozzle with blue filter but they are not excellent at anything but stage size. The most impressive part is left with the kind of awkward sounding green filter. I am impressed, really impressed, the sound is very engaging, musical and cohesive but is not very very detailed like the Avara AV3.
Should you go for the R2 Aten? Definitely, it has the stage which is rarely seen with earphones in this price range and the SQ is totally worth it. It does not have the best micro details and at times the notes lack penetration and attack but the stage makes up for this with a vast stage size.
I will not say you cannot go wrong with it, you can definitely go wrong with it, it is not a very straightforward earphone but the diversity alone (can’t forget the stage size) makes up for it, it can be bassy and analytical with just a simple swap of a set. You definitely can ask for more in every aspect (except stage size) but it already offers everything possible. The plate is full, you can strike a lot of combos but if the plate is simply not big enough (the amount of details) you can try the ETY killer Avara AV3.
The one word for the R2 aten is impressive, it has it all, only if it had a bit more micro details across the spectrum it would have been unbeatable.
