A REVOLUTIONARY audio company has smashed its Kickstarter campaign target to raise £177,277 towards a new range of earphones.

Flare Audio, based in Lancing, said the successful campaign was about more than money but making the world aware of its pioneering technology.

Davies Roberts, chief executive of Flare Audio, said a slew of positive reviews of the headphones at the mid-way point of the campaign were a great help.

The company has collected scores of endorsements from A-list producers such as Jimmy Page and Jarvis Cocker.

The R1 and R2 Headphones are now being assembled at its Lancing unit and will have a strong connection to the area with all components made by local suppliers.

The first batch is due for release in July but Mr Roberts is already looking to the future.

He said: “We are working on a new home studio speaker called Flare Zero and we are announcing that in July.

“The idea of Zero is so they can identify and perfect the art.

“We see ourselves as potentially the Apple of the sound world.”

Regular speakers produce distortion which give studios difficulty in recording high quality, consistent sound, as sound information put through one speaker will sound completely different through another.

Flare Audio say their speakers have distortion-free sound and produce identical results from unit to unit, allowing musicians and studios to record with more precision.

The principles underlying the new technology can be applied to all forms of speaker system and Mr Roberts believes the company can expand into these markets.

The R1 are slip-on headphones while the R2 are earbuds using memory foam to provide a custom fit in the ear.

Both promise the same distortion-free sound by producing completely equalised sound waves.

Flare claims the technology can solve another key problem with conventional headphones - ear damage.

Eardrums move as a mirror of a speaker cone, with conventional cones putting eardrums under stress, which can cause deafness.

Flare’s cones move as far back as forwards, allowing the eardrum to vibrate naturally and, Roberts claims, without risking damage to hearing.