T+A Solitaire P Headphones - HiFi Review - HiFi and Music Source · supplied with the headphones:...

T+A Solitaire P Headphones - HiFi Review - HiFi and Music Source

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Headphones – HiFi Review

By Simon Wilce. Published on 20 May 2020.

This is my HiFi review of

these exceptional T+A

Solitaire P headphones,

they are the Rolls Royce

of headphones in so

many ways, let me

explain.

Just when I thought I had reached my HiFi Headphone nirvana with the

exceptionally wonderful Meze Empyrean headphones last year, these

T+A Solitaire P Headphones come along. Hilariously two years previously

I thought I’d got there with Focal’s Utopias. Now I have a different view

of headphone nirvana and my HiFi journey continues. These are

exceptionally comfortable, long listening, high-quality headphones that

deliver a wonderfully warm sound with such detail and they have a

soundstage to stand up for.

Design

The T+A Solitaire P Headphones are circumaural, open-backed and have

a planar-magnetic delivery. T+A have made the three important choices,

correctly in my view, for a superior sound in these “no compromise”

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Balanced 4.4 mm Pentaconn connector

surrounding area, this is not a big deal for me, you’re hardly going to be

commuting with these, you’re phone will melt trying to drive the

transducer! Finally, the headphones are planar magnetic giving them the

advantage of a superior sound delivery system characterised by less

distortion from the diaphragm, better response and cleaner delivery

mechanism, versus the usually dynamic driver headphones.

T+A has clearly gone for the very finest materials it can lay its hands on

and the overall feel is very comfortable indeed. It has to be said the look

of the headphones is less luxurious and stylish than, say, a Focal Utopia

headphone which really does look expensive but any aesthetic

shortcomings are made up for in the most important department, that of

sound quality, not to mention comfort. We are talking about style and

substance here, and the Solitaires are all about substance. I believe these

headphones are the most comfortable to wear I have experienced, even

ahead of the Meze Empyreans (I do mean that) and the gorgeous Focal

Utopias.

Technically, these

headphones have a

higher Impedance, at a

claimed 80 Ohms, this

means they demand

more juice to drive

them but the pay-off is

the quality of the sound

output. Careful

amplifier matching is needed with these T+A Solitaire P headphones: at

this point, T+A decided to build their own HA 200 headphone amplifier.

The HA 200 has an impedance matching function, ensuring the best


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As befitting these slightly boxy T+A Solitaire P headphones, the boxing is

huge, totally over packaged in every way but why not? There is minimal

luxury about the packing, just functional delivery of the precious cargo

with no faux silk touches to pander to your ego. There are two cable sets

supplied with the headphones: one with the usual 6.3 mm barrel

connector, and the second with a symmetrical 4.4 mm Pentaconn

connector (therefore a balanced cable) which offers optimum transfer

resistance for the best possible sound quality, all contacts are gold-plated

and the cord is of the no-knot variety. Quite honestly, the packaging will

end up in the loft so the box, on this occasion, is purely functional, in a

good way.

Quality

There is a hint of the ‘no

compromise’ statement

from the T+A site in just

about every component

off these headphones.

The solid cups are

machined from a 35 mm

thick solid aluminium

plate block using “a precision 5-axis milling machine”. The machining of a

single cup takes more than an hour, the yolk and the yolk connections

are made of the same materials, the brushed finish is luxurious, to say

the least. The ‘open’ bit of the back of the earcups is covered in a fine

black aluminium mesh that enables you to see right into the high-

performance neodymium magnets driving the diaphragm.

The ear and head cushions are hand-made and manufactured by a


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with these headphones on whilst it was raining and the headphones were

not fatiguing in the least, though I fell asleep for a good hour listening to

Miles Davis (if you search Miles Davis in Tidal or Qobuz there are so

many albums it is astonishing, the quintet stuff is my personal

favourite!).

The cables provided consist of ultra-pure copper (OFC) conductors with

a carefully defined silver layer. There are four signal conductors

embedded in cotton threads that are permanently wrapped in a silver-

plated woven shield. This construction isolates electromagnetic influences

and damps mechanical resonances. The terminals in the cup (one each)

are new to me but work really nicely with a satisfying click.

I note in the manual there is a ‘Freshen Up Service’ that seems to link in

through a QR Code which is a neat and easy way of doing it.

Performance

Set-Up

I’m listening to the T+A

Solitaire P headphones

with the new T+A HA

200 headphone

amplifier, which is a

really rather special piece

of engineering in its own right, the impedance matching function makes

the Solitaires sing beautifully. The amplifier has no streaming module

but has a comprehensive set of inputs including XLR and RCA as well as

other digital options. In my testing, I’m using the rather excellent Auralic


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T+A HA 200 headphone amplifier

A word on the T+A HA 200 headphone amplifier. It is beautiful and gets

an ‘Outstanding’ recommendation from me. It has everything you want,

though there is no analogue output. It is also not a streaming source but

the DAC onboard gives you the option of streaming from a computer via

USB which I will look at more comprehensively in a review of the

amplifier. There is also

an aptX Bluetooth input

which is pretty

interesting. The T+A HA

200 headphone amplifier

has backlit VU meters on

the front that can show a range of channel levels including output level

(of course) or the streaming quality or even the temperature inside the

amplifier! There is a rather classy remote that is appropriate for this level

of quality.

Tidal Playlists

This is a generic headphone playlist that I’ve gathered from all the What

HiFi type lists that abound the airwaves, I do dip around this list but the

main ones I listen to critically are at the end and the beginning. I’ve

found myself, what with one thing and another, putting together my Top

5 songs too that sound unbelievable with such a fantastic system.

T+A Solitaire P headphones – Detail

These headphones are built for the best sound possible and the detailed

presentation is a feature of these headphones. Calexico’s What Heaven’s


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unnoticed are further delivered from this beautiful sound. Further layers

of detail are revealed in one of my all-time favourite tracks, Helplessness

Blues, by Fleet Foxes. What a track, and in these headphones it really is

sublime, the guitars in the intro are so soft and the harmonies are

glorious. When the guitars kick in in layers you’re able to listen to each

one with your eyes closed. It is such a wonderful experience.

Finally, of course, there is so much detail in Sgt Pepper’s and so play with

A Day in the Life on Qobuz with the Deluxe release in 24 bits 96 kHz

reveals the bass detail, and Lennon’s voice is perfectly centred in the

middle middle of my headspace. Finally, I have to mention the fantastic

rasp of Jamie Cullum’s voice in Gran Torino

T+A Solitaire P headphones – Soundstage

These T+A Solitaire P headphones have a soundstage for the price tag.

Again, you need a really well produced track and Find the River by REM

is right up there, the individual strings and the warmth in the track

deliver a wonderful soundstage. Another great soundstage is presented

by Mr Blue Sky, ELO’s definitive track.

One album that really benefits from the soundstage is the heavily layered

and complex Crack Up, also by Fleet Foxes, the Third of May is

particularly special in these headphones.

T+A Solitaire P headphones – Long Sunday

On one particular rainy Sunday in the Lockdown I actually ended up

listening with the headphones for several hours on end, drifting along

with the biggest playlist ever! What was particularly noticeable was the


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Update – T+A Solitaire P headphones with Questyle CMA 400i

headphone amplifier

(Added post-publication)

I have latterly had a play with the Solitaires with my own Questyle

headphone amplifier (CMA 400i) instead of the HA 200, I’ve had to use

the 6.5 mm jack because I don’t have a 4pin XLR cable (this will be an

option I gather soon in the UK with the Solitaires). The Solitaires come

with the Pentaconn connector as well as the usual 6.5mm jack because

T+A deem the Pentaconn delivers a better contact connection. I guess

this will overtake the 2.5mm balanced connector soon that I have on my

Questyle HA.

The T+A Solitaire P

headphones have a very

similar feel to them,

warm with huge amounts

of detail; I’m using my

DELL XPS as a source

with the Atlas USB Grun

cable, as detailed in this

review. All of the

resolution is here, for

example, in my 24 bit 48kHz copy of Radiohead’s The Numbers, the

sparkling detail is there. I’m turning up the volume on the amplifier as it

stretches to drive the 80Ohms of load but it is fine, I feel I may be

getting a fraction less from the headphones but this is almost certainly

due to the amplifier being less spacious than the HA 200. The key thing


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Update – T+A Solitaire P headphones – Impedance Matching

(Added post-publication)

After listening to the interview on YouTube there was a section on

impedance matching with T+A engineers and designers Lothar Wiesman

and Max Kirsche. They were actually discussing the impedance matching

function on the HA 200. Lothar was suggesting playing with the

impedance starting at one-fifth of the headphone’s rating, in the case of

the Solitaires this would be roughly 18 Ohms. Naturally, I assumed the

HA would be tuned to the rating of the headphones but this appears not

to be the case. So with an impedance of 18 set on the amplifier, the

output is louder than at an 80 Ohm setting; quality wise it is hard for

me to discern a difference. I still prefer the 80 Ohms setting on the

amplifier, driving it and the headphones harder but clearer and

developing the space for the music to move into (in other words it

sounds better for me with the higher impedance setting!)

Overall

these T+A Solitaire P headphones are the Rolls Royceof headphones….they are designed for the longerjourney, enabling you to arrive without fatigue,knowing you’ve experienced the best your money canbuy

At this price level, we are talking supercars; dreams that are barely

affordable T+A use a car chassis analogy on their site and in every


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LLoovvee

Warmth

Incredible detail

Long listening

comfort

LLiikkee

Pentaconn cable

Choice of cables

Refresh service

WWiisshh

For a Lottery Win

or a ‘Bank Error in

your Favour’

headphones. Whilst not particularly svelt to look at they are designed for

the longer journey, enabling you to arrive without fatigue, knowing

you’ve experienced the best your money can buy.

In substance, as I have already stated, the T+A Solitaire P headphones

deliver a wonderfully warm sound with such fabulous detail and they

have a soundstage to stand up for. I can award these headphones

nothing less than ‘Outstanding’, 5 stars.

Retailing at £4,999. The HA 200 is retailing near £6.600

Technical specifications for the T+A Solitaire Pheadphones


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Coupling to the ear –

Circumaural

Frequency response: 5 –

54000 Hz

Nominal Impedance –

80 Ohms

Sound pressure level – (1 kHz, 1 V rms) 101 dB

Max. rated input power – 750 mW

Total harmonic distortion – (1 kHz, 100 dB) < 0,015 %

Static magnetic field (maximum value) – 35 mT

Contact pressure – ca. 3,2 N

Weight – 545 g (without

cables)

Temperature range

During operation: +10 …

+40 °C

Storage: 0 … 45 °C

Connection cable with

6.35 mm stereo jack plug (unbalanced)

Connection cable with 4.4 mm stereo jack plug (balanced)

Optional accessory XLR-4 connection cable (balanced)


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