T+A Elektroakustic Solitaire T: Do-It-All Headphones?

If high-end audio is to stay related into the 2030s and past, it is going to be because of merchandise like T+A Elektroakustic’s Solitaire T headphones. Admittedly, a pair of $1600 headphones (all costs in USD) shouldn’t be one thing the typical client has been crying out for. But let’s say you’re nominally into hi-fi and infrequently hearken to music on a modest desktop system whereas working nearly for The Man. The tunes you stream as a keyboard jockey are interrupted by frequent calls from colleagues aimed toward driving course of enchancment and consumer satisfaction. To decompress, you wander outdoors for a stroll, longing for a change of surroundings—however not so longing for the sound of vehicles buzzing by or the din of development within the distance. Your evenings are punctuated by doing the dishes, prepping a child’s lunch, and wiping down counters to the soundtrack of a favourite podcast or YouTube video. Maybe, if you happen to’re actually motivated, you’ll keep up late to look at a TV present in your iPad or play a videogame in your most well-liked gaming system. Rinse. Repeat.

Until not too long ago, no single earphone or headphone design might fulfill all these duties in audiophile-approved fashion. But having not too long ago reviewed T+A’s Solitaire S 530 loudspeaker and beforehand reviewed their PA 2000 R built-in amplifier and MP 2000 digital participant, I knew the German agency was onto one thing after they introduced their pricy Solitaire T headphones again in 2022. These high-end ’telephones purportedly do the whole lot effectively. Jim Shannon, T+A’s press man—and among the finest professionals I’ve met on this trade—kindly obliged after I requested if I might borrow a pair. I felt that I embodied the target market for this product. My white evaluation headphones (in addition they are available in black) regarded and felt terrific out of the field—their brushed-aluminum earcups had been a decidedly upscale departure from mainstream equivalents like Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones ($398).

The T+A Solitaire Ts are a veritable Swiss Army knife, so it’s vital to put out the whole lot these headphones can do. For hi-fi purists, the Solitaire Ts can run in passive wired mode like a standard pair of cans and include the anticipated accoutrements, together with a number of audio cables and adapters, in addition to a USB-C charging cable. On the wi-fi entrance, you get three modes: ANC On (for lively noise cancellation), ANC Off, and High Quality. The first two depend on a Sony chip to deal with ANC and D-to-A conversion, whereas High Quality mode leverages an audiophile-grade ESS Labs ES9218. Note you could’t use ANC with High Quality mode engaged. The T+A Solitaire Ts use Bluetooth 5.1 and help all main codecs, together with aptX HD. They sport a 1200mAh battery that T+A claims permits the headphones to play music wirelessly for 35 hours in High Quality mode and a whopping 70 hours in ANC Off mode. Predictably, play time is shorter with lively noise cancellation engaged. The T+As ship ensconced in packaging that befits a luxurious $1600 product, so that you gained’t really feel shortchanged throughout the unboxing expertise. A sq. carrying case safeguards your funding throughout journey.

Inside every earcup is a 42mm dynamic driver with a cellulose diaphragm. It’s greater than full-range, with a frequency response of 4Hz–22kHz in lively mode and 4Hz–45kHz in passive mode. Their 64-ohm passive impedance allowed the Solitaire Ts to simply accomplice with my varied Apple units. They ought to show a straightforward load for any client machine or headphone amp. T+A additionally supplies Solitaire, a companion app for iOS and Android, which works effectively, mirroring a lot of the Solitaire Ts’ performance onscreen and offering a method of updating the firmware and EQing them by approach of some preset choices. I confirmed that the presets labored however did all my listening with no EQ engaged.

In hand, the Solitaire Ts really feel terrific; their brushed aluminum body and their tender leather-based earpads and headrest reek of high quality. The earcups swivel roughly 180 levels and fold to make their footprint smaller. Headphones are hardly ever lovely, however the T+As regarded skilled sufficient that I, a company stooge, wouldn’t look misplaced sporting them on video calls with colleagues. On Teams and Zoom calls via my work laptop computer and private calls via my iPhone 14 Pro, the Solitaire Ts sounded high quality in ANC Off mode. Voices had respectable definition and good heart fill, however there’s solely a lot you are able to do with low-quality supply materials. Engaging ANC helped after I took private calls whereas washing dishes or doing laundry, or with my workplace house heater blasting throughout a cold Pennsylvania winter. I’ll say that my second-generation Apple AirPods Pro earbuds appeared to scale back noise throughout a broader frequency vary. But given their differing passive noise attenuation, evaluating over-ear headphones to earbuds is hardly honest.

If you wish to keep on a dialog whereas sporting the Solitaire Ts, you’ll be able to faucet the touch-sensitive button on the best earcup to have interaction the Transparency mode. Sounds picked up by the microphones might be performed via the headphones. This characteristic allowed me to wander round my house workplace and kitchen whereas multitasking with out having to take the headphones off—to speak with my higher half, as an illustration. And the battery life was actually liberating. I went weeks between costs by way of the included USB-C cable. In ANC On and ANC Off modes, the T+As had been faultless in day-to-day use.

High Quality mode was fascinating. Pivoting from ANC Off to High Quality mode yielded unquestionably clearer, extra articulate sound. Voices tended to have larger edge definition and three-dimensionality, whereas music had higher spatial definition, each between and round devices and vocals. It was adequately subtle that I couldn’t fairly make it out whereas A/B testing the 2 modes for the primary time, however after per week of switching between the 2, I positively discovered myself favoring High Quality mode. And I appreciated having the choice of turning off the ESS DAC to double the Solitaire Ts’ battery life. The solely wrinkle I skilled with High Quality mode was that in calls or whereas watching YouTube movies on my iPhone, I often heard photographs of static when altering the quantity or utilizing onscreen controls. I didn’t expertise this whereas listening to music on Tidal or watching reveals or motion pictures, and it wasn’t a difficulty within the different modes.

I spent most of my listening time with the T+A Solitaire Ts working passively, wired by way of the included 3.5mm stereo miniplug-terminated cable to my modest desktop system consisting of a Drop + THX AAA 789 headphone amplifier, an SMSL DO100 DAC, and a Chromecast Audio dongle operating as my Roon Endpoint. I might use these headphones for quarter-hour or 5 hours and so they had been equally comfy, serving to me deal with my work. The Solitaire Ts delivered a step up in sound high quality in comparison with my modest reference headphones, AKG’s inexpensive K371 ($185). They had been extra forward-sounding than the Harman curve–following K371s, however not objectionably so, with the T+As providing superior transparency to supply materials and larger readability on vocals and solo devices. Bass-heavy tracks highlighted the Solitaire Ts’ taut, prolonged bass, which by no means turned boomy; and the T+As exhibited larger mid-bass punch than my AKGs. Their high finish was additionally splendidly prolonged, imbued with loads of vitality and sparkle. The voicing on the Solitaire Ts was terrific. Exciting, however by no means fatiguing. Detailed, however by no means soulless.

I reveled within the means to unplug the headphones, have interaction ANC On mode, and make a cellphone name for work with out having to take them off. I might throw them on to look at a few of my favourite tech or automobile YouTubers whereas cleansing my kitchen late at evening after placing my child to mattress after which activate one thing from the Max streaming service whereas consuming a late dinner, all in posh consolation and excessive constancy. Yes, Bluetooth is lossy, however not as soon as did I care. What I cared about was the massive sonic enchancment the Solitaire Ts delivered over my Apple AirPods Pro and their means to traverse each utilization state of affairs I might think about. Are they designed to accompany Netflix comedy specials on an iPad whereas mendacity in mattress? Probably not. Was anybody else on the planet utilizing them the best way I did, in passive mode with my desktop stack to play Counter-Strike 2 and Halo Infinite on my gaming PC? Definitely not. Yet the Solitaire Ts excelled in every state of affairs.

I don’t doubt that for the $1600 you’d spend on T+A’s Solitaire T headphones you possibly can discover passive closed-back headphones which are technically superior. And there are a mess of client earbuds and headphones out there for just a few hundred {dollars} which are surprisingly good on each the sonic and have fronts. But solely the $999 Mark Levinson No. 5909 headphones spring to thoughts as one thing that injects a very hi-fi pedigree into the Bluetooth headphone class and—with apologies to Mark Levinson and Harman International—they seem like low cost gaming headphones. From my perspective, the Solitaire Ts are in a category of their very own given their mixture of efficiency, flexibility, and match and end.

Living with the T+A Solitaire Ts was eye-opening—they proved to be a no-fuss, high-quality accomplice all over the place I used them. These actually are do-it-all headphones that do the whole lot effectively. The greatest praise I will pay them is to say that they turned a valued device in my day-to-day arsenal, one which simply labored and that I by no means needed to fuss with. I might use them for hours on daily basis with out having to troubleshoot or be overly cautious with how I dealt with them. For the best patrons, T+A’s Solitaire Ts stands out as the solely headphones they should personal. Indeed, they stands out as the solely audio product they’ll want, full cease.

Hans Wetzel
Senior Contributor, SoundStage!