T+A Solitaire P Review – Pinnacle of Luxury

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What sets any great headphone apart, for me, is its ability to do something different and better than other headphones. Every great headphone has its own superpower which, when it aligns with your preferences, makes it the ideal choice for you. 

Oddly enough, I don’t consider the Solitaire P to have one overarching superpower, and yet I still consider it among the very best headphones available today. I think that’s because Solitaire P is ultimately a sum greater than its parts. It’s exceptionally well made, perfectly comfortable to wear, with a sound that’s both inherently musical and technically brilliant. It may not the very best at everything, but it still scores an A across the board. Other than its ambitious price, at no point does it do anything that gives me pause – which on reflection is probably the reason for its ambitious price. 

And so, comparing and contrasting it against other well-known flagships is a good way to get a clearer picture of where it sits on the pantheon of great headphones, and how it might work for your own purposes compared to other high-end headphones you may already own.  

Disclaimer: I did not do any direct A/B comparisons with other headphones for this review, going off experience and extensive listening notes instead. There are numerous online reviews and resources that pit Solitaire P directly against other headphones that I’ll gladly point you to, should you want them.

Hifiman Susvara. I’ve listened to Susvara on two different occasions, for several hours each time, using very high-end tube and solid-state amplifiers and some of the best DACs money can buy. To me, Susvara is the epitome of head-fi audiophilia – a headphone that spares no cost in achieving an almost flawless technical performance, naturally skewed to brighter frequencies with a neutral tonality and limited bass emphasis. Compared to SolP, Susvara extends further up top, with an airy, almost stat-like ethereal treble that zeroes in on detail at the cost of earthiness and solidity. Its midrange notes are lighter, thinner even, and bass slaps where it should be punching. Rumble is a rarity in Susvara’s sonic palette. Staging is about the same on both headphones, and Susvara is faster and more resolving, but I find SolP more natural and less fatiguing with more of my music library. 

As mentioned elsewhere, you really need a powerful, expensive amplifier to make the most of Susvara’s strengths (some even connect it to speaker amps), failing which it struggles to deliver on its promise. Comfort is on par between the two, but build quality is an easy win for the T+A (Hifiman QC is hit and miss at the best of times, even with its flagship).

Sennheiser HD 800. When I was still primarily using headphones, HD 800 was my headphone of choice. It has one superpower that no other headphone, to my knowledge, has managed to eclipse in more than a decade: the biggest stage of any headphone ever made. Some say it sounds unnaturally wide as a result, making everything you listen to sound stretched and thin, but I found that, paired with the right source (preferably warm and organic), the HD 800 is extremely malleable, and also very receptive to judicious EQ. SolP can’t compete with the HD 800’s jaw-dropping stage size, and yet it sounds more holographic and real by comparison. 

The HD 800 is also known for its extreme resolution, yet SolP matches it, and, with a deeper stage and arguably even more precise imaging, I’m hearing even more detail than I did with the Sennheiser. HD 800 is also comparatively bass-light (it’s generally considered a bass-light headphone anyway), and while you could argue that it presents more texture down low, I still prefer the SolP’s bass presentation by some distance. HD800’s midrange notes are thinner too, and its treble can be peaky – sometimes excessively so with the wrong source – compared to SolP’s smooth, fatigue-free highs.

I consider HD 800 to be one of the most comfortable headphones I’ve used, certainly more comfortable than SolP. It’s also much lighter, made mostly of high-quality plastic, but pales in comparison to SolP’s aircraft-like build. 

Focal Utopia. This is a great example of a headphone that wowed me on first listen, but the more I hear it, the less I like it. Probably one of the most revealing and detailed headphones ever made, I find Utopia far too aggressive in its detail presentation. While it has excellent bass weight and speed, being a dynamic headphone, its Beryllium drivers render most music with a metallic sheen that you can’t unhear, and if you’re particularly sensitive to treble forwardness, it’s definitely not the headphone for you.

I find SolP preferable tonally across the board. It matches Utopia for bass weight and speed, eclipses its thinner mids with richer vocals, and doesn’t fake detail up top with shine and shimmer. Trebleheads will almost always favour Utopia for the same reasons, I feel, so this is very much preference rather than criticism. Those who enjoy their music close and intimate will also pick Utopia’s closed-in stage over SolP’s holographic presentation. Comfort-wise, I rate SolP over Utopia too. For some reason Utopia’s headband always causes a hotspot of pain on my head after less than an hour’s use, and its weight isn’t distributed quite as well as SolP’s. Utopia’s build quality is impeccable, and it’s arguably a sexier headphone to look at, but again I prefer SolP’s svelte to Utopia’s bling, and while you’ll hear a rattle or two when you shake the focal, that will never happen with a SolP.  

Continue to Closing Thoughts    

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Guy Lerner

Guy Lerner

An avid photographer and writer 'in real life', Guy's passion for music and technology created the perfect storm for his love of portable audio. When he's not playing with the latest and greatest head-fi gear, he prefers to spend time away from the hobby with his two (almost) grown kids and wife in the breathtaking city of Cape Town, and traveling around his native South Africa.

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4 Responses

  1. Thank you for the great review! Would you mind sharing the settings you have used on the HA200 for your review?

      1. Thank you. I’m using the BEZ2 filter, seems more natural to me. What about Loudness level you have settled with?

    1. Varies for me, but SolP can go VERY loud without distorting, which is not great for hearing health! It’s also very clear at low listening levels. I generally listen at moderate volume.

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