T+A Introduce their first ever headphones, the Solitaire P planar magnetostatic.
It’s been a long time coming for another German manufacturer to produce a pair of extreme high-end headphones. Sennheiser have their HD800S and HD820 Closed back and then they jump straight up to the insane HE1.
We are an advocate of a select pedigree of German earphone manufacturers such as the incredible Vision Ears and also InEar and their build quality is simply exquisite.
T+A are another brand who specialise in stunning build quality and use amazing materials to make you feel proud of ownership. In my years in the industry I have sold a number of their CD players and Amplifiers and they are exceptional pieces of engineering art.
Now T+A introduce their first ever set of headphones – the Solitaire® P.
Combining over 40 years of electroacoustic heritage with modern design, T+A have produced a planar-magnetostatic headphone and matching
Solitaire HA 200 headphone amplifier.
Hand-built in Germany, the corded over-ear planar-magnetostatic headphone design combines minimalist styling and the finest materials with class-leading research and development. Also hand-built in Germany, the HA 200 utilises the company’s flagship HV Series circuits in a Class-A design that operates at a high idle current, enabling it to drive even the most demanding headphones without difficulty. Class A done properly is by far one of the most engaging output modes. As you may already be aware the Cayin E01 Class A card for their portable player is by far my favourite card. In no uncertain terms, T+A has created these products for those that crave a new level of headphone performance.
Like the company’s flagship Solitaire series of loudspeakers, the new Solitaire P symbolises the experience, expertise and commitment in the design and development of sound transducers that has been the hallmark of the German specialist audio company for 41 years. Developed by a team that mixes young engineers with experienced physicists, all who share a deep passion for music, the Solitaire P utilises a sophisticated planar-magnetostatic design philosophy. With its ultra-lightweight membrane, which covers the whole area of the capsule and is positioned between the planar magnetostatic drive system, each drive unit delivers excellent sonic properties, with the entire surface area of the membrane driven to deliver a spacious, airy feel that is unique even amongst other planar headphones.
All materials used in the manufacture of the Solitaire P’s are of the finest quality, featuring aircraft-grade aluminium and the softest leather.
Fitted with the proprietary T+A True 1 Bit digital/analogue converter, capable of 32 Bit/768 kHz for PCM and DSD 1024 for Bitstream, the HA 200 headphone amplifier is a newly developed device that sets new standards in terms of technology and appearance. Each of the three headphone outputs can be accurately fine-tuned to match the connected headphones. Based on the company’s HV analogue technology, which is reserved for its flagship range of high-end audio components, the HA 200 is capable of driving even the most demanding of headphones, thanks to the high-quality power supply that features two separate toroidal power transformers – one for the analogue circuits and the other for the digital circuits.
There is no shortage of inputs either, with the HA 200 featuring 8 inputs, including 2 x analogue and 6 x digital, if the optional HDMI board is utilised.
The Solitaire P will be available in the UK during March 2020 with the HA 200 following shortly after in April. We expect to have a production Solitaire P to hear towards the end of February.