The T+A Solitaire T headphones has many hats to wear: it is an audiophile-grade closed-back headphones that happily support premium-quality analog connections, support USB digital audio input, support wireless Bluetooth up to aptX HD, support ANC and Transparent sound modes, and provides extremely long battery life of 70 hours. Unlike many other headphones, the Solitaire T is “master of all trades”. The retail price in Singapore: S$2590.

T+A was founded in 1978 in Germany. Founder Siegfried Amft studied at the same university as Fritz Sennheiser. “T+A” stands for “Theory and Application in Audio Technology”, and true to the brand philosophy, T+A focused on high-end hi-fi equipment and the engineers designed and manufactured every component from Herford, their HQ. It’s only in 2020 that T+A launched their first headphones, which is the wired Solitaire P fitted with planar-magnetostatic drivers. Then just two years later in November 2022, the Solitaire T is launched. And despite being their first-ever wireless headphones, T+A has done it right the first time.
Design and Operations
From afar, the Solitaire T appears to have a rather conventional shape and form, with padded headband, aluminium rims and accents and black housing. Yet it is unique enough to be recognised, something that perhaps Sennheiser can learn from. The ear cups can fold and rotate 180 degrees inwards and outwards, which gives much versatility in packing the headphones.

The combination of a well-sized ear cups, well-firmed ear cushions and well-clamped headband provide a secure and comfortable wear experience. The vegan leather feels soft yet dense, and hopefully can last much longer than others. The red speaker pads are a perfect touch to accentuate the luxurious feel.

The hardware sliders and buttons deviates from the usual layout. One the left earcup, a dedicated on/off switch with 4-LED indicator controls power. I always favour hardware power switches so it is unmistakable. One the right earcup, another slider controls Bluetooth power, a dedicated button to trigger digital assistant, and another to toggle audio modes. The long switches with ribbed surface and the small protruding buttons are easy to be located with the thumbs. That dedicated Bluetooth power provides clear visual cue that the headphones is operating without active wireless radio, and ensures the user can turn off when there is absolutely no use for it.

That’s not all. The right ear pad is a touch pad that lets you control playback, track changes, and volume, just like the Sony WH-1000XM series. A small round touch area is to control audio transparency: touch-hold to enable ambient sound, or double-tap to turn on permanently, and tap once again to disable.

The T+A Solitaire T is also packed with functions that any demanding headphones owner need, plus an audiophile-grade feature: 4.4mm balanced connection. T+A designed the Solitaire T to be a pair of high-quality headphones to satisfy audiophiles who can use them for critical listening, for work and for travel. They put equal importance on the passive audio and active powered performance, and provided all variants of cable accessories, for 3.5mm, 4.4mm, 6.3mm adapter, airplane flight adapter, and for digital USB.
There is also a smartphone app to control the headphones, like adjusting the ANC level, customising EQ, firmware update.

Another highly-unusual design decision: the voice prompt uses a male voice.
Up to this point, I have nothing to pick about the design and operations. It incorporates all the best design and features available in the market.
Audio Quality
The Solitaire T uses a 42mm low-tolerance dynamic precision drivers with cellulose diaphragm and edge damping, producing a frequency range of 4 – 22,000 Hz. The specially-developed driver system resulted in their desired outcome of airy treble, clear mids with distinctive bass without sounding aggressive. The sound stage positions the main instruments towards the front of the imaging, while supporting instruments lay closely around. There isn’t as distinct musical separation as the Mark Levinson No. 5909 but it offers better cohesion. The treble is highly capable of presenting details and discipline depending on how the audio source drives the headphones, the midrange is also very clean yet maintaining warmth and body. The bass is noticeably less pushy and not show-off. Playing bass-heavy tracks like Billie Eilish “Bad Guy”, the bass booms are complementary to her vocals, not overpower. The headphones bring out the vocal intensity, instruments details and the percussion yet pumping the bass deservedly.
From the frequency balancing point of view, the midrange has slightly more emphasis, while the treble will shine depending on the source mix, and the bass will kick if the music asks for it without exaggerating. As such, the Solitaire T is a neutral-sounding pair of headphones that will translate your audio source rather accurately without colouring. Its strength is keeping the music clean and detailed so that the listener can appreciate the nuances of the recording, not so much emphasis on the lows or highs.

The Solitaire T supports the following various type of audio connections:
- Wireless Bluetooth – SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD
- Wired analog 3.5mm unbalanced passive or active
- Wired analog 4.4mm balanced passive or active
- Wired digital USB-C (16-bit 48kHz) active
In any connections where you turn on the headphones power (active mode), you can operate the ANC and Transparency. Active audio signal is processed through the ESS ES9218P Sabre DAC. It is possible to connect to both wired and wireless. With USB + Bluetooth On, the Bluetooth audio takes precedence, and with analog + Bluetooth On, the analog audio takes precedence.

It is not meaningful for me to compare the various connectivity, especially the analog modes, because the quality depends on the source player. But I am happy to say that whichever connection you choose, the general sound signature and frequency response is largely similar. Any difference you hear is due to the output quality of the source. This is an uncommon occurrence because most of the wireless headphones sound very different in passive mode.
Between the active (power on) and passive (power off) modes of the same analog connection, for instance, 4.4mm, the passive mode seems to sound brighter, more airy. The audio difference is because of the different DAC that is converting the audio. In passive mode, the DAC is handled by the audio source, in my case, Sony ZX300. When switching to active mode, the Solitaire T ‘s DAC is handling. My recommendation is to use passive mode where necessary, and only switch to active mode if you need to use ANC or Transparency modes.

Among the various connectivity options, I find that the Solitaire T performs best with my Sony ZX300 in 4.4mm passive mode, achieving the best treble brilliance among the connections. I find that on the Google Pixel 7 Pro, switching between the USB mode and the Bluetooth mode offers unnoticeable audio performance differences. Of course, sonically the USB mode transmits lossless audio, but when you are on-the-go, you are not going to hear any difference, and if you have the luxury of listening over wired connection, then clearly it should be the better option. The Bluetooth mode sounds a little more compressed in terms of dynamics (and some listeners might prefer this) compared to the USB which offers more room and extension. I like that in USB mode, the touch panel on the right ear cup can still control playback, track changes, and volume adjustments. Point to note: turn off Bluetooth in USB mode so that the volume level is higher.
ANC and Transparent Modes
T+A uses a Sony CXD Hybrid noise cancelling processor, so its ANC is quite capable of eliminating the general ambient noises. Lower frequencies are removed without effort, while upper frequencies are suppressed sufficiently to be non-intrusive. I wore them during my daily train commute to work and they let me enjoy my music well. These headphones are still no match with the current Sony flagships, but they sound way better than the Sony ones. In ANC mode, there is a slight dip in the midrange response, which makes music sound a little less full.

The transparent mode sounds quite open, loud enough to match the music volume, because they are designed more for conversations rather than emulating open-back headphones. If you want to let in some ambient sound to be more aware of surroundings, you can just turn off ANC and then you could just pick up a bit of noise, but only at really noisy places, as the ear cups isolate passive noises quite well.
Call Quality
The Solitaire T manages slightly above average call quality for over-ear headphones. Generally, headphones have better mic pick-up compared to true wireless. When testing under windy conditions, the mic could still barely manage to pick up my voice. At noisy places like cafe, the mics could suppress the background noises enough for a decent conversation. What I really like is that even during calls, I am able to toggle the ANC and the Transparency modes without disrupting the conversation. This is a feature that a lot of headphones and true-wireless earbuds could not handle.

Verdict
After I reviewed the Mark Levinson No. 5909, I never thought I would come across a more expensive wireless headphones. Then the Solitaire T came along and shattered my expectations. At S$2590, it is not going to be on anyone’s casual shopping list. The consumers who actually buy one must be fervent believers of the T+A brand philosophy and I have no doubt that the Solitaire T is made of the best components with the most well-engineered features.
If I can only own one pair of audiophile-grade headphones for me to use in every situation, I would seriously consider the Solitaire T, because it is by far the only wireless headphones that offers matching wired passive audio performance, so I do not have to compromise between having a premium wireless headphones and an outstanding wired cans. It does not mean the Solitaire T has the best sound, but it would be hard to find another headphones that can provide comparatively excellent performance in both wired and wireless audio. So, if money is not an issue, then the Solitaire T is the best headphones that will offer audiophile-grade wired and wireless performances.
Exclusively distributed by Clarity in Singapore, experience the T+A Solitaire T by arranging a listening session at their showroom (1 Coleman Street #03-36, The Adelphi, Singapore 179803) and the reseller JABEN’s showroom (1 Coleman St, #01-25 The Adelphi, Singapore 179803).




