Наушники — T+A Solitaire T

Announced in May 2022 and available from July 2022, the Solitaire T was the first closed-back, wireless and dynamic model in the Solitaire range of T+A of Herford, Germany. It is an around-ear design with dynamic drivers and hybrid active noise cancellation. T+A positions it as more than a travel headset, and it works as a Bluetooth headset, as a cabled analogue headphone or as a USB-C digital device. Its hybrid noise cancellation also operates when a cable is connected. It is offered in black and in a Cognac-White finish, with a list price of EUR 1,300, USD 1,600 or GBP 1,200.

Key specs that matter

The Solitaire T uses a 42 mm dynamic driver per side, using a light and stiff cellulose diaphragm and damping placed at its edge. Rated response reaches 4 Hz to 22,000 Hz in active operation and 4 Hz to 45,000 Hz in passive wired use, where the impedance is 64 ohms. Distortion is below 0.05% at 1 kHz and 94 dB. The Bluetooth 5.1 class 2 link runs on a Qualcomm QCC 5127 chip and handles the SBC and AAC codecs as well as aptX and aptX HD. The 1,200 mAh lithium-ion battery gives 70 hours of playback, or 35 hours in HQ mode, and recharges in about two hours over USB-C at 5 V and 1 A.

Engineering and use context

The headband and housings use pearl-blasted aluminium parts machined from solid, joined to the cups by close-tolerance hard metal couplings, and the ear pads are covered in anti-allergenic synthetic leather. The cups rotate by 90 degrees and fold inward, so the headphone fits in its supplied case or rests around the neck. The noise cancellation combines passive insulation with active suppression that can be switched on when needed, using two ANC microphones on each side, and an ambient mode lets the wearer switch to the environment. Four further microphones on the right cup serve calls. Digital audio from the USB-C input is converted by an ESS ES9218 Sabre DAC. Operation relies on machined solid buttons, mechanical switches and a touchpad with spoken confirmations, and the T+A Solitaire Companion app for iOS and Android adds further control.

Pairing

For wired listening the Solitaire T accepts symmetrical analogue signals through Pentaconn, 3.5 mm or 6.3 mm connections, with OFC cables and gold-plated contacts, so it can be driven by a dedicated headphone amplifier as well as by a phone or computer.

Alternatives

T+A's Solitaire P has an open rear and relies on the planar-magnetostatic TPM 3100 transducer rather than dynamic drivers.