[Newsee]

Surprise, surprise! My demo Solitaire P unit came with a T+A 4.4 balanced cable hidden in the right side compartment. Off it went into the Hiby R8 4.4 slot, which I was using in the past few days with LCDi4. Wooow. Difficult to concentrate on work. Fortunately weekend comes...

 

[ThanatosVI]

Surprise, surprise! My demo Solitaire P unit came with a T+A 4.4 balanced cable hidden in the right side compartment. Off it went into the Hiby R8 4.4 slot, which I was using in the past few days with LCDi4. Wooow. Difficult to concentrate on work. Fortunately weekend comes...

Yeah if you order the unit you have a choice between 4.4mm and 4pin XLR cable.

 

[Benny-x]

During my weekly visit to the dealer of my trust I was able to see the Solitaire P SE a little closer this week ... hmmm!
At first I wasn't sure if this was a dummy, because such cheap and wobbly plastic parts are more to be expected in a 29th China shop can

This is where the marketing finance foxes clearly had to say.
In any case, I can calmly put on my Hifiman today and know that they are processed twice as valuable at half the price

Sound, yes, is there and I could like it ... if the haptics weren't so sloppy.

Say it's not so.

And you can throw on your HiFiMANs and know they're also better built? I hope that's not true. I live the HEK and my HE-6, but they are a far, far cry from even being as well built as my Sony XM3s or Oppo PM-3s...

 

[Benny-x]

He named 5 headphones, two being the Ananda and LCD2C, which for their price are very nice but certainly don't compete in the big boy League.

The Heddphone is similar but slightly higher up on the sound quality ladder. Still I didn't recall them punching in leagues double their price Tag. - I never heard them myself, this is based on reviews I read tho.
For me personally they fell out of interest because the driver touches the earcups on louder bass notes, whixh made them unfit for my taste.

Thats 3 of 5 that do not keep up which technically makes most.

The P-SE doesn't have many reviews, common critic point is the crosstalk, but sound quality wise nearly all of them are raving. Some put them even very close to the P which is on par with Susvara and 1266TC

That's were that comment came from

He named 5 headphones, two being the Ananda and LCD2C, which for their price are very nice but certainly don't compete in the big boy League.

The Heddphone is similar but slightly higher up on the sound quality ladder. Still I didn't recall them punching in leagues double their price Tag. - I never heard them myself, this is based on reviews I read tho.
For me personally they fell out of interest because the driver touches the earcups on louder bass notes, whixh made them unfit for my taste.

Thats 3 of 5 that do not keep up which technically makes most.

The P-SE doesn't have many reviews, common critic point is the crosstalk, but sound quality wise nearly all of them are raving. Some put them even very close to the P which is on par with Susvara and 1266TC

That's were that comment came from

I appreciate the reply and the math. I guess the HEK and HE-6, which you didn't mention in the reply and which I grouped in with "aren't expensive enough to compete", were the ones I was having issues with. Both of those are very solid performers and in my experience in the TOTL level, are certainly worth a mention.

Anyway, I saw a few of your other posts and replies in other threads just after that and together they peaked my interest. Maybe the Solitaire-Ps are worth a closer look for me some day? They may or may not "perform at their price level", but I have a couple headphones that I consider gems that also got a lot of flack like that because they were non-standard and expensive.

 

[Bonddam]

Just remember these require high current to sound their best. Planars in general require amps with more current then power. The HA-200 is a high current amp with low wattage.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I appreciate the reply and the math. I guess the HEK and HE-6, which you didn't mention in the reply and which I grouped in with "aren't expensive enough to compete", were the ones I was having issues with. Both of those are very solid performers and in my experience in the TOTL level, are certainly worth a mention.

Anyway, I saw a few of your other posts and replies in other threads just after that and together they peaked my interest. Maybe the Solitaire-Ps are worth a closer look for me some day? They may or may not "perform at their price level", but I have a couple headphones that I consider gems that also got a lot of flack like that because they were non-standard and expensive.

I guess I mentioned this before: The day I auditioned the D9200 was the day I felt bad that I paid that sum of money for Focal Stellia, which is double the price of D9200, but soundwise I would take D9200 any day over the Stellia. Stellia still better in terms of comfort, but soundwise it is below the capabilities of D9200 - at least for me. Recently I got an SP2000, as it was, apparently what the people used to audition the Solitaire (even paired it with a portable amplifier to make it more competitive) and compared it to DX300 which costs in here nearly one fourth of the price of SP2000, and in the end I kept the DX300 just based on the pairing with Solitaire P and sold the SP2000. It just was a far better pairing. The next HP I would like to try on my list is iBasso SR2, which apparently performs much better than its siblings in the same price bracket. So I do accept that there are many exceptions to the price / performance relation.

But, when I got the Solitaire P, I didn't buy it because of its price but for its sound (still, as a demo unit I got it in Germany for considerably less than the US retail price - so, how people judge the price / performance on the other side of the pond might be a bit different). It has a very appealing sound that keeps surprising me.

One thing about the HifiMan, though. People complain about the build quality but it fills a very important gap in the TOTL segment: Comfort. They are simply the most comfortable headphones ever, and I might get one HFM just because of that.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I appreciate the reply and the math. I guess the HEK and HE-6, which you didn't mention in the reply and which I grouped in with "aren't expensive enough to compete", were the ones I was having issues with. Both of those are very solid performers and in my experience in the TOTL level, are certainly worth a mention.

Anyway, I saw a few of your other posts and replies in other threads just after that and together they peaked my interest. Maybe the Solitaire-Ps are worth a closer look for me some day? They may or may not "perform at their price level", but I have a couple headphones that I consider gems that also got a lot of flack like that because they were non-standard and expensive.

Oh the reason I didn't mention the HeK and He6 was, because I think that they certainly compete with the P-SE and also outperform the others which I mentioned in the post.
Comparisons with those are the one I'm interested in.

The Solitaire P is definitely worth an audition. They perform at the very top, but have their own Sound character absolutely distinct from other flagships.
Very much to my liking, but my taste differs from the one of the masses by a noteable margin.

Price performance ratio also differs a lot depending on where you live.
For me they are cheaper than Utopia, LCD-4, Abyss and Susvara. While they are more expensive than all of these in the US.

 

[Benny-x]

I guess I mentioned this before: The day I auditioned the D9200 was the day I felt bad that I paid that sum of money for Focal Stellia, which is double the price of D9200, but soundwise I would take D9200 any day over the Stellia. Stellia still better in terms of comfort, but soundwise it is below the capabilities of D9200 - at least for me. Recently I got an SP2000, as it was, apparently what the people used to audition the Solitaire (even paired it with a portable amplifier to make it more competitive) and compared it to DX300 which costs in here nearly one fourth of the price of SP2000, and in the end I kept the DX300 just based on the pairing with Solitaire P and sold the SP2000. It just was a far better pairing. The next HP I would like to try on my list is iBasso SR2, which apparently performs much better than its siblings in the same price bracket. So I do accept that there are many exceptions to the price / performance relation.

But, when I got the Solitaire P, I didn't buy it because of its price but for its sound (still, as a demo unit I got it in Germany for considerably less than the US retail price - so, how people judge the price / performance on the other side of the pond might be a bit different). It has a very appealing sound that keeps surprising me.

One thing about the HifiMan, though. People complain about the build quality but it fills a very important gap in the TOTL segment: Comfort. They are simply the most comfortable headphones ever, and I might get one HFM just because of that.

Have you tried the Fostex TH900 or Denon D7000? I have heard that the D9200 is kind of a return to performance for that sort of "line" of headphones and I wonder how the D9200 compare to the previous top dogs there.

As for the Stellia, I'm sorry about that one. I actually chanced upon a quiet demo of them at a show a couple years ago and couldn't believe how terrible they were. Especially so given the rave reviews for its open-back sister, the Utopia, and the fresh reviews calling it the best closed back ever. But, in hearing that you also found the D9200 is promising~

 

[DarginMahkum]

Have you tried the Fostex TH900 or Denon D7000? I have heard that the D9200 is kind of a return to performance for that sort of "line" of headphones and I wonder how the D9200 compare to the previous top dogs there.

As for the Stellia, I'm sorry about that one. I actually chanced upon a quiet demo of them at a show a couple years ago and couldn't believe how terrible they were. Especially so given the rave reviews for its open-back sister, the Utopia, and the fresh reviews calling it the best closed back ever. But, in hearing that you also found the D9200 is promising~

I had the TH900. It is a very special headphone. But I prefer the D9200 as I think TH900 is just too wild for me. But it has one of the best, maybe the best bass performance for dynamics.

 

[Newsee]

I guess I mentioned this before: The day I auditioned the D9200 was the day I felt bad that I paid that sum of money for Focal Stellia, which is double the price of D9200, but soundwise I would take D9200 any day over the Stellia. Stellia still better in terms of comfort, but soundwise it is below the capabilities of D9200 - at least for me. Recently I got an SP2000, as it was, apparently what the people used to audition the Solitaire (even paired it with a portable amplifier to make it more competitive) and compared it to DX300 which costs in here nearly one fourth of the price of SP2000, and in the end I kept the DX300 just based on the pairing with Solitaire P and sold the SP2000. It just was a far better pairing. The next HP I would like to try on my list is iBasso SR2, which apparently performs much better than its siblings in the same price bracket. So I do accept that there are many exceptions to the price / performance relation.

But, when I got the Solitaire P, I didn't buy it because of its price but for its sound (still, as a demo unit I got it in Germany for considerably less than the US retail price - so, how people judge the price / performance on the other side of the pond might be a bit different). It has a very appealing sound that keeps surprising me.

One thing about the HifiMan, though. People complain about the build quality but it fills a very important gap in the TOTL segment: Comfort. They are simply the most comfortable headphones ever, and I might get one HFM just because of that.

How did you do the EQ-ing of the Solitaire P? In the HA200 I just see just bass and treble modification possibilities.

I find that the Solitaire P and the R8 likes each other much more than the R8 and the Empyrean. What happened to your R8?

 

[DarginMahkum]

How did you do the EQ-ing of the Solitaire P? In the HA200 I just see just bass and treble modification possibilities.

I find that the Solitaire P and the R8 likes each other much more than the R8 and the Empyrean. What happened to your R8?

I did EQing mostly on PC, using either the EQ of the application (or system EQ like PulseEffects) or a VST plug-in. Sometimes I also use the EQ of the HA200, but yes you are right. HA200 only has bass and treble for EQing.

My R8 is gone. I actually wasn't using it for the last 3 months, as I was using the HA200, but then my itch started and decided to try the other players. Currently I am using the YinLvMei W1.It is a giant tablet DAP which comes originally with Windows 10 but I installed Linux on it. In the photo I also have the BX2+ but I took that out of the equation. It was just an experiment.

 

[DarginMahkum]

W1 "DAP" screenshot. It is a standart Gnome Linux installation and PulseEffects is a system generic effects framework with PEQ. The sound is exceptionally good if you like warm balanced sound with liquid mids, and can as a DAP keep up with the bass of Solitaire P. 1500 mW in balanced output. Separate analog and digital battery sections. Theoretically replaceable batteries (comes with an extra battery) but nowhere to be found outside China. It is an experimental device with quirks, so I wouldn't recommend to anyone that wants a simple music player.

 

[Bonddam]

My ha200 is in customs which is strange in US. They let the headphones through fast but not the amp.

 

[Bonddam]

What's in the two bottom boxes.

 

[ThanatosVI]

What's in the two bottom boxes.

A Solitaire P and Solitaire P-SE.
What is in the top Box?