angelom
Headphoneus Supremus
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T+A Solitaire T Wireless Headphone
- Thread starter frdtitan
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Can we now saying that the ST is officially a basshead headphone?
I would perhaps not go as far as that, the Elite's bass with this album is really round and full, and infinitely better layered and organic, .... But the slam needed to give the tracks all this drive definitely comes from the Solitaire T
angelom
Headphoneus Supremus
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I remember very well that one worry I have about the sound of the ST when I buying this headphone -- because I know that T+A is very focused in audio quality -- is that is maybe sounding 'too' neutral (more close to defuse field curve), meaning that the ST is maybe a thin sounding headphone.
My first very positive surprise is finding the excellent tuning and performance of the low frequencies, where not only sub-bass is have very good extension and correct amplitude (dBs), but that the mid-bass is also very correct and NOT affecting the midrange (a difficult balance). My second quick great surprise is the excellent mids, the most important frequency band. But is taking me a few more days, after coming mainly from 5909, for realising that the high frequencies in the ST are really very excellent too (this is the very more difficult frequency for doing right and where so many headphones and earphones failing miserably).
This is why I insisting several times about the superb tonal balance of the ST, like not other headphone or earphone I hearing in my life.
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angelom
Headphoneus Supremus
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Several masters of the excellent "Who's Next" album by The Who aren't very good, some have the terrible ('loudness wars') very compressed sound. My favourite master is the "Apple Digital Master" version.
For the people that don't know Apple Digital Masters, is a good idea reading this article (and the pdf link). This masters have often better sound than alternative masters (even more recent hi-res masters), with excellent dynamic range (with no clipping that is so important for good sound reproduction). 'Behind Blue Eyes' from the Who's Next album with the ST is sounding very excellent.
For the people that don't know Apple Digital Masters, is a good idea reading this article (and the pdf link). This masters have often better sound than alternative masters (even more recent hi-res masters), with excellent dynamic range (with no clipping that is so important for good sound reproduction). 'Behind Blue Eyes' from the Who's Next album with the ST is sounding very excellent.
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TheOneInYellow
1000+ Head-Fier
I'm sorry to hear that you're letting the Solitaire T go but I do wish you the best on the sale.
Just out of curiosity, would you mind giving your final thoughts, pros and cons?
Just as a way of signing off on your experiences with the cans, and I'm sure we all would be interested to read your thoughts!
Cheers!
The headphones are great all in all and are hands down imo the nest out there in terms of "overall package" comparing to their competitors.
Selling at a couple hundred dollar loss hoping it goes to a good home.
I also bought some Fleetwood Deville SQ speakers recent, so recouping some funds also plays a role into this sale.
The main pro of the headphone is how they put such a strong overall package in this new bluetooth space. The main con is price really, from reading this thread most seem to think it is overpriced. If you look at my previous posts in this thread I never thought so myself given all the tech it has.
-built in dac
-transparency mode
-high quality mode
-beautiful aesthetics
-wonderful sound signature
-versatile
Main reason of sale is to downsize and feeling that IEMs are the most portable and appropriate for my travel use case.
Selling at a couple hundred dollar loss hoping it goes to a good home.
I also bought some Fleetwood Deville SQ speakers recent, so recouping some funds also plays a role into this sale.
The main pro of the headphone is how they put such a strong overall package in this new bluetooth space. The main con is price really, from reading this thread most seem to think it is overpriced. If you look at my previous posts in this thread I never thought so myself given all the tech it has.
-built in dac
-transparency mode
-high quality mode
-beautiful aesthetics
-wonderful sound signature
-versatile
Main reason of sale is to downsize and feeling that IEMs are the most portable and appropriate for my travel use case.
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TheOneInYellow
1000+ Head-Fier
Those Fleetwood (and also OMA Audio) are KILLER; congrats!
Thank you for sharing your opinions, and there is no right or wrong answers here as we all have unique things we look for.
I hope that the IEM path you have taken leads you closer to what you require musically and lifestyle choices.
The only thing I will say, in defence of the Solitaire T, is that I personally believe that, based specifically on their technological sonic engineering, the headphones could have been priced higher than current RRP. That is to say, I personally believe that they are worth the cost and more. However, I am looking at this through the lens of my subjective and objective minds eye, alongside what I consider value, and of course my needs.
It is a shame that the Solitaire T didn't fit your needs, but I do hope you continue to share your opinions of them, good and bad, to those who are looking at high-end wireless cans in the future, as these are valuable.
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TheOneInYellow
1000+ Head-Fier
1/2
Two things to update y'all...I did a thing
TL;DR I bought a DC power supply for my FiiO M17 today, incoming next week!
Post 2/2 will be current pictures of my new desktop headphone system featuring the T+A Solitaire T cans.
After trying to figure out exactly how to further my new desktop system via the T+A Solitaire T and my new FiiO M17 DAP, I delved into the murky and more money sapping world of power supplies.
For a summary, the FiiO M17 requires a 12v/3A DC power at minimum (my post here).
After my usual and utterly mad rapid deep-dive research into power supplies, augmenting and updating my current knowledge with new gear, especially gear catered for headphone/desktop electronics, I selected three products with good value (to me). Via Reddit and on Head-Fi.org (M17 thread) I noted various thoughts and posted in relevant threads.
First, please read this post here, and here is a summary of the power supplies I selected:
From there, I got a scare when I read negative feedback regarding the FiiO PL50 (originally designed for the M17); see the following post here.
After that, I posted again on the M17 (here) my thoughts on why I selected the above power supplies, and regarding that feedback of the PL50.
After much deliberation, and finding awesome discount codes, I purchased the Shargeek Storm2 (posted here and here).
Two things to update y'all...I did a thing
TL;DR I bought a DC power supply for my FiiO M17 today, incoming next week!
Post 2/2 will be current pictures of my new desktop headphone system featuring the T+A Solitaire T cans.
After trying to figure out exactly how to further my new desktop system via the T+A Solitaire T and my new FiiO M17 DAP, I delved into the murky and more money sapping world of power supplies.
For a summary, the FiiO M17 requires a 12v/3A DC power at minimum (my post here).
After my usual and utterly mad rapid deep-dive research into power supplies, augmenting and updating my current knowledge with new gear, especially gear catered for headphone/desktop electronics, I selected three products with good value (to me). Via Reddit and on Head-Fi.org (M17 thread) I noted various thoughts and posted in relevant threads.
First, please read this post here, and here is a summary of the power supplies I selected:
From there, I got a scare when I read negative feedback regarding the FiiO PL50 (originally designed for the M17); see the following post here.
After that, I posted again on the M17 (here) my thoughts on why I selected the above power supplies, and regarding that feedback of the PL50.
After much deliberation, and finding awesome discount codes, I purchased the Shargeek Storm2 (posted here and here).
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TheOneInYellow
1000+ Head-Fier
2/2
This next post will be a copy and paste from the M17 thread (here), but please, enjoy!
Took these pics last week, but here's my current desktop audio setup using the official power supply
This is my personal end-game, and after many years (since 2016) of unable to action my old plans for a serious home headphone system within a reasonable budget, I finally did it!
I must thank FiiO for helping people like me attain serious high-end gear at affordable prices, with the least number of gear. Via the M17, I have a high-resolution streamer and local source, high-end DAC, and high-end headphone amp/preamp.
With the FiiO M17, I can create gear around it, and with the longevity of the battery not being unnecessarily charged (bypassed) if using DC power, I can see this being a foundational system for many years!
I can only hope that my today's purchase of the Shargeek Storm2 further enhances this setup, and when I am ready I will consider an aftermarket cable for my T+A Solitaire T headphones too (and maybe the Meze Audio 109 Pro's too
).
Headphone Audio Gear:
Other Gear:
This next post will be a copy and paste from the M17 thread (here), but please, enjoy!
Took these pics last week, but here's my current desktop audio setup using the official power supply
This is my personal end-game, and after many years (since 2016) of unable to action my old plans for a serious home headphone system within a reasonable budget, I finally did it!
I must thank FiiO for helping people like me attain serious high-end gear at affordable prices, with the least number of gear. Via the M17, I have a high-resolution streamer and local source, high-end DAC, and high-end headphone amp/preamp.
With the FiiO M17, I can create gear around it, and with the longevity of the battery not being unnecessarily charged (bypassed) if using DC power, I can see this being a foundational system for many years!
I can only hope that my today's purchase of the Shargeek Storm2 further enhances this setup, and when I am ready I will consider an aftermarket cable for my T+A Solitaire T headphones too (and maybe the Meze Audio 109 Pro's too
).Headphone Audio Gear:
- T+A Solitaire T (white/silver), using supplied 2.5mm TRRS to 4.4mm TRRS balanced cable. All digital and wireless circuitry turned off
- FiiO M17 via DC- Enhanced Overear Mode
- FiiO DK3 stand and fan (set to lowest operational fan speed 1)
- SanDisk Extreme 1Tb MicroSD XC card
Other Gear:
- Asus Zenbook 14x UX5401ZAS (12th Gen i7)
- Logitech MX Master 3s
- Analogue Pocket
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Just curious where did you come across fleetwood?Those Fleetwood (and also OMA Audio) are KILLER; congrats!
Thank you for sharing your opinions, and there is no right or wrong answers here as we all have unique things we look for.
I hope that the IEM path you have taken leads you closer to what you require musically and lifestyle choices.
The only thing I will say, in defence of the Solitaire T, is that I personally believe that, based specifically on their technological sonic engineering, the headphones could have been priced higher than current RRP. That is to say, I personally believe that they are worth the cost and more. However, I am looking at this through the lens of my subjective and objective minds eye, alongside what I consider value, and of course my needs.
It is a shame that the Solitaire T didn't fit your needs, but I do hope you continue to share your opinions of them, good and bad, to those who are looking at high-end wireless cans in the future, as these are valuable.
Regarding my personal iem path... no matter how much I scaled...
Sp3000 + pw audio cable + a18t, it still was not satisfying enough, so I started to actually prioritize portability a little bit more. Unsure if that even made sense.
I ended up with ALO Dongle and Stock Cable for iems due to stock cable being so flexible and light and the dongle being so portable. For me that was the right amount of protability vs performance.
After full desk top headphone experiences, anything else other than speakers does not feel good enough.
I became that guy unfortunately.
I transitioned lightly over to speakers due to my headphone amp having ability to drive low powered speakers.
I used to have the Revel F208s in a poorly set up room, this time I am taking time to account for space and speaker set up with the Fleetwoods.
I personally got the fleetwoods since I felt sometimes my headphones being the main bottle neck despite my front end chain being good.
What happened was first built a front end for headphones and headphones only and while upgrading one piece at a time of the digital front end it all became a little wasted due to headphones unable appreciating some of the gear fully.
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angelom
Headphoneus Supremus
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One feature I'm using almost every day for last 6-7 days is "transparency mode". Initially I'm not happy that the volume is decreasing in this mode, but I must saying now that I think is actually a very good idea because the reason I'm using this mode is precisely so that I can hearing the doorbell in my home this last few days or the knock of the door in my office.
This mode is can be loud, but isn't so loud like normal BT, HQ or ANC mode and this is good because I can easily forgetting why I need hearing my surroundings and increasing the volume more than is necessary, so the volume decrease is very correct and, in fact, other advantage is that I have even more precise volume adjustments possible in my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I'm using this mode usually in 60-90% volume (this is depending in the original master / recording volume that can changing a lot between different albums).
The sound quality in this mode is excellent too. And the transparency 'amplification' (how close is to real outside noise volume) is really very, very good, not exaggerated (more loud than normal) or more low than normal (like PX8 for example).
This mode is can be loud, but isn't so loud like normal BT, HQ or ANC mode and this is good because I can easily forgetting why I need hearing my surroundings and increasing the volume more than is necessary, so the volume decrease is very correct and, in fact, other advantage is that I have even more precise volume adjustments possible in my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I'm using this mode usually in 60-90% volume (this is depending in the original master / recording volume that can changing a lot between different albums).
The sound quality in this mode is excellent too. And the transparency 'amplification' (how close is to real outside noise volume) is really very, very good, not exaggerated (more loud than normal) or more low than normal (like PX8 for example).
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angelom
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I think is very interesting that T+A deciding not sending (free?) review units to several popular online audio publications. From business point of view maybe this isn't very wise. For me this is very nice because the very majority of YouTube and online publications reviews are, in fact, really marketing, pseudo reviews that you can't really trusting (the PX8 is a perfect example of the opposite that is happening with the ST).
I'm only hoping that Darko -- because the best reviewer ever, in my opinion, Tyll Hertsens, isn't active anymore -- is doing a review of the ST soon in the future, because I think Darko is very fair, he's have a lot of experience with a lot and very expensive audio equipment, AND because he really spending sufficient time with the items he's reviewing. Maybe, like other times in the past, he will deciding paying from his pocket for the ST so he can doing a review. But maybe not. If not, is a pity. Darko, by the way, doing a long and very good podcast review about the ML 5909, the only real ST competitor, in my opinion, but is true too that he doing this review 7 months after the release of the 5909, so maybe patience for his ST review...
Even with so few authentic (not marketing) reviews of the ST, this thread is have a little more than 1000 posts already...
I'm only hoping that Darko -- because the best reviewer ever, in my opinion, Tyll Hertsens, isn't active anymore -- is doing a review of the ST soon in the future, because I think Darko is very fair, he's have a lot of experience with a lot and very expensive audio equipment, AND because he really spending sufficient time with the items he's reviewing. Maybe, like other times in the past, he will deciding paying from his pocket for the ST so he can doing a review. But maybe not. If not, is a pity. Darko, by the way, doing a long and very good podcast review about the ML 5909, the only real ST competitor, in my opinion, but is true too that he doing this review 7 months after the release of the 5909, so maybe patience for his ST review...
Even with so few authentic (not marketing) reviews of the ST, this thread is have a little more than 1000 posts already...
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Frabera
100+ Head-Fier
According to the last DARKO’s review regarding an ANC headphone it seemed to be tired to review additional headphones of this kind…
angelom
Headphoneus Supremus
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Yes, I see before that he's mentioning this that you're saying, and also saying that he wanting focusing in his typical territory (more very expensive audio equipment like speakers, DACs, amps, etc.). BUT I still think he will hearing more about the ST and the very unique and peculiar aspects of this headphone and maybe in not a long time he will doing a review.
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