German high-end hi-fi brand T+A Elektroakustik has unveiled a new pair of reference headphones, the Solitaire T. Launching in July for £1200 ($1600), the Solitaire T aim to offer reference sound passively when wired, as well as when Bluetooth and active noise-cancellation are deployed for wireless use.
True reference headphones are almost exclusively the domain of wired cans, which comes down to the historic difference in audio quality between wired and wireless playback – and this is the very gulf T+A is setting out to bridge with the Solitaire T. Here, the company is aiming to offer up not just excellent sound quality at home but anywhere you go.
An active noise-cancelling circuit can be toggled on as you wish, too, and T+A has worked hard to retain sound quality during its activation. When the Solitaire T are used without ANC, the headphones rely on a "careful selection of damping materials [that] minimises a major part of the unwanted noise in the mid/treble range," says T+A's development director, Jörg Küpper. When the active noise suppression circuit is engaged, however, the tech works to fully eliminate all unwanted background noise, allowing your music to truly take center stage.
