Nice review again Rajiv.
I missed a T+A P second hand on sale in Sweden for around 3500 USD last year by not acting fast enough.
And actually not really willing to buy them before having auditioned them.
Having read your review I'll have to audition them in SE-Asia this coming winter where they most probably will be quite a bit cheaper than both in the US and Europe. Meanwhile I am switching between my HEK V2 and HD800 depending on recordings.
So BIS had no HD800 at the Mahler sessions you visited?
I actually connected my own old HD 650 and compared it with the other two for the first time in years having read your comments on it at those BIS sessions.But honestly, though not bad as such,not quite up there with either the HD800 or HEKV2 especially, for resolution and string sound where HEKV2 and even more so Susvaras sound closer to how strings actually sound live. Sennheiser's dynamic headphones "soften and mellow" string sound a bit imho.
Regarding that BIS Mahler session, do you have any sessions masterfile or final edit from it, and if so, how does it compare to the Channel Classics Mahler 3 you so kindly PGGB'd for me a couple of year ago?
I have been at both BIS sessions Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov symphonies. And Channel Classics Mahler 5 sessions both in the hall during actual recording "all over the place" with my cameras, both from the conductor's position and among the musicians and any good seats I chose during week long sessions in Mahler. And in the studio for playback both via headphones and 5..1 via speakers.
Back on topic and value for money as you mention it in your review, well there I have to disagree with you .
To me the pricing is unfortunately just one of way too many examples of how crazy the headphone market has become in recent years.
But I suspect I too will like the SQ of the Solitaire P.
A more reasonably priced competitor might also be the Serbian Erzetich Charybdis which sells for about half the price of the Solitaire and might be as good as it, or even better who knows?
So far the very best planar headphone , and by very best I mean the most REAL sounding with unamplifed acoustic instruments I have heard was the very expensive Susvara.
But I also have to audition both the P and the Expanse and the Stealth.
PS.
Do try to get to some other sessions too if you can.
Try contacting Jared Sacks ,or Yarung, Suryodaya was good.
Cheers CC