Sports cars are Headphones with planar magnetic drivers tend to be less common and more aspirational than those with dynamic drivers. In some ways, the reasons are very similar. Using thin pieces of metal sandwiched between magnets, planar magnetic drivers are a bit like sports cars: designed to deliver uncompromising performance. Like sports cars, planar magnetic drivers are also more complicated, more expensive, and more time-consuming to manufacture. Headphones with planar magnetic drivers tend to be larger and bulkier than their dynamic driver alternatives, which is the only way my clever sports car/SUV analogy doesn’t hold up.
The general point still stands: planar magnetic drivers are proprietary to specialist brands and tend to be found in much more expensive headphones than other designs with dynamic drivers, but apparently no one told Edifier this.
Edifier was founded in Beijing in 1996 and has been doing well when it comes to speakers and headphones. By 2012, the company had fully acquired Stax, a storied Japanese headphone brand. In terms of prestige, this is a bit like when Fiat bought Ferrari (we promise this is the last automotive comparison). Now, Edifier has launched a new pair of wireless over-ear planar magnetic headphones called the Stax Spirit S5. These headphones are not as big or expensive as some of the leading dynamic driver designs. These are great headphones that bring music and movies to life more than dynamic drivers can, and are worth considering for audiophiles who might otherwise have bought wired headphones.
It’s the spirit
It’s worth noting that the Stax Spirit S5 aren’t Edifier’s first wireless planar magnetic headphones — it’s hard to argue that, in terms of price and specs, they’re the company’s most ambitious product, with one notable exception.
Yes, planar magnetic drivers. Unlike the much more common dynamic drivers, which produce sound with a cone-shaped diaphragm driven by a voice coil in a magnetic field, planar magnetic drivers use a very thin, flat diaphragm with embedded wires. The diaphragm is suspended in the gap between two magnets that vibrate the diaphragm to produce sound. Because the magnets need to be large enough to cover the entire surface area of the diaphragm, this type of design tends to be larger and heavier than dynamic drivers. It’s also a more power-hungry arrangement.
Photo: Simon Lucas
In the case of the Stax Spirit S5, the diaphragm is just 2 microns thick and incorporates Edifier’s second generation “EqualMass” wiring. By connecting different wires of the same width in a symmetrical structure, a uniform drive force is achieved, so the diaphragm moves back and forth with the same momentum across the entire surface, minimizing distortion.
Driver quirks aside, the Edifier Stax Spirit S5 has most of what the market tends to want at its price point. It uses Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connectivity and, thanks to the Qualcomm QCC5181 SoC, supports codecs up to LHDC, LDAC, and aptX Lossless. With the right music source, it can offer lossless 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution and “lossy” 24-bit/96kHz resolution. It comes with AptX Voice to provide optimal call quality, and multipoint connectivity is also available for those who multitask.
Battery life is an impressive 80 hours on a single charge, and if you accidentally run out of battery, a 15-minute pit stop will give you another 13 hours. If you have an Android device running Marshmallow or later, you can take advantage of Google Fast Pair.
A USB-C socket on the right ear cup can be used for data transfer and battery charging, while the left ear cup has a 3.5mm input for the same wired connection – Edifier includes both cables in the S5 package.
