Are Edifier’s Stax Spirit S5 the best wireless headphones ever?

If you’re lucky enough to own a smartphone or digital audio player that supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound Platform, you’ll probably want a pair of wireless headphones to make the most of the latest Hi-Res audio codecs that Snapdragon Sound supports, including apt-X Lossless.

The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 are Snapdragon Sound compatible wireless headphones. They offer an impressive 80 hours of playback per battery charge and use magnetic planar instead of the more commonly used dynamic type. The Spirit S5s were inspired by the classic Stax electrostatic models that caused such a stir when they were released in the 1970s.

To ensure that the Stax Spirit S5 produces the most consistent sound possible, Edifier has developed something called Production Phase Auto Calibration, a manufacturing process that ensures that each pair of Stax Spirit S5 headphones produces the same sound quality as the original prototype developed pre-production model. in Edifier’s laboratories.

The build quality of the slim headphones is excellent, and the foldable design allows the Spirit S5 to be easily stored in the included zipped case. Obviously, foldable headphones will never be as robust as a solid design like the new Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. Some people don’t like folding designs because the hinges can creak and loosen over time. It’s too early to tell if that would be the case with these headphones, but they seem well-made and thoughtfully designed.

Built on the Qualcomm QCC5181 Bluetooth chipset, the Stax Spirit S5 supports the full suite of Snapdragon Sound Technology from Qualcomm. There’s no active noise cancellation technology, so if that’s your thing, look elsewhere. However, the Spirit S5 has a pair of microphones to capture the user’s voice when making a phone call or video conference.

The birth of the new Stax Spirit S5 began in 2012 when Edifier acquired Stax Ltd, a company synonymous with high-end electrostatic headphones. As a tribute to the Stax brand, Edifier created the Stax Spirit as a high-end sub-brand for a new line of audiophile-quality headphones. The Stax Spirit S5 are the latest in the range and use advanced planar magnetic technology instead of traditional dynamic drivers.

Planar magnetic drivers are used in high-end headphones and have a unique way of producing sound that many believe is better at revealing detail and handling transient responses, bringing more energy and agility to music.

Dynamic drivers create sound using a cone-sized diaphragm driven by a voice coil surrounded by a magnetic field. The diaphragm must be stiff enough to prevent splitting during vibration, especially when reproducing high frequencies. The motor system that drives the cone is heavy and requires a lot of energy to vibrate.

With planar magnetic drivers, a flat thin membrane is embedded with wires and suspended in a magnetic gap. This unique design allows the diaphragm to move like a piston throughout the frequency spectrum. Because the diaphragm is so light and has such excellent transient response, a planar driver is often considered the better choice for high-quality sound reproduction.

Edifier is not the only company to use planar magnetic transducers in their headphones, but most other brands deal with the uneven distribution of the magnetic field by using wires of different widths on the diaphragm. The goal is to achieve an even driving force across the entire surface of the membrane, thereby achieving consistent performance.

Edifier takes this approach a step further with EqualMass technology. By connecting different numbers of conductors of the same width in parallel, EqualMass creates a uniform driving force across the entire diaphragm while maintaining an evenly distributed mass.

EqualMass technology allows the diaphragm to move back and forth with equal motion and momentum, reducing harmonic distortion to virtually zero. With the Stax Spirit 5 Edifier introduced the 2^n.dwiring EqualMass generation. This symmetrical conduction structure increases the stability of the diaphragm throughout the frequency spectrum.

To ensure uniformity of magnetic field distribution in each drive, Edifier has also developed an automatic tooling kit that calibrates and compensates magnet circuits during manufacturing. This process ensures that each pair of Stax Spirit S5 headphones can reproduce the same high-quality sound as the original design prototype tuned by Edifier engineers.

In addition to supporting the Hi-Res LDAC and LHDC audio codecs, the Stax Spirit S5 also supports all the bundled codecs that come with Snapdragon audio. These include aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless. The aptX Lossless codec can achieve a transfer rate of 1.2Mbps in Bluetooth mode, which is fast enough to transmit digital audio up to 96kHz at 24-bit.

By supporting the entire family of aptX Adaptive codecs, the Stax Spirit S5 also provides end-to-end latency of up to 89ms. This means that audio from movies and games will always be synced via Bluetooth to match the action on screen.

In addition to the Hi-Res codec suite, the Stax Spirit S5 also supports the AAC codec used by Apple in its iPhones and iPads. Although aptX isn’t as high definition, the AAC codec provides very good sound quality, and there’s a possibility that Apple could support LDAC in the future, which is built into the new Bluetooth LE standard.

The Stax Spirit S5 provides MultiPoint connectivity with two Bluetooth audio devices paired simultaneously. Thanks to this, a smartphone and a digital audio player or tablet can be connected to the headphones at the same time, and you can seamlessly switch between them. Other handy features include FastPair with Android devices for instant connection.

The controls on the Stax Spirit S5 are basic with the usual grouping of three buttons for play/pause, skip and repeat, as well as volume levels. There is also a Bluetooth pairing button for connecting to other devices. The Bluetooth pairing button also works as a mode switch. One press cycles through EQ presets, while two presses puts the headphones into gaming mode with a low 87ms latency.

As you might expect from a pair of headphones of this pedigree, the Stax Spirit S5 are perfectly finished with genuine lambskin earpads and cowhide earpads. The ergonomic design is snug enough to feel secure when worn, but the clamping pressure is low enough to feel comfortable for extended listening sessions.

The sound quality offered by the Stax Spirit S5 is unmatched. While planar magnetic drivers don’t always have quite the low-end growl and rumble of some dynamic drivers, what they sometimes lack in bass they more than make up for in agility and transient response. There’s real energy and brilliant musical articulation to these headphones that make them positively infectious.

To test the Stax Spirit S5, I fired up Tidal’s Hi-Fi Tier and selected Diana Krall’s “Sway,” one of my favorite headphone review test tracks. It’s a beautifully recorded track that can push any pair of headphones to their limits. As a source, I used the FiiO M23 digital audio player, which supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound and aptX Lossless.

The result was sound on par with a pair of high-end wired headphones. If you’ve always hesitated to go wireless because you’re worried that Bluetooth will compress your music too much, then the time for hesitation is over. At the best bit rates, the Stax Spirit S5 has an airiness and pace that takes your breath away. I tried doing blind tests between wired and wireless and couldn’t tell the difference.

The treble produced by the agile planar magnetic drivers is as good as a delicate silk dome tweeter. The sheer response during the dynamic and transient phrases of the music was amazing. Even the bass levels have a languid, rich and engaging tone that brought the string bass on “Sway” right to the fore. Listening with these headphones renders every detail and nuance in the recording.

If you don’t want to use Bluetooth, the Stax Spirit S5 can also be connected using an AUX cable or a USB-A to USB-C cable, which decodes the source file directly in the headphones. The Edifier ConneX smartphone app is free to download and available for iOS and Android devices. The app offers customization options and full EQ controls to shape the sound to your taste.

Statement: The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 are some of the best Hi-Res wireless headphones on the market. They are up there with the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 and then some. The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 costs more than Melomania and this is due to the use of planar magnetic technology, but if you want the best sound quality over Bluetooth and you have a device that supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound, then the Stax Spirit S5 headphones deserve your attention. They have a smooth delivery, so if you want a little heavier bass and ANC functionality, Melomania is definitely worth a listen. However, these are very special headphones that take advantage of planar magnetic technology and Snapdragon Sound support. Listen to them now!

Price and availability: The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 Wireless Headphones are available from today and cost $499.99 / £499.99 / €499.99.

Technical Specifications:

• Exciters: Planar magnetic.
• Bluetooth: V5.4.
• Bluetooth range: 10m.
• Audio codecs: Snapdragon Sound, LHDC, LDAC, Qualcomm aptX Lossless, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive, Qualcomm aptX HD, Qualcomm aptX, LHDC, LDAC, AAC, SBC.
• Sound pressure level: 94 ± 3dB SPL(A).
• Frequency response: 10Hz – 40kHz.
• Battery life: 80 hours.
• Input: DC 5V ⎓ 2A.