Sports activities vehicles have a tendency to be much less widespread, and extra aspirational, than SUVs or people-carriers. Headphones with planar magnetic drivers are typically much less widespread, and extra aspirational, than headphones with dynamic drivers. In some methods, the explanations for this are very comparable. Planar magnetic drivers, which use skinny items of steel held between magnets—are a bit like sports activities vehicles: They’re designed for uncompromised efficiency. Like sports activities vehicles, they’re additionally trickier, dearer, and extra time-consuming to supply. They have a tendency to make the headphones that characteristic them larger and bulkier than the dynamic driver various, which is the one place the place my intelligent sports activities automotive/SUV analogy rolls right into a wall.
The broad level nonetheless stands. Planar magnetic drivers are typically the protect of specialist manufacturers and are typically fitted to headphones costing a fantastic deal greater than these various designs that characteristic dynamic drivers. However nobody, it appears, has talked about any of this to Edifier.
Edifier was established in Beijing in 1996 and hit the bottom working the place loudspeakers and headphones are involved. By 2012 it had wholly acquired the commemorated Japanese headphone model Stax, which, when it comes to status, is a bit just like the time Fiat acquired Ferrari. (I promise, this would be the final of my auto business comparisons.) Now Edifier has launched a brand new pair of wi-fi over-ear planar magnetic headphones known as the Stax Spirit S5 which are no larger or dearer than a few of the main dynamic driver designs. They’re implausible headphones that carry music and movies to life higher than dynamic drivers can, and they’re effectively value contemplating for audiophiles who could in any other case have bought wired headphones.
That’s the Spirit
The Stax Spirit S5 usually are not, it’s value noting, Edifier’s first reasonably priced planar magnetic headphones to go wi-fi. The place pricing and specs are involved, with one notable exception, it’s exhausting to dispute that they’re the corporate’s most formidable.
So sure, planar magnetic drivers: Not like the much more widespread dynamic driver various, which produce sound by way of a conical diaphragm pushed by a voice coil inside a magnetic subject, planar magnetic drivers use a tremendously skinny, flat diaphragm with implanted wires. It’s suspended in a niche between two magnets that vibrate the diaphragm to supply sound. The magnets have to be large enough to cowl the whole floor space of the diaphragm, which is why this kind of design tends to be larger and heavier than the dynamic various. It’s a extra power-hungry association too.
{Photograph}: Simon Lucas
Within the case of the Stax Spirit S5, the diaphragm is a mere 2 microns thick and is embedded with the second era of Edifier’s “EqualMass” wiring. By connecting completely different numbers of wires of the identical width in a symmetrical construction, uniform driving pressure might be achieved; the diaphragm will transfer backwards and forwards with the identical momentum throughout its total floor, holding distortion to a naked minimal.
The esoteric nature of their drivers apart, the Edifier Stax Spirit S5 characteristic most of what the market tends to demand on the value. They use Bluetooth 5.4 for wi-fi connectivity, and due to the Qualcomm QCC5181 SoC they’ve codec help as much as and together with LHDC, LDAC, and aptX Lossless. With an acceptable supply of music, they will ship a lossless 16-bit/44.1-kHz decision, in addition to “lossy” 24-bit/96-kHz. AptX Voice is onboard in an effort to ship optimum name high quality, and multipoint connectivity is accessible for the multitaskers amongst us.
Battery life is a really spectacular 80 hours from a single cost, and if you happen to’re negligent sufficient to expire of energy, a 15-minute pit cease will maintain you for an additional whopping 13 hours. In the event you’ve an Android gadget working Marshmallow or newer, Google Quick Pair is accessible.
The USB-C socket on the suitable ear cup can be utilized for information switch in addition to charging the battery, and there’s a 3.5-mm enter on the left ear cup for a similar hard-wired objective. Edifier offers each cables within the S5 packaging.
