Sports activities vehicles have a tendency to be much less frequent, and extra aspirational, than SUVs or people-carriers. Headphones with planar magnetic drivers are usually much less frequent, 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, costlier, and extra time-consuming to supply. They have an inclination to make the headphones that characteristic them greater and bulkier than the dynamic driver various, which is the one place the place my intelligent sports activities automobile/SUV analogy rolls right into a wall.
The broad level nonetheless stands. Planar magnetic drivers are usually the protect of specialist manufacturers and are usually 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 operating the place loudspeakers and headphones are involved. By 2012 it had wholly acquired the honored 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 trade comparisons.) Now Edifier has launched a brand new pair of wi-fi over-ear planar magnetic headphones referred to as the Stax Spirit S5 which are no greater or costlier than a few of the leading dynamic driver designs. They’re unbelievable headphones that carry music and movies to life higher than dynamic drivers can, and they’re nicely 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 inexpensive planar magnetic headphones to go wi-fi. The place pricing and specs are involved, with one notable exception, it’s onerous to dispute that they’re the corporate’s most formidable.
So sure, planar magnetic drivers: In contrast to the way more frequent dynamic driver various, which produce sound by way of a conical diaphragm pushed by a voice coil inside a magnetic discipline, 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 should be large enough to cowl all the floor space of the diaphragm, which is why this sort of design tends to be greater 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 could be achieved; the diaphragm will transfer backwards and forwards with the identical momentum throughout its total floor, retaining 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 worth. 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 applicable 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 on the market for the multitaskers amongst us.
Battery life is a really spectacular 80 hours from a single cost, and when you’re negligent sufficient to expire of energy, a 15-minute pit cease will maintain you for one more whopping 13 hours. In case you’ve an Android device operating Marshmallow or newer, Google Quick Pair is on the market.
The USB-C socket on the proper ear cup can be utilized for knowledge 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 function. Edifier offers each cables within the S5 packaging.
