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 so you can take full advantage of the latest Hi-Res audio codecs that Snapdragon Sound supports, including apt-X Lossless.

The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 are wireless headphones and compatible with Snapdragon Sound. They offer an impressive 80 hours of playtime on a single charge and use magnetic planar instead of the more dynamic type. The Spirit S5 is inspired by the classic Stax electrostatic models that caused such a stir when they were launched in the 70s.

To ensure that the Stax Spirit S5 produces the most consistent sound possible, Edifier developed the Production Phase Auto Calibration, a manufacturing process that ensures that every Stax Spirit S5 headphone produces the same sound quality as the original prototype developed in Edifier’s labs.

The build quality of the close-back headphones is excellent, and the foldable design makes the Spirit S5 easy to store in the included zip pouch. Of course, foldable headphones are never going to be as robust as fixed designs like the new Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 . Some people don’t like foldable designs because the hinges can creak and loosen over time. It’s too early to say whether that would be the case with these headphones, but they seem well made and thoughtfully designed.

The Stax Spirit S5 headphones are built around Qualcomm’s QCC5181 Bluetooth system on a chip, with support for Qualcomm’s full Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite. There’s no active noise cancelling technology, so if that’s a deal breaker for you, look elsewhere. The Spirit S5 does have a pair of microphones that can pick up your voice when you’re taking phone calls or video conferencing.

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 Stax Spirit as a high-end sub-brand for a new range of audiophile-grade headphones. The Stax Spirit S5 is the latest in the range and utilises 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 say is superior when it comes to revealing detail and handling transients, bringing more energy and liveliness to the music.

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

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

Edifier isn’t the only company using planar magnetic drivers in its headphones, but most other brands address the uneven distribution of the magnetic field by using wires of varying widths on the diaphragm. The goal is to achieve a uniform drive force across the entire diaphragm surface, resulting in consistent performance.

Edifier takes EqualMass technology one step further. By connecting a different number of wires of the same width in parallel, EqualMass produces a uniform driving force across the entire diaphragm, while keeping the weight evenly distributed.

EqualMass technology makes the diaphragm move back and forth with the same motion and momentum, reducing harmonic distortion to virtually zero. With the Stax Spirit 5, Edifier 2^nd-generation EqualMass wiring. This symmetrical wiring structure improves the stability of the diaphragm across the entire frequency spectrum.

To ensure uniformity in the distribution of the magnetic field across each driver, Edifier also developed an automatic toolset that calibrates and compensates the magnetic circuits during production. This process ensures that every pair of Stax Spirit S5 headphones can reproduce the same high-quality sound as the original design prototype tuned by Edifier’s engineers.

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

Thanks to support for the entire family of aptX Adaptive codecs, the Stax Spirit S5 also offers end-to-end latency of just 89ms. This means that audio from movies and games will always be in sync over Bluetooth, so sounds match the action happening on screen.

In addition to the suite of Hi-Res codecs, the Stax Spirit S5 also supports the AAC codec that Apple uses in its iPhones and iPads. While the resolution is not as high as aptX, the AAC codec delivers very good sound quality and there is a possibility that Apple will support LDAC in the future, which is built into the new Bluetooth LE standard.

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

Controls on the Stax Spirit S5 are rudimentary, with the usual three-button cluster for play/pause, skip and repeat, as well as volume levels. There’s also a Bluetooth pairing button for connecting to other devices. The Bluetooth pairing button also functions as a mode switch. One press cycles through EQ presets, while two presses put the headphones into gaming mode for a low 87ms latency.

As you would expect from a headphone of this pedigree, the Stax Spirit S5 are beautifully finished with genuine lambskin earpads and top-quality cowhide leather earcups. The ergonomic design is snug enough to feel secure when worn, but the clamping pressure is low enough to feel comfortable, even during extended listening sessions.

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

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

The result was a sound that was equal to a pair of high-end wired headphones. If you’ve ever hesitated about wireless because you were afraid Bluetooth would compress your music too much, your doubts are over. At the best bitrates, the Stax Spirit S5 has an airiness and pace that’s breathtaking. I tried blind testing wired vs. wireless and couldn’t tell the difference.

The high frequencies produced by the agile planar magnetic drivers are as good as a fine silk dome tweeter. The sheer response times during dynamic and transient music passages were superb. Even the bass levels have a languid, rich and engaging tone that really brought out the string bass on “Sway.” Listening through these headphones brings out every detail and nuance in that recording.

If you don’t want to use Bluetooth, the Stax Spirit S5 can also connect to an AUX cable or a USB-A to USB-C cable which decodes the source file directly into 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 tailor the sound to your taste.

Pronunciation: The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 are some of the best Hi-Res wireless headphones on the market. They are comparable to the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 and then some. The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 costs more than the Melomania and that is due to the use of planar magnetic technology, but if you want the best audio quality over Bluetooth and you have a device that supports Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound, then the Stax Spirit S5 headphones are worth considering. They have a delicate delivery, so if you want a little more bass and ANC functionality, then the Melomania are definitely worth a listen. However, these are very special headphones that offer the benefit of planar magnetic technology and Snapdragon Sound support. Listen to them now!

Prices and availability: The Edifier Stax Spirit S5 wireless headphones are available from today, priced at $499.99 / £499.99 / €499.99.

Technical specifications:

• Drivers: 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 range: 10Hz – 40kHz.
• Battery life: 80 hours.
• Input: DC 5V ⎓ 2A.