Edifier STAX SPIRIT S10 review: Do the world’s first planar magnetic TWS earbuds deliver?
Edifier’s high-end earbuds are the world’s first true wireless planar magnetic earbuds, but are they worth the high price mark?
We’ve got the new earbuds in office to fully test them and see if they’re worth the hype. Chinese audio company Edifier launched the SPIRIT S10 in September earlier this year. SPIRIT S10 joins the company’s STAX range. Known for affordable earbuds, with some on sale for as low as $17.99 on Amazon, the SPIRIT S10 enters the market at the other end of the earbuds price spectrum.
Click below to jump to one of the following:
- Unboxing & Design
- Internals & Sound Quality
- Active Noise Cancellation
- Calls
- Battery
- Controls & EDIFIER Connex App
- Price
Unboxing & Design
The Edifier STAX SPIRIT S10 earbuds come in a really nice premium box, if a little unnecessarily large. In the box you’ll find the the charging case with the earbuds inside, a short USB-A to USB-C cable, pouch, manual and seven spare ear tips. The earbuds are pre-loaded with a pair of medium sized eartips. The box feature a pair of XS, two pairs of S, one pair of M, two pairs of L and one pair of XL.
The charging case is fairly large, with a slope design, USB-C port on the rear and LED charging indicator on the front. Opening the case for the first time automatically powers the buds on and enters pairing mode. There’s a button on the inside for pairing additional devices and resetting the buds. Once paired the first time, the earbuds automatically connect to the last used device.
The earbuds themselves are an angular stem-design, with in-ear tips that provide a good seal. I found the in-ear design to be a little uncomfortable after long listening sessions, but I have always been a fan of more open-design earbuds. Along one edge of the bud, there’s a ridge that indicates the touch sensitive area.
The SPIRIT S10 are IP54 certified for dust and water resistance.
Internals & Sound Quality
What makes the STAX SPIRIT S10 so special is that they’re the world’s first true wireless planar magnetic earbuds. The 12mm modularized planar magnetic driver ensures top performance and noise cancellation. An ultra-thin diaphragm 2μm polymer substrate ensures fast and accurate transient responses, with a total thickness of just 10μm.
The STAX SPIRIT S10 employs the 2nd generation of EqualMass™ wiring counter which balances the uneven distribution of magnetic field and achieves equal weight distribution across the diaphragm, so that all parts of the diaphragm possess the same momentum. By adding symmetric supporting wiring, the diaphragm is steadier than the previous generation and can achieve a piston-like motion across the audio spectrum significantly reducing harmonic distortion. Dual layers of magnetic arrays, one on each side of the diaphragm, provide doubled driving force in a push-pull manner for a much-improved efficiency.
Every piece of the earbuds will pass a production-phase auto-calibration process to guarantee uniform final performance.
EDIFIER
Thanks to a Qualcomm QCC5181 Bluetooth SoC and the Snapdragon Sound technology suite, the earbuds are efficient, can deliver all of the latest codecs on supported devices and provide a stable connection. The earbuds are Hi-Res Wireless Audio cerified. Qualcomm aptX Audio, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive and Qualcomm aptX Lossless, as well as LDAC, LHDC 5.0, and AAC are all supported, for compatibility, reception and sound quality. The chip also handles the microphones for improved call quality and environmental noise suppression.
The earbuds support Bluetooth 5.4 with dual-device connection, for a stable connection and instant switching between two different devices.
All of the above leads to a listening experience that delivers overall decent sound quality that didn’t blow me away. While the earbuds get loud enough, at maximum volume they won’t blow your head off.
Active Noise Cancellation
The earbuds feature 3rd generation Qualcomm Adaptive Hybrid ANC technology. This enables the earbuds to change the cancellation pattern based on the ambient noise, all-in-all providing a comfortable and immersive listening experience. In my experience using the earbuds, even without music playing, the ANC does a decent job of cancelling out lower pitch noises, while higher pitch noises such as keyboard taps can still be heard.
Calls
There are three microphones in each earbud, Qualcomm aptX Voice technology and 32kHz wide-band calling all for optimum audio pickup, enabling hands-free call in noisy environments.
Battery
With ANC turned on, the earbuds will get around 4.5 hours of playback from a single charge and 18 hours total when paired with the case. Turn ANC off for 7 hours on a single charge and 28 hours total with the case. These numbers are fairly average, but on par with the likes of the AirPods Pro 2. A 15 minute charge will provide 2 hours of playback. The case charges via USB-C and there is a short USB-A to USB-C cable included in the box. Unfortunately, the case does not feature wireless charging, which is a shame for such an expensive pair of earbuds.
Controls & EDIFIER Connex App
The SPIRIT S10 feature wearing detection, so music automatically plays and pauses when the earbuds are placed in and taken out of your ears. Touch controls are operated by squeezing the sides of the earbuds. While it can take a little while to get used to this method, I much prefer it to the usual method of tapping the outside and pushing the earbuds further into your ears. Using the EDIFIER ConneX app, you can individually assign each earbud to perform different functions based on the number of taps, or holds. Controls can play/pause music, skip/previous track, volume up/down, answer/reject/end calls, switch between ANC/Ambient sound/ANC off, activate game mode or pull up the voice assistant.
On top of customizing the touch controls, The EDIFIER Connex app can also switch between EQ presets, fully customize the EQ settings, switch noise cancellation mode, activate game mode and show you the location the earbuds were last connected. Game mode reduces the latency to 89ms.
Price
The Edifier STAX SPIRIT S10 earbuds launched earlier this year for $299.99, but are currently on sale on Amazon for $239.99. At over $200, that makes these Edifier earbuds difficult to recommend against flagship earbuds from Apple, Google and Sony, all of which come in under $200.
This product was sent to us by Edifier. Edifier has not paid us for this review. The Amazon link is an affiliate link, therefore we may earn a commission for any purchases made.