👉 Subscribe to main channel for all videos.

The Edifier Neobuds Planar is the first planar driver earbuds I’ve tested that has active noise canceling. It’s Hi-Res certified, supports streaming over LDAC and LHDC codecs, and is also Snapdragon Sound capable so aptX Adaptive is also supported, but I’ve got some problems with it.

Planar magnetic drivers have certain characteristics which are very positive, and we’re going to get into that, but it also has this tendency to lean a bit brighter in the highs while not being able to hit as low in the bass. This is true for full sized Planar Magnetic headphones (like the Stax Spirit S5 which I reviewed some time ago) and it’s true for earbuds as well.

That is why when I first tried the Neobuds Planar, I have to say, I wasn’t too impressed. It sounded thin, and tinny, no matter how loud I played it or what EQ setting I tried.

But I was wrong.

The fact is, planar magnetic drivers don’t move as much air in the bass frequencies, so a proper seal is very, very important. And though I was getting a good seal with the M sized eartips, I needed to actually use the Large size, which I seldom have to do with other earbuds. So I changed to Large and put them on, make sure they’re tight, and they sound a lot better now.

Sound Quality

Bass is still not as full as I would have liked but it’s a heavier, less tinny sound, with all the juicy benefits of Planar magnetic drivers like fast transient response, so they sound precise and tight, with great reproduction of fine details in instruments, vocals and soundstage. Track separation also sounds very clean, very relaxed, so there’s very little to no muddiness at all. And because they’ve got clean high treble with so much headroom, it’s easier to hear the airiness in the soundstage.

👉 Have a listen to the sound samples

Running a FR sweep shows that they don’t stray too far from the Harman curve so they should hit the right spot for most people.

If it sounds too bright, and you want to tone it down, I’m afraid that’s very hard to do with software. There is a parametric EQ in the Edifier Connex app, but it only allows tweaking up to the 6khz mark, when much of that brightness is actually happening above 10khz. And it’s not like the settings are going to make much difference in general because these aren’t so responsive to EQ as I hoped. In terms of the presets, these do sound different from the default, but with the graphic EQ I can only feel some difference if I slam the dials all the way in either direction.

Microphone Quality

In terms of mic pickup, its voice capture is decent in quiet conditions. In noisy, windy conditions, my voice is still captured quite intelligibly, but background noise reduction is spotty. On my mic quality rankings I would rate it a B, alongside the Denon PERL Pro and Sony WF-1000XM5.

👉 Have a listen to the mic quality samples

Active Noise Cancelling

In terms of active noise canceling, you can’t adjust the intensity of noise canceling but there’s an Adaptive mode with switched intensity based on how noisy it is, but really, as you can see from this chart, given the same amount of noise there won’t be a difference at all. Noise canceling’s quite effective in general, not so much in the sub bass so don’t expect it to perform well on a plane, but for public transport and general silence, it works rather well.

👉 Listen to the ANC samples

Transparency Mode

In terms of transparency, as with ANC you can’t finetune the intensity, but there are different modes, like Balanced mode, Voice Enhance - which focuses transparency on voice, background sounds and adaptive. Of all of these modes, background sound mode gives me the best transparency effect.

You can see that it’s closer to the benchmark represented by the white line, and this means it is more useful for general awareness, since it’s kicking up the upper mids a little, and also amplifying the lower frequencies. So more is being passed through than the other modes. However the highs are still quite muffled, so it still doesn’t sound like I’m not wearing earbuds at all.

Verdict

My overall take on them is, they’re not for everybody. Only VERY discerning listeners need apply because that precision, that separation, cleanliness, detail retrieval, and the fact that it covers most bases in terms of Hi-Res codecs, will appeal to the audiophile crowd, people who are willing to pay extra for better sound, because these are not cheap.

They cost a cool $300 at regular retail, which is really shooting for the stars here because that’s the same price, or more expensive than, popular audiophile choices from Techncis, Sony and Sennheiser. So it’s not so easy to justify if it’s just about features which, let’s be honest, are pretty basic in 2025 terms.

For example, you don’t get any automatic EQ calibration, and toggling between the different modes is also sluggish. It takes about 2 seconds to switch into each mode whereas with others, it’s usually instant. So the UX can be a little better.

But if it’s about sound quality, these Neobuds and their 12mm Planar magnetic drivers does excel in ways that could appeal to more demanding listeners, including not having too much bass.

Click on the links below to check their latest price, just in case they’re on promo.

Check latest price:
Edifier NeoBuds Planar - https://amzn.to/4irfUhZ

(Affiliate Links Disclosure)

When you make a purchase through the Affiliate Links on this site, the site earns a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!