WhereIsAtlas · Audio equipment

Edifier

The Chinese speaker maker founded in a Beijing business park in 1996 that quietly bought Japan's electrostatic headphone legend STAX — while its founder still holds the company

Active — Edifier (深圳市漫步者科技股份有限公司, EDIFIER TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD.) is a Chinese audio manufacturer founded in 1996 in Beijing and now registered in Shenzhen, where it has been listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as 002351 since February 2010. It makes speakers, headphones, studio monitors and gaming audio, and its brands include Edifier, Xemal, HECATE, Huazai, AirPulse and STAX SPIRIT. In 2012 it acquired STAX Ltd., the Japanese maker of electrostatic headphones. For the financial year ending 31 December 2025 it reported revenue of about RMB 2.80 billion, down 4.97 per cent, with 2,665 employees.

Edifier was founded in 1996 in Beijing, in the Zhongguancun area, by Zhang Wendong and partners under the name Beijing Aidefa Technology. Zhang, born in 1967 in Xi'an, had taken a master's degree at the Beijing Institute of Technology in 1992. In a 2010 interview with the state-run Economic Daily he recalled that when the venture started in Zhongguancun in 1996 its assets came to less than one million yuan.

The company's centre of gravity moved. The Shenzhen entity was established in January 2001, along with a Shenzhen factory, and in 2007 a headquarters and manufacturing base was built at Songshan Lake in Dongguan. So Edifier was founded in Beijing and is registered and listed in Shenzhen — a distinction worth stating, because reference works that give its headquarters as Beijing are out of date.

It listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in February 2010 as 002351, raising capital on the small and medium enterprise board. Zhang Wendong remains chairman, president and legal representative, holding roughly 26.7 per cent of the shares, and the company's filings record that its controlling shareholder has never changed. That is unusual for a Chinese consumer-electronics firm of its age: Edifier is not a subsidiary of a larger group, and it is not the result of a state consolidation.

Edifier makes home speakers, professional audio, car audio, headphones and microphones. Its brands are Edifier itself, Xemal (声迈), HECATE for gaming, Huazai (花再), AirPulse for high-fidelity active speakers, and STAX SPIRIT for headphones that carry the STAX name. It also holds a controlling stake in LIFAair, a Chinese-Finnish air-purification venture established around 2015.

The most interesting thing in its history is a quiet Japanese acquisition. In 2012 Edifier completed the purchase of STAX Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer of electrostatic headphones — a company whose own lineage traces to the founding of Showa Onkyo Kogyo in 1938. The board approved the deal in December 2011, with a purchase price of ¥120 million, and completion was announced in March 2012; Edifier itself consistently dates the acquisition to 2012.

Electrostatic headphones are an unusual product to acquire. They are expensive, technically demanding and made by very few companies, and STAX is the best-known name in the category. A Chinese maker of computer speakers buying a Japanese electrostatic specialist is a reversal of the direction in which audio acquisitions had usually run, and it happened three years before Samsung bought Harman.

AirPulse is a separate line, developed from 2004 in cooperation with the British speaker designer Phil Jones, who founded Acoustic Energy in 1987 and designed the Platinum Air Pulse 3.1. AirPulse operates as a high-fidelity brand selling reference-level active speakers.

The financial picture is more modest than the range of brands suggests. For the year ended 31 December 2025 Edifier reported revenue of roughly RMB 2.80 billion — down 4.97 per cent — and net profit attributable to shareholders of about RMB 431 million, down 4.06 per cent; it had 2,665 employees. Domestic revenue fell while export revenue rose from around RMB 632 million to RMB 821 million, a shift consistent with a push into Western markets. The company has paid dividends in 17 years since 2010.

A claim to treat carefully. Edifier is sometimes described as the world's largest consumer speaker manufacturer by volume. No credible source found for that could be located, in English or Chinese — not the company's own filings, not the exchange, not the business press. The closest sourced statements are weaker: Zhang Wendong told the Economic Daily in 2010 that in 2008 Edifier's product sales "ranked in the global top three," which is the chairman's own assessment of a year now long past, and the company's own annual report describes its sales as having "entered the front ranks" of the industry. Anyone repeating the "largest" claim is going beyond the record.

In 2026 the company said its own summary-extraction and machine-translation algorithms had completed China's algorithm filing process, and that products already ship multi-language real-time translation, AI question answering and AI meeting transcription.

Timeline

  1. 1996 — Founded in Beijing: Zhang Wendong and partners establish the business in Zhongguancun under the name Beijing Aidefa Technology, with assets he later described as under one million yuan. (Beijing)
  2. Jan 2001 — The Shenzhen entity: The company establishes its Shenzhen operation and factory, moving its corporate centre south. (Shenzhen)
  3. 2004 — AirPulse: The high-fidelity line is developed in cooperation with the British speaker designer Phil Jones.
  4. 2007 — The Dongguan base: A headquarters and manufacturing base is built at Songshan Lake in Dongguan.
  5. Feb 2010 — Listed in Shenzhen: Edifier begins trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as 002351. (Shenzhen)
  6. Dec 2011 — The STAX deal is approved: The board approves the cash purchase of 100% of STAX Ltd. for ¥120 million; completion is announced in March 2012. (Japan)
  7. 2012 — STAX becomes a subsidiary: Edifier completes the acquisition of the Japanese electrostatic headphone maker, whose lineage runs back to 1938.
  8. 2015 — LIFAair: The company takes a controlling stake in a Chinese-Finnish air-purification venture, an unusual step outside audio.
  9. 2025 — A softer year: Revenue falls 4.97% to about RMB 2.80 billion and net profit falls 4.06%, while export revenue rises sharply.
  10. 2026 — An AI push: The company reports that its own summary-extraction and machine-translation algorithms have completed China's algorithm filing process. (China)

Quick facts

Legal name
深圳市漫步者科技股份有限公司 (EDIFIER TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD.)
Founded
1996, in Beijing's Zhongguancun area
Founders
Zhang Wendong (张文东) and partners
Registered
Shenzhen, Guangdong
Listed
Shenzhen Stock Exchange, ticker 002351, February 2010
Chairman
Zhang Wendong, holding about 26.7% of shares
Controlling shareholder
never changed
Employees
2,665 at the end of 2025
Revenue, FY2025
about RMB 2.80 billion, down 4.97% year on year
Net profit, FY2025
about RMB 431 million, down 4.06%
Export revenue, FY2025
about RMB 821 million, up from about RMB 632 million
Brands
Edifier, Xemal, HECATE, Huazai, AirPulse, STAX SPIRIT
STAX
the Japanese electrostatic headphone maker, acquired 2012
STAX lineage
traced to Showa Onkyo Kogyo, founded 1938
AirPulse
developed from 2004 with designer Phil Jones
Gaming
HECATE
Air purification
a controlling stake in LIFAair, a Chinese-Finnish venture
Dividends
17 payments since 2010
Claim to avoid
"the world's largest speaker manufacturer" — no credible source found

Lineage — where the name went

One founder-led Chinese company, its own brands, and the Japanese electrostatic maker it bought in 2012 — a lineage that runs from a 1938 Japanese radio business to a Shenzhen listed audio group.

  1. 1996 — Zhang Wendong founded Edifier (with unnamed partners)
  2. 1996 — Edifier created Beijing Aidefa Technology (the original Beijing entity)
  3. 2010 — Edifier created The Shenzhen listing (A-shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange)
  4. 2004 — Phil Jones created AirPulse (the design lineage of the brand)
  5. Edifier created AirPulse (developed with Phil Jones from 2004)
  6. Edifier created HECATE (the gaming brand)
  7. Edifier created Xemal 声迈 (a second speaker brand)
  8. Edifier created Huazai 花再 (a newer consumer brand)
  9. Edifier created STAX SPIRIT (headphones using the STAX name)
  10. Showa Onkyo Kogyo was ancestor of STAX Ltd. (the lineage back to 1938)
  11. 2012 — Edifier acquired STAX Ltd. (board approved December 2011, completed March 2012)
  12. 2015 — Edifier created LIFAair (a controlling stake in a joint venture)

Entities in this tree: Edifier (company, 1996); Zhang Wendong (person, 1967); Beijing Aidefa Technology (company); STAX Ltd. (company); Showa Onkyo Kogyo (company, 1938); AirPulse (brand); Phil Jones (person); HECATE (brand); Xemal 声迈 (brand); Huazai 花再 (brand); STAX SPIRIT (brand); LIFAair (company); The Shenzhen listing (event, 2010)

Sources

  1. 漫步者: 2025年年度报告 — Edifier 2025 annual report, published announcement — 新浪财经 (Sina Finance) (2026-09-19)
  2. Our story — Edifier (2026-09-19)
  3. Edifier revival: the legendary audio brand STAX — Edifier (2026-09-19)
  4. Company profile — STAX Ltd. (2026-09-19)
  5. Company — AirPulse (2026-09-19)
  6. Edifier Innovations Technology (SHE:002351) Financials Overview — StockAnalysis (2026-09-19)
  7. 漫步者2024年净利润增长7.06% — 证券时报 (2026-09-19)
  8. EDIFIER 漫步者创立于1996年 — 经济日报 (2026-09-19)

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