Both are audio interfaces, $299 against $279. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The MOTU M4 reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the Arturia MiniFuse 4 on 562.
| Specification | Arturia MiniFuse 4 | MOTU M4 |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 139 mW | 333 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 45 mW | 71 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 24 mW | 36 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 12 mW | 18 mW |
| Output impedance | 10 Ω | not published |
| Output noise | not published | not published |
| Price | $299 | $279 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 562 | 565 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
| Load | Arturia MiniFuse 4 | MOTU M4 |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 150 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 300 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 600 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
Neither column is a power rating, and the two are not even weak in the same way. The MOTU M4 figures are ceilings worked out from a maximum output voltage, on the assumption that the amplifier holds it into the load. The Arturia MiniFuse 4 figures are worked out from figures its maker did publish — power at other loads, or the voltage printed beside it. The second method understates; the first flatters. That is the wrong way round for reading the table straight across, so a gap in favour of the MOTU M4 is the one to doubt.
What each of these labels means, and why a derived figure is still worth printing, is set out in how this data was built.
3 headphones reach 100 dB on the MOTU M4 but not on the Arturia MiniFuse 4 — Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Crimson, Symphonium Helios.
562 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
The counts above say how many models the two treat differently. This says by how much. The same 8 headphones appear on every page of this kind, ordered from the easiest to drive to the hardest, so a row can be read across pages as well as across columns. Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.
The widest gap on the list is the HiFiMAN HE400se: MOTU M4 has +15 dB of headroom there against +11 dB. 4 dB is about 2.4 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for Arturia MiniFuse 4 and MOTU M4 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure. That is a gap in the specification, not a quiet amplifier, and it is left blank here rather than filled with a plausible number.
| Headphone | Impedance | Needs | Arturia MiniFuse 4 headroom | MOTU M4 headroom | Arturia MiniFuse 4 hiss | MOTU M4 hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +30 dB damping | +34 dB | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +10 dB damping | +14 dB | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +20 dB damping | +23 dB | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +17 dB | +18 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +11 dB damping | +15 dB | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +10 dB | +12 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +6 dB | +7 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | +2 dB damping | +5 dB | not published | not published |
The Arturia MiniFuse 4 costs $20 more than the MOTU M4, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Arturia MiniFuse 4 handles and the MOTU M4 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper MOTU M4 drives 3 models to 100 dB that the Arturia MiniFuse 4 does not.
Everything in this paragraph counts only figures the two makers published. An advantage on an axis one of them leaves blank cannot be counted, and is not counted — how often that happens is its own page.
Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: Arturia MiniFuse 4 and MOTU M4. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.