Both are audio interfaces, $249 against $229. 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 SSL 2 MkII reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the Audient EVO 8 on 543.
| Specification | Audient EVO 8 | SSL 2 MkII |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 22 mW | 374 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 14 mW | 80 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 11 mW | 40 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 10 mW | 20 mW |
| Output impedance | 50 Ω | 1 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | not published |
| Price | $249 | $229 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 543 | 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 | Audient EVO 8 | SSL 2 MkII |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 150 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 300 Ω | Derived | Upper bound |
| 600 Ω | Recomputed | Upper bound |
Neither column is a power rating, and the two are not even weak in the same way. The SSL 2 MkII figures are ceilings worked out from a maximum output voltage, on the assumption that the amplifier holds it into the load. The Audient EVO 8 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 SSL 2 MkII 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.
22 headphones reach 100 dB on the SSL 2 MkII but not on the Audient EVO 8 — Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Open, 19 more.
546 headphones are left alone by the SSL 2 MkII under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Audient EVO 8 (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Ocean, 543 more).
543 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: SSL 2 MkII has +16 dB of headroom there against +4 dB. 12 dB is about 16 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for Audient EVO 8 and SSL 2 MkII 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 | Audient EVO 8 headroom | SSL 2 MkII headroom | Audient EVO 8 hiss | SSL 2 MkII hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +22 dB damping | +34 dB | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +2 dB damping | +14 dB | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +15 dB damping | +23 dB | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +13 dB damping | +19 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +4 dB damping | +16 dB | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +8 dB | +12 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +2 dB damping | +8 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | -3 dB damping | +6 dB | not published | not published |
The Audient EVO 8 costs $20 more than the SSL 2 MkII, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Audient EVO 8 handles and the SSL 2 MkII does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper SSL 2 MkII drives 22 models to 100 dB and leaves 546 alone under the one-eighth rule that the Audient EVO 8 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: Audient EVO 8 and SSL 2 MkII. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.