Both are portable players, $1699 against $1399. 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 iBasso DX340 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the Sony NW-WM1AM2 on 552.
| Specification | iBasso DX340 | Sony NW-WM1AM2 |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 550 mW | 30 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 117 mW | 6.4 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 59 mW | 3.2 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 29 mW | 1.6 mW |
| Output impedance | not published | 1 Ω unverified |
| Output noise | not published | 3 µV unverified |
| Price | $1699 | $1399 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 566 | 552 |
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 | iBasso DX340 | Sony NW-WM1AM2 |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | Published | Derived |
| 150 Ω | Derived | Derived |
| 300 Ω | Derived | Derived |
| 600 Ω | Derived | Derived |
Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. iBasso DX340 publishes one at 32 Ω; Sony NW-WM1AM2 publishes none at any of these four loads, so its column is worked out from power it published at other loads. Both are arithmetic on a maker’s own figures rather than guesses, and the method used for the Sony NW-WM1AM2 understates rather than flatters — but at 32 Ω is the only load here at which its maker can be held to a figure.
What each of these labels means, and why a derived figure is still worth printing, is set out in how this data was built.
14 headphones reach 100 dB on the iBasso DX340 but not on the Sony NW-WM1AM2 — Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), Beyerdynamic DT 990 Edition (600Ω), HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, 11 more.
552 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 Sennheiser HD 600: iBasso DX340 has +9 dB of headroom there against -3 dB. 13 dB is about 18 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for iBasso DX340 and Sony NW-WM1AM2 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 | iBasso DX340 headroom | Sony NW-WM1AM2 headroom | iBasso DX340 hiss | Sony NW-WM1AM2 hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +36 dB | +29 dB | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +16 dB | +9 dB | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +25 dB | +12 dB | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +20 dB | +8 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +17 dB | +7 dB | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +14 dB | +1 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +9 dB | -3 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | +8 dB | -5 dB | not published | not published |
The iBasso DX340 costs $300 more than the Sony NW-WM1AM2. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 14 more models driven to 100 dB.
Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.
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: iBasso DX340 and Sony NW-WM1AM2. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.