Both are desktop amplifiers, $3000 against $3000. 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 SPL Phonitor xe reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the McIntosh MHA200 on 566.
| Specification | McIntosh MHA200 | SPL Phonitor xe |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 500 mW | 2.7 W |
| Power into 150Ω | 475 mW | 3.7 W |
| Power into 300Ω | 485 mW | 4.2 W |
| Power into 600Ω | 500 mW | 2.1 W |
| Output impedance | not published | 0.18 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | 5.48 µV |
| Price | $3000 | $3000 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 566 | 567 |
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 | McIntosh MHA200 | SPL Phonitor xe |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | Published | Published |
| 150 Ω | Derived | Derived |
| 300 Ω | Derived | Derived |
| 600 Ω | Published | Derived |
Both makers publish a power rating, which is less common than the table above makes it look: of the 280 sources here, 209 publish a figure at at least one load and only 2 publish one at all four. McIntosh MHA200 publishes at 32 Ω and at 600 Ω; SPL Phonitor xe at 32 Ω. Every other row is worked out from those — between two published loads, or beyond them holding voltage constant, which understates rather than flatters.
So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 600 Ω only the McIntosh MHA200 figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.
What each of these labels means, and why a derived figure is still worth printing, is set out in how this data was built.
1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the SPL Phonitor xe but not on the McIntosh MHA200 — Symphonium Titan.
566 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 Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω): SPL Phonitor xe has +39 dB of headroom there against +29 dB. 10 dB is about 10 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for McIntosh MHA200 because that 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 | McIntosh MHA200 headroom | SPL Phonitor xe headroom | McIntosh MHA200 hiss | SPL Phonitor xe hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +35 dB | +43 dB | not published | 29 dB |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +15 dB | +23 dB | not published | 9 dB |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +28 dB | +35 dB | not published | 7 dB |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +29 dB | +39 dB | not published | 3 dB |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +17 dB | +24 dB | not published | 2 dB |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +25 dB | +32 dB | not published | -4 dB |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +19 dB | +28 dB | not published | -8 dB |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | +10 dB | +17 dB | not published | -10 dB |
These two cost the same, $3000, so price settles nothing. Out of the 567 models here, the SPL Phonitor xe drives one model to 100 dB — and on the other side there is no such advantage at all.
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: McIntosh MHA200 and SPL Phonitor xe. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.