Both are dongles, $259 against $200. 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 THX Onyx reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the Shanling UA5 on 562.
| Specification | Shanling UA5 | THX Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 137 mW | 124 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 29 mW | 26 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 15 mW | 13 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 7.3 mW | 6.6 mW |
| Output impedance | 0.8 Ω | 0.2 Ω |
| Output noise | 3.5 µV unverified | not published |
| Price | $259 | $200 |
| 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 | Shanling UA5 | THX Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| 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. Shanling UA5 publishes one at 32 Ω; THX Onyx 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 THX Onyx 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.
3 headphones reach 100 dB on the THX Onyx but not on the Shanling UA5 — Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Crimson, Symphonium Helios.
12 headphones are left alone by the THX Onyx under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Shanling UA5 (64 Audio Nio, 64 Audio Volur, Campfire Audio Andromeda 2023, 9 more).
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 Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020: THX Onyx has +13 dB of headroom there against +10 dB. 3 dB is about 1.9 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for Shanling UA5 and THX Onyx 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 | Shanling UA5 headroom | THX Onyx headroom | Shanling UA5 hiss | THX Onyx hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +30 dB | +33 dB | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +10 dB | +13 dB | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +19 dB | +19 dB | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +14 dB | +14 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +11 dB | +13 dB | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +8 dB | +7 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | +3 dB | +3 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | +2 dB | +1 dB | not published | not published |
The Shanling UA5 costs $59 more than the THX Onyx, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Shanling UA5 handles and the THX Onyx does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper THX Onyx drives 3 models to 100 dB and leaves 12 alone under the one-eighth rule that the Shanling UA5 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: Shanling UA5 and THX Onyx. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.