Both are audio interfaces, $100 against $399. 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 Zoom UAC-232 reaches 100 dB on 563 of the 567 models here, the Zoom AMS-22 on 538.
| Specification | Zoom AMS-22 | Zoom UAC-232 |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 20 mW | 148 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 6.5 mW | 51 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 3.4 mW | 28 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 1.8 mW | 14 mW |
| Output impedance | 10 Ω | 12 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | not published |
| Price | $100 | $399 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 538 | 563 |
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 | Zoom AMS-22 | Zoom UAC-232 |
|---|---|---|
| 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. Zoom AMS-22 publishes one at 32 Ω; Zoom UAC-232 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 Zoom UAC-232 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.
25 headphones reach 100 dB on the Zoom UAC-232 but not on the Zoom AMS-22 — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), 22 more.
10 headphones are left alone by the Zoom AMS-22 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Zoom UAC-232 (Beyerdynamic Custom Studio, Beyerdynamic DT 1350, Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO Black Edition (80Ω), 7 more).
538 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 Audeze LCD-2 Classic: Zoom UAC-232 has +21 dB of headroom there against +11 dB. 9 dB is about 8.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.
The hiss columns are empty for Zoom AMS-22 and Zoom UAC-232 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 | Zoom AMS-22 headroom | Zoom UAC-232 headroom | Zoom AMS-22 hiss | Zoom UAC-232 hiss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 0.04 mW | +22 dB damping | +30 dB damping | not published | not published |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 4.0 mW | +2 dB damping | +10 dB damping | not published | not published |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 0.79 mW | +11 dB damping | +21 dB damping | not published | not published |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 0.63 mW | +8 dB | +17 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 7.9 mW | +3 dB damping | +12 dB damping | not published | not published |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 1.6 mW | +2 dB | +11 dB | not published | not published |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 6.6 mW | -3 dB | +6 dB | not published | not published |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 50 mW | -6 dB damping | +3 dB damping | not published | not published |
The Zoom UAC-232 costs $299 more than the Zoom AMS-22. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 25 more models driven to 100 dB.
It does not run one way only: the cheaper Zoom AMS-22 leaves 10 models alone under the one-eighth rule that the Zoom UAC-232 does not, which is the part worth checking against your own headphones before paying the difference.
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: Zoom AMS-22 and Zoom UAC-232. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.