Solo vs U12t: which needs more amplifier?

The 64 Audio Solo is 16Ω at 100.0 dB/mW; the 64 Audio U12t is 12.6Ω at 108.0 dB/mW. This page is only about what they ask of an amplifier — not how they sound, which no specification on either sheet can tell you.

The Solo needs 8.0 dB more than the U12t to reach the same loudness — 1.0 mW against 0.16 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationSoloU12t
Impedance16 Ω12.6 Ω
Sensitivity100.0 dB/mW108.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)118.0 dB/V127.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB1.0 mW0.16 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.13 V45 mV
Current for 100 dB7.9 mA3.5 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.00 Ω1.57 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

Where the two part company

Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.

5 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Solo under the one-eighth rule but not for the U12t (FiiO KA13, Schiit Vali 2+, Astell&Kern HC3, 2 more).

16 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Solo but cross it with the U12t (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 13 more).

280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both. That count is about power only — the output-impedance and hiss lines above are separate questions, and a source can pass this one and fail those.

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The gap between these two in decibels does not change with volume — it is a property of the two headphones. What changes is the size of the numbers, and it changes fast: every 10 dB costs ten times the power. The row that matters is the one nearest the level you listen at, and for most people that is nearer the top of this table than the bottom.

The Solo is more demanding than 40% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the U12t than 8%. Both figures use the same measure as the rest of the site: whichever runs out first against a 2 V, 100 mW dongle, voltage or power.

dB SPLSolo powerSolo voltageU12t powerU12t voltage
800.01 mW13 mV1.6 µW4 mV
850.03 mW22 mV5.0 µW8 mV
900.10 mW40 mV0.02 mW14 mV
950.32 mW71 mV0.05 mW25 mV
1001.0 mW0.13 V0.16 mW45 mV
1053.2 mW0.22 V0.50 mW79 mV

105 dB is included because forum power figures are usually quoted there or higher. It is also a level that damages hearing in minutes — how many minutes is its own calculator.

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, SoloHeadroom, U12tOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2011.8 dB18.7 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2923.9 dB30.9 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5920.8 dB27.8 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 54 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both — the rest either fail one of those or never printed the number at all, and 208 of them are in the second group.

The cheapest of the 54 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 11.8 dB of headroom on the Solo and 18.7 dB on the U12t, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.00 Ω and 1.57 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 17 dB and 8 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Cheapest that satisfies three published numbers is not the same as best, and none of it is about how either headphone sounds. To put either model against a source this page does not mention, or to change the target loudness, use the amplifier matcher.

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
Solo20 Hz – 20 kHznot printednot printed
U12t10 Hz – 20 kHznot printednot printed

64 Audio prints 20 Hz – 20 kHz for the Solo and 10 Hz – 20 kHz for the U12t.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. A wider range on one sheet is not deeper bass or more treble on that headphone: without a tolerance, neither number says how loud either model is at the ends of its own range, so the difference between the two is a difference between two pieces of marketing copy. A ±dB figure is what turns a range into a specification, and of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print it.

None of this is a measurement. What each maker publishes, and what it is worth, is set out in the frequency response audit.

Both pages in full

Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: 64 Audio Solo and 64 Audio U12t. Every figure on this page comes from what 64 Audio published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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