64 Audio U12t vs Truthear Zero:RED: which needs more amplifier?

The 64 Audio U12t is 12.6Ω at 108.0 dB/mW; the Truthear Zero:RED is 17.5Ω at 99.9 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 Truthear Zero:RED needs 8.1 dB more than the 64 Audio U12t to reach the same loudness — 1.0 mW against 0.16 mW.

The numbers that decide it

Specification64 Audio U12tTruthear Zero:RED
Impedance12.6 Ω17.5 Ω
Sensitivity108.0 dB/mW99.9 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)127.0 dB/V117.5 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.16 mW1.0 mW
Voltage for 100 dB45 mV0.13 V
Current for 100 dB3.5 mA7.6 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.57 Ω2.19 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 Truthear Zero:RED under the one-eighth rule but not for the 64 Audio U12t (FiiO KA13, Schiit Vali 2+, Astell&Kern HC3, 2 more).

16 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Truthear Zero:RED but cross it with the 64 Audio 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 Truthear Zero:RED is more demanding than 43% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the 64 Audio 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 SPL64 Audio U12t power64 Audio U12t voltageTruthear Zero:RED powerTruthear Zero:RED voltage
801.6 µW4 mV0.01 mW13 mV
855.0 µW8 mV0.03 mW24 mV
900.02 mW14 mV0.10 mW42 mV
950.05 mW25 mV0.32 mW75 mV
1000.16 mW45 mV1.0 mW0.13 V
1050.50 mW79 mV3.2 mW0.24 V

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, 64 Audio U12tHeadroom, Truthear Zero:REDOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2018.7 dB12.1 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2930.9 dB23.6 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5927.8 dB20.5 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 18.7 dB of headroom on the 64 Audio U12t and 12.1 dB on the Truthear Zero:RED, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.57 Ω and 2.19 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 8 dB and 18 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
64 Audio U12t10 Hz – 20 kHznot printednot printed
Truthear Zero:RED20-40.5kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)not printedIEC61094 (free field)
 20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)-3 dBIEC60318-4

64 Audio prints 10 Hz – 20 kHz for the U12t. Truthear prints two ranges, “20-40.5kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)” and “20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the Zero:RED.

Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Truthear Zero:RED comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the 64 Audio U12t does not, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it. The two cannot be compared number against number, however similar they look in the table. Of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.

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 U12t and Truthear Zero:RED. Every figure on this page comes from what 64 Audio and Truthear published, or is derived from it — what 64 Audio publishes and what Truthear publishes, both counted.

↑