Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed vs HiFiMAN Susvara: which needs more amplifier?

The Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed is 13Ω at 90.0 dB/mW; the HiFiMAN Susvara is 60Ω at 83.0 dB (no reference unit printed). 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 HiFiMAN Susvara needs 7.0 dB more than the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed to reach the same loudness — 50 mW against 10 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDan Clark Audio AEON 2 ClosedHiFiMAN Susvara
Impedance13 Ω60 Ω
Sensitivity90.0 dB/mW83.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)108.9 dB/V95.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB10 mW50 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.36 V1.73 V
Current for 100 dB27.7 mA28.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.62 Ω7.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
272231

One caution before reading the rows. HiFiMAN Susvara printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, that model needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.

Where the two part company

41 of the 280 sources have the power for the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed but not for the HiFiMAN Susvara — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Generic CX31993 dongles, JadeAudio JA11, 38 more.

6 sources are low enough in output impedance for the HiFiMAN Susvara under the one-eighth rule but not for the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed (FiiO KA13, Schiit Vali 2+, Astell&Kern HC3, 3 more).

231 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 HiFiMAN Susvara is more demanding than 99% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed than 80%. 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 SPLDan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed powerDan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed voltageHiFiMAN Susvara powerHiFiMAN Susvara voltage
800.10 mW36 mV0.50 mW0.17 V
850.32 mW64 mV1.6 mW0.31 V
901.0 mW0.11 V5.0 mW0.55 V
953.2 mW0.20 V16 mW0.98 V
10010 mW0.36 V50 mW1.73 V
10532 mW0.64 V158 mW3.08 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, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 ClosedHeadroom, HiFiMAN SusvaraOutput impedanceNoise
FiiO KA11$2913.0 dB3.3 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$599.9 dB0.2 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV
iBasso DC03 Pro$696.0 dB0.2 dB0.12 Ω0.9 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 231 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 66 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 163 of them are in the second group.

The cheapest of the 66 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 13.0 dB of headroom on the Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed and 3.3 dB on the HiFiMAN Susvara, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.62 Ω and 7.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 27 dB and 40 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
Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed“Yes, it has one”not printednot printed
HiFiMAN Susvara6Hz-75kHznot printednot printed

Dan Clark Audio prints “Yes, it has one” for the AEON 2 Closed. HiFiMAN prints 6Hz-75kHz for the Susvara.

Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed: The specification table has a frequency-response row. The value printed in it is the sentence "Yes, it has one".

One of these two sheets prints a range and the other prints a sentence declining to, and the second is the more informative of the two. The range given for the HiFiMAN Susvara carries no tolerance, so it says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it — which is exactly the objection the other sheet is making out loud.

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: Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed and HiFiMAN Susvara. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Dan Clark Audio and HiFiMAN never published — what Dan Clark Audio publishes and what HiFiMAN publishes, both counted.

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