Dan Clark Audio Stealth vs HiFiMAN Ananda Nano: which needs more amplifier?

The Dan Clark Audio Stealth is 23Ω at 90.0 dB/mW; the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano is 14Ω at 94.0 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 Dan Clark Audio Stealth needs 4.0 dB more than the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano to reach the same loudness — 10 mW against 4.0 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDan Clark Audio StealthHiFiMAN Ananda Nano
Impedance23 Ω14 Ω
Sensitivity90.0 dB/mW94.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)106.4 dB/V112.5 dB/V
Power for 100 dB10 mW4.0 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.48 V0.24 V
Current for 100 dB20.9 mA16.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.88 Ω1.75 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
279280

One caution before reading the rows. HiFiMAN Ananda Nano 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

1 of the 280 sources has the power for the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano but not for the Dan Clark Audio Stealth — Steinberg UR22C.

4 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Dan Clark Audio Stealth under the one-eighth rule but not for the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano (Schiit Vali 2+, Astell&Kern HC3, RME Fireface UFX II, 1 more).

1 source stays below the audible-hiss threshold with the Dan Clark Audio Stealth but crosses it with the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano (Schiit Mjolnir 3).

279 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 Dan Clark Audio Stealth is more demanding than 85% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano than 65%. 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 Stealth powerDan Clark Audio Stealth voltageHiFiMAN Ananda Nano powerHiFiMAN Ananda Nano voltage
800.10 mW48 mV0.04 mW24 mV
850.32 mW85 mV0.13 mW42 mV
901.0 mW0.15 V0.40 mW75 mV
953.2 mW0.27 V1.3 mW0.13 V
10010 mW0.48 V4.0 mW0.24 V
10532 mW0.85 V13 mW0.42 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 StealthHeadroom, HiFiMAN Ananda NanoOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$203.3 dB5.2 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2913.3 dB17.3 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$365.5 dB10.0 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 279 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 69 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 207 of them are in the second group.

The cheapest of the 69 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 3.3 dB of headroom on the Dan Clark Audio Stealth and 5.2 dB on the HiFiMAN Ananda Nano, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.88 Ω and 1.75 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 29 dB and 23 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 Stealth“Yes, it has one”not printednot printed
HiFiMAN Ananda Nano5Hz-55kHznot printednot printed

Dan Clark Audio prints “Yes, it has one” for the Stealth. HiFiMAN prints 5Hz-55kHz for the Ananda Nano.

Dan Clark Audio Stealth: 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 Ananda Nano 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 Stealth and HiFiMAN Ananda Nano. 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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