DK3001 BD vs SA6 MKII: which needs more amplifier?

The Dunu DK3001 BD is 26Ω at 108.0 dB/mW; the Dunu SA6 MKII is 24Ω at 114.0 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 DK3001 BD needs 6.0 dB more than the SA6 MKII to reach the same loudness — 0.16 mW against 0.04 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDK3001 BDSA6 MKII
Impedance26 Ω24 Ω
Sensitivity108.0 dB/mW114.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)123.9 dB/V130.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.16 mW0.04 mW
Voltage for 100 dB64 mV31 mV
Current for 100 dB2.5 mA1.3 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
3.25 Ω3.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

One caution before reading the rows. Dunu SA6 MKII 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

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.

21 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the DK3001 BD but cross it with the SA6 MKII (Fosi Audio SK02, FiiO K7, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 18 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 DK3001 BD is more demanding than 19% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the SA6 MKII than 3%. 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 SPLDK3001 BD powerDK3001 BD voltageSA6 MKII powerSA6 MKII voltage
801.6 µW6 mV0.4 µW3 mV
855.0 µW11 mV1.3 µW5 mV
900.02 mW20 mV4.0 µW10 mV
950.05 mW36 mV0.01 mW17 mV
1000.16 mW64 mV0.04 mW31 mV
1050.50 mW0.11 V0.13 mW55 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, DK3001 BDHeadroom, SA6 MKIIOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2021.9 dB27.5 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2931.2 dB37.3 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5928.1 dB34.2 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 47 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 47 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 21.9 dB of headroom on the DK3001 BD and 27.5 dB on the SA6 MKII, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 3.25 Ω and 3.00 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 12 dB and 5 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
DK3001 BD5 Hz - 40 kHznot printednot printed
SA6 MKII5 Hz - 40 kHznot printednot printed

Dunu prints the same thing for both the DK3001 BD and the SA6 MKII: 5 Hz - 40 kHz.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. The two sheets print the same range, which is itself a hint about how much the number is worth. 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: Dunu DK3001 BD and Dunu SA6 MKII. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Dunu never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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