DN-142 vs Glacier: which needs more amplifier?

The Dunu DN-142 is 37Ω at 107.0 dB/mW; the Dunu Glacier is 43Ω at 109.0 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 DN-142 needs 2.0 dB more than the Glacier to reach the same loudness — 0.20 mW against 0.13 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDN-142Glacier
Impedance37 Ω43 Ω
Sensitivity107.0 dB/mW109.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)121.3 dB/V122.7 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.20 mW0.13 mW
Voltage for 100 dB86 mV74 mV
Current for 100 dB2.3 mA1.7 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
4.62 Ω5.38 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.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the Glacier under the one-eighth rule but not for the DN-142 (Shanling H5).

2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the DN-142 but cross it with the Glacier (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).

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 DN-142 is more demanding than 26% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Glacier than 23%. 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 SPLDN-142 powerDN-142 voltageGlacier powerGlacier voltage
802.0 µW9 mV1.3 µW7 mV
856.3 µW15 mV4.0 µW13 mV
900.02 mW27 mV0.01 mW23 mV
950.06 mW48 mV0.04 mW41 mV
1000.20 mW86 mV0.13 mW74 mV
1050.63 mW0.15 V0.40 mW0.13 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, DN-142Headroom, GlacierOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2021.1 dB22.5 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2929.4 dB30.7 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5926.4 dB27.7 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 67 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 67 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 21.1 dB of headroom on the DN-142 and 22.5 dB on the Glacier, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.62 Ω and 5.38 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 14 dB and 13 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
DN-1425Hz – 40kHznot printednot printed
Glacier5 Hz - 40 kHznot printednot printed

Dunu prints 5Hz – 40kHz for the DN-142 and 5 Hz - 40 kHz for the Glacier.

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: Dunu DN-142 and Dunu Glacier. Every figure on this page comes from what Dunu published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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