Letshuoer S12 Pro vs Shure SE215: which needs more amplifier?

The Letshuoer S12 Pro is 16Ω at 102.0 dB/mW; the Shure SE215 is 17Ω at 107.0 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 Letshuoer S12 Pro needs 5.0 dB more than the Shure SE215 to reach the same loudness — 0.63 mW against 0.20 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationLetshuoer S12 ProShure SE215
Impedance16 Ω17 Ω
Sensitivity102.0 dB/mW107.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)120.0 dB/V124.7 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.63 mW0.20 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.10 V58 mV
Current for 100 dB6.3 mA3.4 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.00 Ω2.12 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.

9 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Letshuoer S12 Pro but cross it with the Shure SE215 (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 6 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 Letshuoer S12 Pro is more demanding than 33% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Shure SE215 than 17%. 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 SPLLetshuoer S12 Pro powerLetshuoer S12 Pro voltageShure SE215 powerShure SE215 voltage
806.3 µW10 mV2.0 µW6 mV
850.02 mW18 mV6.3 µW10 mV
900.06 mW32 mV0.02 mW18 mV
950.20 mW57 mV0.06 mW33 mV
1000.63 mW0.10 V0.20 mW58 mV
1052.0 mW0.18 V0.63 mW0.10 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, Letshuoer S12 ProHeadroom, Shure SE215Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2013.8 dB19.0 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2925.9 dB30.8 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5922.8 dB27.7 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 62 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 62 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 13.8 dB of headroom on the Letshuoer S12 Pro and 19.0 dB on the Shure SE215, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.00 Ω and 2.12 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 15 dB and 11 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
Letshuoer S12 Pronothing printed——
Shure SE21522 Hz–17.5 kHznot printednot printed

Letshuoer prints nothing at all for the S12 Pro. Shure prints 22 Hz–17.5 kHz for the SE215.

So one side of this comparison has a frequency-response number and the other does not — which changes less than it looks. The range printed for the Shure SE215 comes with no tolerance beside it, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud the headphone is at either end of it: thirty decibels down at the bottom and the sentence would still be true. On the only reading that would have made it a specification, the two sheets say the same amount: nothing.

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: Letshuoer S12 Pro and Shure SE215. Every figure on this page comes from what Letshuoer and Shure published, or is derived from it — what Letshuoer publishes and what Shure publishes, both counted.

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