Aria Snow Edition vs Armature Art 24: which needs more amplifier?

The Moondrop Aria Snow Edition is 32Ω at 104.1 dB/mW; the Moondrop Armature Art 24 is 5.8Ω at 96.6 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 Armature Art 24 needs 7.5 dB more than the Aria Snow Edition to reach the same loudness — 2.2 mW against 0.39 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationAria Snow EditionArmature Art 24
Impedance32 Ω5.8 Ω
Sensitivity104.1 dB/mW96.6 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)119.0 dB/V119.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.39 mW2.2 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.11 V0.11 V
Current for 100 dB3.5 mA19.4 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
4.00 Ω0.72 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280279

Where the two part company

1 of the 280 sources has the power for the Aria Snow Edition but not for the Armature Art 24 — Steinberg UR22C.

49 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Aria Snow Edition under the one-eighth rule but not for the Armature Art 24 (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA13, FiiO KA15, 46 more).

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 Armature Art 24 is more demanding than 37% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Aria Snow Edition than 36%. 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 SPLAria Snow Edition powerAria Snow Edition voltageArmature Art 24 powerArmature Art 24 voltage
803.9 µW11 mV0.02 mW11 mV
850.01 mW20 mV0.07 mW20 mV
900.04 mW35 mV0.22 mW36 mV
950.12 mW63 mV0.69 mW63 mV
1000.39 mW0.11 V2.2 mW0.11 V
1051.2 mW0.20 V6.9 mW0.20 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, Aria Snow EditionHeadroom, Armature Art 24Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2018.9 dB4.0 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2927.1 dB16.1 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$3618.9 dB8.7 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 279 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 43 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 43 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 18.9 dB of headroom on the Aria Snow Edition and 4.0 dB on the Armature Art 24, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.00 Ω and 0.72 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 16 dB and 16 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
Aria Snow Edition15Hz - 50kHznot printednot printed
 20Hz - 20kHznot printednot printed
Armature Art 247Hz-35kHznot printednot printed
 20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)-3 dBIEC60318-4

Moondrop prints two ranges, “15Hz - 50kHz” and “20Hz - 20kHz”, for the Aria Snow Edition and two ranges, “7Hz-35kHz” and “20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the Armature Art 24.

Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Armature Art 24 comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the Aria Snow Edition does not, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it. The two cannot be compared number against number, however similar they look in the table. Of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.

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: Moondrop Aria Snow Edition and Moondrop Armature Art 24. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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