Moondrop Aria vs Truthear Hexa: which needs more amplifier?

The Moondrop Aria is 32Ω at 107.1 dB/mW; the Truthear Hexa is 20.5Ω at 103.1 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 Truthear Hexa needs 4.0 dB more than the Moondrop Aria to reach the same loudness — 0.49 mW against 0.19 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationMoondrop AriaTruthear Hexa
Impedance32 Ω20.5 Ω
Sensitivity107.1 dB/mW103.1 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)122.0 dB/V120.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.19 mW0.49 mW
Voltage for 100 dB79 mV0.10 V
Current for 100 dB2.5 mA4.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
4.00 Ω2.56 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.

2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Truthear Hexa but cross it with the Moondrop Aria (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 Truthear Hexa is more demanding than 33% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Moondrop Aria than 25%. 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 SPLMoondrop Aria powerMoondrop Aria voltageTruthear Hexa powerTruthear Hexa voltage
801.9 µW8 mV4.9 µW10 mV
856.2 µW14 mV0.02 mW18 mV
900.02 mW25 mV0.05 mW32 mV
950.06 mW44 mV0.15 mW56 mV
1000.19 mW79 mV0.49 mW0.10 V
1050.62 mW0.14 V1.5 mW0.18 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, Moondrop AriaHeadroom, Truthear HexaOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2021.9 dB15.9 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2930.1 dB26.6 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5927.1 dB23.5 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 21.9 dB of headroom on the Moondrop Aria and 15.9 dB on the Truthear Hexa, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.00 Ω and 2.56 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 13 dB and 15 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
Moondrop Aria5Hz-36kHznot printednot printed
 20Hz-20kHznot printednot printed
Truthear Hexa8-40kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)not printedIEC61094 (free field)
 20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)-3 dBIEC60318-4

Moondrop prints two ranges, “5Hz-36kHz” and “20Hz-20kHz”, for the Aria. Truthear prints two ranges, “8-40kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)” and “20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the Hexa.

Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Truthear Hexa comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the Moondrop Aria 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 and Truthear Hexa. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop and Truthear published, or is derived from it — what Moondrop publishes and what Truthear publishes, both counted.

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