HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) vs HD 600: which needs more amplifier?

The Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) is 150Ω at 104.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all); the Sennheiser HD 600 is 300Ω at 91.8 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 HD 600 needs 12.2 dB more than the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) to reach the same loudness — 6.6 mW against 0.40 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationHD 58X Jubilee (Drop)HD 600
Impedance150 Ω300 Ω
Sensitivity104.0 dB91.8 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)112.2 dB/V97.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.40 mW6.6 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.24 V1.41 V
Current for 100 dB1.6 mA4.7 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
18.75 Ω37.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280261

One caution before reading the rows. For Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) the maker publishes no sensitivity figure at all. The number in the table was collected when this database was first built and has never been traced to a manufacturer document, so treat every row below it as an estimate rather than a specification.

Where the two part company

19 of the 280 sources have the power for the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) but not for the HD 600 — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Apple USB-C dongle (EU), JadeAudio JA11, 16 more.

2 sources are low enough in output impedance for the HD 600 under the one-eighth rule but not for the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) (Schiit Valhalla 3, Arturia AudioFuse Rev2).

1 source stays below the audible-hiss threshold with the HD 600 but crosses it with the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) (Schiit Mjolnir 3).

261 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 HD 600 is more demanding than 99% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) than 65%. 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 SPLHD 58X Jubilee (Drop) powerHD 58X Jubilee (Drop) voltageHD 600 powerHD 600 voltage
804.0 µW24 mV0.07 mW0.14 V
850.01 mW43 mV0.21 mW0.25 V
900.04 mW77 mV0.66 mW0.45 V
950.13 mW0.14 V2.1 mW0.79 V
1000.40 mW0.24 V6.6 mW1.41 V
1051.3 mW0.43 V21 mW2.50 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, HD 58X Jubilee (Drop)Headroom, HD 600Output impedanceNoise
FiiO KA11$2920.4 dB5.2 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5917.2 dB1.8 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV
iBasso DC03 Pro$6917.2 dB2.0 dB0.12 Ω0.9 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 261 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 192 of them are in the second group.

The cheapest of the 67 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 20.4 dB of headroom on the HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) and 5.2 dB on the HD 600, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 18.75 Ω and 37.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 23 dB and 38 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.

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: Sennheiser HD 58X Jubilee (Drop) and Sennheiser HD 600. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Sennheiser never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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