EM10 vs SuperMix 4: which needs more amplifier?

The Simgot EM10 is 41.6Ω at 106.2 dB/mW; the Simgot SuperMix 4 is 7.2Ω at 98.6 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 SuperMix 4 needs 7.6 dB more than the EM10 to reach the same loudness — 1.4 mW against 0.24 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationEM10SuperMix 4
Impedance41.6 Ω7.2 Ω
Sensitivity106.2 dB/mW98.6 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)120.0 dB/V120.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.24 mW1.4 mW
Voltage for 100 dB100 mV100 mV
Current for 100 dB2.4 mA13.8 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
5.20 Ω0.90 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.

46 sources are low enough in output impedance for the EM10 under the one-eighth rule but not for the SuperMix 4 (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA13, FiiO BTR15, 43 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 EM10 is more demanding than 32% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the SuperMix 4 than 32%. 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 SPLEM10 powerEM10 voltageSuperMix 4 powerSuperMix 4 voltage
802.4 µW10 mV0.01 mW10 mV
857.6 µW18 mV0.04 mW18 mV
900.02 mW32 mV0.14 mW32 mV
950.08 mW56 mV0.44 mW56 mV
1000.24 mW100 mV1.4 mW100 mV
1050.76 mW0.18 V4.4 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, EM10Headroom, SuperMix 4Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2019.8 dB6.9 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2928.1 dB19.0 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$3619.8 dB11.7 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 45 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 45 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 19.8 dB of headroom on the EM10 and 6.9 dB on the SuperMix 4, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 5.20 Ω and 0.90 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 15 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
EM108Hz-40kHznot printednot printed
 20Hz-20kHznot printednot printed
SuperMix 48Hz-40kHznot printednot printed
 20Hz-20kHznot printednot printed

Linsoul, a Chinese-audio retailer lists the same thing for both the EM10 and the SuperMix 4: two ranges, “8Hz-40kHz” and “20Hz-20kHz”,. Both of those figures stand on a shop page rather than a document published by the maker.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. The two sheets print the same range, which is itself a hint about how much the number is worth. 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: Simgot EM10 and Simgot SuperMix 4. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Simgot never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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