The Tin HiFi C5 is 9Ω at 98.5 dB/mW; the Tin HiFi T2 Plus is 32Ω at 104.0 dB (no reference unit printed). 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 C5 needs 5.5 dB more than the T2 Plus to reach the same loudness — 1.4 mW against 0.40 mW.
| Specification | C5 | T2 Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 9 Ω | 32 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 98.5 dB/mW | 104.0 dB |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 119.0 dB/V | 118.9 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 1.4 mW | 0.40 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.11 V | 0.11 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 12.5 mA | 3.5 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 1.12 Ω | 4.00 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. Tin HiFi T2 Plus printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, that model needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.
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.
11 sources are low enough in output impedance for the T2 Plus under the one-eighth rule but not for the C5 (FiiO KA13, FiiO K11, Schiit Vali 2+, 8 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.
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 T2 Plus is more demanding than 38% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the C5 than 38%. 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 SPL | C5 power | C5 voltage | T2 Plus power | T2 Plus voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0.01 mW | 11 mV | 4.0 µW | 11 mV |
| 85 | 0.04 mW | 20 mV | 0.01 mW | 20 mV |
| 90 | 0.14 mW | 36 mV | 0.04 mW | 36 mV |
| 95 | 0.45 mW | 63 mV | 0.13 mW | 63 mV |
| 100 | 1.4 mW | 0.11 V | 0.40 mW | 0.11 V |
| 105 | 4.5 mW | 0.20 V | 1.3 mW | 0.20 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.
| Source | Price | Headroom, C5 | Headroom, T2 Plus | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 7.8 dB | 18.8 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 19.9 dB | 27.0 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR11 | $36 | 12.5 dB | 18.8 dB | 0.5 Ω | 8.0 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 7.8 dB of headroom on the C5 and 18.8 dB on the T2 Plus, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.12 Ω and 4.00 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.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| C5 | nothing printed | — | — |
| T2 Plus | 10 - 200000Hz | not printed | not printed |
Tin HiFi prints nothing at all for the C5 and 10 - 200000Hz for the T2 Plus.
T2 Plus: The figure stands in the product description’s "Specification" list rather than in a table of its own.
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 T2 Plus 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.
Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: Tin HiFi C5 and Tin HiFi T2 Plus. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Tin HiFi never published — what that maker publishes, counted.