MACH 10 vs Pro X10: which needs more amplifier?

The Westone MACH 10 is 80Ω at 103.0 dB (no reference unit printed); the Westone Pro X10 is 19Ω at 114.0 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 MACH 10 needs 11.0 dB more than the Pro X10 to reach the same loudness — 0.50 mW against 0.04 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationMACH 10Pro X10
Impedance80 Ω19 Ω
Sensitivity103.0 dB114.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)114.0 dB/V131.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.50 mW0.04 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.20 V28 mV
Current for 100 dB2.5 mA1.4 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
10.00 Ω2.38 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

One caution before reading the rows. Westone MACH 10 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.

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.

10 sources are low enough in output impedance for the MACH 10 under the one-eighth rule but not for the Pro X10 (Zoom AMS-22, Arturia MiniFuse 2, Arturia MiniFuse 1, 7 more).

31 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the MACH 10 but cross it with the Pro X10 (Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini, FiiO BTR11, Fosi Audio SK02, 28 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 MACH 10 is more demanding than 59% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Pro X10 than 2%. 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 SPLMACH 10 powerMACH 10 voltagePro X10 powerPro X10 voltage
805.0 µW20 mV0.4 µW3 mV
850.02 mW36 mV1.3 µW5 mV
900.05 mW63 mV4.0 µW9 mV
950.16 mW0.11 V0.01 mW15 mV
1000.50 mW0.20 V0.04 mW28 mV
1051.6 mW0.36 V0.13 mW49 mV

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, MACH 10Headroom, Pro X10Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2013.8 dB26.5 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2922.1 dB37.6 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5919.0 dB34.5 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 42 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 42 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 13.8 dB of headroom on the MACH 10 and 26.5 dB on the Pro X10, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 10.00 Ω and 2.38 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 21 dB and 4 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
MACH 1020Hz – 18kHznot printednot printed
Pro X1020Hz - 16kHznot printednot printed

Westone prints 20Hz – 18kHz for the MACH 10 and 20Hz - 16kHz for the Pro X10.

Pro X10: The figure stands on Westone’s own spec sheet, not on the product page, which prints no frequency row at all.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. A wider range on one sheet is not deeper bass or more treble on that headphone: without a tolerance, neither number says how loud either model is at the ends of its own range, so the difference between the two is a difference between two pieces of marketing copy. 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: Westone MACH 10 and Westone Pro X10. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Westone never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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