The JadeAudio JA11 is a USB dongle at $20. It delivers 30 mW into 32Ω and 3.2 mW into 300Ω, which ranks it 261 of 280 for raw power among the sources in this database.
Measured at 100 dB SPL it has comfortable headroom on 382 of the 567 dynamic and planar headphones catalogued here, enough but not generous on 129, only marginal on 36 and not enough power for 20. FiiO's budget sub-brand. About as cheap as a dongle gets that still has a real DAC chip and a published spec sheet.
The shop listings these figures stand on quote 30 mW into 32Ω. Everything else in the table above is worked out from those figures, and this table says which is which.
Derivation holds output voltage steady between and beyond the published loads rather than output power, because that is what an amplifier actually does. The full method is written up here.
One caveat about the source. None of the addresses below is a JadeAudio document. The figures here stand on FiiO's German distributor shop and Gadget n Music, a retailer, which are transcriptions of the factory table rather than the table itself. A transcription is usually faithful and may well be exact here — but it can carry an old revision, and nothing on this site would notice if it did. Find these numbers on JadeAudio's own site and send the link; this paragraph comes off.
Source: fiio-shop.de, gadgetnmusic.com.
| Load | Power | Status | How it was arrived at |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32 Ω | 30 mW | Quoted by a shop | a shop or distributor listing quotes this figure at this exact load; the maker publishes nothing this site could find |
| 150 Ω | 6.4 mW | Derived | beyond the published loads, holding output voltage constant — which understates rather than flatters |
| 300 Ω | 3.2 mW | Derived | beyond the published loads, holding output voltage constant — which understates rather than flatters |
| 600 Ω | 1.6 mW | Derived | beyond the published loads, holding output voltage constant — which understates rather than flatters |
Ordered from easiest to hardest to drive. Headroom is measured at 100 dB SPL, which is louder than almost anyone listens — a small negative number means the source still plays loud, just without reserve for peaks.
These figures come from each manufacturer's own sensitivity rating. A handful of planars — the HiFiMAN Susvara and the Abyss AB-1266 in particular — are widely reported to need far more than their published sensitivity implies, so treat a bare pass on those as optimistic rather than settled.
| Headphone | Impedance | Sensitivity | Needs | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 114.0 dB/mW | 0.04 mW | +23 dB | Comfortable audible hiss |
| 64 Audio U12t | 12.6 Ω | 108.0 dB/mW | 0.16 mW | +19 dB | Comfortable audible hiss |
| Shure SE215 | 17 Ω | 107.0 dB/mW | 0.20 mW | +19 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Moondrop Aria | 32 Ω | 107.1 dB/mW | 0.19 mW | +22 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Audeze LCD-X 2021 | 20 Ω | 103.0 dB/mW | 0.50 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Truthear Hexa | 20.5 Ω | 103.1 dB/mW | 0.49 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Sennheiser IE 200 | 18 Ω | 101.6 dB/mW | 0.69 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Sony MDR-7506 | 63 Ω | 106.0 dB/mW | 0.25 mW | +18 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Meze 99 Classics | 32 Ω | 103.0 dB/mW | 0.50 mW | +18 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Focal Clear MG | 55 Ω | 104.0 dB/mW | 0.40 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Philips SHP9500 | 32 Ω | 101.0 dB | 0.79 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable faint hiss |
| Focal Utopia | 80 Ω | 104.0 dB/mW | 0.40 mW | +15 dB | Comfortable |
| Meze Empyrean | 32 Ω | 100.0 dB | 1.0 mW | +15 dB | Comfortable |
| Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 | 9 Ω | 94.0 dB | 4.0 mW | +3 dB | Enough |
| Etymotic ER2SE | 15 Ω | 96.0 dB/mW | 2.5 mW | +7 dB | Enough |
| AKG K371 | 32 Ω | 99.1 dB/mW | 1.2 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| Audio-Technica ATH-M50X | 38 Ω | 99.0 dB/mW | 1.3 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X | 48 Ω | 100.0 dB/mW | 1.0 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| Audeze LCD-2 Classic | 70 Ω | 101.0 dB/mW | 0.79 mW | +12 dB | Comfortable |
| Grado SR80x | 38 Ω | 98.0 dB/mW | 1.6 mW | +12 dB | Comfortable |
| Sennheiser HD 560S | 120 Ω | 100.8 dB/mW | 0.83 mW | +10 dB | Enough |
| HiFiMAN Edition XS | 18 Ω | 92.0 dB | 6.3 mW | +4 dB | Enough |
| HiFiMAN Arya Stealth | 32 Ω | 94.0 dB | 4.0 mW | +9 dB | Enough |
| Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed | 13 Ω | 90.0 dB/mW | 10 mW | +1 dB | Marginal |
| Audeze LCD-5 | 14 Ω | 90.0 dB/mW | 10 mW | +1 dB | Marginal |
| Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 102.0 dB/mW | 0.63 mW | +8 dB | Enough |
| HiFiMAN HE400se | 25 Ω | 91.0 dB | 7.9 mW | +5 dB | Enough |
| HiFiMAN Sundara | 32 Ω | 92.0 dB | 6.3 mW | +7 dB | Enough |
| Dan Clark Audio Stealth | 23 Ω | 90.0 dB/mW | 10 mW | +3 dB | Enough |
| Fostex T50RP MK3 | 50 Ω | 92.0 dB/mW | 6.3 mW | +5 dB | Enough |
| AKG K702 | 62 Ω | 92.9 dB/mW | 5.1 mW | +5 dB | Enough |
| ZMF Verite Closed | 300 Ω | 99.0 dB/mW | 1.3 mW | +4 dB | Enough |
| Sennheiser HD 650 | 300 Ω | 97.8 dB/mW | 1.7 mW | +3 dB | Marginal |
| Sennheiser HD 800S | 300 Ω | 96.8 dB/mW | 2.1 mW | +2 dB | Marginal |
| Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (250Ω) | 250 Ω | 96.0 dB | 2.5 mW | +2 dB | Marginal |
| Audio-Technica ATH-R70X | 470 Ω | 98.0 dB/mW | 1.6 mW | +1 dB | Marginal |
| ZMF Atrium | 300 Ω | 96.0 dB/mW | 2.5 mW | +1 dB | Marginal |
| Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC | 50 Ω | 88.0 dB/mW | 16 mW | +1 dB | Marginal |
| Sennheiser HD 600 | 300 Ω | 91.8 dB/mW | 6.6 mW | -3 dB | Not enough |
| HiFiMAN Susvara | 60 Ω | 83.0 dB | 50 mW | -5 dB | Not enough |
At 1.7 µV of output noise, here is where that noise lands in the five most revealing in-ears in the database.
This one hisses. With the most sensitive in-ears in the database its own noise lands around 26 dB SPL, which you will hear between tracks and in quiet passages.
| In-ear | Impedance | Sensitivity | Hiss level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simgot EA500 | 16 Ω | 141.0 dB/V | 26 dB SPL |
| Tanchjim EA FORCE | 17 Ω | 137.7 dB/V | 22 dB SPL |
| Shure SE846 | 9 Ω | 134.5 dB/V | 19 dB SPL |
| Campfire Audio Clara | 13.3 Ω | 134.1 dB/V | 19 dB SPL |
| 64 Audio Fourte | 10 Ω | 134.0 dB/V | 19 dB SPL |
At 0.5Ω output impedance, the one-eighth rule says this source suits headphones of 4.0Ω and above. 1 of the 567 models here falls below that. The one model below that line is the Symphonium Titan, and the mismatch tilts the frequency response audibly rather than subtly.
The rule is a rule of thumb, not physics: a source impedance below one eighth of the headphone's keeps the interaction under about 1 dB. The checker works it out for any pair.
Nothing cheaper in this database does everything the JadeAudio JA11 does. Of the 280 sources here, not one at a lower price will reach 100 dB on every headphone it reaches, stay inside the one-eighth rule wherever it does and stay under the audible-hiss threshold wherever it does. That is a plain result and it is not the usual one — most of the catalogue has something cheaper that matches it.
This counts a headphone output and nothing else. Inputs, converters, microphone preamps, balanced outputs, the volume control, the case and the warranty are all outside it, and any of them can be the reason to buy the dearer box. What the count does say is that the three numbers a maker can be held to do not separate them.
$22 · 34 mW into 32Ω · 0.5 Ω out
Compare →$22 · 34 mW into 32Ω · 1.0 Ω out
Compare →$24 · 30 mW into 32Ω · output Ω not published
Compare →$12 · 60 mW into 32Ω · 1.5 Ω out
Compare →$29 · 200 mW into 32Ω · 0.7 Ω out
Compare →$9 · 30 mW into 32Ω · 1 Ω out
Compare →Worked out in advance against its closest rivals: vs FiiO KA11 · vs FiiO SnowSky Tiny A · vs FiiO SnowSky Tiny B · vs Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini. Each of those pages lists the headphones that tell the two apart.
Or put any two side by side in the source comparison tool, or run your own headphones through the amplifier matcher. Or see every JadeAudio source in the database, and how much of what this site says about them came from JadeAudio’s own documents.