Honest headphone audio

The rabbit hole has an exit.

Twenty-three free calculators and a guide written by someone who spent a fortune on audiophile gear, sold nearly all of it, and ended up with studio equipment that told him more.

20 Hz 1 kHz 20 kHz dB SPL
Every answer here comes from the same two numbers on a spec sheet — impedance and sensitivity.
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0headphones, specs re-checked by hand
0sources, from $9 dongles to desktop amps
0free calculators, no sign-up
0affiliate links, ever

Three steps, then an honest answer

01

Pick your headphones

316 models with impedance and sensitivity already converted to one consistent unit — the thing most calculators get wrong before they even start.

02

See what they need

Power, voltage swing and difficulty at a listening level you actually use, not at the ear-splitting peak the forums quote.

03

Find out if you need anything

Usually the answer is no. When it is yes, you get told which of 53 sources will do it — and which will hiss.

Do you actually need an amplifier?

Most of the time you do not, and almost nobody will tell you that. The calculator judges your headphones on power and voltage against what a decent dongle really delivers — then says so plainly.

A 600Ω Beyerdynamic runs happily from a phone dongle at sane volume. That is not an opinion, it is arithmetic.

Open the calculator
ATH-M50X · 38Ω1.3 mW
HD 600 · 300Ω2.0 mW
DT 990 Pro · 600Ω2.5 mW
HiFiMAN Susvara · 60Ω50 mW

Power needed at a 100 dB peak. Only the last one genuinely wants a desktop amp.

“You can hear more for a tenth of the price with studio gear.”

A recording engineer, on an audiophile forum — he was right

Twenty-three tools, nothing to sell you