Arturia MiniFuse 2 vs Zoom AMS-24

Short answer

  • More power: the Arturia MiniFuse 2, with 139 mW into 32 Ω; the Zoom AMS-24 has 30 mW. The Arturia MiniFuse 2 drives 13 headphones to 100 dB that the Zoom AMS-24 cannot (HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered, HiFiMAN Susvara, 10 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the Arturia MiniFuse 2 costs $1 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Zoom AMS-24 shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are audio interfaces, $149 against $150.

The Arturia MiniFuse 2 reaches 100 dB on 562 of the 567 models here, the Zoom AMS-24 on 549.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationArturia MiniFuse 2Zoom AMS-24
Power into 32Ω139 mW30 mW
Power into 150Ω45 mW9.7 mW
Power into 300Ω24 mW5.2 mW
Power into 600Ω12 mW2.7 mW
Output impedance10 Ω10 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$149$150
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
562549

Not published means the maker leaves it out, so that axis cannot be compared.

Where each power figure comes from

LoadArturia MiniFuse 2Zoom AMS-24
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Zoom AMS-24 publishes one at 32 Ω; Arturia MiniFuse 2 publishes none at any of these four loads, so its column is worked out from power it published at other loads. Both are arithmetic on a maker’s own figures rather than guesses, and the method used for the Arturia MiniFuse 2 understates rather than flatters — but at 32 Ω is the only load here at which its maker can be held to a figure.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

13 headphones reach 100 dB on the Arturia MiniFuse 2 but not on the Zoom AMS-24 — HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered, HiFiMAN Susvara, 10 more.

549 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the HiFiMAN Susvara: Arturia MiniFuse 2 has +2 dB of headroom there against -4 dB. 7 dB is about 4.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Arturia MiniFuse 2 and Zoom AMS-24 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsArturia MiniFuse 2 headroomZoom AMS-24 headroomArturia MiniFuse 2 hissZoom AMS-24 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+30 dB damping+23 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+10 dB damping+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+20 dB damping+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+17 dB+10 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB damping+5 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+10 dB+3 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+6 dB-1 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+2 dB damping-4 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Zoom AMS-24 costs $1 more than the Arturia MiniFuse 2, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Zoom AMS-24 handles and the Arturia MiniFuse 2 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper Arturia MiniFuse 2 drives 13 models to 100 dB that the Zoom AMS-24 does not.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Both pages in full

Each in full: Arturia MiniFuse 2 and Zoom AMS-24.

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