Arturia MiniFuse 4 vs Universal Audio Volt 276

Short answer

  • More power: the Arturia MiniFuse 4, with 139 mW into 32 Ω; the Universal Audio Volt 276 has 84 mW. The Arturia MiniFuse 4 drives 4 headphones to 100 dB that the Universal Audio Volt 276 cannot (Moondrop PARA 2, Moondrop VENUS, Symphonium Triton, 1 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the same, $299.

Both are audio interfaces, both at $299.

The Arturia MiniFuse 4 reaches 100 dB on 562 of the 567 models here, the Universal Audio Volt 276 on 558.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationArturia MiniFuse 4Universal Audio Volt 276
Power into 32Ω139 mW84 mW
Power into 150Ω45 mW28 mW
Power into 300Ω24 mW22 mW
Power into 600Ω12 mW12 mW
Output impedance10 Ωnot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$299$299
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
562558

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadArturia MiniFuse 4Universal Audio Volt 276
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedPublished
600 ΩDerivedPublished

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Universal Audio Volt 276 publishes one at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω; Arturia MiniFuse 4 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 4 understates rather than flatters — but at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω are the only loads here at which its maker can be held to a figure.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

4 headphones reach 100 dB on the Arturia MiniFuse 4 but not on the Universal Audio Volt 276 — Moondrop PARA 2, Moondrop VENUS, Symphonium Triton, 1 more.

558 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 Shure SE846: Arturia MiniFuse 4 has +30 dB of headroom there against +28 dB. 2 dB is about 1.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Arturia MiniFuse 4 and Universal Audio Volt 276 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsArturia MiniFuse 4 headroomUniversal Audio Volt 276 headroomArturia MiniFuse 4 hissUniversal Audio Volt 276 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+30 dB damping+28 dBnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+10 dB damping+8 dBnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+20 dB damping+18 dBnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+17 dB+16 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB damping+9 dBnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+10 dB+10 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+6 dB+5 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+2 dB damping+0 dBnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

These two cost the same, $299, so price settles nothing. Out of the 567 models here, the Arturia MiniFuse 4 drives 4 models to 100 dB — and on the other side there is no such advantage at all.

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

Both pages in full

↑