Audient EVO 4 vs Zoom AMS-22

Short answer

  • Power: about the same. The Audient EVO 4 has 22 mW into 32 Ω, the Zoom AMS-22 20 mW. The Audient EVO 4 drives 5 headphones to 100 dB that the Zoom AMS-22 cannot (Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), 2 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Output impedance: 51 headphones are left alone by the Zoom AMS-22 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Audient EVO 4 (AKG K612 Pro, Audeze LCD-3, Audeze LCD-4, 48 more).
  • Price: the Audient EVO 4 costs $29 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are audio interfaces, $129 against $100.

The Audient EVO 4 reaches 100 dB on 543 of the 567 models here, the Zoom AMS-22 on 538.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationAudient EVO 4Zoom AMS-22
Power into 32Ω22 mW20 mW
Power into 150Ω14 mW6.5 mW
Power into 300Ω11 mW3.4 mW
Power into 600Ω10 mW1.8 mW
Output impedance50 Ω10 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$129$100
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
543538

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadAudient EVO 4Zoom AMS-22
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩRecomputedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Zoom AMS-22 publishes one at 32 Ω; Audient EVO 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 Audient EVO 4 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

5 headphones reach 100 dB on the Audient EVO 4 but not on the Zoom AMS-22 — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), 2 more.

51 headphones are left alone by the Zoom AMS-22 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Audient EVO 4 (AKG K612 Pro, Audeze LCD-3, Audeze LCD-4, 48 more).

538 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 Audio-Technica ATH-R70X: Audient EVO 4 has +8 dB of headroom there against +2 dB. 7 dB is about 4.5 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Audient EVO 4 and Zoom AMS-22 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsAudient EVO 4 headroomZoom AMS-22 headroomAudient EVO 4 hissZoom AMS-22 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+22 dB damping+22 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+2 dB damping+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+15 dB damping+11 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+13 dB damping+8 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+4 dB damping+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+8 dB+2 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+2 dB damping-3 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW-3 dB damping-6 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Audient EVO 4 costs $29 more than the Zoom AMS-22. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 5 more models driven to 100 dB.

It does not run one way only: the cheaper Zoom AMS-22 leaves 51 models alone under the one-eighth rule that the Audient EVO 4 does not, which is the part worth checking against your own headphones before paying the difference.

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

Both pages in full

Each in full: Audient EVO 4 and Zoom AMS-22.

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