Audient iD14 MkII vs M-Audio AIR 192|14

Short answer

  • More power: the M-Audio AIR 192|14, with 160 mW into 32 Ω; the Audient iD14 MkII has 112 mW. The M-Audio AIR 192|14 drives 2 headphones to 100 dB that the Audient iD14 MkII cannot (Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Zenith).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the M-Audio AIR 192|14 costs $20 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Audient iD14 MkII shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are audio interfaces, $349 against $329.

The M-Audio AIR 192|14 reaches 100 dB on 563 of the 567 models here, the Audient iD14 MkII on 561.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationAudient iD14 MkIIM-Audio AIR 192|14
Power into 32Ω112 mW160 mW
Power into 150Ω75 mW34 mW
Power into 300Ω55 mW17 mW
Power into 600Ω50 mW8.5 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$349$329
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
561563

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadAudient iD14 MkIIM-Audio AIR 192|14
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩRecomputedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. M-Audio AIR 192|14 publishes one at 32 Ω; Audient iD14 MkII 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 iD14 MkII 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

2 headphones reach 100 dB on the M-Audio AIR 192|14 but not on the Audient iD14 MkII — Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Zenith.

561 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 iD14 MkII has +15 dB of headroom there against +8 dB. 7 dB is about 4.6 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Audient iD14 MkII and M-Audio AIR 192|14 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsAudient iD14 MkII headroomM-Audio AIR 192|14 headroomAudient iD14 MkII hissM-Audio AIR 192|14 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+29 dB+31 dBnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+9 dB+11 dBnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+22 dB+20 dBnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+20 dB+15 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB+12 dBnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+15 dB+8 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+9 dB+4 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+4 dB+2 dBnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Audient iD14 MkII costs $20 more than the M-Audio AIR 192|14, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Audient iD14 MkII handles and the M-Audio AIR 192|14 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper M-Audio AIR 192|14 drives 2 models to 100 dB that the Audient iD14 MkII does not.

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

Both pages in full

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