Audient iD14 MkII vs Roland Rubix44

Short answer

  • More power: the Audient iD14 MkII, with 112 mW into 32 Ω; the Roland Rubix44 has 19 mW. The Audient iD14 MkII drives 19 headphones to 100 dB that the Roland Rubix44 cannot (Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire, 16 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the Audient iD14 MkII costs $83 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Roland Rubix44 shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are audio interfaces, $349 against $432.

The Audient iD14 MkII reaches 100 dB on 561 of the 567 models here, the Roland Rubix44 on 542.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationAudient iD14 MkIIRoland Rubix44
Power into 32Ω112 mW19 mW
Power into 150Ω75 mW15 mW
Power into 300Ω55 mW9.4 mW
Power into 600Ω50 mW5.4 mW
Output impedancenot published47 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$349$432
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
561542

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadAudient iD14 MkIIRoland Rubix44
32 ΩDerivedDerived
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩRecomputedDerived

Neither column is a maker’s power rating at these loads. Of the 280 sources here, 209 publish a figure at at least one load; these two do not, so every row above is derived — between or beyond the loads each maker did publish, holding output voltage as the maker’s own figures imply. The method understates rather than flatters, but it is still arithmetic rather than a rating.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

19 headphones reach 100 dB on the Audient iD14 MkII but not on the Roland Rubix44 — Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire, 16 more.

542 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: Audient iD14 MkII has +4 dB of headroom there against -4 dB. 9 dB is about 7.8 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 Roland Rubix44 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsAudient iD14 MkII headroomRoland Rubix44 headroomAudient iD14 MkII hissRoland Rubix44 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+29 dB+21 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+9 dB+1 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+22 dB+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+20 dB+12 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+15 dB+6 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+9 dB+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+4 dB-4 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Roland Rubix44 costs $83 more than the Audient iD14 MkII, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Roland Rubix44 handles and the Audient iD14 MkII does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper Audient iD14 MkII drives 19 models to 100 dB that the Roland Rubix44 does not.

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

Both pages in full

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