Audient iD4 MkII vs Steinberg UR24C

Short answer

  • More power: the Audient iD4 MkII, with 112 mW into 32 Ω; the Steinberg UR24C has 80 mW. The Audient iD4 MkII drives 3 headphones to 100 dB that the Steinberg UR24C cannot (Moondrop PARA 2, Moondrop VENUS, Symphonium Triton).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the Audient iD4 MkII costs $5 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are audio interfaces, $199 against $194.

The Audient iD4 MkII reaches 100 dB on 561 of the 567 models here, the Steinberg UR24C on 558.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationAudient iD4 MkIISteinberg UR24C
Power into 32Ω112 mW80 mW
Power into 150Ω75 mW27 mW
Power into 300Ω55 mW13 mW
Power into 600Ω50 mW6.7 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$199$194
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
561558

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadAudient iD4 MkIISteinberg UR24C
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

3 headphones reach 100 dB on the Audient iD4 MkII but not on the Steinberg UR24C — Moondrop PARA 2, Moondrop VENUS, Symphonium Triton.

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 Audio-Technica ATH-R70X: Audient iD4 MkII has +15 dB of headroom there against +7 dB. 8 dB is about 5.9 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Audient iD4 MkII and Steinberg UR24C because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsAudient iD4 MkII headroomSteinberg UR24C headroomAudient iD4 MkII hissSteinberg UR24C hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+29 dB+28 dBnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+9 dB+8 dBnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+22 dB+19 dBnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+20 dB+14 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB+9 dBnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+15 dB+7 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+9 dB+3 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+4 dB+1 dBnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Audient iD4 MkII costs $5 more than the Steinberg UR24C. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 3 more models driven to 100 dB.

Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.

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

Both pages in full

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