Audient iD4 MkII vs Tascam US-2x2HR

Short answer

  • More power: the Audient iD4 MkII, with 112 mW into 32 Ω; the Tascam US-2x2HR has 18 mW. The Audient iD4 MkII drives 20 headphones to 100 dB that the Tascam US-2x2HR cannot (Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, 17 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the same, $199.

Both are audio interfaces, both at $199.

The Audient iD4 MkII reaches 100 dB on 561 of the 567 models here, the Tascam US-2x2HR on 541.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationAudient iD4 MkIITascam US-2x2HR
Power into 32Ω112 mW18 mW
Power into 150Ω75 mW17 mW
Power into 300Ω55 mW12 mW
Power into 600Ω50 mW7.3 mW
Output impedancenot published66 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$199$199
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
561541

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadAudient iD4 MkIITascam US-2x2HR
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩRecomputedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Tascam US-2x2HR publishes one at 32 Ω; Audient iD4 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 iD4 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

20 headphones reach 100 dB on the Audient iD4 MkII but not on the Tascam US-2x2HR — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, 17 more.

541 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 iD4 MkII has +4 dB of headroom there against -5 dB. 10 dB is about 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 Tascam US-2x2HR because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsAudient iD4 MkII headroomTascam US-2x2HR headroomAudient iD4 MkII hissTascam US-2x2HR 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+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+11 dB+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+15 dB+7 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+9 dB+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+4 dB-5 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

These two cost the same, $199, so price settles nothing. Out of the 567 models here, the Audient iD4 MkII drives 20 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

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