ddHiFi TC35AL vs Hidizs SD2

Short answer

  • More power: the ddHiFi TC35AL, with 210 mW into 32 Ω; the Hidizs SD2 has 70 mW. The ddHiFi TC35AL drives 8 headphones to 100 dB that the Hidizs SD2 cannot (HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 5 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the ddHiFi TC35AL costs $4 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Hidizs SD2 shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are dongles, $46 against $50.

The ddHiFi TC35AL reaches 100 dB on 564 of the 567 models here, the Hidizs SD2 on 556.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationddHiFi TC35ALHidizs SD2
Power into 32Ω210 mW70 mW
Power into 150Ω45 mW15 mW
Power into 300Ω22 mW7.5 mW
Power into 600Ω11 mW3.7 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$46$50
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
564556

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadddHiFi TC35ALHidizs SD2
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Both makers publish a power rating. ddHiFi TC35AL publishes at 32 Ω; Hidizs SD2 at 32 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

8 headphones reach 100 dB on the ddHiFi TC35AL but not on the Hidizs SD2 — HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 5 more.

556 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: ddHiFi TC35AL has +10 dB of headroom there against +5 dB. 5 dB is about 3 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for ddHiFi TC35AL and Hidizs SD2 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsddHiFi TC35AL headroomHidizs SD2 headroomddHiFi TC35AL hissHidizs SD2 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+32 dB+27 dBnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+12 dB+7 dBnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+21 dB+16 dBnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+16 dB+12 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+13 dB+8 dBnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+10 dB+5 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+5 dB+1 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+3 dB-1 dBnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Hidizs SD2 costs $4 more than the ddHiFi TC35AL, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Hidizs SD2 handles and the ddHiFi TC35AL does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper ddHiFi TC35AL drives 8 models to 100 dB that the Hidizs SD2 does not.

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

Both pages in full

Each in full: ddHiFi TC35AL and Hidizs SD2.

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