ddHiFi TC44Grip vs FiiO KA15

Short answer

  • More power: the FiiO KA15, with 180 mW into 32 Ω; the ddHiFi TC44Grip has 80 mW (balanced: 560 mW against 330 mW). The FiiO KA15 drives 9 headphones to 100 dB that the ddHiFi TC44Grip cannot (HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA, 6 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes no noise figure.
  • Price: the FiiO KA15 costs $51 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the ddHiFi TC44Grip shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are dongles, $160 against $109.

The FiiO KA15 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here, the ddHiFi TC44Grip on 557.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationddHiFi TC44GripFiiO KA15
Power into 32Ω80 mW180 mW
Power into 150Ω17 mW38 mW
Power into 300Ω8.5 mW19 mW
Power into 600Ω4.3 mW9.5 mW
Output impedancenot published0.8 Ω
Output noisenot published1.7 µV
Price$160$109
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		557566

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

Balanced output

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

BalancedddHiFi TC44GripFiiO KA15
Socket4.4mm4.4mm
Power into 32Ω330 mW560 mW
Power into 300Ω35 mW derived78 mW
Output impedancenot published1.2 Ω
Output noisenot published3.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		565566

Through the balanced sockets the FiiO KA15 reaches 100 dB on 566 of the 567 models here and the ddHiFi TC44Grip on 565. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

LoadddHiFi TC44GripFiiO KA15
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedPublished
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Both makers publish a power rating. ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes at 32 Ω; FiiO KA15 at 32 Ω and at 300 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 300 Ω only the FiiO KA15 figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.

What the labels mean.

What separates them

The headphones that tell them apart

9 headphones reach 100 dB on the FiiO KA15 but not on the ddHiFi TC44Grip — HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA, 6 more.

557 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

On real headphones

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Shure SE846: FiiO KA15 has +36 dB of headroom there against +28 dB. 9 dB is about 7.2 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for ddHiFi TC44Grip because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsddHiFi TC44Grip headroomFiiO KA15 headroomddHiFi TC44Grip hissFiiO KA15 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+28 dB+36 dBnot published19 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+8 dB+16 dBnot published-1 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+17 dB+20 dBnot published-3 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+12 dB+16 dBnot published-7 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+9 dB+14 dBnot published-8 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+5 dB+9 dBnot published-14 dB
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+1 dB+5 dBnot published-18 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW-1 dB+3 dBnot published-20 dB
What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The ddHiFi TC44Grip costs $51 more than the FiiO KA15, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the ddHiFi TC44Grip handles and the FiiO KA15 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper FiiO KA15 drives 9 models to 100 dB that the ddHiFi TC44Grip does not.

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

Next

Both pages in full

Each in full: ddHiFi TC44Grip and FiiO KA15.

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