ddHiFi TC44Grip vs FiiO KA17

Short answer

More power: the FiiO KA17, with 140 mW into 32 Ω; the ddHiFi TC44Grip has 80 mW. Through the balanced sockets it is the other way round: the ddHiFi TC44Grip has 330 mW against 300 mW. The FiiO KA17 drives 7 headphones to 100 dB that the ddHiFi TC44Grip cannot (HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 4 more).
Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes no noise figure.
Price: the FiiO KA17 costs $11 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the ddHiFi TC44Grip shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are dongles, $160 against $149.

The FiiO KA17 reaches 100 dB on 564 of the 567 models here, the ddHiFi TC44Grip on 557.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

Specification	ddHiFi TC44Grip	FiiO KA17
Power into 32Ω	80 mW	140 mW
Power into 150Ω	17 mW	34 mW
Power into 300Ω	8.5 mW	20 mW
Power into 600Ω	4.3 mW	10.0 mW
Output impedance	not published	1.0 Ω
Output noise	not published	2.0 µV
Price	$160	$149
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	557	564

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

Balanced	ddHiFi TC44Grip	FiiO KA17
Socket	4.4mm	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	330 mW	300 mW
Power into 300Ω	35 mW derived	30 mW
Output impedance	not published	1.5 Ω
Output noise	not published	2.2 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	565	565

Through the balanced sockets the two are level on the same test: each reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

Load	ddHiFi TC44Grip	FiiO KA17
32 Ω	Published	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Derived	Published
600 Ω	Derived	Derived

Both makers publish a power rating. ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes at 32 Ω; FiiO KA17 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 KA17 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

7 headphones reach 100 dB on the FiiO KA17 but not on the ddHiFi TC44Grip — HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 4 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 Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020: FiiO KA17 has +12 dB of headroom there against +8 dB. 4 dB is about 2.7 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.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	ddHiFi TC44Grip headroom	FiiO KA17 headroom	ddHiFi TC44Grip hiss	FiiO KA17 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+28 dB	+32 dB	not published	20 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+8 dB	+12 dB	not published	0 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+17 dB	+19 dB	not published	-1 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+12 dB	+16 dB	not published	-6 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+9 dB	+12 dB	not published	-7 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+5 dB	+9 dB	not published	-13 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+1 dB	+5 dB	not published	-17 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	-1 dB	+2 dB	not published	-19 dB

What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The ddHiFi TC44Grip costs $11 more than the FiiO KA17, 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 KA17 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper FiiO KA17 drives 7 models to 100 dB that the ddHiFi TC44Grip does not.

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

Both pages in full

Each in full: ddHiFi TC44Grip and FiiO KA17.

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