ddHiFi TC44Grip vs Tanchjim LUNA

Short answer

  • More power: the Tanchjim LUNA, with 285 mW into 32 Ω; the ddHiFi TC44Grip has 80 mW. The Tanchjim LUNA drives 8 headphones to 100 dB that the ddHiFi TC44Grip cannot (HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 5 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes no noise figure.
  • Price: the Tanchjim LUNA costs $20 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the ddHiFi TC44Grip shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are dongles, $160 against $140.

The Tanchjim LUNA reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the ddHiFi TC44Grip on 557.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationddHiFi TC44GripTanchjim LUNA
Power into 32Ω80 mW285 mW
Power into 150Ω17 mW80 mW
Power into 300Ω8.5 mW54 mW
Power into 600Ω4.3 mW27 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot published1.3 µV
Price$160$140
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
557565

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

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

BalancedddHiFi TC44GripTanchjim LUNA
Socket4.4mmno separate rating
Power into 32Ω330 mW—
Power into 300Ω35 mW derived—
Output impedancenot published—
Output noisenot published—
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
565—

Only the ddHiFi TC44Grip has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here. The Tanchjim LUNA may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

Where each power figure comes from

LoadddHiFi TC44GripTanchjim LUNA
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedPublished
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Both makers publish a power rating. ddHiFi TC44Grip publishes at 32 Ω; Tanchjim LUNA 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 Tanchjim LUNA figure is the maker’s own. On those rows the derived number is the one to doubt first.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

8 headphones reach 100 dB on the Tanchjim LUNA but not on the ddHiFi TC44Grip — HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, 5 more.

557 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 Sennheiser HD 600: Tanchjim LUNA has +9 dB of headroom there against +1 dB. 8 dB is about 6.4 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 headroomTanchjim LUNA headroomddHiFi TC44Grip hissTanchjim LUNA hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+28 dB+34 dBnot published17 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+8 dB+14 dBnot published-3 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+17 dB+23 dBnot published-5 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+12 dB+20 dBnot published-10 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+9 dB+15 dBnot published-11 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+5 dB+13 dBnot published-16 dB
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+1 dB+9 dBnot published-21 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW-1 dB+5 dBnot published-23 dB

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The ddHiFi TC44Grip costs $20 more than the Tanchjim LUNA, 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 Tanchjim LUNA does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper Tanchjim LUNA drives 8 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 Tanchjim LUNA.

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