DUNU DTC 480 vs FiiO KA3

Short answer

More power: the FiiO KA3, with 130 mW into 32 Ω; the DUNU DTC 480 has 65 mW (balanced: 240 mW against 150 mW). The FiiO KA3 drives 11 headphones to 100 dB that the DUNU DTC 480 cannot (HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered, HiFiMAN Susvara, 8 more).
Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — the maker of the DUNU DTC 480 publishes no noise figure.
Price: the FiiO KA3 costs $9 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are dongles, $70 against $79.

The FiiO KA3 reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here, the DUNU DTC 480 on 554.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

Specification	DUNU DTC 480	FiiO KA3
Power into 32Ω	65 mW	130 mW
Power into 150Ω	14 mW	28 mW
Power into 300Ω	6.9 mW	14 mW
Power into 600Ω	3.5 mW	7.0 mW
Output impedance	not published	0.5 Ω
Output noise	not published	1.7 µV
Price	$70	$79
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	554	565

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	DUNU DTC 480	FiiO KA3
Socket	4.4mm	4.4mm
Power into 32Ω	150 mW	240 mW
Power into 300Ω	16 mW derived	56 mW
Output impedance	not published	0.7 Ω
Output noise	not published	2.9 µV
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567	563	565

Through the balanced sockets the FiiO KA3 reaches 100 dB on 565 of the 567 models here and the DUNU DTC 480 on 563. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

Load	DUNU DTC 480	FiiO KA3
32 Ω	Published	Published
150 Ω	Derived	Derived
300 Ω	Derived	Published
600 Ω	Derived	Published

Both makers publish a power rating. DUNU DTC 480 publishes at 32 Ω; FiiO KA3 at 32 Ω, at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

So the two columns are not equally firm row by row: at 300 Ω and at 600 Ω only the FiiO KA3 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

11 headphones reach 100 dB on the FiiO KA3 but not on the DUNU DTC 480 — HiFiMAN HE-6se V2, HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered, HiFiMAN Susvara, 8 more.

554 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 KA3 has +12 dB of headroom there against +7 dB. 6 dB is about 3.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for DUNU DTC 480 because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

Headphone	Impedance	Needs	DUNU DTC 480 headroom	FiiO KA3 headroom	DUNU DTC 480 hiss	FiiO KA3 hiss
Shure SE846	9 Ω	0.04 mW	+27 dB	+32 dB	not published	19 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020	9 Ω	4.0 mW	+7 dB	+12 dB	not published	-1 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic	70 Ω	0.79 mW	+16 dB	+19 dB	not published	-3 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)	250 Ω	0.63 mW	+11 dB	+14 dB	not published	-7 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se	25 Ω	7.9 mW	+8 dB	+12 dB	not published	-8 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X	470 Ω	1.6 mW	+4 dB	+8 dB	not published	-14 dB
Sennheiser HD 600	300 Ω	6.6 mW	+0 dB	+3 dB	not published	-18 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara	60 Ω	50 mW	-2 dB	+1 dB	not published	-20 dB

What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The FiiO KA3 costs $9 more than the DUNU DTC 480. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 11 more models driven to 100 dB.

Nothing runs the other way: there is no axis here on which the cheaper of the two does better.

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

Each in full: DUNU DTC 480 and FiiO KA3.