Both are dongles, $299 against $259. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?
The EarMen Colibri reaches 100 dB on 563 of the 567 models here, the Shanling UA5 on 562.
| Specification | EarMen Colibri | Shanling UA5 |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 75 mW | 137 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 16 mW | 29 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 8.0 mW | 15 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 4.0 mW | 7.3 mW |
| Output impedance | not published | 0.8 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | 3.5 µV unverified |
| Price | $299 | $259 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 563 | 562 |
A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.
3 headphones reach 100 dB on the EarMen Colibri but not on the Shanling UA5 — Moondrop COSMO, Symphonium Crimson, Symphonium Helios.
2 headphones reach 100 dB on the Shanling UA5 but not on the EarMen Colibri — HiFiMAN Susvara, Moondrop SKYLAND.
560 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.
Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: EarMen Colibri and Shanling UA5. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.