Both are dongles, $449 against $69. 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 iBasso DC-Elite reaches 100 dB on 563 of the 567 models here, the iBasso DC03 Pro on 560.
| Specification | iBasso DC-Elite | iBasso DC03 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Power into 32Ω | 162 mW | 98 mW |
| Power into 150Ω | 35 mW | 21 mW |
| Power into 300Ω | 17 mW | 10 mW |
| Power into 600Ω | 8.6 mW | 5.2 mW |
| Output impedance | not published | 0.12 Ω |
| Output noise | not published | 0.9 µV |
| Price | $449 | $69 |
| Headphones it reaches 100 dB on out of 567 | 563 | 560 |
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 iBasso DC-Elite but not on the iBasso DC03 Pro — Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA 2, Symphonium Zenith.
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: iBasso DC-Elite and iBasso DC03 Pro. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.