IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE vs Tascam US-2x2HR

Both are audio interfaces, $130 against $199. 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 IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE reaches 100 dB on 550 of the 567 models here, the Tascam US-2x2HR on 541.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationIK Multimedia AXE I/O ONETascam US-2x2HR
Power into 32Ω26 mW18 mW
Power into 150Ω13 mW17 mW
Power into 300Ω6.7 mW12 mW
Power into 600Ω3.3 mW7.3 mW
Output impedance<0.1 Ω66 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$130$199
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
550541

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.

The headphones that tell them apart

9 headphones reach 100 dB on the IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE but not on the Tascam US-2x2HR — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, 6 more.

564 headphones are left alone by the IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Tascam US-2x2HR (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 561 more).

541 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.

Both pages in full

Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE and Tascam US-2x2HR. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.