M-Audio AIR 192|14 vs Roland Rubix44

Short answer

  • More power: the M-Audio AIR 192|14, with 160 mW into 32 Ω; the Roland Rubix44 has 19 mW. The M-Audio AIR 192|14 drives 21 headphones to 100 dB that the Roland Rubix44 cannot (Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire, 18 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the M-Audio AIR 192|14 costs $103 less, and wherever both makers publish a figure the Roland Rubix44 shows no advantage for the extra money.

Both are audio interfaces, $329 against $432.

The M-Audio AIR 192|14 reaches 100 dB on 563 of the 567 models here, the Roland Rubix44 on 542.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationM-Audio AIR 192|14Roland Rubix44
Power into 32Ω160 mW19 mW
Power into 150Ω34 mW15 mW
Power into 300Ω17 mW9.4 mW
Power into 600Ω8.5 mW5.4 mW
Output impedancenot published47 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$329$432
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
563542

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadM-Audio AIR 192|14Roland Rubix44
32 ΩPublishedDerived
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. M-Audio AIR 192|14 publishes one at 32 Ω; Roland Rubix44 publishes none at any of these four loads, so its column is worked out from power it published at other loads. Both are arithmetic on a maker’s own figures rather than guesses, and the method used for the Roland Rubix44 understates rather than flatters — but at 32 Ω is the only load here at which its maker can be held to a figure.

What the labels mean.

The headphones that tell them apart

21 headphones reach 100 dB on the M-Audio AIR 192|14 but not on the Roland Rubix44 — Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire, 18 more.

542 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 HiFiMAN HE400se: M-Audio AIR 192|14 has +12 dB of headroom there against +3 dB. 9 dB is about 8.3 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for M-Audio AIR 192|14 and Roland Rubix44 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsM-Audio AIR 192|14 headroomRoland Rubix44 headroomM-Audio AIR 192|14 hissRoland Rubix44 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+31 dB+21 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+11 dB+1 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+20 dB+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+15 dB+12 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+12 dB+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+8 dB+6 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+4 dB+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+2 dB-4 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The Roland Rubix44 costs $103 more than the M-Audio AIR 192|14, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the Roland Rubix44 handles and the M-Audio AIR 192|14 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper M-Audio AIR 192|14 drives 21 models to 100 dB that the Roland Rubix44 does not.

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

Both pages in full

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