PreSonus Studio 24c vs Zoom AMS-22

Short answer

  • More power: the PreSonus Studio 24c, with 27 mW into 32 Ω; the Zoom AMS-22 has 20 mW. The PreSonus Studio 24c drives 14 headphones to 100 dB that the Zoom AMS-22 cannot (Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), 11 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the PreSonus Studio 24c costs $49 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are audio interfaces, $149 against $100.

The PreSonus Studio 24c reaches 100 dB on 552 of the 567 models here, the Zoom AMS-22 on 538.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationPreSonus Studio 24cZoom AMS-22
Power into 32Ω27 mW20 mW
Power into 150Ω18 mW6.5 mW
Power into 300Ω8.8 mW3.4 mW
Power into 600Ω4.4 mW1.8 mW
Output impedancenot published10 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$149$100
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
552538

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadPreSonus Studio 24cZoom AMS-22
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Zoom AMS-22 publishes one at 32 Ω; PreSonus Studio 24c 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 PreSonus Studio 24c 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

14 headphones reach 100 dB on the PreSonus Studio 24c but not on the Zoom AMS-22 — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition (600Ω), 11 more.

538 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 Susvara: PreSonus Studio 24c has -1 dB of headroom there against -6 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 PreSonus Studio 24c and Zoom AMS-22 because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsPreSonus Studio 24c headroomZoom AMS-22 headroomPreSonus Studio 24c hissZoom AMS-22 hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+23 dB+22 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+3 dB+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+17 dB+11 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+12 dB+8 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+4 dB+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+5 dB+2 dBnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+1 dB-3 dBnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW-1 dB-6 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The PreSonus Studio 24c costs $49 more than the Zoom AMS-22. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 14 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.

Both pages in full

Each in full: PreSonus Studio 24c and Zoom AMS-22.

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