PreSonus Studio 68c vs Tascam US-2x2HR

Short answer

  • More power: the PreSonus Studio 68c, with 86 mW into 32 Ω; the Tascam US-2x2HR has 18 mW. The PreSonus Studio 68c drives 17 headphones to 100 dB that the Tascam US-2x2HR cannot (Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, 14 more).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: cannot be compared — neither maker publishes a noise figure.
  • Price: the PreSonus Studio 68c costs $100 more; what that buys on these numbers is set out further down, under What the price difference buys.

Both are audio interfaces, $299 against $199.

The PreSonus Studio 68c reaches 100 dB on 558 of the 567 models here, the Tascam US-2x2HR on 541.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationPreSonus Studio 68cTascam US-2x2HR
Power into 32Ω86 mW18 mW
Power into 150Ω56 mW17 mW
Power into 300Ω28 mW12 mW
Power into 600Ω14 mW7.3 mW
Output impedancenot published66 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$299$199
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
558541

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

Where each power figure comes from

LoadPreSonus Studio 68cTascam US-2x2HR
32 ΩDerivedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Only one of these two columns starts from a power rating. Tascam US-2x2HR publishes one at 32 Ω; PreSonus Studio 68c 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 68c 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

17 headphones reach 100 dB on the PreSonus Studio 68c but not on the Tascam US-2x2HR — Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, Audeze LCD-5, Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Closed, 14 more.

541 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 68c has +4 dB of headroom there against -5 dB. 10 dB is about 9.1 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for PreSonus Studio 68c and Tascam US-2x2HR because neither maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsPreSonus Studio 68c headroomTascam US-2x2HR headroomPreSonus Studio 68c hissTascam US-2x2HR hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+28 dB+21 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+8 dB+1 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+22 dB+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+17 dB+13 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+9 dB+2 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+11 dB+7 dB dampingnot publishednot published
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+6 dB+3 dB dampingnot publishednot published
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+4 dB-5 dB dampingnot publishednot published

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The PreSonus Studio 68c costs $100 more than the Tascam US-2x2HR. Out of the 567 models here, that difference buys 17 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

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